One afternoon I was working in Salt Lake City and I was a little tired and thinking about taking a nap. I decided to take just one more quick ride and then take a nap. I was in the Cafe Rio parking lot on Fourth S. and Fifth E. When the ride came up, it was to Kearns. I thought, no! I’m not going to take that but the spirit said yes you are going to take that and you’re going to testify to this young man. Away I went.
I picked him up and started talking about the distance out to Kearns. I mentioned the route that I wanted to take. I was going to go down the Mountain View corridor, but the spirit impressed me that I should take him off of 47th S. and I-215 by the temple that’s being built.
I ran that route by him and asked him if that sounded OK. He said it sounded great and away we went. Talking about the route we were going to go gave me the perfect opportunity to bring up the church so I took it. I asked him if he had been noticing the temple that was being built. I told him I love how big and beautiful that temple is.
He said, it’s amazing! It’s beautiful and I can’t wait until it’s done. I want to go in it. I want to go in all of the temples when they have those open houses so I can go.
I knew that he wasn’t a member of the church because the spirit indicated to me that he wasn’t. I asked him if he had friends that were members of the church. He said, yes. I have friends along with my mother and her husband. He said my little sister is also a member.
He said they go to their little meetings and mentioned how happy it makes them. He said that he’s also got family that are Christian. He said that his dad was Christian and that God is very important to him.
I asked him why it was that he hadn’t joined a Christian church yet. I have to admit that I had a prompting about what the reasons were and this worked right into that plan. He said that everyone has good beliefs and truth but they’re all different and he couldn’t figure out which one he should join.
He said that he loved that they did good and that was an important part of the religions, but that each one of them was a little different and had a little different take on the truth that they espoused.
I told him about the mirror analogy. I told him that the church at the time of Jesus was perfect and it had all of the truth and it was held up by the apostles and prophets. Just like a mirror is held up with pegs
I told him that the church was just like that mirror. It was held up by the apostles and prophets and authority of God. I asked him what happened to the apostles and prophets and he said they were killed and died. I asked him what happened when they were taken away, he said, the same thing that happens to the mirror when you take the pegs that hold it up away. He said it would fall and break.
I said that’s exactly what happened. The mirror would fall and break into a bunch of pieces but the people loved the gospel and they would come and grab a little piece and form their church around that little piece. Just like you could take a mirror and still look into a little bit of it and see yourself. I told him it could function, but not like the full mirror could and it would never be as good.
I said that’s why there were so many churches. People grabbed pieces of this mirror and took the peace that was precious and important to them and reformed everything around that little piece, but they didn’t have all of the other pieces.
I told him that what he said is exactly what Joseph Smith said. I told him that Joseph Smith was a boy just a bit younger than he was. He was looking for the truth. He found that all of the churches had some truth, but they were different, and they taught different things and he couldn’t figure out which one was the right one.
I told him that he went and knelt and prayed to ask Heavenly Father, which one he should join. Heavenly Father commanded him to restore the whole church with all of the truth just like it had been on the Earth before when Jesus was here. The Church of Jesus Christ has the whole truth, not parts of it, not pieces of it.
Heavenly Father wanted Joseph Smith to restore the exact complete church of Jesus Christ as it existed on the earth before. He was called to became the prophet who did that. Part of what he would called to do was receive plates that contained the prophecies of the people who lived in America anciently.
I told him that the people that lived in America had prophets and they wrote their prophecies on these plates. They were given to him by an angel and he translated them by the power of God. I told him that this was the Book of Mormon.
By this time, the spirit was really strong in the car, and I said, what do you think about what I’ve been saying, do you believe it’s true or not? He said, I believe it’s true. It just makes sense to me in my mind that what you’re saying is true.
This was an 18 year old kid and he wasn’t thinking about what he was feeling and I wanted to get him to the point where he could understand that not only was his intellect being stimulated by the spirit but that his heart was too. I talked to him about how we all lived with our heavenly father, and that we have a relationship that is manifested in feelings that we developed with him. When we feel those feelings, we know that the things we’re hearing are true. The spirit poured out and we felt a burst of love in that moment.
I told him that you are the son of your father in heaven and he loves you. I said, when I say those things what do you feel in your heart? He said, I feel happy, and I feel peace. I told him that those feelings were indicative of the relationship that he had with God and when he felt those things, he knew the things that he heard were true. I told him that this was how God could guide him.
I asked him to think back and tell me if he felt that previously in the conversation. He did and said yes, I felt that since I got into your car. I told him that this was the spirit of God, testifying of the things that I was saying. I told him God was with us. His spirit was there to help him know that these things were true.
I told him that there were a couple things that he had questioned about the different Christian sects and these were the reasons why he hadn’t joined any of them to this point.
I told him that he was concerned that Christian religions seem to be very provincial or regional. These are my words for what he described as a religion that isn’t worldwide so doesn’t have the ability to save all of God’s children. He didn’t see how God could not put in place a mechanism where all of his children could come home.
I agreed big time because he was walking right into it. The spirit was helping him ask the question in a way that all I had to do was answer it. I told him that the Book of Mormon is proof that God loves all of his children, no matter where they were born. I told him that when Jesus was in Jerusalem, he said he had other sheep and that he would go to them. I told him that the Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus came here and then went to other places.
I told him that when Jesus came to America, he descended from heaven, stood on the steps of the temple and he invited people to a new level. They touched the prints of the nails in his feet and hands then asked him to save them. That’s when he gave them this new level.
I told him it’s like when you are playing a video game and you’ve done everything you can on the level, then they give you a new level. Jesus invited them to step up to a new level. He called 12 and gave them instructions and power to be baptized and to baptize others.
I told him that when his mother, sister and stepdad were baptized that they were baptized by this authority and with the same baptism as Jesus gave that day.
I told him that after Jesus taught, loved and blessed the people in America, he said, and still other sheep I have and that he was called by God to go to them. I told him that God is the God of everyone not just a God of Jerusalem . I told him that God loves everyone and so he sent his son to everyone not just the people in Jerusalem.
I told him what the Buddhist guy in my car had told me about Budda. He told me how the Buddha was the son of the great Buddha, and came to dwell with them and taught them.
When I told him, he just laughed and said, that’s the same story you just told me about America. I said, exactly! Because God is the God of everyone. He’s not provincial, and he loves all of his children.
I told him because he loves all of his children he sent his son to his children, not just to those in Jerusalem. He said, I feel that one in my chest when you say that! That’s true. I said, the spirit is testifying to you of these things, and now you know them.
I said, your mother, sister, and stepdad were baptized, why? He said, I suppose they wanted to be members of the church. I asked him why people in churches get baptized, and he said, I don’t know.
I told him that they get baptized, because Jesus commanded that everyone needs to be baptized to enter into heaven. That’s why when the people in America asked Jesus to save them, he gave them baptism. He saved them!
I told him we have the authority to do that baptism and that his family members have taken advantage of that. I told him that when Jesus came to America, he didn’t spend one second ripping on the other baptisms that the people had done previously. He gave them the next level and invited them to be baptized. I told him that his family members had accepted that invitation.
I asked him, what about people that never have the opportunity to hear about Jesus? There are people all over the world over thousands of years who have never heard about Jesus. I asked him if it would be fair for God to condemn them just because they hadn’t been baptized. He thought for a minute and said, no, they should be able to go to heaven, if they’re good people.
I asked him if it would be fair for him to withhold the opportunity to receive that baptism from them, and he said no. Right then we were turning by the temple on 4700 South and I-215. I said in that building we do baptisms. One of the main things we will do in that building is baptisms for people who died without ever having the opportunity to be baptized and have the baptism the Jesus taught, that next level.
I told him that when Jesus died, he went to the spirit world and set up the teaching of the gospel to the people who died, and that these people now had the opportunity to believe and accept those teachings. Then I told him that we go to the temple and are baptized for these people.
I told him if one of their names was Fred, I would go to the temple and be baptized for Fred. Then he would have the chance to accept it. I told him this way, God gives everyone of his children a chance to come home no matter when they were born, no matter where they were born, or under what circumstance they lived. He does this because God loves every one of his children.
I told him that this was one of the pieces of the mirror that had been lost but now that we have the full mirror, we understand God‘s plan to give everyone of his children a chance to come home.
I told him that not only do we do that in temples, but we seal families and marriages so that we could be together forever. He said that’s an amazing thing. I love that! I told him that’s next level stuff, isn’t it?! He said yes, it is. I told him that the complete mirror is a beautiful mirror and a perfect mirror and the complete gospel is the same.
He said, I wish somebody had explained this to me earlier. You’ve answered all my questions, and I didn’t even ask them. How did you know what it was I needed to hear? I told him that God had whispered to my heart through the Holy Ghost what things I should say, and I said those things. I told him I didn’t know, but God did, and that he gave me those words so that he would know that the things I taught came from God.
He said, my eyes have been opened, and I am seeing things that were right there in front of me, but I never saw. He said, you’ve explained these things to me and I want this. I asked him, do you want to be baptized? He thought about that for a minute, and said maybe.
I said, did you feel the spirit in the car witness that these things are true? He said yes. I asked him if he believed the Book of Mormon is true, and he said yes. I asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith translated that book and was a prophet based on what he felt and he said yes, those things are true.
I asked him, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, the Book of Mormon was true, and Jesus came to America? He said yes. I told him that Jesus came to America, he invited the people to be baptized, and that same invitation stands today. It’s not me inviting you to be baptized. I said, it’s Jesus extending the invitation and that’s the invitation that your mother, step father and sister accepted.
He said that makes sense. I think I would like to be baptized because that makes sense. He said I have friends that I talk to as well. I talk to a lot of people about God. I talk to my mother, I talk to my father, who is a Christian, I talk to my friends too! One of them that I talk to is a Brother Howard. He is a member of your church and he wants me to get baptized.
I told him that what I thought he should do is go to his mother and this Brother Howard and tell them what he felt in the car today and what he learned in the car today. I told him that he should tell them that he thinks he needs to get ready to be baptized and that they would help him. He said he would do that.
I told him that he should read the Book of Mormon. I asked him if he had one, and he said no but he could get one from one of his friends he was shore of it. . I told him that as luck would have it I happened to have one right there in the car with me. I reached into my glove box and pulled out one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists. I explained the tabs in the book and how they correspond with the questions of the soul pasted inside the front cover.
I told him that he should read this book and pray, and it would confirm to him what the spirit confirmed today to him which was that that book was true. I told him that reading this book would bring the spirit and would give him strength.
I looked back and he was glowing. I could see that the spirit was working on him and that he had been 100% genuine and honest about the things he had felt in the things he now believed. I asked him if his father would be upset if he decided to join his mother, stepdad, and sister in the gospel and he said no. He said that his father was very interested in him believing in something, and that he would be happy.
I told him that being around his father and doing the right things would change his father and his father would want more of what he has. I told him someday under the right circumstances your father will want to be baptized and you will be a big part of that.
I told him that earlier in the conversation, he said that he believed in helping people. I told him that’s exactly what God would have him do. I told him that he should get baptized and go on a mission. He said that he had talked to some missionaries. I told him that because he’s 18 he can go on a mission and teach people, help people and serve people. He said that’s what he would love to do. I told him I thought he would be a great missionary. He asked if I thought that they would let him do this and I said yes they would. He said, wow, that would be awesome.
He said, I want to call my mom and Brother Howard. I want to tell them about this! I’m so glad that I decided to ride with you today. I told him I was so glad that I decided to accept the ride because I was really considering canceling it because I didn’t want to drive out there and lose money. I told him that God has a better payment plan than the ride share company and that the experience we had was priceless. He laughed and said, for me too.
He got out of the car and went into his house. This kid said he wanted to be baptized and he loved the idea of serving a mission. I have no doubt based on what I felt and the fact that God put him in my car that day that these things will happen. This is a young man who wants to serve God. This is his time.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 