It seems like an inordinate amount of my stories begin this way but when I showed up to get this lady at the University of Utah ski team building she was nowhere to be found. I waited for a minute on the spot that was indicated and I was close to bagging it. It had snowed a lot that day and getting around was not easy. This ride was going down to Lehi and the last thing I wanted was a trip over point of the mountain with a lot of snow on the road.
I felt very impressed that this was a ride I was supposed to take so I picked up the phone and called the passenger. When I talked to the passenger I received very confusing instructions and I wasn’t any closer after that conversation to finding them than I was to begin with.
I took a moment, cleared my head, said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me find them if I was supposed to take this ride. I could have just stayed there for another 30 seconds and got paid without going but I wanted to take the ride if Heavenly Father wanted me to even though the weather was horrible.
As I said my quiet prayer the Geo tracking for the person popped up on my screen. I followed the map around to where they were. There they were, 3 people right next to the Huntsman Center. That was a long way around from where I was supposed to pick them up but I was glad to have found them. I felt like my prayers had been answered and so I started this trip with my thoughts leaning towards looking for the gospel topic we were going to talk about.
We started talking about where they were from and what brought them to Utah. We talked about where we had lived and I mentioned that I served my mission in Argentina and spoke fluent Spanish. Talking about my mission usually opens a door. When I said this one of the people in the back sat up and took note.
There were three people in the back a guy on the left, a girl on the right and the lady in the middle. The lady was in charge and it was her account.
She leaned forward from her middle position and said I’ve had some sisters from your church coming over to my house.
I asked her if she had gone to church and she said yes. I wondered if she was going to get baptized because I figured this would be the result of the normal course of events when you go to church and have missionaries in your home. I asked her if she was going to be baptized and she said no. I quit seeing the sisters three weeks ago.
I said, why did you do that?! She said because I am a Pentecostal Evangelist and that’s the church I go to. I said, it can’t be that easy. There had to be some things that they were teaching that you liked or you wouldn’t have had them in your home and you wouldn’t have gone to church.
She said, hmmm, you’re right there were lots of things they taught that I liked. I liked how I felt and I liked talking about Jesus. I said, what were the differences between what they taught and what you believe in your church?
She said mostly Joseph Smith. She said, “in our church we don’t believe in the Prophet Joseph Smith”. I bore my testimony of the importance of prophets. I testified about Joseph Smith and the first vision. I told her that God loves us today just like he did in the Bible times and that’s why he sends us prophets to guide us. The spirit was very strong in the car and I could tell she was feeling it.
I asked her how she felt in her heat about what I had said. She thought for a minute then said “very calm and peaceful, you know I never felt like Joseph Smith as a prophet was wrong.” I thought that was an interesting answer so I probed a little deeper. I said, what were the things that they taught that made you feel like you couldn’t follow through and be baptized.
I then followed up quickly asking her if the missionaries had challenged her to be baptized. She assured me that there had been discussions of the topic of baptism but that no firm date or commitment had been presented to her.
I asked her what were the things that they taught that made her want to withdraw from the lessons and quit inviting the sisters. She started her list.
First she talked about timing. She wanted to know what we did with the tithing. She wanted to know if everybody paid tithing and then finally she wanted to know if her husband, who wasn’t interested in being baptized, or joining the church, could pay tithes at our church even though he wasn’t a member. Of course I said yes and I answered her other tithing questions as well. She was very satisfied with the answers and liked what I had to say.
I could see the spirit was working with her in two ways. One, she was focused and peaceful. Two, everyone in the back of the car mellowed and almost melted into the corner and it seemed like it was just us two in the car. The spirit was there and it was testifying of the principle of tithing. Fortunately she believed in it and had been paying tithing in her other church for years. This discussion was about nuts and bolts.
She asked about the Book of Mormon and what it’s purpose was. I told her it’s purpose was to be a second testimony of Jesus Christ. I told her that God loves all of his children not just the ones in Jerusalem and he had prophets in America. I told her that these prophets received revelation to bless God’s children with his word. I said he did it because he loves everyone and the Book of Mormon is the testimony that Jesus is the God of everyone and not just the God of Jerusalem.
Then she said what in the world is wrong with my baptism. I was baptized by immersion, when I was old and it was done by my preacher. I just don’t buy that I need to be baptized because I think I already have been. As you know if you read this blog I deal with this a lot and so I discussed Christ commanding the Nephites to be baptized even though they had previously been baptized. He invited them to a higher level of discipleship, to a new covenant through this baptism!. This is why we invite people to have that same baptism and to step up to that new covenant.
I then went into explaining, or giving an example of this new level by presenting eternal families through temple marriage. I said we don’t marry until death do us part, we marry forever! I told her that when Peter was on the earth he received power from Jesus to seal things on the earth that would be sealed in heaven. We use that same power to seal marriages and our families so that we can be families forever.
She said that’s beautiful except for I believe the Bible says that people are not married in heaven. I asked her where it said that and she said she wasn’t sure but her preacher had read it to her. The spirit then gave me the answer for this lady. I said well that is absolutely right! You have to be married on this earth. Marriage is an earthly ordinance that has to be done here but it is in force throughout all eternity if it’s done here properly by the proper authority.
I told her that if she and her husband were married in the temple and had their children sealed to them that they would be a family unit forever but that it had to be done on the earth. You couldn’t do it in heaven. I told her that we go to the temples and are married or sealed for other people who have died and then they get the opportunity to accept it but it has to be done on the earth it can’t be done in heaven.
I felt the spirit profoundly testify as I said these words and I knew that it was speaking to her heart. I could see a physical change in her countenance and her face seemed to shine in the little light that came from my phone, the radio and the lights from outside.
She said that makes so much sense because I’ve always thought it that was weird that love should die. I said that’s right. Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to love him and love each other and he’s provided a way for us to be with those we love the most forever. To receive this blessing you have to be on this new level. You need to take this new covenant.
I asked her, do you agree with me that marriage for eternity is a new level? She said yes! It is! I said, you have to have the baptism of Jesus Christ to achieve that level and receive that blessing. I said there are many blessings in our church that are additional to the blessings that you have received by the spirit and through your worship to this point but this is one of the most important.
She said, that’s amazing. Why didn’t they teach me that. I said my guess is that there was miscommunication but if you were to call them and ask them about if they would come out and teach it to you.
This ride on snowy roads to Lehi had moved quickly and we were finally pulling into her residence. I asked her, do you want that new level? Do you want these additional blessings? She said yes, I do.
I said then you need to call those missionaries and get them back in your home. Ask them about temple marriage and tell them you want to prepare for baptism.
She asked me what time they went to bed and if she should call them that night. I looked at my clock and it was 1035. I said, no, call them tomorrow because they’re in bed. I told her that if she would do this it would change her life and she would see positive changes in her marriage and her children as the spirit worked with them. She was tearing up at that point.
She said, yes I believe that. I said what does that mean you need to do. She said I need to follow the spirit, I need to call the sisters and I need to prepare to be baptized.
In front of the two people that were with her who were silent and stonefaced this woman was emotional because she felt the spirit. I asked her, what is it you’re feeling and she said tremendous pressure from my heart that’s making me cry. I told her it was the spirit of God and that he is here with us. I told her that his spirit was here to tell her that the things I said were true and what we had just discussed was being confirmed to her by the spirit.
She got out of the car and way goodbye and said she hopes to get me as a driver again. That would be great but I wish she’d move closer to downtown!
I’m so glad I got this chance to clear up a few misconceptions that had ended her pursuit of the truth in the gospel. The spirit had a plan all along.
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Sometimes God sends you a lift 