One day I was working close to home because I needed to be home for an appointment. I pulled up to a house over by Orem High School and I waited. I waited almost all the time they provide. I was about ready to leave and had the feeling to give it another minute. Out of the house came a mom in sweats carrying a baby car seat.
I’m always relieved when they bring car seats because so many times they don’t and then it’s sticky because you have to say no. She strapped the baby in and we started to go. I started to think that this lady looked like a member of the church.
She just looked like someone who felt very comfortable living in Orem and she just seemed like she was probably a member of the church, but I didn’t know if she was for sure. I learned a long time ago never to assume. Then I got the impression that she wasn’t a member of the church and that we needed to talk.
I asked her if she liked living in Orem and she said yes. She said it was very peaceful and that she and her husband liked that. I asked her how long they had lived here and she said that they had lived here about two weeks but we’re looking to stay. Having been primed by the spirit that she wasn’t a member of the church, I asked how her interaction with members of the church had been?
She said it had been great and that she really would like to learn more about the members of the church because they seemed like really good people. She had said that where she was from everybody was Catholic and so to her that seemed to be kind of what you did there.
She said that here everybody is a member of the church and so they thought that maybe they should go to our church because that’s what people here do.
I don’t believe that anyone should chose a church because that’s just what the people there do. I do, however, believe the whatever it is that opens the door to going to church or having these discussions is a very good thing. I believe that Satan is trying to slam doors as fast as he can and when one opens you jump through it.
I said, that’s great! Going to church is an awesome thing. I asked her what she knew about the church, and what the differences were between our church and the Catholic church. She was stumped!
She thought for a minute and then came out, saying, well, I don’t think you believe in the Virgin Mary. She said we believe in the Virgin Mary and you don’t.
I told her that that’s not totally true. I told her we believe that the Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ. I told her that we believe that the Virgin Mary was chosen of God, and was blessed among women. I told her that we honor the Virgin Mary and love her, love her courage, love how obedient she was, and love her example.
I told her that we didn’t believe in praying to the Virgin Mary and that she didn’t have any godlike power. I told her that we believe that she was a very good person, but that we only pray to God, the father, in the name of his son Jesus Christ. She said, oh! Well, that’s not bad. She said, that sounds pretty good!
I saw the baby and was prompted what to say next. I told her that for us it’s all about family! She said, what do you mean?I said we believe that we are children of our father in heaven, and that he loves us. I told her everything we believe comes from the fact that we know we have a loving father in heaven, who loves each of us individually and personally. He has an individualized plan for each one of us to come home to him.
She said, that’s beautiful, but what do you mean by individualized plan? I told her that we believe that God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem, and that he sent his son to his other sheep who didn’t live in Jerusalem.
I told her that he said this in the Bible after his resurrection. He meant that there were people around the world who were his sheep who did not live in Jerusalem, and they needed to hear his voice and know of the love their father in heaven had for them.
I told her that when Jesus was crucified, his spirit went to the spirit world. and taught the people there, who had never lived in a place where the gospel was available, or who would never Been taught the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I told her that after that he was resurrected and once he had been resurrected, then he told his apostles that he still had other sheep to go see. He received a commandment from his father to do so!
I told her Jesus went to these sheep, and some of them were in America. I told her that the ancestors of the people that lived here had prophets who spoke with God. Those prophets had taught them to look for Jesus. Jesus appeared to them, descending from heaven, and he stood before them. They felt the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet, he taught them and loved them.
He told them that the old law has been completed and then gave them a new baptism so that they could go to the next level. I told her that these people who already had their religion and their baptisms accepted the invitation to the go to the next level of discipleship and follow Jesus Christ.
She asked me if this was in North or South America. I told her I’m not sure, but that it didn’t matter because Jesus mentioned that he had other sheep that we’re not in that land or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout. He said he was going to visit them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.
I told her that with this being said he could’ve gone to sheep in North America, South America, India, Africa, Japan, all over the world. I told her that because God is all powerful, he is not restrained in the loving and blessing of his children.
She said that’s right. It’s all about God’s love for his children. I told her that the prophets that lived here in America received revelation from God because he loved those children. They wrote down all of those prophecies as well as the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America on these plates.
I told her that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet, and by the power of God he was given those plates and commanded to translate them. He was able to translate them by the power of God. I told her that today we have these teachings in the Book of Mormon and we call it the Book of Mormon another testament of Jesus Christ. I told her that this book is the word of God just like the Bible.
She said, I have heard about the Book of Mormon, but I didn’t know what it was about. The spirit was very strong in the car, and I could tell that she was engaged in the conversation, and that her spirit was engaged. I could see in her eyes that she believed, and she was accepting of the witness.
I asked her what she felt and she said I can’t even describe it. It’s a beautiful feeling. She said I feel amazing. I told her that this was the spirit of God confirming to her the things that she was hearing were true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, called by God. He translated the book of Mormon, which was the ancient writings of the people from America and their dealings with God, and his commandments to make their lives better. I told her that I know these things are true because I prayed and I felt the same spirit that we were feeling right then in the car. I told her that’s how I knew these things were true.
She said, I know they are true as well! I asked her what she thought about Jesus going to other places. She said, I had never thought about it and if you had asked me about it, I might’ve thought it was weird. Here in this car today it doesn’t feel weird it feels right and I know it’s true in my heart.
I told her it’s great to believe in a God that you know loves you and sent his son for you and to your ancestors. She said, yes it is and I believe that.
I asked her if she remembered what I said about Jesus going to the spirits in the spirit world who hadn’t had the chance to accept the gospel and she said yes. I asked her if baptism was important and she said yes. She said Catholics believe in baptism. She said we baptize babies so they can go to heaven. I told her that we believe in baptism too.
I told her that when Jesus came to America, he invited everyone as part of that new level to be baptized, and he gave them authority to preform these baptisms so that they could all have the chance come home to him.
I told her that baptism is so important that there’s no way we can go home without it. Then I asked her, what about somebody that lived in Mexico 700 years ago? I asked her if that person knew about Jesus. She said no. I asked her if that person had been baptized, and she said no. I asked her if that person could go to heaven according to the doctrine she had been taught in her life and she bowed her head for a minute, then shook her head, and then said no they can’t.
I asked her if a just and loving God would allow someone to be condemned, and stopped in their progression just because they never had an opportunity and she said no. I asked her how many people as a percentage, she thought may have lived in places over the last 5000 years where they weren’t able to hear the gospel.
She said, like 95%? I said, I’m not sure if it’s 95% but I know it’s really high. I said according to the doctrine that you’ve learned what has to happen to those people. Can they go to heaven? And she said no. I asked if a loving God would condemn 95% of his children and she said no, no way.
I asked her, if everyone needs to be baptized to go to heaven and the vast majority of God’s children never hear about that or about Jesus, how can that be fair? She said it can’t. I said, how can that be loving? She said it can’t.
I said, your a mom, how could a loving father condemn a child like yours just because it hadn’t been baptized? She looked at her baby in the car seat and said, no way!
I asked her what she would do to save her child. She said anything! Whatever it took. I told her that God as a perfect and loving father feels the same way.
I asked her if she heard of Mormon temples and she said that there was one just a block from where she lived. I told her that this was a church house, but that a temple was a bigger building where we did different things. By this time we happened to be driving by the Provo City Center Temple and I pointed it out. I said that’s a temple! She said, oh, there was a big one like that in my old town where I used to live.
I told her that in these temples we do important work and one of those things that we do is save the people who died without hearing the gospel. I asked her if she remembered what I said about Jesus going to preach the gospel to the spirits who hadn’t heard about Jesus during their life. She said, yes, I do. I asked her what she thought about that, and she said she thought it was amazing. I said, how cruel would it be to teach them and then not allow them to fully accept that and become part of it just because they weren’t baptized?
She said that would be horrible I said, in our temples we do baptisms for the dead. We go into the temple and are baptized for a person who has died. I said if a guy‘s name was Fred I would go to the temple and be baptized for him. I told her that Fred would then have the chance to accept or reject the baptism.
I told her that this is God‘s plan so that every one of his children will have a perfect opportunity to accept the gospel and come home.
She said, I love that. I said, doesn’t it sound exactly like something an all powerful, loving father in heaven would do for his children? wouldn’t he want to bring them home?! She said yes! I am a parent, and I want my children to be with me.
I told her that brings me to the other thing we do in temples. I told her that when we get married in the temple, we are married for eternity, not just until death. She looked shocked and said, that’s awesome!! She said, I would really like that!
I told her the members of the church can go in and be married and also be married for their ancestors just like they’re baptized for their ancestors. I told her that right after she’s baptized they can go in and be baptized for their grandparents and then once they’ve been sealed or married for eternity then they can go in and do that for the people in their family who had passed away.
She said, this is how it should be. I think my husband will love this. I I told her it’s all about family with us. It’s all about the love of our father in heaven, and because of that love, he wants us to be together. He gives us commandments and made a way that everybody can come home because he loves us.
The spirit was testifying in the car, she was emotional and we were at her destination. She asked me when and where she should go to church. She said that they’ve been looking for a church and didn’t know what to do. I looked up her ward address and their time and gave it to her and she said they were good and would go on Sunday for sure.
I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no. Where do you get one?
I told her that you get one right here my car. I reached into my glove box and grabbed copy a copy Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists, and gave it to her. I showed her the tabs and the questions of the soul. She asked, can I take your book!? I said, this book is yours, and it was prepared for you.
I told her that she was put in my car to get this book. I told her that was the reason for this trip. As I said that the spirit bore witness of this and I could tell she was feeling it.
She told me, I knew that early on. She said, ever since I moved here strange things like this have been happening, and I know that God‘s trying to direct us somewhere. She said, it seems like the things you taught me today were perfectly tailored to the questions I had. I see God’s hand in the things you’ve said, and the things you’ve taught.
She said that the spirit she felt is something she wanted in her family and she wanted in her life.
She said we’re on board. She took the book and the baby and headed in the building where I was dropping her. I have to say this woman was powerful, and I know the power of the love her father in heaven showed to her was the key for her. She saw everything through that lens. Isn’t that how we should all see it?
Sometimes God sends you a lift 