I want to stand up

One night I picked up a young lady from a very popular chicken joint to take her home. Right off the bat I could tell there was a special feeling around this young lady. She didn’t feel worldly and she screamed dry Mormon.

I said a little prayer and received a confirmation that I should talk to her. I always get a confirmation on that before I go or have a confirming feeling before I talk because of the regulations of the rideshare companies and how I would be deplatformed if someone were to complain.

First, we talked about chicken. We talked about how lots of people go to the restaurant and how I like their lemonade freeze because it is really yummy. Then I told her that it’s really tough because the lines are always so long but right next-door there’s a Mo’ Bettas so sometimes I’ll go get Mo’ Bettas and then come back and get my lemonade freeze so I can have the best of both worlds.

She laughed and she said she loves Mo’ Bettas and that she’s sure that they have an agreement between those two restaurants for that exact purpose.

I told her that her restaurant was founded by good Christian people with good Christian faith. She said she knew that and she likes that. She said, I am a Christian. I said, so am I. When they say I’m a Christian, I know full well they mean that they’re a born-again Christian and not a member of our church but I never back down. I don’t want to allow the narrative that we are not Christian to persist

She started talking about how she was from a Mexican family so out of tradition she was baptized into the Catholic church. She said that it had never felt like it was anything special. She felt empty. She said she went to a lot of churches, even our church, but that for now she was continuing her search while attending the Christian church.

We talked about how evil the world is, and how lately it seems especially bad. She said it seems like everyone is following Satan. I said, sometimes it seems that way because we don’t stand up. She said, I want to stand up.

I asked her what it was that she was looking for in a church and she said that she was looking for a more complete experience. She said that the Catholic church had some things that the Christian church didn’t have and the Christian church had some things that the Catholic church didn’t have.

I had the thought (prompting), I’ve got someone that’s looking for the truth, someone that’s trying to find the church of God and she’s got all the same questions Joseph Smith had. She’s looking for the gospel.

I asked her if I could talk to her about our church a little bit and some of the things we believe. She said, I’ve been to your services once and I’ve talk to the sister missionaries. I asked her if I could tell her some things that I didn’t think the sisters had taught her or that maybe she hadn’t understood? She said she would love that.

I talked to her about my mirror analogy. I use the mirror and how the mirror represents the church of Jesus Christ exactly how he founded it when he was on the Earth. The mirror hangs on the wall using pegs but the things that were holding up the church of Jesus Christ were Jesus Christ himself and his apostles. When they were killed, that mirror fell down and broke into a bunch of pieces. I told her the people loved the gospel of Jesus Christ and so they grabbed parts of that mirror and reformed churches around that part that they had grabbed but that the complete mirror or the complete gospel of Jesus Christ was shattered and scattered. It was not close to intact when Joseph Smith was looking for the truth.

I told her he had the same question she did. He went and prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore the whole mirror. The spirit always testifies of the prophet Joseph Smith and this was no exception. I could tell she was feeling it strongly.

I asked her if she could feel anything or if she felt different. She said, there’s a reverence in the car. I told her that this was the spirit talking to her spirit, letting her know that the things were discussing were true.

I asked her if I should go on and she said yes, I talked to her about how we believe that God is the god of all of the world. He’s not a provincial God, he’s not just a God of Jerusalem, he’s a God of all of the world. He is the God all of the people and he loves all of the world, and all of the people.

I told her that many churches say this, but they don’t have doctrines that reflect this and that this is part of the disconnect.

I asked her if the missionaries taught her about Jesus coming to America. She said yes they did. I recounted to her how Jesus came down from heaven, stood there, and the people recognized him as their God. I told her that they asked him to be saved, and he invited them and commanded them to be baptized to a new level.

I told her that even though these people had already been baptized, Jesus needed them to be baptized so that they could have the Holy Ghost. They needed this so that they could step up to that new level and find the same happiness that she was searching for.

I told her that the people here in ancient America had prophets because God loved them just like he loved the people in Jerusalem. I told her that when Jesus left here he said that he was going to other places to other people to count them among his sheep because God loves everyone. I asked her if she believe that and she said yes. She said, I’ve never thought about that, but of course, God would send his son to everyone because he loves them.

I asked her if baptism was important. She said, yes! Everyone needs to be baptized. She said, in both churches I belong to we believe that everyone needs to be baptized. I asked her if someone could go to heaven who hadn’t been baptized, and she said no. I asked her if everyone in the history of the world had been given an opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ during their lives and be baptized?

She thought about it, and she said, no, I’ve never thought about that, but very few have had an opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ. I said if they didn’t hear about Jesus Christ, were they able to be baptized? She said no.

I said God loves everyone. Every one of them that ever lived is a child of God? She said, Yep, I believe that. I asked her if she was mother of a bunch of children how many of them she would want to save, and she said all of them, of course. I asked her if Heavenly Father was a perfect father. and she said yes. I asked her how many of his children he would want to save if he’s a perfect father, and she said, thinking for a moment, I guess all of them.

I asked her if a perfect father would have a plan, or a way to save all of his children and she said of course he would. I asked her in her other religions, what they taught was God’s plan to save everyone who had ever lived if they wanted to come home to their heavenly father. She thought for a moment, and she said that she had never heard a plan.

I told her we have that plan and they had it in the New Testament. They had it when the mirror was complete and that’s called baptisms for the dead. She said, oh. She said I have friends that have done that, but I didn’t know what it was. I told her we go to the temple and are baptized for someone who has passed on. I told her they then get the opportunity to accept or reject that baptism.

I told her, this way every one of God’s children will have a chance to come home. I told her God is a perfect God. I told her, God was a perfect father, and he sent his son to save us. I told her that this is why Jesus came to America and he blessed the children. He gave them authority to perform this baptism, and commanded them to receive it.

The spirit had intensified in the car, and she said, this is certainly one of those pieces that is missing. I never understood this. I said the church and its doctrine are all about a father saving his children whom he loves. He knows us and loves us

I told her that I know that she is special to her father in heaven because he put her in my car tonight so I could share this information with her. She said that she knew that was the truth, because she has been wanting to take that next step and find the church that offered everything.

I told her that I thought it was special that that we have the record of Jesus Christ, visiting her ancestors and the blessings he left upon them and their posterity. I told her that this is all contained in the Book of Mormon.

She said she remembered hearing about the Book of Mormon from the sister missionaries. I asked her if she had one, and she said no. I reached in and grabbed one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and handed it to her. I told her that this is a religious and spiritual history of her ancestors.

I told her that her ancestors knew Jesus. I told her that they touched him and were blessed by him, and that their posterity was also blessed. I told her that Jesus is inviting her to take that next step. I told her that the spirit has been working in her, trying to get her to take that next step, and that’s why I am here today. I told her that God put her in my car so I could share that with her.

She said, I felt the spirit the second I got in your car. She asked if I was sure it was OK for her to keep that book, I said yes. I had her open it and read the questions of the soul. I told her that the other things she was looking for were in those questions and the answers were in the book indicated by the tabs.

She took a second to read the questions and said you’re exactly right! I asked her what she was feeling and she said I’m feeling like the things you’re telling me are true. I feel peace and assurance and reverence in my soul right now. She said her soul has been a really loud place lately but right now it was calm and peaceful and that was how she liked it.

I said to her that this is the way she feels in the presence of God. I said that the spirit of God was there because we were teaching truth. I told her that there’s another thing in our church that she would be interested in. I told her that we believe in being married for time and all eternity. I said, that means that we’re not married until death do us part. I told her we’re married in temples by the power of God that he gave to Peter then Peter gave that authority to our prophets.

I told her we use this power to seal things on earth that are sealed in heaven. I said that this includes marriages. I told her not only do we do baptisms for the dead in the temple, but we do marriages for eternity. I told her that the family of God is eternal, and the families who believe in God and go to the temple to be sealed are eternal.

I told her that we make covenants to follow God and his power blesses our lives forever. I told her that this is the power that was missing and this is the power she’s looking for in a church.

She said, I can’t believe how happy I am, that God gave me this opportunity to hear this. I know this is true. She said, I’m going to read the Book of Mormon and I will go to church this Sunday. I need that next level and I want these things in my life.

I need the blessings of God on my family.

Sometimes people are wandering around looking for truth and they don’t know where to find it, even though it’s right under their nose. They may have even brushed up against it. I think that’s one of the meanings of this scripture, Doctine and Covenants 123:12-13

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—

13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

I felt an excitement, a relief and a commitment from that young lady. For whatever reason she hadn’t heard the right things the first time she met the missionaries but this time she’s loaded for bear!