That accident was no accident.

I was driving on a Friday and got a ride to the airport. It’s really funny how every day about 4 o’clock you’ll get a ride to the airport. As much as you try to stay off of the freeways it is to no avail. There you are on the freeway going to the airport.

I felt like I should take the ride, I didn’t feel anything in particular about the person that I was picking up and I didn’t believe we were talking about religion on the ride. I just took the right away. We went to the airport. On the way, I got the impression that there was a missionary purpose to the ride, but it wasn’t with the person I was driving.

I thought, maybe I’m going to pick up another rider at the airport. Usually I don’t do that because then you’re back on the freeway during rush-hour. I had my app turned off, so I wouldn’t get anyone else. Even though I had my app turned off, I still felt this feeling that I needed to be ready to share the gospel and it seemed strange to me. I felt like I had sufficiently insulated myself against any new passengers.

The Lord is smarter than we are!

I like to take people to the short term parking lot from time to time. I do that because it’s quicker and easier for me and it’s quicker and easier for them. They go straight through the tunnel to security. You don’t need to go up, down, cross the road or anything. As I pulled into the second floor of the short term parking where I was going to drop this young man off a woman stopped in front of me.

I stopped to wait for her and as we waited she put her Chevy suburban in reverse and forcefully backed right into my car. When she was backing up, I started honking and I honked for a good three seconds before the collision. There we were about 25 feet short of our destination.

I asked my passenger to get out and go in to the airport as we had almost arrived. He said that’s great. He gave me his phone number in case I needed a witness and he went in to get on his flight.

As he got out of the car, I saw the young woman who was driving the suburban get out and I heard the words “now you know who you’re supposed to teach”.

I have to say in the years I’ve worked with missionaries or been a missionary I’ve seen many mission programs and gimmicks, but not one ever involved getting into an accident with someone and then teaching them. I thought about it for a second, and then said, let’s go.

I got out and we started talking about things. Due to the fact that I drive a rented car, I need to get a police report and I told her that. I called the police and we had to wait for them to get there. She was on the phone with her family and they were concerned.

I started talking to her and I was doing the best I could to be supportive and friendly. I told her I know what it’s like to make mistakes when you’re driving. I told her it happens and that everything was going to be OK.

Finally, the policeman got there and we started doing the report and getting things arranged. He was a little bit rough and not very nice, at least to me. Finally when he was back in the car getting things ready I asked her if she was Samoan. She said. yes! I said talofa. That is a Samoan greeting and when I said that she lit up.

She said, where did you learn to speak Samoan? I told her that I don’t know how to speak Samoan, but I know a few words. I told her that I learned how to say those words working with missionaries in the missionary training center. I told her that the missionaries before they go on missions come there to be trained. I said that I worked with the missionaries that came from other countries, including Samoa.

I said, I thought it was important for me to learn how to welcome them. Then I said, so, talofa. She laughed and said, that’s awesome. She said that’s a great thing that you did. I said it was a great thing that God does for all of his children. He puts light in our heart and then we share it.

She said, I am blown away by how warm and friendly and understanding you have been with me here today. She said, I could’ve never imagined that you would’ve treated me this well and that you would’ve treated me better than the police officer did. We chuckled. I said, the prophet of our church has counseled us to be friendly to people, loving to people and I’m trying to do that. I told her, it’s easy to do that with great people like you.

I told her that I don’t believe there is a race of people anywhere that has bigger hearts than the Polynesian people so we’re just trying to keep up with y’all. She laughed and said, well we like to have people over to eat for sure. We both laughed.

I said, are you a member of the church? I knew the answer already, the Spirit had indicated she wasn’t and I could tell by the spirit when I mentioned the church, hat she also had questions.

In answer to my question, she said no. I gave my standard response to that which is, you mean, not yet! She smiled and said yes, that’s correct. She said that she had been taking lessons from the sister missionaries, but they stopped coming to her house. She said she liked the things they said, but she didn’t think that they liked the answers she gave.

We looked back and the policeman was deeply intent on whatever it was he thought he was doing. I’m sure he was running my name to see if there was something more he could write a ticket for. It was apparent that this was going to take some time.

I said, that’s awesome! You know the missionaries! She said, well, I don’t know the ones now because it’s been a couple of months, but I did like it when they came by.

I said, how did you feel when they’re around and teaching you? She said I felt awesome. I asked her what religion she was and she said that her family were all Christian. I said that’s awesome because we all believe in Jesus Christ.

I asked her what the things were different in our beliefs. She thought for a minute and she said the golden plates thing. I love that answer! I started to talk about the Book of Mormon. I talked about how we have prophets and they had prophets and God spoke to them. He speaks to us through their prophets and our prophet.

I told her that their prophets wrote things down and that is the Book of Mormon. I told her that the Book of Mormon teaches that God loves all of his children not just his children in Jerusalem. I told her God sent his son Jesus Christ to America so that his children here could be counted among his sheep and he that loves everyone. I testified of the Book of Mormon and of God‘s love for her and God‘s love for them.

I said, God loves everyone and he sent his son to his children which were everywhere. The spirit was strong and confirming the testimony that I bore. I could tell she was moved by the fact that she had tears in her eyes. I asked, is this what you felt when the sisters were there.? She said, yes, this is what I felt, I love this! I told her that this was the spirit of God. I told her that he sent the spirit to testify of truth and that’s why it was there because the things I was telling her were true and the things the sisters told her were true.

She said, oh I love this feeling. I told her that this was the feeling that she had between her and her father in heaven. I told her that this feeling was the thing that heavenly father has with us that helps us know what’s right and helps us come home to him.

I told her by following that spirit, seeking to have that spirit in our life and living worthy to have that spirit in our life is how we hold on to the gospel that helps us come home to our father in heaven. I told her that this is how he brings us home! I told her that he established this with us before we left to come to earth and it’s like a homing beacon. She laughed and she said, that’s awesome.

She said, this is beautiful. This makes so much sense. I told her not only did we believe that God loved everyone and sent his son for everyone but that he loved everyone no matter when they lived. I told her that 800 years ago in Samoa her ancestors had never heard of Jesus Christ, but that God‘s perfect plan allows us to be baptized for them so they can come home.

She said, you do that in temples, don’t you? I said yes! I said, it’s God‘s perfect plan so that every one of his children has a chance. She said it’s never been explained to me like that. She said that the sisters mentioned it but then moved on very quickly. She said, that makes a lot of sense a father loves all of his children. I said that’s right.

Then I decided to get down to brass tacks. I believe that I was guided by the spirit to do that and I asked her the direct question, “Why didn’t you get baptized?””Why didn’t you get baptized when the sisters asked you to get baptized?”

I said you know that’s why they stopped coming because you didn’t want to get baptized at that time. She said, yes, it’s almost like you were there. I told her that I had been there many times but that the spirit was helping me know that this was the deal in her case.

She said that in her mind she wanted to get baptized for herself. She said that she had a fiancé who was a member of the church and returned missionary. She wanted to be baptized and follow him, but she wanted to do it for herself. She thought that if she got baptized before she got married everyone would think that she got that baptize for him, and not for herself.

I thought about that for a second and I said, what do you need to do to be baptized and feel that you’re ready? She said, I guess I need to study. I don’t know what to study.

I said there are two things I want to say here. First, is that you have felt the spirit of God and it testified to you that the things we are saying are true. I asked her if that was correct and she said yes. She believed everything we talked about that day from the prophets to the Book of Mormon were true. I told her that’s what you need. That’s the knowledge that you need. You need to know that it’s important to follow God, that you want to follow God and how to follow God.

I told her that she knows that it’s important to follow God because that’s how she believes. In speaking about the spirit, I told her the spirit would teach her how to follow God. I told her that it was important to get that spirit, follow that spirit and do what that spirit says to do. I said, the spirit won’t lead you astray.

Then I told her that we have prophets and their words help guide us to know what we’re supposed to do. We follow those words. I told her an example of that is that the Prophet told us to be nice to people. I was trying to be nice and she had noticed. She nodded her head and said, yeah that’s true. I told her, that’s what he wants us to do because that’s what Jesus would do. He wants us to be more like Jesus so we can come home too.

I told her we also need to get the words of the prophets who lived before. These words are in the Bible and these words are in the words of the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said that she did but she had no idea how to study it.

I had an idea. I reached in and grabbed one of my copies of the Book of Mormon that was prepared by the Secrists. I opened the book to the front page with the questions of the soul. I gave it to her and I asked her to read those. She read them and asked me, Do all Book of Mormons have these questions here? I said no, these are specially prepared and the tabs indicate where the answers are to those questions. She said that’s amazing. These are the questions I have!

I told her that by following the tabs she can find a way to start studying. I also told her it was important to read the whole book cover to cover and to pray. I promised her that if she did that she would have the spirit with her which is what she needed.

She said that’s what I need, that’s what I want and that’s what I’ll do! She said, can I have this book? I said, yes! It’s yours.

I said, you need to be baptized but next year after your marriage seems a long way away. She said well, we won’t be able to be married sooner because I live here and he lives in California and we’re back and forth.

The spirit gave me an impression so I ran with it. I said, I know you want this to be like your idea and not his. I asked her, why does it have to be after you’re married, though? I said, why don’t you bring in the missionaries, take the lessons, set a date to be baptized, call him the day before and say I’m going to be baptized tomorrow I want you to come and be there.

I said that by doing it this way, you would absolutely be doing it by yourself and for yourself. It would be a great surprise for him. She had a great big smile on her face with tears in her eyes and she said, I think that would be an amazing way to do it. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that!

She said, I love doing little surprises like that! I think that’s exactly what I need to do. I told her that if she did that the Lord will bless her and lift her and help her through. This is what she felt like she needed in her life right now.

She said, it’s been difficult lately with my family, but I think you’re right. This is what I need. I need to have the spirit with me. I told her that Heavenly Father knew that and he was reaching out to her.

I told her that normally I didn’t believe that it was an accident when God brought me together with someone to testify. I said that in this case today there is no way I could say that because it truly was an accident they brought us together. She laughed and called it a divine accident.

She said she hadn’t felt good about going around rudderless for the next year, just waiting for the right time. She said hat this was her answer. She said, I’m going to call the missionaries tonight. I want to get going on this because I think this is going to be a lot of fun. I told her that the most important thing to remember was the spirit that she felt. I told her that right now even in a time of stress, the spirit was there.

I asked her if she was feeling stress and angst, she said no. I told her that this is because the spirit was there. I told her God puts people in my car or better yet, in my path and I share the gospel with them.

I told her that I was glad that she backed into me and we both laughed.

By this time the police officer finished whatever it was he was doing and came over and gave us our sheets of information and said we were free to go. It had been an hour since I entered into the parking garage. It cost me $10 but compared to the price of a soul that is insignificant.

She was happy and holding tightly to her Book of Mormon. She got in the car and drove off. Her return missionary boyfriend has probably been praying that her heart would be touched and that day it was. He and her father in heaven will be so pleased with the outcome of that accident.