It’s always fun when grandpa comes

One weekend my grandchildren were in town and we had a lot of fun. On Monday we had gone around playing and I hadn’t worked. I felt like I would just let it go because I had to go to the doctor first thing Tuesday morning. I didn’t think that as late as it was when everybody went to bed there would be any point.

As everybody went to bed, I got the prompting that I needed to go out and work. This was very contrary to what I’d previously been thinking because I had to get up early the next morning for the grandkids to leave before my doctors appointment. Again I got the prompting to go out and work after everyone went to bed. I grabbed a hat and told Heather I was going to go work but just until midnight.

It was 10:30 when I finally turned on the app. When I turned it on, I was down in Provo. My first ride was from a place down by UVU from what I could tell. I started to drive there and as I approached UVU it looked to me like the person was in Wolverine Landing which is on the west side of the freeway.

As I started to pass the entryway to the college, the location switched and then I was past the entrance. My first thought was, just get in the turn lane, do a U-turn and there you are. I got in that lane and then looked up and saw the no U-turn sign.

Now I was in trouble. I had to drive clear down to Provo to turn around and come back up. I called the passenger and told them what I had done and that I would be a while and that he might want to call another ride. He said, no, we will wait for you.

I said, where are you going? He said, we’re going to the UTA station by the hospital on 53rd South. My heart sunk. My thought process had been to go out and get a few rides and now I was only gong to get one. I was going to spend an hour and 15 minutes and make only $15.

I silently prayed that if this wasn’t a ride that was going to be good that they would cancel. They didn’t cancel and several minutes later, I pulled up in front of the building where they were and they got in.

These kids had been down to a show at UVU. They said they missed the train by 15 minutes and so now they were having to take Uber. We did all the normal chat about who’s who and where everyone is from. They were from West Valley City. There were two in the back seat and the guy who ordered the ride was in the front.

The guy in the front had 1 million questions and he was asking me everything. Sometimes that gets old because you answer the same questions thousands of times in a month. I went through the questions and then the thought occurred to me, you know if he’s asking questions that means you can ask questions too.

I heard the words “you know why you’re here.” At that point I just knew I needed to get into a gospel discussion with him but he seemed like a non-interested party.

They didn’t seem like bad kids but just kids that were all about everything. All they could talk about was everything worldly that they had going on in their lives. Nothing ever included anything that would give me an inkling that religion was one of the things that they might be interested in. It was funny how quickly the two in the backseat began to fade. The one in the front seat was the only one I could see and the only one I could hear.

I have learned that this is kind of an indication that the Lord wants me to talk to that person specifically and not everyone in general. I started asking him about friends of his that went on missions. I said, you grew up in Utah right? He said partially Mexico, but he was born in Utah and came back to Utah for high school.

I said, you have friends that went on missions, right? He said, yes! He said he had one that went to the Philippines and one good friend that went to Mexico. He said he loved that because even though that kid never had a desire to learn any Spanish before his mission, when he came back, he spoke really well. He said that he was really impressed by that.

I told him I went on my mission to Argentina. From that point on he wanted to only speak Spanish even though his English was perfect. That is usually not the case but with him it was. We talked about how my sons went to Latin American missions and so we can talk in Spanish if we want. He was really enjoying that conversation. Then I threw the pitch. It was a fastball right down the middle.

I said, well, if your friends went on their missions, why didn’t you get baptized. I hadn’t even asked him if he was a member yet, but the spirit said be direct and so I asked the question point blank.

He said, well, it’s because I’m so busy. I don’t have time with everything‘ that is going on and it’s just not in my schedule. I told him that we can’t let work get in the way of doing God’s will. I asked him if he loved God and he said yes. I asked him what he would do for God. He said anything. I asked him if that included going to church once a week or having five lessons with the missionary so that he could be baptized. He thought for a second and said, I guess I need to prioritize God.

He said, I have been prioritizing my business that I have and the things I’m doing so much that I guess I really never considered the importance of giving any time to God. I told him that’s what his friends had done. They had gone on their missions and they had spent two years serving God, loving people, and teaching about Jesus Christ. I asked him if he thought that hurt them. He said, no! They were much better people after their missions!

I told him that’s how it works when we get close to God it makes us better. He said that he hadn’t thought about that. I asked him if he wanted to know what his friends taught while they were on their missions. He said yes.

Culturally and by the spirit, I discerned that he was Catholic and said, do you believe the things that you learned in Catholicism about Jesus and Heavenly Father? He said, yes. I told him that we believe those same things but we believe more.

I told him that it is like he had lived his life eating meat and meat is good and he liked meat and thought that it was good enough. The problem comes when now he’s finding out that with our church, we have potatoes, salad and dessert. It makes the meal more amazing.

He said, what are the different things that you believe? I said, we believe that God loves everyone in the world that ever lived, that ever will live no matter where they live. God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem.

I told him we had prophets in Jerusalem and because of their writings we have the Bible. I told him that there had been prophets in America too. They wrote the prophecies that were given to his ancestors because God loves everyone, not just the people in Jerusalem.

I told him that Abraham’s seed had been scattered throughout the world according to the Bible and they were always remembered by God.

I told him that when Jesus came here to the Americas he taught the people. He loved the people, he blessed the children and then he said, other sheep, I have, which are not of this fold or this land. He said, I have received a commandment from my father to go to them. I asked him if he had any thoughts about where those other sheep might’ve been. He looked puzzled for a second and then I said, in America. Your ancestors are some of those other sheep.

I told him that the prophets here in America had prophesied that Jesus would come. He appeared to them and descended down and stood on the steps of the temple. I told him that his ancestors, his many greats grandparents touched the prints of the nails in his hands, and they asked him to save them.

I could tell he was really connected to this idea and the spirit was in the car. I said, your ancestors knelt at the feet of Jesus Christ. I said, your ancestors touched his hands and feet and your ancestors were held in his arms and blessed by his power.

I said that in answer to their plea for salvation, he instructed them how to be baptized, gave them the authority to baptize and then commanded that they all be baptized by his baptism, even though they’d been previously baptized in their church. I told him that it was Jesus‘s expectation they each receive this baptism. They needed to take that step to get the rest of the meal. He said, to complete the whole picture. I said, yes.

I told him that they were all baptized, and that the children were brought to Jesus. He blessed them, and angels came down and surrounded them. I said, these are your ancestors and that is your religious heritage, it is your spiritual inheritance.

He said, wow, that’s amazing. The spirit was really strong and I asked him to tell me what he was thinking and feeling. He said, my mind is exploding right now. What I am learning makes so much sense and it’s like a light in my brain is coming on every second you talk.

I asked him how he felt and he said, peaceful and happy. I said, that’s the spirit of God and it’s here to help you know that the things that I am saying are true. I told him that God put him in my car so that he could hear these things and know that they are true.

He said, I know that this is true. He said, this feeling is undeniable. I said, once Jesus had done these things, he said to the people, still other sheep I have that are not of Jerusalem or America and that he was going to go to them. He was going to these others because he is the God of all the people on the earth.

I told him that those prophets that were in America wrote down those prophecies just like they did in the Bible. They wrote the teachings of Jesus Christ and his visitation just like they did in the Bible. I told him that because of this we have the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Book of Mormon is the collection of those writings. I told him that they were given to Joseph Smith. He said, I’ve heard about Joseph Smith. Isn’t he the one that founded your church? Didn’t he have a vision of God and Jesus? I said, yes, and he also interpreted the book written by your ancestors by the power of God. That book contains the teachings of Jesus to your ancestors and that’s how we know this.

I told him that in Mexico it is a great tradition and knowledge, that there was a great white God who came, blessed the people and said he would come back. He said yes Kukulkan is his name, and yes, I’m very familiar with that. He paused a moment and then said, oh, that makes sense. I like this. It’s completing the meal.

A few minutes earlier on, I had been contemplating talking about baptisms for the dead but had gone straight into Jesus coming to America and the Book of Mormon. The spirit came back with force again and told me that the complete message would not be given until I talked about baptism for the dead.

I decided I had better do it, so I asked, what does your church teach happens to a child who is born and is never baptized?He said, they can’t go be with God. I asked him if he thought that was correct and he said, no, nobody believes that. I asked him if he thought that the complete and finished version of the gospel of Jesus Christ would include a better answer for that question. He said, yes.

I asked him if that would include the people that were born in Africa or China 1000 years ago. He said, yes. I said, it’s because God is a perfect father, who loves all of his children. A perfect father will not condemn 90% of his children just because they didn’t have the opportunity. He said, that’s right

I said, we were taught by Jesus in the Book of Mormon, that children who die without having the opportunity to be baptized are saved by Jesus Christ and go straight to heaven. He said, kind of the opposite of what we believe. I said yes.

I said, furthermore, all of those people who died in China or Africa without receiving the gospel, God has a plan for them, too. God has a plan for everyone of his children to hear the gospel because he loves each of us individually. I said, if someone is not baptized because they didn’t have the right opportunity to be baptized God gives us the ability to be baptized in their name and they have the opportunity to accept that baptism.

I said, we go to temples, we’re baptized in the name of that person, and then in the spirit world they have the chance to accept that baptism. He lit up.

He said, so what you’re telling me is that let’s say, someone wanted to get baptized, but was not able because of circumstances to do it, they would then be able to accept a baptism I did for them?

I said, yes that’s how it works. He said, this is an amazing answer to a question I’ve had. He said, my grandfather was never baptized in any church but he met some Mormon missionaries in San Diego and decided to get baptized. Right before the baptismal date he got an emergency transfer out of San Diego. He spent the rest of the war fighting in the Pacific theater. When he returned, he was a bit messed up. Then he married my grandma and it never came back around.

When he died, he mentioned that this was one of his great regrets. He wished he’d been baptized and hadn’t had to leave early.

Now I knew why the impression to teach this doctrine came so strongly. I looked in the back and it seemed like it was a different world back there in the backseat. In the front it was light. I felt like his grandpa was there and I told him that once he’s baptized he can go to the temple and be baptized for his grandfather. I told him his grandfather could have that baptism and fulfill that wish through him.

He was emotional and riding high with the spirit. I told him to feel again and remember that feeling that he had right then. He said he could never forget it. I told him that this feeling was given to him so that he could know how to come home to his father and how to bring his grandfather with him.

He said, this is something I need to do and this is something I will do. I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the books and gave it to him. He said, are you sure? Is it OK if I take this? I said, yes, it’s yours.

It was one of the books prepared by the Secrists and I explained the tabs and the questions of the soul. I told him that as he reads this book, written by his ancestors, he will know why his grandfather wanted to be baptized and it would prepare him to go do that very thing.

I asked him if he was still in touch with his friends who went on missions and he said, yes. I told him to call the one who went to Mexico and tell him about tonight. I told him to ask him if he could go to his church and if he would go with him. He said he would do that.

We had arrived where we were going and the other guys got out of the car and started walking off, but he stayed for a while because as he said, “I love how it feels here”. I said, when you are baptized you can have that with you all the time.

I told him that the invitation that Jesus gave to his ancestors to be baptized was the same invitation that his grandfather had accepted and it was the same invitation that was being extended to him through that book. I asked him if that made sense to him. He said, yes. I asked him if he would do that, and he said, at this point, I think I have to.

He said, I’m going to call my friend, go to church, and then take care of my grandpa. I said, I think he is here with us and maybe it’s him taking care of you too! He said yes, I love that.

He turned around and walked off. On the drive home I contemplated about balking at the thought of going out that night. I was so blessed by the fact that I listened to the spirit.