One day I got a ride up at Primary Children’s Hospital. The nurse came out with a mother, about a two-year-old daughter, and probably 12 bags of food. These were plastic grocery bags and she filled the whole back of my car with them. We put her daughter in the car and then put the stroller they were using on top of the food. It was all packed really tight.
We started to drive out and I told her that I hoped it have been a good day but you never really can count on that when you pick people up at that place. She smiled and said, I know what you mean. It was pretty good, she’s not 100% better yet but we’re getting there.
The two year-old daughter looked kind of out of it and had fallen asleep before we were out of the parking lot. I think that’s how I must look when I’m tired.
I started to talk to her about her daughter and she said that her daughter was on the spectrum but that she had had pneumonia. She said it was really hard on her for whatever reason.
I could tell she was a good mother and the spirit told me that it was time to talk about church. I started trying to figure out a way to get into that conversation. First we were talking about the colleges in the area and then we were talking about how much college cost.
I said that I went to BYU. She said she had lots of friends from her work when she lived in Seattle that had gone to BYU. That was my in. I told her that for a private school BYU was very affordable. I told her the most private schools are $50,000 to $100,000 a year for tuition. I said that private schools are really expensive.
I said that, however, BYU is very affordable. I told her that members of the church pay around $9000 a year and nonmembers pay around $12,000 a year. She was astounded. She asked how it could be that inexpensive. I told her, we call the tithing scholarship in our house. I told her that each one of my kids had gone to BYU, and that this was the only way they could have afforded that education. The fact that the people in the church pay tithing and the church uses tithing to pay a large portion of what the actual cost is. It turns out to be about 70% to 80%.
She was impressed. She said, even the nonmember rate is much better than most in-state tuition. I said yes. I said, the members of the church really believe in education. I asked her where she went to church and she said that she didn’t really go to church but she was Catholic.
I told her that while she was here and living here in Salt Lake, she should look into our church the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said, I was just thinking about that yesterday. She said, I was thinking that I should do that.
She said, I think the closest one is down on 2100 S. given the fact that she lived just off 13th South I told her that I was sure that she wouldn’t be going that far to go to church. I asked her how well she knew the Catholic doctrine and she said she knew it pretty well. I asked her if she knew what the difference was between the Catholic doctrine and the our and the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said she didn’t.
I asked her if it would be OK if I told her some of the differences. She said she would love that. I started by saying a prayer in my heart to know exactly what this obviously frazzled mother needed to hear. The thought of a loving Heavenly Father came to mind and that worked for me. I love to teach that.
I told her that we believe that our father in heaven is exactly that. He’s not a detached God looking for revenge, but a loving father in heaven. A father, who wants to love us, help us and bring us home. I told her that we lived with him for thousands of years and he knows us and we know him.
As I started talking about my father in heaven, it felt very personal and the spirit filled the car. I could tell she was feeling it and loving it. We had arrived at her house and I could tell we had more time because her daughter was snoring.
I went a little more deeply into it. I said our father in heaven loves us, everyone of us, no matter where we were born, or when we were born. He wants us all to come home. I asked, what kind of a father would he be if he wasn’t trying to get everyone of his children home. She said, I really believe that.
I told, her we believe that because he loved everyone he didn’t just have prophets in Israel. I told her that God blesses his children by giving them commandments through his prophets. She said, so he would tell them what he wanted them to say to the people. I said, yes. God would reveal his word to his prophets, they would tell the people and they wrote them down. That’s why we have the Bible.
I told her there were also prophets in America and they did the same thing. I told her that they wrote the words of God, so that the people could be blessed, so that his children could be blessed and feel his love. She said, that’s beautiful. I said, these prophets in America prophesied of Jesus Christ and that he would come.
I told her that in the Bible, we know that Jesus Christ loved the people, blessed the people and suffered and died for all of us. I told her that we know in the book of Peter in the Bible, that while he was dead, Jesus went to the spirit world and taught the people. He set up the organization for the teaching of the people who had died and would die without having a good opportunity to receive the gospel.
I told her that our Heavenly Father loves all of his children and he wants everyone to be taught. She said, that is so cool.
I told her that after this, Jesus was resurrected on the third day. He taught his disciples and then he said “other sheep I have which are not of this fold”. He said that he was going to go to them. I asked her who she thought he was talking about. She said she didn’t know. I told her he was talking about the people who lived here in America. The people whose prophets had prophesied he would come. I told her that he descended from heaven, bright and brilliant and stood on the steps of the temple. I told her that the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and asked him to save them.
I told her that in response and as an answer to that plea, he gave the authority to baptize and commanded that each one of them be baptized. Even though they had already been baptized previously he wanted everyone of them to be baptized to this new covenant, to this new level that he brought to them.
I told her that this new level of discipleship was really important. I said that in this new level of discipleship we are able to save not only ourselves but those who have passed on. I told her that through the teachings of the Book of Mormon, we understand that those who die before they are able to sin and or those who are unable to understand sin are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Every one of them!!!! I said, that’s different than what you guys believe. Her eyes filled with tears and she said, I have never believed that they would go to hell.
She said, every time I was told that all throughout my life I knew it wasn’t true. I told her that the spirit has always born witness of the truthfulness of the atonement of Jesus Christ to her and that this atonement paid for those children. I told her that the original sin of Adam was paid for by Jesus Christ and that we are only held accountable for our own sins, once we are at the age and understanding to be able to commit them.
The spirit was intense. She was very emotional. I asked her, do you feel that? She said, yes! I said, how does it feel? She said, I can barely contain myself, it’s very powerful. I told her that it was the spirit of God. His spirit was there with us and it was there to testify that the things that I was saying were true.
I pointed out to her that she had felt it earlier in the car as I taught about the gospel and it testified then as well. She said, I don’t think it ever left.
I told her that the spirit helps us know God‘s will. The spirit helped her know, the baptism that Jesus gave, and this new level were of him and he expected that of all of us. She said she agreed. I asked her if she knew that this was true and she said yes. I felt that right then it was really important for me to bear my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith.
I bore my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and about how ama young man with a second grade education translated the Book of Mormon as we have it today from a language he didn’t read, nor did he understand. I told her that he did it by the power of God and that there’s no other power that could’ve made that possible.
I told her that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that under the direction of Jesus Christ, he restored his church. Today we have a prophet and 12 apostles who teach us and bless us. They help us so that we can know how to come home to our father in heaven.
I told her that this new level included salvation for those who had passed on. I asked her if she remembered when Jesus went to set up the preaching of the gospel to those were passed on? She said yes. I asked her, do they need to be baptized? She said yes (in a questioning tone) I said, you’re right, they do need to be baptized unless they were under the age of accountability. I asked her how they could be baptized.
She said she had no idea. I told her that we go to our temples and we do what is called baptism for the dead. I told her we go there and we are baptized for and behalf of the person who has died. That person gets the opportunity to accept the teachings that they have received. I explained it a couple times and a couple of different ways because I didn’t think she was getting it. All of a sudden the light came on and she said I get it, you are baptized, but they are the ones that make the covenant and get the blessing. I said yes.
I told her it’s really important that we bless the people who have passed on, who are our family members. It’s very important that we help them come to Christ just like he invited us to come to him. She said, that so cool!
I said, in our temples we are also sealed, married for all time and all eternity. She said, is that just husbands and wives or is the family sealed to them as well? I said, husbands and wives are sealed. Their children are added to that sealing, and we are sealed for our ancestors, who have passed so that they can all have those blessings in the eternities.
She said, that is amazing. I said, these are some of the differences between our church and your church. I told her that our church has the fullness of the gospel. We have the plan of a loving father, making it possible for every one of his children to come home no matter where they were from or when they lived.
She said she liked that. I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said she didn’t. I reached into my glove box and pulled out one of the Book of Mormons prepared by Secrists. I gave it to her and explained the questions of the soul, and how to find the answers. I told her that this book was the book that was written by those prophets in America that lived here in ancient times.
I told her that if she reads this book she would feel the same feeling that we were feeling right now in the car. Again, I felt the prompting to bear my testimony. I testified of Joseph Smith. I testified of the Book of Mormon and that we have a latter-day prophet and apostles.
I asked her if it would be OK if I helped her find where her church was. She asked me if I was sure it wasn’t on 21st South and I said, I’m sure it’s not. I looked it up and it was only a block and a half away from her house. I asked her if she wanted to drive over there and she said yes. We drove over and she talked about how beautiful it was and how she couldn’t wait to go there.
I asked her if it would be OK if I had missionaries come over and teach her and help her get to church. She said yes but her daughter was just out of the hospital with pneumonia. She thought that she should wait until the following week to go. She didn’t want to expose her daughter to a whole bunch of germs. She asked if that would be OK. I chuckled and said absolutely.
I looked up the missionaries in the members Tools app. They’ve redesigned it and it’s a lot easier to use now. I quickly sent in her referral and was given the names of the missionaries. I called them.
Once I had them on the phone, I explained the situation and I mentioned that she would like to have them come over. I asked if I could give her my phone so that they could set a time. They said yes and I handed her my phone. One thing to note here is that she had not lived here very long so she didn’t have a phone that was operating yet so establishing this contact was important.
They set the appointment for the following week and decided that they would meet in the church house with a member sister.
To wrap it all up, everybody’s excited. She wants to be baptized and wants to go to church. That’s what I call a good ride!
Sometimes God sends you a lift 