When the spirit of Elijah calls your play, don’t drop the ball

One afternoon I was in downtown Salt Lake and I picked up a man on State Street by Temple Square. He was headed to the airport and he had no luggage.

Apparently, he was on a layover and had decided that during this time, he would run into town. He didn’t have any luggage because he checked his luggage, so the pick up was quick and easy. Sometimes when you pick people up on a busy street and they’ve got lots of luggage it can be really frustrating. For whatever reason, it’s hard for people to decide to just drive around when there is someone stopped in the inside lane.

We started to drive and it was immediately apparent that he wasn’t a member of the church. Some of the things he said let me know that this was kind of his first brush with the church. I asked him if he’d gone through the tours and he said yes. I asked him if he liked it and he said it was awesome.

He told me that he had been able to listen to a Tabernacle choir practice and that it was amazing. I decided to name drop and mentioned that my friend Richard Elliott is the primary organist for the tabernacle choir and he was duly impressed. Rick is a good friend and has been a participant in a few of my missionary opportunities. We have been friends since we served together in Argentina.

I asked him, other than the choir, what did he like? He mentioned the gardens and how everything was so beautiful. As we rounded the corner onto West Temple I pointed out the family history library. I asked him if he had gone to that building and he said, no! what’s in there?

I told him that was the family history library and that if he had more time, he could have gone in there and they could have helped him find new ancestors and learn things about his history. I told him that they have the world’s largest stash of genealogical records in that building.

I told him that there are people in there to help. If someone wants to, they can go in there and spend several hours finding things that they never knew. They can find people that they’re related to that they didn’t know of before.

He said, that would have been amazing! I would love to do that. I asked him if he was familiar with ancestry.com and other genealogical websites. He said that he was and that he always had an interest in watching shows about people looking up their ancestors. He said that it was very intriguing stuff.

He asked me if I thought there would be information in there on his family and I said, yes! I told him that all of those genealogical websites get the majority of their information from that building.

I told him that members of the church generally have free access to the basic services of those websites in exchange for sharing of information. I do know that this used to be the case and even though I’m not sure that this relationship continues, it emphasized the immensity of the work we do in genealogy in our conversation.

He said, I need to come out again one day. I will leave more time so that I can do that.

I could feel the spirit building and I knew we were going to talk about the church in particular, baptisms and how this all fits together. While he was talking, my mind, started organizing about a 10 minute discussion.

Then he asked, why in the world would your church spend so much time and money on this? He said, don’t get me wrong, it’s very cool, but what’s so important about this information?

With that question we were off! If that’s not an invitation to come on in and share your message I don’t know what is. I started with the temple!

I said, did you see the temple right next door? He said, I couldn’t miss it! He said, it’s too bad it was under construction because no one could go in.

I told him unlike the other buildings on Temple Square, the temple is a sacred place and only members of the church can go inside of temples. I told him that every other building was accessible to the public but for that building we needed special permission to go in because it is a very sacred place.

I told him that the Church of Jesus Christ has authority from God to do his work here on earth. I told him that the Church of Jesus Christ had the authority to baptize and that every person who will ever lived will get the opportunity to return and live with our father in heaven after this life. I said that the Bible teaches that each person will need to be baptized to qualify for this blessing.

I told him the baptism is a requirement to go in that building too, just like it’s a requirement to enter the kingdom of God. I told him that when construction is finished there will be a period of time when people can come out and tour that building before it is consecrated. He said, I’m going to be one of those people. I’m going to come out for that.

He said, I think everybody’s going to want to do that. That’s a beautiful historic building. I said, you’re right I told him, in that temple is where family history comes together with the salvation of God‘s children. I told him that this temple and others like it are essential in his plan.

I told him that without his temples our father in heaven would lose way too many of his children. I told him that because it’s a requirement to be baptized in order to enter into the kingdom of God everyone needs to be baptized. I told him that it’s not a baptism by a random preacher but it has to be a baptism performed by someone who has the authority to do so.

I told him that people who had received that baptism go to these temples where they perform baptisms in behalf of others. I told him that they can be baptized for their ancestors who then, having been taught the gospel, have a chance to accept that baptism and entry into the kingdom of God.

I told him that Jesus Christ himself set up the preaching of the gospel to those who had died without hearing the gospel. I told him that in the three days while he was in the tomb, according to Peter, in the Bible, Jesus organized the preaching of the gospel to those who died without the opportunity to receive it.

I asked him if God was a loving person or a hateful vengeful God. He said that he believed God was a loving person. I told him that is what we believe. I told him that we believe that God is a father and that he loves each one of us and wants each one of us to come home. That’s why he set this up so that we can go and be baptized to provide the opportunity for salvation to our ancestors.

He said, that’s awesome. He said, that sounds like it closes a loop that I hadn’t even thought of. I asked him if a loving father would make rules that would make it impossible for the majority of his children to come home and he said, no. I told him, that is why this is so necessary because the majority of Gods children never hear his word while they are alive.

I told him that a loving father in heaven who wants to save all of his children but requires baptism for entrance into his kingdom needed to have way to do both things. I told him that this is why baptisms for the dead were mentioned in the Bible, they understood this back then.

He said he wondered why we did research on other people that weren’t members of the church or relatives of church members. He said, it seems to me that you guys are getting information on everybody. They’re not just your own relatives. I said, that’s exactly right!

I told him that we are trying to do research and find names of everyone who was ever born no matter when they were born. I told him that this was important because all of those people needed to be baptized as well. We go to the temples so that we can offer salvation to our ancestors and so that we can be in the kingdom of God with our families.

He said, I love that. It’s about family. I told him it’s more than that! I told him that we also have our marriages solemnized and sealed in the temple. I told him that we are not married until “death do us part” but we are married for eternity because we have the authority to seal marriages for eternity. I told him that this means that a husband and wife and the children in that marriage can be together for eternity. Family!

I felt impressed to tell him that just as we need baptism to enter the kingdom of God, we need baptism to enter into the house of God once it has been consecrated. I told him that this is why only consecrated worthy members of the church can go. I told him that this building represents the kingdom of God on earth.

I told him, when Joseph Smith was founding the church, Peter, James and John appeared to him, laid their hands on his head and gave him the authority to seal things on earth that were sealed in heaven. This authority was given to Peter by Jesus in the New Testament. I told him, that authority has been passed down and today we have that authority.

I told him that this is a very important thing that we do in those temples as well. We seal our families and we also do that for our ancestors who have passed away. We have our ancestors sealed to their spouses and their children so we all become one big family sealed together in the kingdom of our father in heaven. He said, that’s amazing.

He said, I felt something really neat on Temple Square when I was talking to the missionaries and I feel it again right here in the car. I said, that’s the spirit of God. I told him that he and God have a personal relationship and when he’s in the presence of God, he feels his spirit. I told him that this was happening right now and that when he felt this, he knew that the things he was hearing were true and that they came from God.

He said, I know they come from God. He said, that just sounds right. He said, I need to get back out here!

He said, don’t you guys have a big temple in Berkeley as well? He said, I’ve never been up there but I’ve seen the golden Dome. (Even though it’s not a dome, I didn’t feel like correcting him but the top of the temple is golden). You’re right, that is a beautiful temple there.

He asked, what’s the difference between this temple and that temple? Is this one more? I told him that historically this was very significant but that neither of those temples was more important than the other because they did the same thing. He said, I never knew that. Then I said, you know the visitor center with the sister missionaries that you went through? He said, yes. I said they have one of those at the Oakland Temple as well.

I told him that it was just off to the north of the temple on the same temple grounds. I told him it was a beautiful rounded building and in the basement of that building there is a family history center with nearly everything that is available in the temple square church history museum.

I told him that if he would go to the visitor center, they could take him down and help him do research for his family. He said that he would love that.

10 minutes were up and we were at the airport. It was time for him to go and I said, I want you to remember what you felt. I promised him that if he would go to the temple in Oakland he would feel that same spirit and he would know what they told him was true. He said he would do that and he got out of the car and left.

I immediately received another ride from the airport into town. As I was driving to pick up that next person I was kicking myself. I was saying to myself, why didn’t you give him a Book of Mormon? I felt like I had failed because I had received an impression to give him a Book of Mormon but I just hadn’t done it because it just didn’t seem like the set up was right. It seemed like it would’ve been out of left field.

As I drove, I just didn’t feel great. I just kept making excuses to myself as to why I had failed but I knew that I had been prompted to give the Book of Mormon and I hadn’t followed the prompting. The new people got in my car. They were people from New Mexico in town for a blues festival. They were really great people and we were talking about music when all of a sudden, the lady said, someone forgot their phone!

The man who I just dropped off had left his phone in the backseat and this lady had found it. I knew that this was my opportunity to finish the job. This was my opportunity to give him his Book of Mormon.

I had no way of reaching out to this man but I knew that he would find a way to call his phone. That’s what I would do! I would pray that somebody would answer that phone. I put it up in the front seat by me and drove these people to their hotel in downtown Salt Lake.

I dropped them off and headed back to the airport because I knew he would be calling. I knew that before he got on his plane he would need to have his phone. I knew he would be calling. Sure enough on my way to the airport the phone rang. It was this man looking for his phone.

I told him that I had it and that I was on my way back to the airport right now to bring it to him. I told him I would meet him in the exact same place.

I opened up my glove box and pulled out a Book of Mormon. It’s one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and put it on my lap. I knew that if there was ever a time for a specialized book with the questions of the soul and the markings this was it. I had very little time to set it up so that was great.

I did however know that this is why he left the phone in the car. He left the phone in the car because I was supposed to have given him a Book of Mormon. The Lord was giving me a second chance and I wasn’t going to drop the ball this time.

As I pulled up, there he was right where I dropped him off. I got out of the car and gave him his phone and the Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and told him that it was an ancient record of the people who lived in America thousands of years ago. I told him that they had prophets just like they had prophets in Israel because God loves everyone. I told him that the gospel is for everyone no matter where they lived or when they lived. I told him it was the same program as baptisms for everyone who would ever live.

He said, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you bringing back my phone and giving me this book. He said, I will read it and I will treasure it. He said, I’ll go to the visitor center over there in Oakland because I want to feel that again.

He said thank you and walked in to go to his flight. Sometimes thankfully God does give us a second chance. Just don’t drop the ball.
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