.One day I picked up a lady at a hotel in downtown Salt Lake. She was headed for Ross Dress for Less. I asked her, I suppose you’re trying to dress for less? I always tell people that as a dad and a grandpa I am qualified to tell dad jokes. Much to my chagrin there wasn’t even a smile. There wasn’t an explanation or anything. It’s like it went right over her head.
I asked her where she was from and she, said no speak English very well. This surprised me because of how well she pronounced the words that she did say and it made me feel like less of a failure with the dad joke. It had me fooled into thinking that she did speak English. I asked her what language she spoke and she said Spanish.
I said, Perfecto! and I started speaking in Spanish. She started talking to me for a minute and then said, wait, you’re speaking Spanish! I laughed and said yes.
She said, where did you learn to speak such Spanish? I said, I learned it when I was I’m missionary in Argentina. By this time I knew she was from Argentina because I could tell through her accent and when I said that she lit up.
She asked me where I served and when I was there. I told her that I was all over the north eastern part of the country and the northern part of the province of Buenos Aires.
I told her I spent my mission teaching people about Jesus and what we believe. I told her it was important that we love Jesus and we do what he says.
The spirit gave me the impression that she was afraid to bring up questions because she didn’t want to offend me. I asked her, what do you know about the church? She said that she didn’t know very much. I told her that there are a lot of similarities between our church and her church. We believe in Jesus and that he was crucified, died and resurrected for us so that we can be clean and return to God.
She said, we believe that too! I said, we believe that prophets are God’s messengers and that when the profits received God’s words, they wrote them down and this is why we have the Bible. This is why we have both the New Testament and the Old Testament.
She said, we believe that too! She said, there are a lot of people in Argentina that believe in Jesus but they don’t go to church. I told her I was well aware of that but in our church we go to church more often so that we can stay close to God.
She said, I suppose that’s one of the differences. I told her we go on missions and we minister to the people in our geographic area so that we can do the things that Jesus would do and serve the way Jesus would serve. She said, I like that! That way people are engaged.
I told her we have more belief and more information about Jesus than they do. I told her that he had mentioned that he had other sheep that were not in Israel and that he went to those sheep. I told her that those people were in America and other places.
I told her that the people in America also had prophets who had received revelation and had written down the commandments from God so that the people would have them. I told her that the way God shows his love to us, is by giving us commandments so that we can be happy and we don’t fall into evil.
She said, I believe that but I’ve never heard it spoken. I’ve always kind of been taught that God will punish us if we don’t keep the commandments but have never considered the benefit of commandment obedience being a blessing from God.
I said, a lot of the problems in the world, a lot of the broken families, violence and general evil that happens are the result of people choosing not to obey the commandments of God. He gives us commandments so that we can have guard rails that keep us on the path where we want to be. They keep us on the path to happiness.
She said, I like that, it’s like a positive reason to like the commandments, not just fearing God. I told her that I personally believe that fearing God does not mean being afraid of God. Fearing God does not mean he’s out to get me. I told her that fearing God means not wanting to disappoint him.
I told her that our Heavenly Father is the God of everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem. That’s why he had prophets in America and other places because God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. He gave them commandments just like he gave the people in Jerusalem because he wanted them to be happy as well.
She said, that makes total sense. I told her that God is a loving father and he wants each of us to come home. He wants each of us to be happy. That’s a God that I want to sacrifice for. That’s a God that I want to serve. She said, i love that! That’s why you guys go missions.
I said, on our missions we teach that Jesus Christ came to America. We teach that prophets had prophesied that he would come because God loves everyone. I told her that Jesus descended from heaven and stood in their midst, they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet
I said, that’s not an angry god, that’s a loving God. I told her that after he visited the people in America, he said he was going to other places. I told her that there were other places not in Jerusalem or in America where he said he would go.
I told her that there are different traditions in many religions that sound an awful lot like “the son of God came down and dwelt among them”. I shared a couple with her and she said that she had no clue. I said, God is the God of everyone. God has all power, and he shared his son with all of the house of Israel not just the ones in Jerusalem and America. She said, I’d never thought of it that way,.
I told her that the prophecies of the prophets from America were recorded on plates and later translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. I asked her if she’d heard of Joseph Smith and she said yes. I told her that he was looking for the true church and went to the forest, prayed and then was visited by God the father and Jesus Christ. I told her that they called him to be the prophet and to restored Jesus’s church on the Earth.
I told her that later, one of the prophets who had lived in America appeared to him and gave him these plates that had been recorded by the ancient prophets of America. By the power of God he translated them. I told her that this is the Book of Mormon.
I asked her if she’d heard of the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She said, I even know a member of your church. She said, I live a few blocks away from your temple in Buenos Aires. I said, that’s awesome! I asked, who is the member that you know?
She said that it was her English teacher. She said that he lived in San Pedro. I told her that San Pedro was a city in my mission. She said that he had a wife and three kids. She asked me if I knew him. I kind of chuckled because even though Sam Pedro was in my mission, this guy wasn’t even born when I was there. I said, I do not know him but we are brothers. We are all brothers in Christ.
She said, that is so cool. I want to have a conviction like that in my life. I told her that her friend would be able to help her. I told her that her teacher might be able to teach her something that would help her much more than the English she was learning. She nodded her head and said, I think you’re right. There was a sweet calming over the car.
We had arrived at Ross Dress for Less and she wasn’t moving. I could tell that she was enjoying the spirit and that her spirit was soaking up the presence of its father. I asked her what she felt and she said she felt like she was shining from the inside. I told her that this was the spirit of her father in heaven and when she fell it she would know that the things she was hearing were true. I told her God’s spirit wasn’t around to try to trick us and this is how he brings us home. He uses his spirit.
She said, I love that! How do I learn more? I reached into the glove box and pulling out of Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists, I said, by reading this. As luck would have it, the Book of Mormon I grabbed was not the Spanish one that I meant to grab. It was an English Book of Mormon.
The spirit taught me how to proceed. I said, here is a Book of Mormon. It is the ancient record of the writings of the prophets in America. It was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith and we have it today, this is your copy. She said, are you sure it’s OK for me to take? I said, yes!
I said, it’s in English. I want you to show this book to your teacher and tell him about what you felt in the car and what you’ve learned. You need to ask him if he could teach you more about this. She said, that would be so amazing! He is a good man and I’m sure he’ll do it.
She said, my next lesson, this book is coming with me. I told her that in the front of that book were the questions of the soul that people have and the answers are in the tabs. I told her to have him go over them with her. She said she would.
She said, I am excited to talk to him about this. It seems to me to be a better way forward and my spirit sure does like what it’s feeling right now.
I thanked her, she grabbed my shoulder and thanked me too. She got out of the car, clinging to the Book of Mormon. Bonus material for her English class!
Sometimes God sends you a lift 