One day I was downtown and I got a ride out in Rose Park. It was kind of right in the middle of Rose Park and when I turned the corner, I found the building where I was to pick up my ride to be an old LDS Chapel. The chapel was built in 1902 judging by the placard on the front of the building.
As I pulled up, I imagined all the amazing experiences people had in that building and the manifestations of the spirit. I remember hearing all of President Monson’s talks about Rose Park and being a bishop in Rose Park. I had to believe that possibly he was Bishop in that building or at least visited that building.
I was enjoying the thought when I pulled up to the side of the building and I saw that it had been purchased and repurposed as an addiction recovery center. A man came out and said that I was supposed to give him a ride. I thought that I recognized him from a previous ride or something and said so.
He looked in his phone and said that he didn’t think so as he looked up his ride history. The spirit told me that the reason that I recognized him was not that he had been in my car but that I was supposed to testify to him.
He was pretty open about the fact that he was in an addiction recovery program. He said that it was really cool for the addiction recovery program to be housed in a church. He said that he felt the spirit of God living there. He told me that the bad people they could see in the streets would just walk by on the other side of the road instead of walking close to the church. It’s almost like they knew not to bring that stuff there.
He said he felt protected there and loved in it. I told him my philosophy about addiction. I told him how I believe that our natural yearning to have the spirit of God in our soul is counterfeited by Satan through the use of drugs and alcohol.
I told him that our spirits lived with our father in heaven for thousands years and we crave his presence. Being in the presence of God is the most hardwired things to our soul. I told him it’s like there’s a hole in our soul that is intended to be filled by the spirit.
I told him that people want to fill that hole in their soul, where the spirit should be but chose to fill it by getting high and riotous living. It never last and it never stays so they need more and more of it and then they get addicted. He said, that’s exactly right. He said that he had been addicted to methamphetamine. I told him that one thing he should know is that the feeling that is supposed to be there, the spirit of God, is a manifestation of his love.
I told him that the love of God is what he really needs to fill that with and that the love of God is real. I told him God loves him and that I wanted him to know that. He was quiet for a minute and said, I’ve always considered myself spiritual, but I’ve never considered love from an actual father.
I said, that’s exactly what you have, love from a father and he’s reaching out to you. He said, you’re Mormon aren’t you? I said, 100%, yes I am. He said, you know my family has history with the Mormons. I said, really? Tell me about it.
He said, my great great grandfather was a slave who had joined the church and came west with Brigham Young in the first company of Pioneers. He showed me a statue of his great great grandfather that is up at the This Is The Place Monument as well as a description of who is great great grandfather was.
He said, when they got here, Brigham Young freed my great great grandfather from slavery and he gave him land. He said, my mom still lives on that land. I said, that’s really cool. Brigham Young was a great prophet and he freed your great great grandfather from slavery but I’m here to tell you today that this isn’t the only slavery we are talking about.
I told him that the addiction he was fighting was real slavery as well. I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ and using the spirit of God he could fill that hole so that he could fight the chemical addiction without having to fight the spiritual one.
I told him that the spirit of God will fill that hole and he could seek after that instead of drugs. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ is so important to him because Christ suffered for our infirmities, our sins, our injustices and all of the negative things that happen to us. He can make it right.
I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ he could find peace in his soul that would allow him to be successful in his battle.
The spirit was in the car as I testified. I asked him if he felt it and he said yes. Jesus Christ wants you to be freed from the chains of your slavery to this drug just as Brigham Young freed your great great grandfather from the chains of physical slavery.
I told him, that’s why you’re in my car today. I told him that God puts people in my car and through the gift of the Holy Ghost he whispers to my heart the things to say. I was impressed to tell him that this is why I was here and that he was being watched over and guided by two fathers, his father in heaven and his great great grandfather.
I told him that I had the impression that he’d been thinking a lot about his great great grandfather since he moved into that chapel and that his great great grandfather was in his thoughts and his heart today during our ride.
He said, yes! It’s very true. He said, I feel him here and I can’t quit thinking about him all the time. I spend hours thinking about him as I sit in that chapel in my room.
I told him it’s because those two fathers want him to get on the path. They want him to get on the wagon so to speak because on that wagon they’re headed to where he needs to go.
I asked him if he was ever baptized and he said no. He said that his father‘s family were kind of rebellious and that he went along with them.
I told him that when he got in the car, I realized that I was supposed to talk to him about the church. He said, “that doesn’t surprise me because I felt like I had to ask you if you were Mormon. Like I said, strange things have been happening lately”. I told him that this is a wonderful thing that God is reaching out to him and that his great great grandfather is helping.
I told him that I had the impression that he had done some things that he considered very shameful and he felt horrible about it. I told him that satan is telling him that he couldn’t be forgiven of those things and that he was lost. I told him that Satan was telling him that he had no worth and I told him that Satan was wrong.
He said, I don’t know about Satan, but I have those thoughts all the time. I told him that those thoughts come from Satan because they are lies and that’s what he does, he lies. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ made it so that he could be saved. I told him that Jesus and his atonement are more powerful than any sin.
He said, that’s amazing. I told him that in the church, we have an addiction recovery program. I felt to tell him that I believed that is one of the reasons why he was in my car. He could heal himself and then do great good by lifting others in that program. He said, do you think I could? I would love that! I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.
I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I told him he needed one. I told him that he needed to have the spirit with him. I said that he could read that book and the spirit of God would come. I asked him if he could feel a craving for his addiction right then and he said, no, no I can’t. I asked him if he could feel the spirit of God and he said yes. He said, that makes your point.
I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ can fill us and make us whole.
I asked him if he knew what the Book of Mormon was and he said, no. He said is it a Bible? I said that it’s a little like the Bible but that God had prophets in America just like he had prophets in Jerusalem and they wrote their prophecies down just like they did in Jerusalem. I told him that the writings of those prophets make up the Book of Mormon.
I told him that Joseph Smith was looking for the truth and that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be a prophet. He was given those records to translate so that we can have their words today.
I reached into my console and grabbed a Book of Mormon. It’s one of the ones prepared by the Secrisst and I gave it to him. I said, this is the Book of Mormon. It is another testament of Jesus Christ and it teaches us about the atonement. It helps us come closer to God. It will help you in your pursuit. If you will read the Book of Mormon, you will feel the power of God. He said, I will read that book and I will study that book.
I told him that in the Book of Mormon it talks about Jesus coming to America. I asked him if he’d ever heard that Jesus came to America and he said no, he’d never heard that. I told him about Jesus saying he had other sheep and he was commanded to go to them. I told him that then he came to America and visited the people in America and taught them and blessed them. He loved them and then said he had still other sheep, not in Jerusalem or America and that he had been commanded to go visit.
I asked him where he thought those other people might be located? He thought for a second and said,Africa. I said, I believe that. I said, Isaiah taught that this was a possibility. I said, I believe Jesus held your ancestors and blessed them and taught them to be baptized.
I asked him if he thought it was important to be baptized. He thought about it for a minute and said, a lot of people think so. I told him to go to heaven, we need to be baptized because there’s no way to be clean if we don’t get baptized. I told him baptism is the key to opening the gates of heaven so that we can go through.
I looked at his eyes in the mirror and I asked, how would it feel to be 100% clean? He said, that would feel amazing. I said, when you’re baptized, you will be cleansed 100% and you will be clean before God. He said, I never thought that I could be that guy.
I told him that every single person needs to be baptized. When Jesus came to America he commanded the people here be baptized. He commanded that they be baptized in the way he told them to and by the authority he gave them. I told him that we have that same baptism today.
I told him that his great great grandfather had received that baptism and that’s why he was able to be there with him today to help him and to lift him. I told him that his salvation and his sobriety is really important to his great great grandfather and to his father in heaven.
I told him, this journey begins here today but it ends with your baptism. I told him, you need to be baptized by that same baptism that your great great grandfather had. He said, I will do that!
The spirit was strong in the car and we could feel the presence of his great great grandfather. I asked him one more time if he could feel the spirit and he said, yes! I asked him, what does it feel like? He said, it feels like I’m floating and I love it. I told him that when he feels the spirit, he knows that the things he’s hearing are true. I told him that now he knows that these things are true. He said, they are things I’ve never considered before today, but to me, it’s clear that they are true.
He said, there’s something bigger than both of us working here. It brought you here and put me in your car today so that you could give me this message. He said, you knew things that people don’t know, and you said the things that touched my heart.
He said that he saw the missionaries walk by almost every day but he has never talked to them. He said “tomorrow I will”
He said, this is something I need to do. He took the Book of Mormon that I had given him, got out of the car and walked into his appointment. I’m assuming his great great grandfather was walking right by his side. Reflecting on this, I can’t help but be touched that a loyal, obedient and faithful pioneer blessed his family by bringing them here and is continuing to gather them and bless them as we speak. That’s a pioneer heritage.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 