I picked up a young man on ninth south just east of State Street by the Chip chocolate chip cookies store. Against my better judgment I did not stop and have any. He got in the car and he talked about how he was taking Uber because his car broke down and he was downtown because his phone got smashed and he had to replace it. He was having a bad day.
I told him it’s a good thing he didn’t lose his wallet or it would’ve been a trifecta. He laughed and said, I lost my wallet last week! We laughed. I asked him where he was from and he said he was from Salt Lake all of his life. He had a Latino name so I asked him if he spoke Spanish and he said he did. He said it came in handy now with his friends getting back from their missions. He said that now he talked to them in Spanish.
I asked him if he knew what his friends were teaching on their missions and he said that he thought they were teaching about Jesus and the church but he didn’t know. I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what his friends were teaching on their missions and he said yes, he would like that very much.
I told him that his friends were teaching that God is the father of all of us. That he loves each one of us and that he has a plan to give all of us a chance to come home to him. He said, I believe that. I told him that his friends weren’t going out teaching that the Catholic Church is evil. He said that people he knew were saying that Mormon missionaries were out just ripping on the Catholic Church. I said that they weren’t out saying that other religions were evil. They were out teaching that other religions had a portion of the truth but we have the full gospel of Jesus Christ.
I told him that we have everything they have but we have more. He said, what do you mean by more. I said, we believe that God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem. I told him that God had prophets in other parts of the world not just in Jerusalem. I told him that God specifically had prophets in America not just in Jerusalem.
I told him that those prophets wrote the revelations they received and we have them today in the Book of Mormon.
I asked him, does God love everyone? He said, yes. I asked him if God is a perfect God and he said yes. I asked him if that perfect God that loves everyone would try to make a way for all of his children to hear his word and be able to come home to him. He said yes.
I told him that when Jesus was in Jerusalem after his crucifixion and resurrection,he said “other sheep I have which are not of this fold” and that he was commanded by his father to go to them. I asked him, who do you think those other sheep were? He said, everyone.
I said, that’s right. I asked , did you know that in America when Jesus was crucified there were earthquakes and three days of darkness? Following those three days of darkness they heard the voice of our father in heaven and they looked up and they saw Jesus Christ decending from heaven dressed in white and he stood in front of the people. They touch the prints of the nails in his hands and feet and they knew they were in the presence of God.
He said, wow! The Spirit blew the doors off right then. I asked him if he felt that spirit and he said yes. I asked, how would you describe it? He said, it’s power. It just overwhelmed me so much that I just had to say the word wow. I told him that Jesus taught the people and gave them a new law, a higher law, and gave them a baptism. It was his baptism so that they could take the next step to the higher law.
I told him that this higher law was what his friends were out teaching so that people could come to Jesus and have that baptism. I said that this way they could live that higher law and find additional joy in service to Jesus. . He said, that is amazing. He said, my friends are always so happy, this must be why. I always admired them going on missions. It was a joy for them. This must be why.
I asked him if he remembered me talking about the prophets in America and he said yes. I told him those prophets wrote the prophecies they received from God just like the prophets in the Bible. I said they also wrote the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America in their records. I told him that those records were given to the prophet Joseph Smith and he translated them and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon.
He said, that sounds like a very important work. My friends have given the Book of Mormon to me but I’ve never read it. It’s never been explained to me like this. I asked him how important it would be for him to actually read the book and he said very important. He said, the feeling I feel right now makes me think that it’s true. I need to read that book.
I said to him, so you believe the Book of Mormon is true based on what you’re feeling right now from the spirit? He said yes. I said, God sends his spirit so that we can know truth and he manifests his spirit when we’re hearing the truth. He said, yes and this is true.
I told him that Joseph Smith was called by God and Jesus in person to be a prophet. I said that they descended from heaven and stood in front of him and called him to be the prophet to restore the gospel on the Earth. I said, part of restoring that gospel was translating the Book of Mormon. He translated this book from those engravings written by ancient prophets by the power of God. I asked him if he thought, based on the spirit he was feeling during that testimony and remembering that God sends that spirit to testify of truth, if that meant that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He said, he has to be. A false prophet could not write a true book.
Just then we were getting off the I-215 at the 4700 S. exit. That’s where the temple is. I said, your friends have been out helping people get the baptism of Christ because it’s important that everybody be baptized. He said, yes. In our church we believe that everybody needs to be baptized.
I asked him what he believed would happen to people that lived 1000 years ago in America . They didn’t know about baptism. I asked him if they were God’s children. He said yes. I asked him if God loves them and he said yes. I asked him if God would automatically condemn them and not provide a way for them to be baptized. He said that didn’t seem right but that this was what his church taught.
I pointed at the temple and said, in that building they do baptisms and they’re called baptisms for the dead. It’s where people will go in and be baptized for and in behalf of someone who has died. I explained to him that Jesus organized the teaching of the gospel to those who had died without hearing these teachings during the three days that he was dead. I said that each of them has an opportunity to accept the gospel when they are taught. I told him that then we go to the temples and are baptized for them. They have the opportunity to accept that baptism when it’s performed for them and enables them so they can go home to their Heavenly Father.
I said, we all have a lot of ancestors that need to be saved! We do that in the temple. We provide a baptism for them.
I said to him, this is how everyone has a chance to come home under perfect circumstances. He said, this is beautiful. He said, my mind is firing and my heart is beating. I want to know about this. I want to follow through. I told him that the first thing that Jesus did when he came to America was he called up 12 people and gave them the authority to baptize and commanded all of those people even though they had been previously baptized to be baptized with his baptism. I said, this was the invitation he gave them so that they could step up to this new, higher level of discipleship. I told him, Jesus is extending that same invitation to you.
He said, I want to accept that. That is amazing. I said, right now you’ve been thinking about one of your friends in particular that served a mission. I said, you are itching to call him about this aren’t you? He laughed and said, how did you know?
I asked, is this friend that you’ve been thinking about the one who gave you the Book of Mormon? He said yes.
I told him that as soon as he gets out of the car he is to go call this friend and tell him what he learned and what he felt in the car. He said he would. He said he had been pulling up his phone number just before I said that.
He told me that he had never believed that someone’s life could be changed in a 15 minute car ride but that’s what happened tonight. How great will it be for that friend to get back home and find more work to finish here! How great will the celebration be when he’s baptized by his friend! Bringing friends and family together in the gospel is one of the most rewarding things we can do.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 