This story is long but so is the trip to Logan.

On Monday, I was working up in Salt Lake. Mondays can be hit or miss so while it’s going good you want to make hay. I worked hard during the day and it got to be evening time and it slowed way down. In a 1/2 hour time I only had one ride and I was concerned about whether or not I was gonna make the money I needed to by the end of the night.

I got a ride to pick up a guy at the same McDonald’s I referred to in my blog a couple of weeks ago. He was a young man from Ghana and I was taking him to the train. I was interested in where he was going, whether it was Provo or Ogden. His answer surprised me. He said he was going to Logan.

I said, Logan? That’s a long way up there. I knew that the train didn’t go north past Ogden and so I asked him if once he got to Ogden he ordered an Uber to get to Logan. He said yes. I asked him if that was an easy thing to do. He said, not easy at all. I asked him how much he would spend and he said about $50 total.

I asked him what time he would get home and he said it would be around 1:30 or 2 o’clock. I heard myself say things that I should never say like, why don’t you just pay me the $50 and I’ll take you to Logan.

As soon as I heard those words coming out of my mouth I also heard the spirit say, and while you’re driving him you will be talking to him about the gospel. I thought, OK I guess we’re on. I finally got on the same page with my voice and what is was saying. He paid me the $50 and away we went.

I figured as long as we were going to talk about the church we might as well get started. I asked him how long he had lived here and he said for a while. He said he lived in Chicago before. I asked him if he liked it here and he said yes.

I asked him why he liked it better than Chicago and he said, it’s more peaceful. I said, you know that it’s more peaceful because of the church, right? He said, I think it’s because good people live here and the church has something to do with that.

I asked him what church he belonged to and he said he was Pentecostal and Catholic before. I asked him if he had ever talked to any members of the church or had any friends that were members of the church.

He said, a while back I had some friends that I talked to about your church. Their name was Elder. He said, I went to church a few times but we haven’t been studying together the last couple of months. I’ve just kind of decided that I want to stay where I am.

I asked him what they taught him would be the difference between his church and our church. He said, well it doesn’t really matter because everybody teaches good stuff and in the end everybody’s talking about God.

I asked him if it would be OK if I told him what we believe and he said yes. I told him we believe that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and he prepared a way for each each of us to come home and live with him.

I told him that God is our father in heaven and he loves us. I told him that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, so that we could be cleansed from our sins, have our burdens lifted and be brought back home to him. I said, we believe God loves everyone.

I asked him if he had heard about the Book of Mormon and he said he had. He said, I look at that like a Bible. He said, anyone can write a Bible. You just write down your dealings when you walk with God. He said, if I write down my dealings when I walk with God, someday my great grandkids will read that. To them it will be just like the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

He said, and you guys have people like that as well! The truth is I couldn’t make any sense of anything that he had just said, but I knew that he believed it intensely, so I started to ask questions.

I asked him if he knew where Moroni came from. He said that he didn’t know where he was from. I told him Moroni was a prophet that lived here in America. We believe that God had prophets here in America. I told him that those prophets didn’t write their thoughts as they walked with God, they wrote the actual words of God, and that is the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was proof that God loves everyone and not just the people in Jerusalem. I told him that the Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus came to America after he was resurrected and descended from heaven to the people.

I said, God loves everyone so he sent his son to the people in America. Jesus said “still other sheep I have” which are not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the land roundabout where I have been. I’ve received a commandment from my father to go to them so they can hear my voice.

He said, the Bible says that Jesus went to Hades to teach the gospel to those who had died before him who hadn’t heard his gospel. He said, because they had died before Jesus was born he had to teach them, but once he had been on the Earth everyone was responsible to find his word.

I thought that this was kind of strange and I could see why the elders may have backed off of him a little bit. I asked him how many people in the world die without hearing about Jesus Christ ever. He said, a lot. I said, probably over 70%. He said, that sounds about right.

I told him that a loving Heavenly Father who is perfect would never allow 70% of his children to fail and not be able to come home because they never heard the gospel. I told him that Heavenly Father would make a plan that would give each one an opportunity to come home.

He started talking about how in his church he learned that there are those who are God’s children, and those who are God’s creations and there’s a differentiation between the two. God‘s children are the ones that hear his voice and accept it and the rest are his creations.

I was done. As he talked, there was no spirit in the car. The things he said did not fit and rang hollow spiritually. I could tell we both felt that.

I told him that God has prepared a way for everyone of his children to have the opportunity to come home. I mentioned that he had talked about Jesus teaching those who had died without hearing the gospel. I said, he taught them but he set up the teaching of the gospel so that every person no matter where they lived or no matter when they lived, would hear the gospel because God loves all of his children not just certain ones. God loves everyone and he is the father of everyone and a father will save every one of his children if it’s at all possible.

The spirit whispered to me that I needed to testify and give the spirit something it could confirm. I testified that our father in heaven is a loving father. That we know him and our spirits know him. I testified that our loving Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us to come home if we will.

I told him that every one of God‘s children will have and deserves to have a perfect opportunity to accept the gospel. I told him that every person on this earth is a child of their father in heaven, and he loves them equally.

I told him that according to Jeremiah, he knew us before we were born. I told him that he knew us and we knew him and we wanted to be with him. I said that feeling his presence was the most loving amazing feeling in our lives and we wanted to be with him. I told him, when we came to earth we forgot everything. When we felt it for the first time on earth, our spirit recognized it. We knew it was his spirit and we wanted to be part of that.

I decided to bear testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I told him that Joseph Smith was a young man that was confused about religion. As I said this, I realized those words came from the spirit because this young man in my car was truly confused in the things that he was telling me. I knew he didn’t believe the things he said, but they were just things that have been told to him.

I told him that Joseph Smith was seeking the true church and he read that he should pray and ask God. He decided to do that. I said that he went to the Sacred Grove and he prayed and God, the father and Jesus Christ descended from heaven and called him to be the prophet.

I know I’ve said this before but every time you bear testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, the spirit comes in the room. This time was no exception. All of the confusion of his previous teachings was washed away when the spirit came in the car. It was an amazing thing to see and an incredible thing to feel. From that point forward, which was about Kaysville, the car was full of the spirit, revelation, and angels helping us along.

I told him that it there had been prophets in America, who wrote the book of Mormon and in Jerusalem, who wrote the Bible. I told him that God called Joseph Smith to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth, just like it had existed when Jesus was here.

I use the analogy of the mirror. I said, think of the church as a mirror, a big huge mirror that was held up by 12 pegs. I said, those pegs were the apostles. I asked what happened to the apostles? He said they were killed. I asked, what would happen to the mirror if you knocked out the pegs? He said, it would fall, crash, and bust into a million pieces.

I said, that’s exactly what happened. When the apostles were killed, the church fell. I told him that the apostles were important because Jesus had given them authority. He gave them authority to seal things on earth that were sealed in heaven. They performed baptisms and administered the affairs of the church.

I told him that authority and those apostles were gone. The church fell into disarray. I told him just like with the mirror some people went up and grabbed pieces of the mirror. They used the pieces that they grabbed and loved so much to fashion a church or belief system but they didn’t have all the pieces.

He said, well, maybe what we need is everybody to come together with all of the pieces and then we could have the mirror again. I said, the problem is that there were parts of the mirror that were lost and no one on earth had them. That’s why God needed Joseph Smith to restore the whole mirror with all of the pieces, so that we could have the gospel of Jesus Christ, including the authority.

I told him that when Jesus came to America, he descended from heaven and the people begged him for salvation. I told him that Jesus’ answer to this prayer was that he called 12 and gave them authority, instructions on how to baptize, and commanded that they baptize all of the people, even though they had previously been baptized.

I told him that it was very important that the whole mirror, the whole gospel, be taught. I told him this is the baptism that we have. It’s the same baptism by that same authority. I said, authority is really important. God sent Peter, James and John to Joseph Smith to give him that authority so that they could do the things that God would do if he were here. I told him that they were given the authority to seal things on Earth that would be sealed in heaven, just like Peter had been given that authority by Jesus. I told him that we have that authority today and we use it in the temples to seal families together. We’re not just married until death do us part. We use the power of God to seal our families together for eternity .

I told him that Joseph Smith gave that authority to other people and we have that authority today. I told him that we have a prophet on the earth who speaks with God. I told him we have 12 apostles. I told him that that was the organization of the church. I told him it talks about that in Ephesians. It says that until there’s a unity of the faith, there would be prophet and apostles. I asked him if there’s a unity of the faith in the world, he said no.

I told him that the Bible also teaches that if God is doing anything,he would reveal it to his prophets on the earth. I asked him if God is doing things. He said yes. I said, then there have to be prophets. He agreed.

I told him that one of the things that we know is that if we follow our prophet, we can guide ourselves and our families home.

I told him that this Saturday and Sunday we have general conference where the apostles and prophets speak to us. I told him that they give us the words of Jesus Christ and the words Jesus Christ would have us hear. I told him, there’s a message there for everyone because they’re not just the prophets and apostles for the church, but they’re the apostles and prophets for everyone in the world because God loves everyone.

I told him that the priesthood in our church isn’t like it is in other churches. I said, if I belong to another church and my child is sick, I call the priest and they pray and maybe he comes over. Possibly he just says a prayer. I told him that when our child is sick, I lay my hands on my child’s head just like Jesus did and I give that child a blessing by the power of God.

I told him that’s a huge difference and that this authority and this power make it so that it is easier to walk with God and do the things that he would do. I told him that during Covid a lot of churches went out of business. They really struggled. I told him that with our church it was really not as big of a deal because fathers in their homes could bless the sacrament, bless their families, and do the things God would do if he were there. I told him we could do this because we have the authority of God and it’s called the priesthood.

By this time, the spirit was building in the car and it was undeniable. I asked him if he could feel that, and he said yes. I told him that when he was living with God before he was born this was the same feeling he felt in the presence of God. I told him that he would always feel that familiarity in the presence of God. He said, that’s true.

I told him that the spirit of God always comes when truth is being taught. The spirit of God testifies of truth. He said he believed that. I asked, what does that mean about the things that I am teaching? He said, that they are true.

I felt prompted to say that he had felt that at times in his other church and he readily agreed. I said, that is because in your other church, they had pieces of the mirror, pieces of the gospel, and when they taught that truth, the spirit bore witness of it.

I asked him, how much of what I had said today has the spirit had born witness up to? He said, I felt the spirit with everything you’ve said. I said that’s because it’s true.

I told him that I believe he was put in my car to hear this message today. I testified to him that if Joseph Smith was a prophet and Russell Nelson was a prophet then the church is true. He said, yes that’s correct. I said, the spirit has born witness of that to you today. He said, that is correct. I said, if the Book of Mormon is true, then the church is true because Joseph Smith translated it and we all testify of it. He said, that true.

I testified to him of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that through prayer, the Lord would teach him the gospel by reading the Book of Mormon. He said, I have looked in it a little bit. It does seem to lineup pretty nicely with the Bible. I said, that’s because the word of God is the same.

I felt very impressed to go back and talk about Jesus coming to America and baptism. I said, when Jesus came to America, he invited each one of those people to be baptized, even though they had already been baptized. I told him that each one of these people were baptized so that they could accept a new covenant, a higher law and a new level of discipleship. I said, I believe Jesus put you in this car today because he wants you to accept that same invitation and have that same baptism.

I told him that we all need to be baptized. I told him that God has not only prepared a way for each of his children to be taught so that they can come home, but he has given us the ordinance of baptism for the dead. I told him that when we’re baptized for the dead, we go to the temples and we are baptized for someone who has died. I told him that when people die, they are taught the gospel. I told him that because they don’t have bodies they can’t be baptized and that’s why we go to the temple to do baptisms for them. Then they can choose to accept their baptism. As I was saying it, it didn’t even sound at all like he struggled with that concept. He accepted it right away. Earlier in the ride he would’ve been a little combative about this.

He said, I think you’re right! I need to be baptized. The spirit was really strong in the car, and I got the distinct impression that I had to do something that I’ve never done. First, I said, what has changed your mind? He said, the spirit has told me the things you’re saying are true. I need to be baptized.

I said, you mentioned two Missionaries had been talking with you. He said, yes. I said, do you still have their phone number? He said, let me see if I can find it. He dug through his bag and came out with the number.

I asked, is it OK if we call the missionaries right now and tell them that you want to be baptized? He said, yes, let’s do it. We called the missionaries, it was 9:10 so I knew they’d probably be in their apartment. I said hello to the elders and then I asked them if they remembered my passenger.

Death silence on the other end of the line let me know that they were having a hard time membering that name. Then he spouted up and said tell him I’m the big black guy. When he said that, they remembered him finally.

I told them that we had been talking about the church and the gospel and kind of gave them a rundown of everything. I said, he’s got something that he wants to tell you. He spoke up from the backseat and said, I want to be baptized. I didn’t think they heard him so I asked him to say it again.

He said, I want to be baptized. There was a moment of shock and then celebration from the elders. Then one elder said, when do you want to be baptized? He said next Friday. I said, is that possible elders? Has he been to church? He said, I’ve been three times and the elder said yes we can do this.

I told the elders that we had about 20 minutes left in the ride. I said I would talk to him a little bit more about baptism. They thought that was a great idea. They scheduled a meeting for the following evening at 8:15, cheered very loudly and then we let them go do their quiet time.

Our ride continued. I started talking to him about baptism and how when we are baptized we are cleansed from our sins. We become clean. I told him that if he repents, when he’s baptized he will be clean. The spirit prompted me that he was right then thinking about something that he didn’t think he could be forgiven for.

I told him that right now there was a sin that he had committed that he didn’t think he could be forgiven for. I said that Satan was telling him that he couldn’t be forgiven for it. I told him that this was a lie. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ is more powerful than Satan. I told him that when he’s baptized, the guilt and pain from that will be removed and his repentance will be complete.

The spirit flooded in the car and he said how did you know that? I told him that when we are baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost whispers things to us so that we can know the will of God and say the words of God. I told him that God gave me those things to say so that he would know that the rest of the things I was saying were true.

He said, the spirit has told me that everything you said tonight has been true. I knew that was the truth because I had been feeling the spirit very powerfully all along the way.

I told him that once he is baptized, he can go to the temple and be baptized for his grandfathers. I said, I believe your grandfathers are dead aren’t they? He said, yes they are. I said, you can go to the temple and be baptized for them because they’ve been taught and they’re waiting for you. I told him that they were so happy tonight about his decision. They know that finally now they are going to get their baptism. I told him they’ve been waiting for centuries for him.

We could really feel the spirit of these grandparents in the car. It was very cool.

He said, how long will it take me to be able to go to the temple and do that? I said, that won’t take very long. I told him that if he gets baptized next Friday, he should be able to go to the temple and do those baptisms before the end of the year and possibly before the end of October. He said, I can get the whole family going! I said, that’s right

We were pulling into his house and I could tell he wanted to ask me if I would pray with him before I left. I said, is it OK if we pray? He said, I was afraid to ask you but I suppose the spirit told you that too. I said,yes.

We shared a prayer and I asked Heavenly Father to bless him in his preparation and help him repent so that he could feel the cleansing power of the atonement. It was a very sacred moment in that car, and he said, I’m very excited to be baptized.

He said, I’m so glad God put me in your car. He said, this was the best ride ever. He got out of the car and went into the house. When I sit back and look at this experience, I realize that there were many things that I wouldn’t normally do, but there I was in Logan. By the way, his plan is to go back to Ghana. My thought is that this is just exactly the kind of young man the church needs in Ghana.