One day I was working down in southern Utah County. It’s kind of interesting that I was pulled down that way late at night because I started my day attending the Payson Temple with President and Sister Gilbert! They’re doing awesome and they love serving in that beautiful temple.
Anyway, later that night I found myself out in Santaquin picking up a young lady and taking her to Orem. It was way out in South West Santaquin almost Goshen to be exact! We’re talking way out there!
I picked her up and we started driving towards Orem. The road takes you through Santaquin and as we drove through town, she pointed out a business that is considered to be haunted. There is a show on TV called Ghost Adventures that went out there to verify the veracity of the haunting claims.
I think most of the time people make up stories, then call those people so that they can come in and give them a verification that allows them to do haunted houses or other Halloween centric events. It’s a total money play and scam.
She told me that a friend of her family owned that business and asked if I was familiar with it. I said that I had heard about it and I had heard that the ghost adventures did a show there. She said, that’s right! My parents are friends with the guy who owns it.
She said, I find that very interesting. My friends and I go in buildings and spend time in spaces where they say there are spirits and ghosts . I just really have fun doing that.
By this time we had gone all the way down Main Street in Santaquin and were up on the freeway heading north and you could see the Payson Temple on the right hand side of the car. It sticks out like crazy. The brightness cut through the darkness. It looks and feels very inviting. I said, talk about your places where there are lots of spirits!
I said, in that place there are a lot of spirits. I told her that this is the place where we go to do things to help out the people who have passed. I told her that we go there and their spirits go there because it’s a house of God, their Father in Heaven.
She said, really? I had never thought about that! I asked her if she’d ever been in a temple and she said that she went through a temple open house in Ephraim. She said it was a beautiful building, but she didn’t remember being taught much about what they did there.
I told her that it’s where we go to feel God‘s love. I told her it’s where we go to help people who have passed on so that every one of God‘s children can have the option to make the choice to dwell with him forever if they want to.
She said, that really sounds cool, how does that work? I told her that when Jesus was in the tomb, his spirit went to the spirit world and set up the teaching of the gospel to those who had died without the opportunity to accept it. He taught the gospel to the spirits who were there so that they could understand the importance of the gospel and believe in him. .
I told her that this was found in Peter in the Bible, and the Bible also teaches about doing baptisms for the dead. I told her that these two things go hand-in-hand.
I told her that we go to the temple and are baptized for those people and then they have the opportunity to accept that baptism or rejected it. I said, if they accept the baptism we do for them, it’s just like they had been baptized when they were on the Earth. I said that baptism is necessary and a requirement to enter into the kingdom of God
She said, so they have the option? You don’t force anything on them? I said, that’s right! Our Heavenly Father gives us the right to choose and that’s an eternal principle. We will never be forced to be with God if we don’t feel comfortable or if we’re not willing to make the covenants that he wants us to make.
I told her that God loves every one of us and we are his children. I told her that God has created kingdoms for his children based upon the level of obedience they desire to embrace. I told her that the things we covenant in that temple make the top kingdom available to each one of God‘s children if they want to embrace it.
I told her that every one of God‘s children will have the chance to be baptized and have the chance to be sealed to their family forever. I asked her if she remembered the cl sealing room from her tour of the temple in Ephraim. She thought about it for a minute. While she was thinking I described it as a room with an altar in the middle and mirrors on each side so you can see forever. She said, oh yeah, that was a really cool room.
I told her that we are married in rooms like that but not just until death. We are married for eternity. I said that we also go in those rooms to be sealed in behalf of our ancestors so that they can also have the blessing of being married for eternity. They can also have their children sealed to them in an eternal family unit.
She said, that’s beautiful, I love that. She said, I was baptized when I was eight, but I only went to church one more time after that. I haven’t been back to the Mormon church since.
She said, I do go to church every Sunday in my current church but I have become very disillusioned with this church because no one can answer the questions I have and no one helps me know where I can turn to get the answers to those questions.
I told her that the gospel of Jesus Christ was not full of mysteries and that the Holy Ghost helps us understand the kingdom of God. I said, the closer we get to God, the more we want obey. The more we go to church and the more we read the scriptures the more we understand the kingdom of God. We begin to desire to be in the presence of God. If we learn to dwell in his presence on earth, dwelling in his presence for eternity will be a natural step and exactly what we want to do.
She said, that’s cool! She said, the preacher has been getting on my nerves in my church because I’m not perfect”. He says that if I repent for something and then return and do that thing again, the angels will not save me. She said, he told me I will not be picked up by them and saved.
She said, being perfect is hard, and I believe that my father would want to forgive us. She said, I believe Jesus would want to forgive us and help, us not threaten us and throw us out.
I said, you’re right. I said, you’re a daughter of your Heavenly Father. What kind of a father throws his daughter out when she makes a mistake? She said, not a very good one. I said, your Heavenly Father is perfect and his love is perfect. A perfect father doesn’t ever throw his daughter out for a mistake if she wants to make it right. She said, you’re right, that’s how I think. I said, that is your Heavenly Father and that’s what repentance is all about.
I told her that when Jesus suffered for our sins he paved the way for us to have our sins erased even if we trip up and do it again. He has made it so that we can repent again and come back to him. He said he would forgive 70×7 and that’s pretty cool because I need all the leeway I can get.
She laughed and said, me too. I said, when your baptized, your sins are washed away and you are clean. The cool thing is that if you’ll pray and repent during the week and prepare to go to church and take the sacrament you will renew the covenants of your baptism and you become clean again.
I said, repentance and the sacrament allow us to keep clean and keep progressing. I told her that Heavenly Father knew we were going to make mistakes and this was his plan because he wants us all to be able to come home.
She said, that’s pretty cool. That’s very loving. That’s not at all what my preacher says about Mormons. She said, he always rips on the Mormon church and I’ve noticed you haven’t ripped on my church at all. I think that’s how it should be.
She said, one time in a youth activity our preacher wanted us to do Mormon bashing, but I refused. I didn’t think that Jesus would run around bashing another religion and it didn’t feel right.
I said, Heavenly Father gives all of us the influence of the Holy Ghost to help us know right from wrong. What you felt was a confirmation that tearing down the church of Jesus Christ was not right. That’s awesome!
I said, now it’s time for you to learn what’s right about the church of Jesus Christ. You can learn how, in the church, you can find those answers that you have been missing. The ones that your preacher cannot answer.
She said it’s not just this preacher. I’ve been to three different churches and not one of them can answer my questions but you seem to have been nailing it tonight. These answers are much better than any of the answers given to me before by my church leaders and I never even asked you the questions. Maybe my search for religion has led me right back to where it started when I was eight.
We moved away from Utah and I never went back to church. We started going to different churches and I never gave the Mormon church a second thought. Once I was back in Utah, I was kind of already on a different path. She said, that path doesn’t work for me anymore and I need to find God‘s path.
The spirit was in the car and seemed to be guiding her along through the progression of thought that she was experiencing. I also knew that it had been testifying to her as she easily accepted the things I said.
I asked her what she felt in her heart as we discussed these things. She said, she felt an incredible peace and “it’s like knowledge bombs, exploding in my brain”. She said, it all makes so much sense. It seems like Heavenly Father would have a plan that works. This plan seems like it’s perfect. That’s how God‘s plan would be. I said, what your feeling is the Holy Ghost and it’s testifying to you of the truthfulness of the things we have discussed. This is how you feel in the presence of God and it’s helping you see the truth, that’s why it makes so much sense. What you’re feeling in the car tonight is a manifestation of God’s love for you, his daughter.
I said, one of the main differences between our church and these other churches is the authority we have to perform baptisms and to perform marriages for eternity. This is the same authority that authorizes what we do in the church and it comes from God.
I told her that in ancient America, they had been anticipating the arrival of Jesus after his resurrection. I told her that he descended from heaven and they asked him to save them. I told her that as a direct response to that plea he gave them authority to baptize and commanded that everyone be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized in their other churches.
I told her that even though he had told them that they needed to be baptized in his church, he didn’t spend any time badmouthing their previous churches or commitments to him. He looked forward and invited them to take a step up to a new level of discipleship and a new level of commitment.
I told her that later he touched the 12 he had chosen and gave them authority to give blessings and to give the gift to the Holy Ghost. I told her that this authority is very important and we have that same authority in our church today. I told her this is the baptism we have and that you had. I told her that this is the baptism and the authority that everyone is invited to receive. We invite everyone to take that step up to that new level of discipleship.
I told her that that authority is the authority that our bishops have and that the father’s in the home have. Our prophet who lives on the Earth today and speaks with God holds all of the keys and authority to act and speak for God today. This authority is the difference. I told her this authority is the key that opens the doors of heaven and that’s why heaven and earth meet in that building. Coincidentally, I said that as we were passing the Orem temple and it was there just at the perfect time.
I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no. I gave her a copy of the Book Mormon prepared by the Secrists and I asked her if she would read it. She said, I love to read and I know a little bit about the Book of Mormon, so this would be great.
She said, my grandma goes to church all the time and she will help me out. She said, my grandma thought I was lost with regard to religion. I said, once you were lost, but now you’re found! She laughed and said, nice!!
By this time we had arrived at the house of her friend that she was going to visit. She said, I’m going to go to church with my grandma and I’m gonna read this book. This is what I need to do. She said, I feel very strongly right now that this is the path that I need to be taking and that I was brought back to this path and put in this car to learn and feel the spirit so that I could do just that.
She shook my hand, gave me fist bumps and opened the door. She got it out of the car, waved and went in the house.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 