Auntie will help him on his treasure hunt

One day I got a call to pick up a young man in north Orem. I was taking him down to Center Street in Provo so it wasn’t a really long ride. When he got in the car, he had a good vibe to him even though he had a rough worn exterior. He appeared to be in his early 20’s

I could tell that he was Polynesian. When I meet a Polynesian I always wonder whether they’re Samoan, Tongan or Hawaiian so I asked. He said that he was Samoan so I said, talofa lava. (Hello). He said, you speak Samoan, huh? I said, no I just know how to say that one word. He said, you said it really well. We laughed. I asked him how long he had lived here and he said that he had just arrived a couple of weeks before.

I asked him, with a smile on my face, with winter here, why he would consider leaving Samoa and its warmth to come to the cold? I said,, doesn’t the beach sound better?

As I said this, I had an incredible impression that he was here to be taught. I felt like both his parents and his father in heaven wanted him here to be taught. His answer bore this out. He said, my mom sent me out here to live with my auntie and my cousins.

He said, they’re all clean guys who go to church every Sunday and my mom wants me to be like that. He said, she says that but I’m not sure how that’s going to work!

I said, so your mom sent you out here to join the church, huh? I asked, what religion are you? He said, catholic but we never go. I guess my mother thinks that I need more structure. That’s why she sent me here. She says, the Mormons have a lot more structure and my aunt and cousins are Mormon.

I said, that’s really cool! Do you get along with them? He said, yeah! They’re awesome! He said, it actually feels quite amazing being in their home.

I asked him, how are you doing so far with your assignment to join the church? We both laughed and he said, I really haven’t even started yet. I don’t know where to start. I don’t have any idea any idea what the Mormons believe or what they believe that’s different from what I was taught as a catholic.

I said with a smile, for one you have to go to church if you’re a Mormon. He laughed and said he figured that one out already!

I asked him if he wanted to know why so many people in Samoa are members of the church. Why would they become members of this particular church instead of the Catholic Church for example? He said, this has been my question for a long time. I haven’t felt like asking my cousins because I didn’t want to sound disrespectful, but I want to know why they left our family church, which was the Catholic Church and joined so many other Samoans, who are Mormons.

I told him that there are a couple of reasons for this. I said, one of the reasons for this is that many of the Polynesians believe that our church is the same religion that their ancestors believed in.

He said, that’s crazy. How could that possibly be? I said, we have to start with Isaiah. I asked him if he’d heard of the prophet Isaiah and he said yes, a lot of his friends were named Isaiah so he was very familiar with that name.

I told him that Isaiah prophesied many years before Jesus was born that he would be born crucified, resurrected, and go to certain places around the world after his resurrection. I told him that one of the specific places mentioned by the prophet. Isaiah was the isles of the sea .

I asked him to tell me what comes to his mind of when I say isles of the sea. He said, the Polynesian islands. I said, among other places that is exactly correct. The isles of the sea included the Polynesian islands and the Americas. I said, it was all of the land out there in the ocean that they didn’t know what it was called. That’s why they called it the isles of the sea.

Then my passenger said, are you telling me that Jesus came here? I said, absolutely. I said, after he was resurrected, he told his apostles that he had other sheep that he was going to go see so they could be counted in his fold. I said, he was talking about the people in the isles of the sea, as well as other places.

He asked, how do you know that he actually got here? I said, we have the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ because it talks about the revelations that the people here received and the visit of Jesus Christ to America. I told him that in America, Jesus Christ loved the people and blessed the people and taught them how to come home.

He taught them that they needed to be baptized with his baptism, by his authority, so they could take that step up to a new level. They needed to become the kind of disciples that he needed to preach his word.

I told him that after he was done teaching the people, blessing their children and calling down the power of heaven to be upon them, Jesus Christ said, still other sheep I have. Jesus said that they were not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout, whether he had been. He said he had received the commandment from his father to go to them so that they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

This is when Jesus went to his other sheep in the isles of the sea, and other places in the world. He said, that’s so cool! I’ve never heard this. I said, how do you feel? When I told you that, how did you feel? He said, it made me happy. He said, I feel happy and peaceful.

I said, that’s the spirit of God telling you that the thing I have just said is true. Jesus Christ came to America and then he very possibly went to your ancestors so that they could have the gospel and have this baptism, so that they could be saved.

He said, that’s awesome! He said, my cousins have a Book of Mormon, maybe I could borrow one from them and read about this. I reached into my console and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and said, why don’t I just give you this one? I showed him the tabs and the questions of the soul. I said, read these questions. I asked him if he had ever had any of those questions.

He said with a smile on his face, yes! All of them! I asked him if he had any idea where he came from, why he was here on earth or where he was going after this life. He said, I’ve always wondered those things. I’ve never gotten good answers to those questions but I feel like there’s a purpose to this whole thing! I told him that that he was 100% right. Our purpose is to learn to come closer to our Heavenly Father. We do that by following the same spirit he was now feeling. I told him that when he said that he felt peaceful and happy, this was the spirit of our Heavenly Father, confirming to him that those things were true. The spirit always confirms truth so that we know how to make the decisions that our father would have us make.

He said, that’s very cool. He also said that his cousins, who are members of our church, seem to think that they know where the Polynesians came from. He said, is that in the book too? I said, yes, it is, absolutely! The reason why they say that is found in the book.

I told him that in the book there was a man named Hagoth who was a very curious adventurer who gathered thousands of people. I told him that they built boats that were very large and sailed off into the sea from the northwest portion of the land, southward. I told him that they were never heard from again here in America. I told him that many Polynesians believe that this is where their ancestry comes from.

He said, that’s very cool! I wonder if there’s any way they could find out. I told him that a few years ago I read an article in National Geographic that said that there was an indigenous tribe in Columbia that share genetic markers with the Polynesians. I told him that the article assumed that the Polynesians had traveled to America, but that many menbers of our church believe that the Polynesians came from America.

I told him this includes his cousins and himself. He said, you’re telling me that this book is my family history? I said, yes. This book is the writings of the ancient prophets that God sent to your ancestors.

I told him that one of the children of the prophet at that time, who was called to preach the gospel, went with Hagoth and his people on the boats. I said, I believe that the teachings of those prophets are your religious heritage.

As I talked about the Book of Mormon, the spirit intensified in the car and so I asked him, how do you feel right now? He said, just like before, only with a lot more intensity. He said, I could get used to that kind of peace. He asked, how did we get that book? Where did it come from?

I told him that the ancient prophets engraved their writings on plates of gold and they were buried in the Earth. I told him that a prophet of God was called to translate those writings and this is how we have the Book of Mormon.

I decided that this was a great opportunity to teach the first vision. I love to teach the first vision because it always brings the spirit with power. I proceeded to teach him about Joseph Smith. I said that he was trying to find the truth in a difficult world and a confusing situation.

I stopped and said, I think you can relate to that. You’ve been confused about religion and it’s purpose. Joseph Smith felt that very same way. He said, it’s really crazy because that’s exactly how it’s been for me. It’s been crazy because nothing has seemed to make sense to me with regards to organized religion. He said, I haven’t ever felt anything like I have here in this car today.

I said, Joseph Smith read in the Bible that he should ask God so that he could learn the things that he desired. He desired to know which church to join and he was totally confused just like you are.

I said, he went to a forest and knelt to pray. He asked God to show him which church to join. In answer to that prayer, God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. I said, they called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. They told him that there were a lot of churches that taught the words, but that their hearts were not with God. They called Joseph Smith to restore the exact same church that Jesus Christ had founded when he was on the Earth.

That’s why our church is called the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He said, I feel like my hair and body are tingling and I feel that power and peace. He said, that’s true. I know that’s true.

I said, after that vision, God sent an angel who had been one of the prophets who wrote in the Book of Mormon to give Joseph Smith those plates. Through the power of God, Joseph Smith could translate the plates. This is the Book of Mormon. This book is the record of your ancestors. This is the same religion they believed in. Today we have the same authority and that same baptism given to them by Jesus.

I said, this baptism is how you become a member of the church. I told him that when he is baptized, he can be forgiven of all of his sins. I said, your sins are why your mother sent you here in the first place. He looked down and said, yes, you’re right. She wants my auntie to straighten me out and my auntie wants me to become a member of the church. Now I see why.

I said, now you feel why. If you will do the things that you need to do, learn the word of God by going to church, read the Book of Mormon, say your prayers, be baptized and obey the commandments you will be able to have that spirit with you.

He said, this is pretty awesome. I need to have this. He asked me if I was sure that he could keep the Book of Mormon I had given him. I said, yes, it was made for you. He said, this book is a great treasure.

I asked him if he would go and talk to his auntie or his cousins about it and he said, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk in the house holding this book without them asking ME about it. So yes, I will. This is what I need to do. He said, I probably need to be baptized too!

He put his hand on my head and rubbed it and then shook my hand. He got out of the car and went into his auntie‘s home, carrying that great treasure.