Infused with the spirit

One day at 2 o’clock I got a ride to Salt Lake City. The ride took me out to West Valley by 2100 South. On the way I knew I had to be back in Provo by 5 o’clock but I didn’t want to waste the hour driving back deadhead so I turned my directional option on. The directional makes it so that I can only be given rides in a certain direction. I always set it for Payson, that way I make sure that I have more opportunities.

I dropped off my passenger and immediately got another ride. I picked up a lady at a insfusion center. Infusion centers are places where people go to get IVs full of nutrients, vitamins, and other things to make people feel better. They get them when they are sick, dragging or hung over. They help people get a pep in their step I guess. I hate needles so that wouldn’t be me.

This woman came out and got in my car. I could tell right away she was from Africa due to her accent. The really interesting thing was that she wasn’t very friendly. In this state of unfriendliness, she was fidgeting around like she was looking for something in her bags. After a few minutes of searching and fidgeting she said,I can’t find my keys.

I asked, do we need to go back? You may have left them at the infusion center. She said, I think that’s a good idea, that’s probably what I did!. She asked me if I needed to have her end the ride and order a new one which would have made me a lot more money and she knew it. I said, no I got this. Let’s go. I flipped around and back we went.

As we pulled up, the people ran out from the infusion center with her keys in their hands. She was very excited and thanked me profusely. From that moment on, she was very warm and engaging.

We talked about the traveling we had done. She was from Nigeria and had moved to the US with her husband to go to school in Chicago. University of Chicago is where she got her masters and then they moved to Utah for work. I have to say that despite having an accent her English was flawless. I actually think they speak a lot of English in Nigeria but we didn’t get into that.

She asked me how much I had traveled and I said that I had been to every state and 25 countries. She was shocked, blown away and impressed. I try to be impressive when I can! lol. She asked, have you been to Africa? I said wellllll, and then started to explain.

I told her that I have been to Egypt several times but that’s kind of honorary Africa. She laughed. I told her about one day when I was in Egypt, I visited very important sites from the world’s three great religions. I told her that the Muhammad Ali Mosque was on the hill right above where we were. I went to one of the oldest Christian churches who’s foundation they say was laid by the apostle Thomas. They say that church was built over the site where Jesus lived when Jesus, Joseph and Mary were in Egypt after his birth. One of the oldest synagogues is about 300 feet away from that Christian church and they are both just down the hill from the Muhammad Ali Mosque.

That synagogue has stones that were used by Moses in its altar and it’s built over the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool, where Moses was pulled out of the Nile. I was lucky enough to meet and get to know the rabbi in that synagogue. After he gave us a tour, he grabbed his keys and took us down to the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool. It was a really cool experience. My passenger’s mind was blown.

This was cool because a lot of times when I share this story I have to explain the significance of the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool to people, but she grasped it immediately.

She said that she was overwhelmed and that this was very cool. She loved that I had walked where Jesus walked in Africa. I said, probably more like walked where he toddled! She enjoyed that quip and smiled. She said, I guess you’re right.

While I was telling the story I began to have recognizable promptings as to the direction I should take the conversation. I knew that this woman loved Heavenly Father and Jesus. She felt a very deep connection. She had never considered that Jesus had been in Africa..

I immediately started talking about how we are all children of our Heavenly Father, and he loves every person that was ever born no matter where they were born or when they were born. I told her that God loves everyone and he wants them all to come home. She very much agreed.

I said that I believed that she was a very religious person. She said yes, she was Christian. I said, that’s awesome! You believe in baptism. She said yes. I said, you believe that it’s necessary that people be baptized. She said yes, I said, you believe that God loves all of his children and that he created all of us. She said yes. I asked her if she believed that Jesus Christ was crucified for all of us and paid for our sins so that we can come home to our father. She said, yes. I believe in Jesus Christ.

I said, this is all really important to our faith. Would you allow me to talk to you a little bit about what we believe? She said, I would very much like to know. My friends have taken me to your church but they haven’t told me what they believe and why they believe it. I would like to hear that.

I started, God loves each one of us and he is a perfect loving father. He has prepared a plan for each one of us so that we can have the possibility to come home, no matter where we were born or when we were born, it’s the same for everyone. Heavenly Father loves us because we are his children. He loves us with a perfect love.

I said, the way God has shown his love is through prophets and the revelations they received from him. I told her that when God gives us commandments. It helps us be free. It helps us in our lives. She said, I totally agree with that.

I told her that we believed in the Bible and all the things that happened in Jerusalem but we don’t believe that God is a provincial God. We believe the God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem and that most of God‘s children didn’t even live in Israel, where Jesus lived.

I told her that in America, among the ancestors of the ancient inhabitants of this land, there were prophets because God loved them too. I told her that they received revelations and wrote them down. The people were blessed by these commandments. I told her that they had the church and they were baptized according to the understanding that they had.

I told her that while Jesus lived his life in Jerusalem, prophets had been prophesying and teaching of him in America and in other places.

I told her that after Jesus was crucified and resurrected he told his apostles in Jerusalem that he had other sheep that weren’t of this fold. These were other people that belonged to him. He said that he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

She said, I remember that from the Bible. She said, I’ve always wondered what that meant . I said, this is what it meant, there were other people who had been expecting Jesus to come. I said, after he ascended to heaven, leaving his apostles and disciples in Jerusalem, he came to America.

Heavenly Father announced from the heavens to the people that this was his son, their savior. I said, Jesus descended from heaven and stood on the steps of the temple.

I told her that the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. They worshiped him, knowing he was their God. They asked him to save them and in response to this plea that they made of their God in his presence he called up 12 of them. He gave them the authority to baptize and instructions on how to baptize the people. He commanded that every one of them be baptized. He commanded that they be baptized even though they had previously been baptized. This time he commanded that they be baptized with his baptism, by this authority and to a new level of discipleship.

I asked her if she thought that it would be important for these people to accept this commandment to be baptized to this new level of discipleship. She said, yes, very important. She said, it’s important that we do what Jesus wants us to do. I agreed. I told her that he gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so they could always walk with his spirit. She said, that’s cool!

Then I said, the coolest thing was that after he said this, he said he had other sheep that were not from Jerusalem or from the Americas. He said that he had been commanded by his father to go to them. I asked her if she knew where those sheep might be. She looked puzzled and said, everywhere? I said, Isaiah tells us that Jesus would go to Pathos and Kush. I asked her if she knew where they were and she said no.

I said, Pathos is kind of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean coast of Africa. I said, kind of like Egypt and Greece.

I asked her if she knew where Kush was. She said no. I said, Kush is the ancient empire of Africa and it was based in Sudan. Her face lit up. She said, Africa? I said yes. Then I repeated my question. Where else do you think Jesus might have gone. She gave an excited, Africa! I said, we don’t have those records but I believe that. I believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to his children because God loves all of his children, no matter where they were born, or when they were born.

I said, when he was with them, he would have done the same things for them that he did for his children in America. He would have blessed them and healed them. He would have loved them and he would have given them this baptism. I said that this is what I believe he did in Africa.

I said, the Book of Mormon testifies that God loves everyone and it’s a key to your understanding of your relationship with your Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. She said, I love that.

The spirit was really strong in the car. It was tingling and surging. I asked her if she could feel the spirit in the car and she said yes. I asked her what it felt like and she said tremendous peace. I asked her what it meant and she said, it means that what you say is true. It means that I was put in your car to hear this and that I need to listen.

I told her that this is exactly what the spirit meant and why it was here. I began to testify to her of Joseph Smith. I asked her if she’d heard about Joseph Smith and she said yes. I told her that he translated the writings of those prophets which included the visit of Jesus Christ to America and that’s how we have the Book of Mormon. She said, that’s amazing, everyone should know about this.

I said, that’s what we try to do. We try to help everyone know about this and we try to help as many people as we can get the same baptism that Jesus gave to the people here in America, a baptism to that new level. I said that this new level includes the knowledge that Jesus visited other people and that God loves everyone. I said, it’s not just that God loves everyone. It’s that God has a plan for everyone.

I asked her if she had ever seen one of our temples. She said yes, I went to one on a Sunday with my friends. Without correcting her, I said, well our temples are really sacred places. They are a sacred place where heaven and earth come together and the promise that each one of God‘s children will have an opportunity to come home to him is realized there.

I told her that in those temples we do what’s called baptism for the dead. I said, by doing this each one of God‘s children who has ever lived, no matter where they lived, will have an opportunity to come home. I said, you know that we believe everyone needs to be baptized, right? She said yes. I asked her what percentage of the people that have ever lived on earth were God‘s children. She said, every one of them. I asked how many of them never had the opportunity to even hear of Jesus Christ. She thought for a moment and she said, a lot. She said, I think it’s probably most of them. She said, when you think about China, India and Africa and all the people who have ever lived there, those numbers are really high.

I said, that’s exactly right. I said, would a loving father who wanted each one of his children to come home design a plan that would condemn that many of his children without even giving them a shot? She said, no, I don’t believe he would. I said, that’s what we believe too. I said, in the Bible they practiced what was called baptisms for the dead and that’s what we do in our temples.

I said, when Jesus died, his spirit went to the spirit world and taught the people who hadn’t heard the gospel. I said, he organized the teaching of the gospel to everyone who had died and ever would die. He made it so that every person that ever lived would have his gospel. I said, part of that gospel is the knowledge that we need to be baptized to be able to come home.

She said, that makes sense. She asked, so do they somehow ask to be baptized? I said, no, well, maybe sometimes but the way it works is that they are all taught, each and every one of them. They are all baptized by proxy in our temples, each and every one of them or at least they will be. When they are baptized, they have the opportunity to accept or reject that baptism.

I said, this way God can bring home every one of his children if they want to come home to him. We do the work for all of them here on earth by being baptized for them. Then she said, and the angels do the work teaching them the gospel. I said, yes, you got it.

I said, families are really important to us so in the temples, we are also married for eternity. We call it being sealed. We are not married until death do us part because we believe that we were given the authority to seal things on earth that are sealed in heaven. She said, just like Peter. I said yes. I said, we use that authority to seal husbands to wives and children to parents. We do this in our temples.

I said, we do that not only for us but we do it for those who have passed as well. When they accept their baptism, they can also accept their sealing to their family. This way, we know our families are eternal.

I told her that we build these temples all over the world. I said, there are temples on every continent. The temples are there so the people who live there can do the work of their ancestors. She asked, even Africa? I said, yes! I told her I didn’t know exactly where right off the top of my head, but I knew there was one in South Africa and another in Ghana She quickly grabbed her phone and googled Mormon temples in Africa and said excitedly, there’s one in Nigeria. That’s close to where I’m from!

She said, that’s amazing! I have a husband and two boys and I would love to have that, I need to get one of those Book of Mormon’s. She said “I didn’t get one from my friend, but maybe she’ll give me one”.

I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and handed it to her. I explained that it had the questions of the soul in the front cover and she read the questions.

Clearly, she didn’t understand that I had given this book to her as a gift and she asked, “is it OK if I take a picture of these questions?” I said, that book is your book. She had a tear in her eye and she said, thank you. I said, when you read it, pray and you will feel the same peace you felt in this car today and that’s how God will confirm to you that it’s true. She said, I know it’s true. Everything you have said here today is true. I felt the spirit and I’ve known that the things you’re saying are from God and that he put me in your car to get them.

She said, it’s like a new door has opened up and I can’t explain to you how I feel but I know it’s true. I know the words you’re saying are true.

I said, that’s a lot of change in one day, isn’t it. You’ve learned a lot and you know it’s true. I want to testify to you that it’s true and that I learned that it’s true just like you’ve learned here today. I told her that the spirit had born witness to my heart and confirmed to me the truthfulness of these things. She said, there’s no denying it.

I said, take that Book of Mormon with you, read it and pray and find out what Jesus taught and said to his children that didn’t live in Jerusalem and know that this is your heritage and your blessing. She had tears in her eyes and she said, I’ll do that. I know this is true.

She asked, what do I need to do next, what are the next steps for me on this path? I said, do you remember your friends who took you to church? She said, yes. I said, call them and tell them about our ride today. Tell them what you learned and tell them what you felt. Tell them that you know it’s true. She said, I will. I said, if you will promise to do that, the book is yours.

She smiled and said, I will do this. This has changed my life and it will bless my family. I know these things are of God and I know that this is why I am riding with you today. I know it was not an accident. I will do the things that we have talked about. I can’t wait to talk to my friends about this ride.

She said, I can’t believe how great I feel. God is great! Thank you for bringing this to me. She got out of the car and went into the house.

It was amazing and how I felt was amazing. I tingled all the way to my next ride. What an amazing spiritually perceptive woman.. I can imagine the joy her friends will have as they take her to church again, this time with a testimony and a Book of Mormon.