Love always conquers pride

One day I was working in Orem and I got a call to pick up somebody near my house. it was a house of a Spanish-speaking person that I know.

At first I thought that the person I know was maybe going to come out of the house but instead it was a friend of his. He walked right past the rear door of the car and got in the front seat. I hate it when people get in the front seat. It makes you feel uncomfortable and it’s not safe. Sometimes I make a point of saying something about this but this time the spirit told me to be quiet and listen. I perked up and turned up my listeners.

I had never met this guy and we talked about our mutual friend. I told him that his friend used to be in my stake and that we were still friends. I told him I do interpretation of our sacrament meeting into Spanish every week and I have several of the Spanish-speaking people from the area who come to worship with us.

I used this line of discussion to introduce the church. He put off dry member vibes and I felt prompted by the spirit that this man wasn’t a member YET! By talking about the church and his friends, I hoped to introduce it in a way that would make him open up.

Open up he did. He talked about how he wasn’t a member of the church but that his daughter was and that his wife had joined the church with his daughter. He talked about how he wasn’t going to join the church because his family was a really strong Catholic family and they just didn’t do that. He said that he thought that it would be a betrayal to his family to join the church.

Then he got to the real reason why he didn’t join the church. He said, besides that, your church doesn’t want me. As far as I could see your church only wanted my wife and my daughter.

He said when the sister missionaries were there they totally ignored him, went around him and tried to separate him from his wife.

He said, the members of the ward treated him like he had some rare special disease that they were rescuing his wife and daughter from. He said, it was really hard on our marriage.

As he spoke, I knew what he was going to say before he said it. I could see it in my mind’s eye and I could feel his frustration, hurt, anger and emasculation.

He said what made it worse was that his wife and daughter always gushed about the Elders that would come over with the sisters. He said, it kind of felt like they were trying to replace me. He said that they treated him as an obstacle. He said that since the missionaries came into their life 10 years ago, his wife has been very critical and dismissive of him with regard to anything spiritual. He said that this is when he decided to never be baptized and stick to the family thing.

For the record, I’m not saying this is what happened. I’m saying this was his perspective and whether it’s true or not, intended or not, his perception is reality to him. I could hear it in his voice and I could feel it in the intensity that he said it with.

It’s quite a thing when the spirit lets you have a peak into someone’s life like that. I knew that due to the fact that the spirit had let me feel that, it would also give me the words to say so I started saying what came to my heart.

The first thing I felt that I was supposed to do was compliment him on the love for his family. I told him that I could tell that he loved his family very much and that he enjoyed being with them. He wanted them to be proud of him. I said that the love he felt for his family is a very godlike love. I said, we learned that kind of love in the preexistence because we felt perfect love from our father in heaven.

I told him that as a father and husband, that love was a gift given to him from his father in heaven so that he could share it. I said that I thought it was cool that even though things hadn’t been perfect, love was still his greatest concern and his greatest desire was to love and be part of his own family.

I said, your Heavenly Father loves you very much. He asked, “even though I’m not a Mormon”? I said, absolutely. I said, I think you’re a great man and a very good example.

I said, Heavenly Father loves everyone, this means each one of his children. I said, he wants us to use that love to bless others. He wants us to spend our lives coming closer to him so that we can feel his love more fully and completely. I said, it’s all about love.

I said, I feel bad and apologize to you that your perception was that you were not loved or wanted. I want you to know that you are loved. I said, people make mistakes, but God is perfect and his love is perfect.

I told him that God loved every person in the world who had ever lived and that they are all his children. I told him, that’s exactly what the church teaches. If you really want to know what your family’s real religious heritage is, I will tell you. I said, and it’s not the Catholic Church.

He looked puzzled and said, they’re all Catholic but I’m interested to hear what you have to say. I told him that they may all be Catholic now but back before the Spanish came to America they were not Catholic. I told him that his ancestors here in America had prophets and they received revelation from God and they wrote those revelations down.

I told him that this was the same God who had prophets in Israel and they wrote their revelations down too. I told him that this is why we have the Bible and this is why we have the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon is the collection of revelations and writings from the prophets who were his ancestors that had lived in America anciently. I said, those people believed in God and loved God just like your family does.

I told him that they felt the same love of God that he feels and that this love is universal because God loves all of his children. I told him that God gave them prophets so that he could help them and lead them along the path back to him.

I told him that those prophets prophesied about Jesus Christ and that he would come to them. He asked, here in America? To my ancestors? I said, yes to your ancestors.

I told him that in the Bible Jesus had said that he had other sheep that were not of that fold and that he would go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I told him that after his resurrection he did just that.

I said that Christ ascended into heaven in front of his apostles in Jerusalem and came to America. I explained to him how Jesus descended from heaven, pure and white with great glory and stood on the temple steps. I mentioned to him how his ancestors touched the prints of the nails in his feet and his hands.

I told him that they knelt before him and they pled for salvation. I said “he gave them baptism as an answer to that plea. He called up 12, gave them authority and commanded them to baptize everyone even though they were already members of the church. He wanted to save those people. I told him that those people were his ancestors, his great, great grandparents many years back.

I told him that Jesus held those children, his ancestors, in his arms, and he blessed them. He loved them with that love that we had been discussing.

I said, those were your people being blessed by Jesus Christ. I said, he blessed them and their posterity which includes you. You are blessed by God.

I could see that he had a shocked, disarmed look on his face. He was no longer combative about religion and I could feel his heart open to what I was saying.

I said, Jesus Christ invited your ancestors to be baptized and to walk on the path back to their father in heaven. I said, “and today he is inviting you to do the same, that call and invitation that was accepted by your wife and daughter. That invitation is also extended to you.

I said, you were never intended to be excluded from anything and the fact that you felt that way makes your father in heaven sad. He would never leave you out.

I told him that sometimes people aren’t really good with communication and they get focused on what they are doing and not what’s happening around them. I said, but Heavenly Father put you here today so that you can know that he loves you and that this is for you as well.

I could tell that he was feeling the spirit. He was smiling and instead of a bristled tough vibe that I had felt earlier. I was feeling a soft open vibe off of this man.

I said, those ancient prophets in America wrote down their prophecies. I said, they etched them on plates of metal. I told him that these plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, a young man who was called to be a prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. I said, he was also given these plates by an angel who was one of the prophets who lived anciently in America. I said, he translated those engravings and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon today.

I said, the Book of Mormon is your religious heritage and the religious heritage of your family. It shows the love of God that burns in your heart and demonstrates that love throughout the history of your people.

I said, you didn’t even know what the Book of Mormon was did you? He said, no. No one ever told me what that book was. I said, you didn’t know that Jesus came to your ancestors did you? He said, no, I had no clue what it was in the Book of Mormon, they never told me, and I’ve never heard about Jesus coming to America. He said, that’s really cool.

I asked him how he felt in his heart right then. He said, I feel like what you’re telling me is true. I asked him, do you feel like Jesus came to America? He said, yes. I asked him what he thought about the Book of Mormon and he said, I need to investigate that.

I felt impressed to show him. my picture of Tulum. I pointed out to him that it had three doors and above each one of those doors it had an area for a carving representing the God that pertains to each door.

I told him that Tulum was built around 800 AD. I pointed out that this was 700 years before Columbus came to America. I told him that no white Europeans had been here yet. He agreed with me. I said, the carvings above each door are interesting.
I told him that the one above the left door is of a king God with robes and a crown.

I told him that the one above the middle door is of a God descending from heaven. I showed him a carved representation of that God.

I mentioned to him that the third one is empty. He whispered, the Holy Spirit. I didn’t have to say a word.

I asked him that if Jesus didn’t come to America how did the people 700 years before Columbus know about God, the father, his son Jesus Christ who descended from heaven to the inhabitants of America and the Holy Ghost, who doesn’t have a body therefore there is no carving of him.

I pointed out to him that the representation of Jesus made way back then depicted him descending, but it showed him with a cup in one hand and wounds in both hands. I asked him, why would they put wounds in the hands if it wasn’t Jesus Christ. He said, that’s true!

He said, wow, have I got investigating to do. I told him that in no way would he be letting down his family by joining the church but that he would be coming home to the religion brought to his ancestors by Jesus Christ. I said, you would be a blessing to your entire family.

I told him that he would be a key part of saving his ancestors. I told him that as a member, he would be able to go to the temple and be baptized for them so that each one of his family members could have the opportunity to embrace that heritage.

He said, I really do need to investigate this now. This has made me think and now I feel compelled.

I told him that it wasn’t me that was making him feel this way. I mentioned to him that he had been feeling the spirit in the car and that the things he was learning and feeling were put in his heart by the spirit of God that was with us. I asked him if he felt loved right then. He said, I feel incredibly loved. I said, that’s the spirit of God and it’s testifying to you.

He said, I do know that what you said is true. It just feels so right. I said, Heavenly Father wants you to be baptized. He wants you to be respected by your family and he wants you to feel loved by him and by your family.

I said, once you’re baptized within a week or two you’ll receive the priesthood and at that point I believe things will begin to change with regards to you and your wife.
I felt very strongly prompted to promise him that.

He said, at this point, it’s a point of pride and I don’t want to do this with or because of my wife. I had a momentary panic because that would just be too easy. I could imagine him walking into his house and say, hey honey I’ve decided I want to take the discussions and get baptized. That was not going to be the case. There was too much water under the bridge with the way he felt.

We sat there for a second then he said, but I would like my daughter to do this research with me. I think she could help me. We are all very well aware of the soft spot fathers have in their hearts for their sons and daughters. This made so much sense to me, especially considering how our conversation had gone in the car.

I said, that would be awesome! I think your daughter would be the perfect person. She is the perfect person to do this research with you.

I said, I think it would be awesome if you did the research, had the lessons and did all your preparation for a baptism without your wife knowing. Then you can just tell her the morning of your baptism that she needs to come. He laughed and said, that’s exactly what we need to do. That would be awesome.

I said, as your family joined the church you felt like you had been separated and toppled from your position as the head of the family. As you do this, you will be placed right back in your position and you will feel one again with your family. He said, that’s what I want.

He said, Thank you so much for taking this time to help me today. I won’t be betraying anyone. It’s just the opposite. He said, my daughter is home now and my wife is at work. I’ll go talk to my daughter. He shook my hand, got out of the car and went in the house.