On the 4th of July, I was out driving for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I had taken much of the day off to be with family and I wanted to get a couple of hours in.
I had been given a couple of rides but nothing spectacular. Finally I got a decent ride from Springville to Spanish Fork. It paid a little more than the minimum so I was excited to do it and away I went.
I pulled up to the place where the passenger worked and waited for her. After waiting for about 2 1/2 minutes, she came out and got in the car. I said, happy Fourth of July! She said, happy Fourth of July to you! I’m going to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate.
This lady was of Mexican descent, lived in Los Angeles for a long time and apparently knew a thing or two about celebrating. Flat out, if your idea of celebrating is eating a good steak and yummy rolls you’re my kind of person. I’m sure I looked at her with envy in the moment, but then I said, don’t you have anyone to celebrate with?
She said that she was not from here, she was from Los Angeles and that’s where most of her friends and family are. She said that she lived here with her daughter and her daughter‘s husband but they were celebrating at his family‘s home today. She couldn’t go because she had to work. Now that she was off work she was going to go celebrate with a big piece of meat and she was excited.
I asked her how long her daughter had lived here and she said only about two years. She said, my daughter moved here after she married this young man and they seem to really like it here.
I asked, well, do you like it? She said that it was a little bit different for her than it was for her daughter because her daughter had gone and joined the Mormon church. She said the church gave them a lot of things to do and they loved it. Then she looked at me and said, “but I’m Catholic. That will never change!” She said it in good English with a strong Mexican accent that kind of took me back to my mission. On my mission people would reject me in English, even though they didn’t know how to speak English. It was kind of like a double slap.
As I listened to her talk, I had the distinct impression that I only had five more minutes and I better get going. I thought, get going doing what!? In no uncertain terms she just declared that her daughter was a member of the church and that she was not going to join. The spirit said get busy so I did.
I emptied my mind, threw away all caution, and said the first thing I felt to say. I said, ahhh so you’re the keeper of the tradition. You’re the one that honors the legacy of the family and sticks with it. You are riding it out because that’s what your parents and grandparents would expect you to do. This is how you honor your ancestors.
She said, exactly! I wish more people could understand that. I’m glad you do. I said, well, yes, I do understand that but I have a little different take on it than you might imagine. She said, oh, what is your take? I said, the true religious legacy from your family and the true heritage of your family is not the Catholic church. I said, things are just a little bit different than you might believe.
She said, well, I think I know. I mean, I lived in Southern California with people from Mexico for my whole life. They are all Catholic, Roman Catholic. I asked , is it OK if I explain this to you? She said yes.
I said, first there are two things that are important to discuss here. The first one is that our church believes most of what the Catholic church believes but then we have additional beliefs on top of that. I said, an example of this is that we believe that Jesus was born of Mary, lived a great life, organized his church, was killed on the cross and was resurrected. Just like the Catholics believe.
We also believe that he used the authority of God to bless people in a very tangible way. He healed them and cast out demons. He gave that same authority to his apostles and others so that they could bless the people as well. An example of one of these blessings was the use of the power of God to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. Jesus gave that power to Peter and we have it today in our church. We use that power to seal our marriages and our families to each other for time and eternity, not until death do us part.
She was a little defensive and she tried to sneak one by me by saying, well we believe the same thing. This is where having experienced missionary work in Catholic communities comes in handy. I have been to many Catholic weddings. I said, I really don’t think that’s true. I have been to those weddings. They use a lasso and they put it around the bride and the groom. They say that the bride and groom are bound together until death do us part. That’s how it’s done in the Catholic church.
She said, you’re right I guess, that is a difference. I asked her what she thought about the idea of a marriage being eternal and she said that she thought that was really neat.
I said, the other thing is that we believe that God loves all of his children everywhere in the world and not just in Jerusalem. We believe that he had prophets here in America amongst your ancestors. These prophets taught the word of God and received revelation. These commandments blessed their lives.
I said, these prophets of God also testified that Jesus Christ would come to America and visit them. She said, what? really? I said, yes. Not only did they prophesy that he would come to visit them, he did come to visit them.
In the Bible, Jesus told the people that he had other sheep that he was going to go visit that were not of that fold. He was talking about the people in America. I said, just like in your case your ancestors were very faithful people. They had listened to the prophet and had been baptized. They were waiting for the fulfillment of the prophecy so they could see their God, Jesus Christ
I said, they heard a voice in the heavens saying this is my beloved son. They looked up and saw Jesus descend out of heaven and stand in front of them. He invited each one of them to come up and touch the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. They bathed his feet with their tears and pled with him for their salvation.
As a direct response to this plea, he called up 12 of them, he gave them authority to baptize and commanded them to baptize all of the people even though they had previously been baptized. He didn’t spend any time negating the importance of their previous baptism. He recognized that they had done the best they could to come close to him with the information and knowledge that they possessed.
Now he wanted them to be baptized with his baptism and by his authority. He wanted them to be baptized to this new level and take that step up in discipleship. He invited every one of them to do this.
I said, he taught them the gospel and he blessed them. He held their children, he loved them and then blessed them. He gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so that they could walk with God and then he ascended back into heaven. When he did, he left a Christlike loving people who had taken that step up.
She said, and that step up includes being married for eternity in the temple, right? I said, yes! That’s exactly right.
I took this opportunity to shift out of teaching mode and into testifying mode. I testified that these things were true. I testified that Jesus came to America and he showed us the way to take that step up.
I told her that these things were found in the Book of Mormon and that it is the word of God and a companion to the Bible. I told her that the ancient writings of the prophets of America were translated by Joseph Smith, and that is how we have the Book of Mormon. I said, it’s another testament of Jesus Christ and his divinity. It comes from and is your true religious heritage.
The spirit was there and it was powerful. I could tell that over the last five minutes there had been a complete and total change in her countenance and in the way she participated in the conversation. I think of the phrase, a hunger and thirst after righteousness and it fit nicely in this situation. It was like she was feasting on the spirit in the car and the knowledge she was gaining right there in real time. It also just so happened that we were sitting in front of Texas Roadhouse already so I guess feasting was in order.
She said, I felt that! When you taught those things and said those things I felt that. She said, I was touched emotionally and enlightened. This is incredible.
I told her that what she was feeling was the spirit of God and it was present in the car. It was present in her heart because truth had been revealed to her. I told her that God had shown her that these things were true. He had shown her that the Book of Mormon was true. I testified that there were and are prophets in America. The ancient prophets wrote the account of Jesus coming to America and that he gave them his baptism.
I told her that the spirit was there in the car and had testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the church had been restored. I said that this truth was her true religious legacy.
Then I said, there’s one other thing that the spirit has testified to and that is that Jesus Christ is inviting you to accept that same baptism that your ancestors accepted from him. He is inviting you to take that step up to a new level of discipleship and follow him.
She said, sitting in your car, feeling the spirit as you talk, made me realize that what I had been trying to do was resist the knowledge that the church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Based on how I feel right now, I believe the Book of Mormon truly is the translation of the writings of ancient prophets from America.
She said, it seems like I am feeling the spirit more powerfully every second. I said, you know what that means don’t you? She said, what? I said, it means you have to be baptized.
She said, I know, I do and I will. She said, many times I have had deep and meaningful conversations with my son-in-law. He’ll be blown away when I start this one. He’s been trying to get me baptized for sometime now.
I said, like I said, this is the religion of your ancestors and you are the keeper of their traditions. She said, I can’t believe God sent me a ride like this and I am glad I took it. This was a holy experience. I agreed.
She thanked me with tears in her eyes and said, this ride has changed everything. I feel like a different woman.
I could see and feel the change in her as well. God is great and he changes hearts even in five minute rides.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 