Get off the couch!

 It was a Saturday and I was taking my time at home. I do that a lot on Saturdays. I usually have over 60 hours already logged for the week by Saturday so I like to rest up a little bit for Saturday night.

It gets me the chance to watch some football and just hang out. I was sitting there watching football and got this overwhelming urge to get showered and to go out and work. I felt compelled! How dare the spirit interrupt my football ha ha!

I really felt pressure to get off the couch, get out and get the app turned on. I thought I would drive around Utah County a bit and pick up a couple of rides close so I could come back and watch more football.

As soon as I got out to my car I turned on my app and immediately got a ride to Salt Lake City. This is not what I wanted. It’s not what I had in my mind but it’s the first thing that came up.

I went to reject the ride and as I was doing it the feeling of urgency to get to work came back. I understood this to be a message from the spirit that I was supposed to take this ride.  I decided to go.

The ride had me picking a man up at Utah Valley University. I wondered who would be at Utah Valley University on Saturday but I decided to go find out.

I followed the route to where I was supposed to be picking him up and it was right next to the Charlie Kirk memorial near the front of the campus. It had been less than two weeks since he had been assassinated and there were a lot of people who were leaving flowers and planting flags in the grass.

As I pulled in, I called him because I didn’t know who he was or what he looked like. I only knew his name and where he was going. He answered the phone and said he would be right there.

I assumed it would be a younger person. It surprised me when a middle-aged man probably in his late 30’s or 40’s came over the little hill towards my car. He looked rough.

He had tattoos on his arms and when I saw him, I thought that this guy looks like one of the lost boys. For a minute, I thought about the fact that we had a long trip and he looked rough but then I realized that Heavenly Father had told me to take this ride, so there had to be a purpose.

He got in the car and we started to talk. He was there to see the Charlie Kirk memorial. He had been in California for work and had decided to stop in Salt Lake on the way home to Ohio so that he could see the place where Charlie Kirk was killed and visit the memorial.

We talked about Charlie Kirk and how he bore testimony of Jesus Christ right up until the end. We talked about how he stood for what was right and for the things he believed in. I said, how cool would it be to go out knowing that you left it all on the table? Knowing that you didn’t hold anything back.

He said, that’s an awesome thought! We talked about how his legacy was going to continue to grow and lots of people who are disaffected in life would try to find Christ because of Charlie. This has truly been a phenomenon where Christian churches all over the world have seen a 15% increase in attendance since the passing of Charlie Kirk. We discussed all of this.

As we talked, the lost boy thing came to my mind again. I got the impression that he was lost and that he had decided to start turning to Christ because of Charlie Kirk and this is why he was so motivated to come here. I also felt that right now he was ready to take the next step and receive the fullness of the gospel, baptism and the Holy Ghost.

I received the distinct impression that baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost were something this man needed. He needed the companionship of the Holy Ghost to walk with him after he received the fullness of the gospel.

I asked him if this was his first time in Utah and he said yes.  I asked him if he knew any members of our church and he said no. He said, I don’t think there are any Mormons in Ohio.

I laughed and said “there used to be”.  I told him that at one point Ohio had been the center of our church and they were driven out by haters. He was surprised and said, well, I guess religious violence isn’t a new thing.

He said, so you’re Mormon? I said, absolutely! I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, which is a real name of our church. I told him that the church was founded by the prophet Joseph Smith.

I told him the Joseph Smith story. I talked about how Joseph had been looking for the true church of Jesus Christ and that everybody taught different things and it was very confusing to him. I told him that Joseph Smith went to a grove of trees and knelt to pray. He asked god which church he should join. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him and called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth.

I said, the true church wasn’t on the earth, that’s why there was so much confusion. That’s why he couldn’t find the true church. Every church contained truth, but no church contained all of the truth and authority of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ as it had existed biblically.

I told him, that’s our church and that’s what we’re about. We’re building the kingdom of God on the Earth.

He told me that he really liked that story and related to it quite a bit. He said that he had been kind of a rough character for most of his life. He said that when he started looking at videos of Charlie Kirk, it made him want to do better. He started reading the Bible and he was looking for truth wherever he could find it.

He said, that’s why I came here. Charlie was the one who inspired me to turn to Jesus. He said, Charlie felt like a mentor to me, even though I never knew him. He brought me to Jesus and I had to say thank you. That’s why I’m here today. Then he asked, now what?

He said, I don’t know where to go from here. I told him that God had put him in my car today and as I told him this, the spirit bore witness of it. He said, I can feel that I know it’s true. I said, it’s the spirit of God that confirms truth to us. The fact that the spirit is here testifying lets you know that the things I am saying are true.

I discussed with him how the Lord had always had prophets, even in the New Testament. When Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection, Peter became the prophet. I said, God works through prophets and that’s how he restored his church on the Earth. I said, those prophets were given authority and power from God to do the things that God would have them do. I said, after Joseph Smith had received the vision from Heavenly Father, John the Baptist then then Peter, James and John came to him and gave him authority and keys of priesthood of power to run the church.

I said, if it’s going to be his church, it needs to be run by his authority and we have that authority. I said, we have a prophet who speaks with God for us and tells us the things that God would have us know.  He prepares us spiritually and physically to live our lives in such a way that we can feel God’s spirit and have him walk with us.

He said, that’s beautiful but don’t you have the Bible? I said, yes. We believe the Bible and we believe it’s the word of God. He said, I do too but there are so many translations of it. I sometimes wonder if the things I read in the Bible are the same things that were written by the prophets.

I told him that I know exactly what he is saying. I told him that I do interpretation of our meetings into Spanish in our ward. I understand that three people can translate the same phrase and each translator can use different words that could be interpreted differently by different people.

I said, that’s why other witnesses are so important. That’s why it’s important that we have a prophet to speak with God to clarify. things and help point us in the right direction. He said, that’s really neat.

I said, prophets have always been importantly and the way god works. I said, he even had prophets in America anciently because God loves everyone. He said, I’ve never heard of this, prophets in America? I said, yes, ancestors of the Native Americans lived here and God loved them just like he loved the people in Jerusalem. He gave them prophets who walked amongst them and taught them his gospel just like the prophets did in the Bible.

I told him that these prophets wrote down their prophecies, just like the prophets in the Bible. I told him that these prophets prophesied that Jesus would come just like the prophets in the Old Testament because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is the same in the Middle East, Israel, Africa, Europe, Asia, and everywhere else. I said, he works through prophets and he tells them the things that they should tell the people so the people can be happy and turn to him.

He said, I know that’s true. God loves everyone and what you’re saying makes so much sense. I told him that the prophets here in America prophesied that Jesus would come to America and the people should prepare to meet him.

I said, they taught the people, created churches, they were baptized, and they began looking to Christ and looking for Christ to come.

I said, God is the same everywhere and he loves all of his children. He said, that’s true and this is something I’ve never heard before but I believe it’s true as well.

I told him that after Jesus was resurrected, he said that he had other sheep that were not that fold. I asked him who he thought those other sheep might be that Jesus had to go see. He said, probably the people that had been taught that he was going to visit them here in America. I said, that’s right.

I said, Jesus descended from heaven in glory to the people here in America. He stood on the steps of the temple and invited them to touch the prints of the nails in his hands in his feet. I said, they pled with him for salvation and he called up 12 of them. He gave these men the priesthood, the authority, that I talked about before.   He invited them to be baptized by the authority in the way that he instructed them. He invited them to take a step to a new level of discipleship, a new level of belief and develop themselves to receive new levels of blessings from God.

I said, then he commanded them to baptize everyone. He invited every person there to accept this invitation to this new level and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

I told him that this is what they did and all of these people were baptized. I told him that the prophets here in America wrote down this account of the visit of Jesus Christ and the subsequent surge in love and devotion to our Savior for his sacrifice and for his teachings.

The spirit was truly manifest among the people. For generations they followed this light that Jesus had placed before them. I told him that Jesus gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. He gave them this gift because he said that when he was gone from them, the Holy Ghost could walk with them and in that way he could be in their midst. 

I said, this teaching is very important to us in our church today because we have the same baptism and we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. It can fill our souls with the love of God and his spirit so that we can walk with him on a daily basis . He said, that’s cool.

He asked how I learned about all of that.  I asked him if he ever heard about the Book of Mormon and he said, yes, I’ve heard the name. I asked him if he knew any members of the church and he said no. I told him that the Book of Mormon is the translation of those writings from those prophets.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was written on metal plates of gold and they were given to the prophet Joseph Smith. He translated them by the power of God. It was God‘s interpretation of the record, not his own.

I pointed out to him that the Book of Mormon gave us a second witness of Jesus Christ and that together with the Bible, they became one. I talked to him about the difference in credibility between one witness and two. He said,obviously two is better because they clarify the other statement. I said, do you remember how you were confused by some of the Bible verses? He said yes.  I said, how would it be then to have another record, another testament that could help clarify it

I said, that’s the Book of Mormon. When you read the Book of Mormon, you feel the spirit of God and it testifies that it’s true. That spirit will bring peace to your soul and put you on the path to walk back to Jesus Christ and our father in heaven.

He said, I like that. Where do I get a Book of Mormon?  I reached into my glove box and grabbed one in the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and said, here it is and this one is yours. He asked, I can have this? I said, yes, it’s yours.

I testified with power of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith and the fact that we have prophets on the Earth today. He said, I promise I’ll read it. I love to read, and I promise you that I will read this book.

I asked him if he could feel the spirit and he said, yes. I feel peace and calm in my heart for the first time since Charlie Kirk’s  assassination. I felt like I was looking for a way to lean on Christ because I have been shaken by what had happened here. I’d been shaken by the assassination and felt empty and wandering. The spirit I felt here in the car has filled that emptiness. I want this spirit in my life. I told him that my best friend from high school lived in Ohio and that the church is really strong out there. I asked him if it would be OK if I sent people to teach him. They would be young people who have the spirit of God with them and the authority to teach his word. He said, yes, that’s what I want and right now that’s what I need.

I went into the tools app and sent in a reference and called the missionaries in the area to let them know about him. I told him where his church was and when they meet. He said that he would love to go. I told him that each congregation has a Bishop who is responsible for blessing the lives of the people in the congregation. I told him that he would find people in that setting who could be friends in Christ and walk with him.

He said, this is what I need for a lot of reasons. My life has been very challenging lately and I’ve had some very bad people take advantage of me in business. I need to have a place where I can be with people that are trying to do the right thing. I need this in my life.

By this time we were pulling up to his hotel and I wanted to get a few commitments out of him.  I mentioned again that the missionaries would be calling and asked him if he would meet with them and listen to them. He said he would be thrilled to do that.

I asked him if he would go to church and lean on the people there. He said he would do that because he needed that kind of association with good people.

I asked, have you felt the spirit here today? He said, absolutely. God has been here in this car with us. God put me in this car and I am going to listen and do what he wants.

I told him that what God wants is for him to accept that same invitation that Jesus gave to the people in America, to be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized and accept that new level of discipleship. He wanted him to take that next step up in his discipleship. I told him, that’s what God is inviting you to do.

He said, that’s what I need to do. I need to take a step up and follow Jesus. He said, that’s what the spirit here is telling me I need to do. It feels so good in my heart right now.

He said, how long can I stay in your car? I love the feeling in the air. I said, as long as you want, let’s just talk and we went on for about 10 more minutes talking about our father in heaven‘s love and feeling the spirit.

In the end he said, I guess I need to go but is it all right if I shake your hand?   I said yes. He shook my hand three different times and said, I will never forget this and I will do what I said I will do.

He got out of the car and the spirit prompted me to think about the movement that had happened that day so that this thing could work out. I interrupted my Saturday going out four hours before I had planned to go. I accepted the ride I normally would not accept. I talked to a person about the gospel who normally you wouldn’t think would be interested. I taught and I testified with the spirit of God for a whole ride. The spirit surged through the car and into his heart. Lives were changed that day and I’m glad that I got off the couch.