One night I was driving and I had a pick up in Springville. I picked up this guy by an apartment complex just off Main Street. He had a giveaway member of the church name. It was Moroni. When I pulled up, my first thought was, well this is going to be a member of the church and probably won’t be a ride where Heavenly Father has a plan for missionary work. I mean, I was in Springville and his name was Moroni. I guess you should never pre-suppose things like that and I learned my lesson this night. Sometimes we just don’t know how this is going to come about, but if you follow the spirit, sometimes you’re surprised.
I waited for him for quite some time and finally he came out. The app had put him on the other side of the building. Because he was on the other side of the building it took him a long time to get to me. I considered canceling the ride. It was not a great ride financially. I was going to be taking him to West Valley for what ends up being very close to the actual amount I would be paying for gas.
Sometimes, when there are a lot of drivers, they just totally take advantage of us and this was one of those times. As I considered canceling it, I received a strong impression that I was not supposed to. Given my observation of his name and where I was picking him up that seemed to be a little strange and out of order, but I decided to go with it.
Finally, we hooked up and he got in the car. We started driving and chatting. He needed to go to West Valley to get a work truck and that’s why I was taking him. I was trying to find out why in the world I was receiving an impression to give this man a ride. He gave off total member vibes largely because he was a member.
I said, so your name is Moroni? We had a prophet by that name. He laughed. I said, I’ve always found it important to be on the ball just like Moroni
I hadn’t told that joke since I was in the MTC and it’s one of my favorites. I asked him if he carried his ball around so he could stand on it and we joked about it a little bit. Then he said, the funny thing is that I am a new member of the church .
He was baptized about 14 months ago and he still had a shine to him. I thought this was great. He mentioned that he had been teaching in the primary since he was baptized but now he was going to teach elders quorum. He was pretty excited about that.
I asked him how he got to have the name Maroni without being a member of the church. He said that he was raised in Utah with a group that he said, consider themselves to be a different branch of the church.
I assumed when he said that it was a polygamous group that had broken off from the church. He seemed to be pretty timid to share this information but I moved quickly to put him at ease. I told him that when I coached at Orem, we had a basketball player who was from a polygamist family. I said, that was a great kid and a good ball player.
That took the trepidation out of his voice and he started to speak freely with me about his life. He was married about 14 months ago right after his baptism. He said that it was a tough pill to swallow for his mother-in-law. He said, I guess I could understand that. I’m sure she thought I was trying to take her daughter into a polygamist compound or something. He said that he was making progress with the mother in law though.
He said that his family was a member of a polygamous group called the AUB. He said they have members in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. He said that he was always taught that President Taylor called the original members of the UAB to continue practicing polygamy after the manifesto to keep it alive.
He said, I don’t believe that, but I believe that they believe it deeply. He said, I don’t think I ever really believed that so it made sense for me to leave. I asked him if there were any repercussions from him leaving and he said that he was just kicked out and he had no access to anything from the family. He was on his own. He did say, though that his mother was allowed to still be around him. He said that she went to his wedding reception and to his baptism.
This is about when I started to get promptings as to why he was here. I felt prompted to discuss faith with him and how by showing faith and trusting in the Lord, he can lift us through our challenges. I knew that he had seen a lot of challenges, leaving his family like that, but I knew that if he trusted in God, he would make up the difference.
He knew all of the Book of Mormon stories. He had been raised with the Book of Mormon. He said that in their family, they watch general conference all the time. They didn’t really consider themselves outside of the church, just a different branch so he knew the Book of Mormon really well. He said, they say all the right words in the UAB but they don’t have any of the power. They don’t have the covenants and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I told him that he’s showing a lot of faith and that when we show faith in the Lord and trust in him, he can bless us with increased capacity in every way. I told him about Nephi and his bow I talked about how because the bow broke they had to learn to look to God instead of their own abilities, their own possessions and their own skills. They had to trust in the Lord. I told him that what he had done by leaving it all was a very similar story.
I felt like I needed to talk to him about the atonement. He like many people only considered the atonement as a part of the repentance process. I talked to him about the role the atonement plays in lifting our burdens and helping us forgive other people. I told him that the atonement makes it so that we can suffer injustice and not feel aggrieved. It makes it so that we can show love to and forgive those who persecute us.
He said he hadn’t ever considered that but it was really something that touched him in that moment. The spirit was really strong in the car and I talked to him about it. I asked him what it felt like and he said that he understood the feeling of the spirit. He said it felt like he was lifted right then. He said that he felt like this was an important ride for him and that he wanted to listen.
Then I had a prompting as clear as any prompting I had ever had. I was taught in this prompting that his grandparents, great grandparents, and all of their families had learned about the church all of their life. They had believed in the teachings of the church but they hadn’t had the ordinances available only through membership in the church. I had the very distinct impression that as they had been taught pure doctrine in the spirit world, they quickly received it and accepted it.
I asked him about the temple and he said that he just got his temple recommend and loved to go there. He said that before he got his temple recommend he would go to the temple and sit on the grounds and just soak it all in. He said that since he got his temple recommend it had changed his life.
I asked him if he had done any work for his grandparents, great grandparents, and their families. He said no. He asked me if it would be possible given who they were. I said, absolutely, that’s the point. He asked me how he would go about starting that work. He said that his family would be zero help if they knew why he was asking questions about family member and dates.
I told him to go to his stake genealogy library and they would be able to help him. I also told him that he should ask around in Elders Quorum because for sure there would be somebody there who would know how to help. I said, the first thing I would do would be call your mom and get as much information from her as you can without letting her know what you are doing.
I said, as soon as you get the information, someone in your ward can help you assemble the information and prepare names to go to the temple. I said, you can go to the temple and bring all of those people the covenants they need and have been waiting for.
I talked to him about the impression that I had about his family members and how they had accepted the gospel and were ready to be baptized and make these covenants with proper authority. I said, they have been reaching out to you. Now that you are a member of the church they see you as their pathway to exaltation. They have been reaching out to get you to do this work. I am here today to help you recognize that.
He started to get emotional. He said, I keep having thoughts and promptings about my ancestors while I am going to and in the temple. I thought I was crazy, but I’m realizing right now that they are calling out. They want to join the church, they want a real baptism and to be eternal families. He said, as strongly as we are feeling the spirit in the car, I know that God is confirming this to me.
He said, it’s amazing how we were put together in this ride and you are preaching me the gospel. You are helping me bring the gospel to my family. I’m sure they have accepted the gospel. This is what God and my ancestors have been trying to tell me and I just didn’t get it. This is why I’m in this car today.
He said, I don’t believe in coincidence but I do believe in revelation and I believe we’ve witnessed revelation here in the car today. We are going to save my family.
By this time we had arrived in West Valley City at the place where he was going to pick up the truck. He told me that the ride had meant so much to him but more than that it made it so that he knew that he wouldn’t be alone, he knew that he would be with his family.
He loved going to the temple before, but now he is going to love going to the temple with a purpose. Heavenly Father has a work for him to do and his grandparents are waiting.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 