A Journey back

When I first started driving more down in Utah County I was trying to learn where to be to make the most money. I learned really quickly that rides from Provo took you south and rides from Orem took you north.

If you want to stay in Utah county you don’t want to go to Lehi or American Fork, which is where you end up if you start it in Orem.

I started my evenings from Provo. There’s no way they will bump you down to Nephi and it kind of gives you a limit in that way. For me was this was exactly what I wanted. I would go down by the mall and turn the app on.

The first time I went down there, I got a ride right at the entrance to the mall. The passenger was a young lady in her 20’s. She was the manager of one of the restaurants in the mall and she closes up several nights a week. She got in the car and we started to drive.

We were going to Spanish Fork and so we had a minute to talk. She was very friendly and she liked the music I was playing on the radio. It was your typical 80’s throwback stuff. No one gets worked up when you play 80’s throwback stuff. It’s kind of like today’s elevator music. We were right in the middle of a song by Journey! One of my personal favorites.

It turns out that she really loves karaoke and this was the stuff that she liked to sing so she was belting it out from the back. She had a really nice voice so that was fun to listen to. As she was singing, I got the impression that she was a member of the church but she had strayed.

I got the idea that she had lost her belief in God and her faith in the church. The prompting that I had was that she was all in on the professional thing and that she had just dismissed spiritual things from her life. I was prompted that tonight was going to be the night that we were going to make a difference. The spirit was going to touch her.

I told her that I don’t sing because nobody wants to hear that. I said that singing, church songs in Spanish would be the only exception. I told her that I sing so bad that one time when I was singing in church my wife said Shhhhh. She laughed and thought it was funny. She said, it sounds like your wife is awesome. I said, yep.

I told her that church is a place where people ought to be comfortable coming and bad singing could possibly have a deleterious effect. I felt prompted to start tapping into the revelation I had received. I asked her how long ago she quit going to church. She was surprised and asked me how I would know that she didn’t go to church. I told her that I had received the prompting from the Holy Ghost. She asked, what did that prompting say? I said, that your father in heaven loves you very much and he wants you back. It seems like you’ve forgotten.

I started talking to her about living with her father in heaven for thousands of years and the love we had for him and the love he has for us. I told her that that this love manifests itself by the way we feel the spirit. I said, when we feel the spirit, that’s the same way we felt for all of those thousands of years in Heavenly Father’s presence. I said he loves us and he gives us his spirit. I said, it helps us, it lifts us, it comforts us, it teaches us and it helps us be better.

As I was talking about our father in heaven‘s love and the spirit, the spirit was there in the car. We had started with a friendly vibe and it had nicely matured into a very spiritual feeling. I asked her if she could feel it and she said yes I asked her to identify it, and she told me that it made her happy. She said that it made her feel bubbly.

I said that when she was young, they had talked in church about getting answers to your prayers and she hadn’t been able to recognize it. I said, what you’re feeling right now is a way that God answers your prayers. He sends his spirit and your spirit recognizes its presence and the truth that has been spoken.

She said, that’s really neat! I wish they had taught me this when I was younger. I said, once you learn about the spirit it can teach you a lot of things. I shared with her a couple of my stories from my blog about experiences with the spirit and revelations. I told her that God gives us his spirit to help other people. I told her that the spirit is really strong and it can strengthen us and lift us. It can make unbearable things bearable, hard things possible and good things amazing.

I said, this is why it’s so important for us to have the spirit with us at all times. I said, when we quit going to church and quit walking with the spirit, we lose that power and that lift. She said, I felt that but I didn’t realize how much I missed the spirit until just now in the car. I haven’t really realized how much I missed it.

I asked her how often she prayed and she said she had quit praying. I said, you need to start. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you. You need to pray at least twice a day but it’s also good to have a prayer in your heart all the time. I asked her if she would commit to start saying her prayers. She said she would commit to once a day and try to work up from there.

I asked her if she had scriptures and she said no. She said her family did but she hadn’t seen her scriptures in years. I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and showed her how the book is laid out with the questions of the soul.

I testified about Joseph Smith and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The spirit also testified to this truth and she felt it. She said, “that was powerful.”

I asked her to read those questions and she said, wow! I have these questions. She said, I guess I should know these since I have been a member of the church all of my life. I said, a lot of times we don’t pay perfect attention in youth programs and when we’re young but God does forgive us. He gives us a second chance, that’s why I’m here. I believe God put you in my car today so that you could feel his spirit, feel his love and resolve to do better in your life.

She asked, do I have to go to church with my parents?. It’s been kind of dicey. I said, go to church somewhere. We looked up her singles ward and I said, why don’t you go there? She said, that sounds good. I’ve never gone to church without going with my family. I think that would be fun.

She said, it’s probably good timing for me to do some of this stuff. My brother is getting back from his mission next week. I said, that’s awesome! Where did he go? She said, Argentina. I said, well that’s where the best missionaries go! I told her that I had gone to Argentina for my mission and what I learned there is my foundation for everything.

I said, when you see your brother, look into his eyes and ask him to bear his testimony to you. When he he does, you will feel the same spirit we’re feeling right here in the car and you will know that the things he is saying are true. She said, I know it’s true tonight and I can’t wait to talk like that to my brother. She said again, I can’t wait.

She said that she had some friends she had started doing things with about three years ago. They had decided that the church wasn’t true. They quit going to church and rebelled against the church. She said, then tonight happens and it kind of squashes that whole idea.

I said, do you doubt what I said here is true? She said, no! I’m sure of it. It’s just that the feeling in the car makes it feel so right. I said, when you pray and when you read the scriptures, you will have that same feeling, and you can always have that assurance. Your father in heaven will give it to you.

I said, all you have to do is your part Pray, study, go to church and try to live the gospel and God will lift you at every level throughout your life.

She said, this is what I’ve been looking for. This ride has been incredible. I didn’t think God knew where to find me and now I know he was there all along.

Over the past year, I have seen her a couple more times. I had given her my blog and she reads it. The other two times I saw her she talked about some of the stories. One of those times when I gave her a ride, I picked her up in Salt Lake at the University of Utah. She was there for a concert. She said, you know, God keeps putting us back together. It gave her another chance to feel the spirit in my car and share her growing testimony with me. She’s doing a lot better and she’s attending church. I can tell her father in heaven is very pleased with her because she’s got the spirit with her. She is also helping those friends of hers find their way back.