One day I was driving in Salt Lake and I picked up two girls from the capital. They were dressed in nice dresses and they were headed over to. Millcreek where they had an Airbnb.
They were from the East Coast and were here for the wedding of their girlfriend from college. They had gone to college at Rutgers and had lived their lives entirely on the East Coast. They had never seen mountains like we have and they were enjoying the scenery. The three of them were pretty inseparable and so they were here to celebrate. One curious fact that I found interesting was that the Utah capital building is one of the top 10 destinations for weddings in the United States. People go there because of how pretty it is. It also kind of looks cool up on the hill with a view over the valley. Those are the only reasons I can figure anyway.
As we know, there is a much better place to get married just down the hill or at least there will be when it’s back in business! As we drove by the temple and with the topic of discussion being marriage, I told them that my wife and I were married in that building right there in the temple.
They said, reeeeallyyyyy? Your Mormon? Some people think of us and confuse us with Amish or Menanites. I think there was a little of this confusion going on. I laughed and said, live in the flesh, right here. They laughed and said that’s awesome. One girl asked me if it would offend me if she asked questions about our church. She said, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or angry but I have questions. I said, I may not have all of the answers but as luck would have it I do have a few, and I would love to entertain your questions. One of them said she worked with a lady who was a member of the church but that she didn’t ever feel comfortable talking to her about it. She said she thought she might get in trouble at work if she offended her. It was a busy time of day and this ride was going to take a while so I thought this would be fun.
The first questions were questions that I get a lot. They are, so do you watch, Housewives of Salt Lake City, Sister Wives, or Mormon Wives on TV? I told them that I had never seen even one second of any of those shows but that I had given rides to a few of the crew and some of the stars for each of those shows. I told them that they are not very impressive and not someone you would want to pattern your life after for sure.
They laughed and said that they seem pretty trashy and not at all how they had imagined Mormons to be. II told them that when people leave the church for whatever reason they go out of their way to embarrass the church or to represent it poorly. I told them that when I had those people who were in those shows in my car they carried kind of a nervous uneasy feeling about them. I said, I prefer the awesome vibe you to bring.
One of them said, I don’t know if we brought it with us but we noticed that you have a very peaceful feeling in your car. I told them that you can always have the peace of God in your heart if you do the right things. I told them that that one of the main purposes of the church is to help us live in such a way that the spirit of God can be with us. It brings peace and it brings joy.
One of them said, I’ve noticed that same feeling in general around town. That’s pretty cool. I said, as people live the gospel you can change your society.
One of them said, well after that, I don’t know that I want to ask the rest of my questions. They might be offensive to you. I said, not offensive at all, fire away. She said, OK, tell me about polygamy, what was the deal with that.? Who are these people that do it?
I talked about the history of the church and the reasons for polygamy. I told them that it was about 125 years ago when it was banned in the church. I said, you get kicked out of the church if you have more than one spouse. I said, there are people that are polygamist but they are not members of the church. It is not allowed. Those who are on TV and other shows are not members of the church.
The other one then said, what about not drinking? You guys don’t drink, do you? I said, nope. She asked have you ever had a drink and I said no. I said, it’s part of our doctrine called the Word of Wisdom. I told them that it was a health law given to us by God to see if we would obey. Most active members of the church are really good about obeying it too.
They asked, can you drink Coke? I laughed and said, yes. It says that we can’t drink alcohol, tea, coffee, or use tobacco. I said, it forbids use of illegal drugs too but it also tells us to eat fruits and vegetables and be healthy. It’s kind of a well-rounded approach.
I mentioned that in the 1800’s when the law was given, everybody drank and smoking was no big deal. I said that our prophet, Joseph Smith received this revelation and at the time everybody thought he was crazy. I said, since then science has come around.
I said, this is why we have prophets. They give us knowledge and they give us light. They tell us the things God would have us know to protect and help us be better.
One lady said, “that sounds incredible”. It sounds like exactly what everybody should have. They said it would be great to know what he says. They talked about how usually they don’t drink too much but this weekend they had planned a little deviation from their normal course. I laughed. I said, I always obey because it is not only a rule of the things we shouldn’t put in our bodies, but it also has a promise of strength, wisdom and knowledge. I said, I’m a little limited here. I need more of all of those things.
I said, you guys are from back east. Our church was founded in New York. It was funny because they had no idea about the history. I told them about Joseph Smith and the Sacred Grove. I told them about how Joseph went there to pray and how he saw God the father and Jesus Christ. I said, they called him to be prophet. I told them that the Word of Wisdom is an example of what happens when a true prophet prophesies. I told them that since the days of Joseph Smith we have had a prophet leading our church. I said “today we have a living prophet who speaks with God and reveals his will to us.
As is always the case, when I testified of the first vision, the spirit of God entered in the car and they felt it. One of them said, I’ve never felt peace like that. I said, that’s the spirit of God. When we feel that spirit, we know that the things we are hearing are true. When I testified of the prophet Joseph Smith, God sent his spirit. That’s how you know it’s true.
One of the ladies said, we didn’t know we came here to get a new religion! We thought we were here for a wedding. They laughed. One said, did Joseph Smith teach anything else? Did he write any books that I could read? I told them that he wasn’t a huge author and he didn’t write lots of books but that he did translate a book written by ancient prophets in America.
I told them that the prophets in America had received revelation from God just like the prophets in the Bible. I said that they wrote them down and Joseph Smith was given these records. I said, he translated them so we have them today. I said, they include the visit of Jesus to the people here in America. That shocked them. They said, we have never heard of anything like that. I testified that Jesus came to America because he is God’s son and he loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem.
I told them that God sent Jesus to everyone not just the people in Israel. I said that the Book of Mormon proves that God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem because it testifies of the truthfulness of his visit. One of them said, “I love the Book of Mormon…. the play anyway.” I never really knew anything more about it.
They asked, why is it called the Book of Mormon. I said, a prophet named Mormon was one of the ancient prophets in America. He wrote and compiled the writings of those ancient prophets in that book and Joseph Smith translated it. It is called the Book of Mormon because he put it together.
One of them said, that’s pretty cool. Where do we go to get a Book of Mormon?
I would really like to have one. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists and handed it to her. I said, this is the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. I asked her to open the front cover and see the questions written there. I said, the page number by the question correspondes with where you can find those answers in the book. It’s a good way to start.
We were just pulling in front of the house where they were staying and She said, I think I should read the whole book. I said, I agree. Her friend said, what about me? Do you have a book for me? I laughed and said, absolutely. I pulled out another book and handed it to her.
I looked at the one who had a friend at work that was a member of the church. I told her that I am 100% sure that if she talks to her friend at work about the church , her friend would not be offended. I said, in fact, she would really enjoy the opportunity to talk to you. I said, a lot of people would like to share the gospel but they are afraid. They don’t want to lose friends.
I told her that when she got back, she should take her Book of Mormon to work and show it to her friend. I told her that she should tell her about what she felt in the car. I told her that her friend would be able to answer all of the questions that she still had.
They were really excited and really giddy. They promised that they would read the Book of Mormon. The girl with a member friend at work said, this will provide a lot of conversation fodder for me and my friend at work. We spend hours together. I expect I will learn a lot more about your church now that I know that it’s cool to ask.
They got out of the car and walked away. They came here for the beauty outside but they found out how beautiful it can be when we have the spirit inside. They were very determined to read the whole Book of Mormon and said that they love to read. I think the Lord has a plan here and it’s awesome.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 