The sweetest smell and unfinished business

One time I picked up a guy in Orem very late at night. It had been a long day and it was like 3 AM and he was going home. It was a short ride but we seemed to hit it off really well. He was from an area in Argentina where I served.

During my mission I was sick and in the hospital for a while. I had been pulled prematurely from an area and felt frustrated with that. I didn’t think I got everything done that I needed to do in that area. It’s always kind of been in the back of my mind and that thought frustrates me.

This kid is from that area and when I picked him up and we started talking, I started thinking about that. Several years back I baptized another young man from that very same area as well. It just seems to me to be the case that even though I got sick and couldn’t finish the missionary work I needed to do in that area, Heavenly Father has compensated by bringing them to me here. It’s just awesome to realize that Heavenly Father doesn’t feel limited by illnesses, time or the geographic constraints that we see as being insurmountable sometimes.

We started talking and he said that he wasn’t religious but the spirit whispered to me then and said that this is what is he doing here in Utah. We were at the end of the ride and he was getting out. He told me that he took Uber this late at night for that short ride quite often. I decided that I would try to be in that area a lot because I wanted this conversation to continue.

A few days later, I was in that area about that time and there he was. As I pulled up, he was smoking. Sometimes this is discouraging to me but for whatever reason this day the spirit told me that this was my in. This is what I was supposed to use. I saw it as a good thing which is crazy.

As he saw me, he quickly put out his cigarette and hid the fact that he had been smoking. I smiled and waved. I asked him, how are you doing tonight?! He said he was doing good. As we started to go, I decided to jump right on in to it. I said, when I was in your area as a missionary, I got to be really good friends with a lot of people. Maybe you know some of them? I mentioned a couple people that I baptized in that area that have been bishops and leaders in the church.

A cool aside here is that one of these men who became a leader was 19 at the time. He came to the commandments lesson with a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. I reached up, (he was taller than I was) pulled the cigarettes out of his pocket and threw them away. He was baptized 5 days later and never looked back. A great man.

My passenger said that he didn’t recognize their names but would possibly know them if he saw their faces because he went to our church for quite a while at one point. I asked, did you get baptized? He said, no I didn’t. I said, what you really mean to say is no, not yet!

He laughed and said that he went to church but quit going because he smoked sometimes and that wasn’t allowed. I said, well, it’s not allowed inside the building but anybody can go to church and they should go to church so they can get closer to God. He asked, do you think they would really let me go to church if they knew that I smoked?

I said, one of our former prophets, David O Mckay loved to say that the sweetest smell in sacrament meeting is the smell of cigarette smoke. I said, if we smell that, we know that somebody is at church trying to do better. They are trying to get better and learn. That’s exactly who we want at church.

I said, one of my favorite sayings is that the church isn’t a museum for perfect people it’s a hospital for the spiritually sick. We are all in there trying to get better. I said, you need to come to church. I said, I used to have a neighbor that smoked. When he came to church, between meetings we would go out and stand on the curb and he would smoke. I said, eventually he quit smoking because the spirit of God helped him. I asked him, do you want to quit smoking? He said yes. I said the spirit could help you too.

I asked him if he had ever heard of the atonement of Jesus Christ and he said, yes, a little. I asked him to teach me about his understanding. He said that the atonement was what Jesus Christ did to pay for our sins on the cross. I told him that this was really good and that was part of it. I told him, also part of the atonement was suffered in the Garden of. Gethsemane. I said, there he suffered all of our pains, infirmities, hardships and addictions. Jesus has already suffered this addiction you have. He has the power to help you overcome it if you will let him.

He said, I really have wanted to quit smoking and more than anything I was embarrassed when I went to the Mormon church in Argentina because I smelled like cigarette smoke. I didn’t feel like I fit in. I said, that was Satan telling you you didn’t fit in and it was Satan telling you that you shouldn’t go because you smoked. I said, Jesus Christ loves you and he wants you closer not further away and he wants you in church so that he can bless you and lift you. He said, that sounds awesome.

The spirit was really strong and I asked him what it felt like. He said, happy! I just can’t quit smiling. I said, that’s exactly how we should all feel in the presence of the spirit of our father in heaven. I said, when you feel that you know that the things you are hearing are true. He said, I know they’re true. It’s like I don’t even have a doubt.

I asked him if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said no then yes and then finally he settled on a definite maybe but probably not here in the United States. I pulled one out of the glove box. It’s one of the books prepared by the Secrists and I gave it to him. He said, that doesn’t look like the other ones I had. What are these tabs in the side? I told him that this book is special because in the front it has questions a lot of people have and then the answers for those questions are marked in the sections by the tabs and are highlighted in red pencil.

I said, read through those questions and you might see some of your questions there. He said, this is cool. Is this mine? I said, yes. It was made just for you. He smiled.

I asked him if he knew what was in the Book of Mormon. He said, a little bit yes. He said, it’s about the people that used to live here in America. I said, that’s right, the ancestors of the Native Americans. I told him that they had prophets and that Jesus Christ himself appeared here in America. I told him that the writings of those prophets about those people are what makes up the Book of Mormon.

I said, it’s another testament of Christ because in tells us about the visit of Jesus Christ to America. I said, he descended from heaven and stood in front of the people and they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. I said, they asked him to save them and he gave them baptism. That is why baptism is so important to us because it was given to us by Jesus Christ and we accept his invitation to be baptized. I asked him, how often do you accept an invitation from Jesus Christ? He thought about it and said, that’s a real deep question but I am here for it.

I told him that the book was translated by Joseph Smith. He said. I remember his story about seeing God the father and Jesus Christ. Talking about it brings it back. He said, it makes me happy. I said, well, that’s the spirit of God testifying of the truthfulness of that as well.

He said, that’s pretty cool how God can guide us like that. I said, with the spirit here confirming the truthfulness of these things to you, don’t you think you should do something about it? Don’t you think you ought to go to church and don’t you think you ought to quit smoking so you can be baptized?! He said, yes to all of those things. I said, once you are baptized, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. You will be able to have God‘s spirit with you all of the time. I asked him if he felt any cravings for nicotine right then and he said no. I said, the spirit will help chase those away and give you the strength to overcome.

He said, I don’t know where to go to church here. We put his address into the meeting house locator and found the wards that he belonged to. There was an English ward, a Spanish ward, an English young adult ward and finally a Spanish young adult ward. So many decisions to make! I said, don’t let that overwhelm you. This is easy.

I asked him what time works best for him. He said around 11 o’clock. We identified the ward that met at 11. It was the family ward. I said, you go there this Sunday and ask for the ward mission leader. Tell him about the conversations we have been having and ask him if he could help you out. He said, I think I’ll do just that.

He said, I think I’ve been pointed in this direction for a while but I just needed a push. He thanked me, squeezed my shoulder and got out of the car. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to keep track of this one. I’m sure it won’t be easy for him but I think now he has a better knowledge of how the spirit can help him overcome smoking and improve his life by becoming a member of the church.