One day during the covid craziness I went to church and a lady came to me and asked, “Are you Bruce Nilsson?” I said yes and she became very clingy. She was Venezuelan and we were speaking Spanish but this clinginess had more to do with something else than with the language. I interpreted the meetings for her but wondered what it was. As I talked to her I found out that she was the wife of a person that had been a passenger of mine. I had worked with him and he had rejected the church. There was not a lot of light in that situation.
I had never met her before that day and I wasn’t even familiar with her name. She came to church a couple of times and I asked her if she had ever been baptized. She said no. I told her that we should start teaching her the gospel so she could fix that situation. She said she wanted to do that.
It was difficult to find a place and time to teach her because of her husband and his abusive influence. About that time I had just started a new company and we were putting together kits. I had the idea to give her a job. She would come over to our house and put together kits.
I figured that this would be a great way to get her in a good situation. I also figured that this would be a great time and place where the missionaries could meet with her. I called Elder Troyer. I told him about this lady and that she was trying to learn English and was at my house working for me while we were working with her learning English. I asked him if he could come by and teach her while she was at my house. He agreed and we set the date during her working hours.
I told her that we were going to start having the missionaries come by and she was fine with that. The missionaries went through the lessons very quickly with her. She accepted everything but wouldn’t commit to being baptized. It was the craziest thing. We felt the spirit many times and helped her identify it.
I gave her a Book of Mormon, one of the Books of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I told her that it seemed to me that she really was looking for peace in her life and couldn’t figure out where to find it given her situation. I told her that when she reads the Book of Mormon she would feel that peace. The spirit testified of that and she noticed. I told her that if she would read and pray she could feel the spirit just like she was feeling it right then. She said, that is what I need. I will do that.
The issue however was the next step, what does that feeling mean and how does this knowledge obligate a change in your life? She wasn’t ready to commit to that change.
She would come to church, she would listen to the missionaries, she would read her scriptures and she would pray but getting her to commit to be baptized was just not happening. To add to this conundrum, she wouldn’t open up and discuss anything about her feelings, yet we knew the spirit had testified to her.
The elders were frustrated and I didn’t know what to do. I was praying hard about this one.
Time started slipping away and it was almost time for transfers. I felt very strongly that these elders were the right elders and knew we had to figure this out quick. One Friday night I was driving to Park City to do rides and I got a call from the missionaries. Elder Troyer was going to be transferred that next Monday. We only had 10 days.
I was heartbroken for Elder Troyer because I wanted him to see this baptism. As I was talking to Elder Troyer I received a revelation from God about what I needed to say to get her to decide to be baptized. I was so confident in that revelation that I told Elder Troyer to go ahead and set the baptism for his last Saturday in our area and that she would be ready to go. I also said she would be ready for an interview that next Sunday. They said, that’s great, how are you gonna pull that off? I told them that I wasn’t going to pull it off, the Lord would.
The next morning was a Saturday morning and I had been up late working until my customary 4 AM. Our friend showed up at my door at 7 AM to start working. As soon as she rang the doorbell I woke up with a start and had a very vivid recollection of exactly what had been revealed to me that I was supposed to say to her.
Filled with the spirit I stumbled downstairs and sat with her. I told her that it was time that we had a discussion about God. I told her that I could feel by the spirit that she had some questions but she wouldn’t open up about them. I said to her, your concerns are you don’t think you know enough yet, you don’t know how your husband will react and you want to have a greater witness than the one that you have had. You want an angel.
She said, how do you know this? I told her that it was revelation to my heart by the spirit. I told her that I was driving to Park City and the Lord revealed it to my heart. I told her that her answers were as follows.
There’s no way you can ever know everything about the gospel. I don’t know everything about the gospel and I’m still learning every day. I told her that the only way you can really learn for sure of the truth is through the gift of the Holy Ghost. When you have the gift of the Holy Ghost after you are baptized it can sear truth indelibly into your heart. This way you learn faster and you learn better. I told her that’s how missionaries learn the language. They learn it through a gift of the spirit. I told her that if she would get baptized and show that faith the Lord would recognize that faith and give her more knowledge. I told her that with that knowledge she would be able to answer the questions she had.
I told her that the Lord would bless her and protect her. I told her that her husband‘s heart would be softened. He would quit being so abusive and that he would even go to the baptism. Now that was a stretch but I felt to say it by the spirit.
I told her that the church would save her and that she was here because she was looking to be saved.
She looked astonished! She asked me if she could tell me a story and I said yes. She said she had a dream and in the dream she and her husband were at an amusement park. She was caught in the tracks of the roller coaster and the train was coming fast. She knew that she would die if it hit her. She called out to her husband to come and save her and he wouldn’t even look at her. He wouldn’t turn his head in her direction and he just ignored her.
A voice then came to her and said, he will never save you, go to the church and ask for Bruce Nilsson, he will help you. The next day she came to church and came up to me and said are you Bruce Nilsson?
As she told the story the spirit filled the room and I was humbled and a bit intimidated. Humbled because God knew my name and intimidated by the weight of the trust he placed in me. I hope I can always live up to that trust.
She said that now she knows that she was supposed to be baptized and she was ready. We called the missionaries and told them that she was ready for her interview the following day. She was baptized the following Saturday and her husband came to the baptism.
God is great
Since then her husband left her. She got a divorce and she has held tight to the gospel throughout. She told me it is the only thing that kept her going sometimes.
She had two daughters. One in Miami and another in Venezuela. They both were able to move here so they could be a family. She met a man who is a member of the church. They were married and he treats her very well.
I have talked to her several times about how she needs to always remember that God knows her and had sent her miracles. She agrees and is so grateful.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 