In the basement of a family I know, there are four rooms that they rent to people. Most of the time these people are from outside the United States and speak Spanish. When I go over to their house to visit, I always stop in and talk to the people who live downstairs.
One day I was sitting in my living room watching a TV program with my family and the spirit prompted me very loudly to get up and go over to this families home. I got up and went immediately because of the “right now” urgency the spirit had me feel! Heather was like where are you going and why? I really didn’t know and said something like “I have to check on this family.”
When I got there, I felt to go to these rooms they rent. In the common area sitting at the kitchen table was a man in his late 20’s that I didn’t know and had never seen. He had been a helicopter pilot in the Peruvian military and was here in the United States trying to find work as a pilot. I was impressed with the seriousness and business like approach he had. His head was definitely on straight.
When I first walked in, the spirit told me that he was the reason I was sent there so I jumped right in. We started talking about life, the gospel, and the Book of Mormon. He was intrigued by the Book of Mormon and told me that he would read it. I turned to third Nephi 11 and challenged him to read three chapters that night and meet with me and the missionaries the following night. He accepted that invitation.
We set the appointment for 7 o’clock the next night in our church house. I hoped that he would follow through with his commitment to read and show up but knew that there must be something special about him for the Lord to have sent me like that. It was clearly not an accident or coincidence.
The following night the missionaries and I went to the church house. I took my oldest son Kenny and the missionaries met us there. I was very excited when my new friend arrived. We got in the room and started with a prayer. Following the prayer the missionaries were about to start teaching our new friend. Right after they started to talk he interrupted them. He said, “last night I read the complete book of third Nephi and I have two questions.” First question, what is this authority that Jesus gave them to baptize? Second question, how can I be baptized by that authority? This seems very important to me.”
No words ever sounded more sweet to the ears of missionaries than these. It occurred to me that this was similar to the experience that Joseph Smith had when he was translating the Book of Mormon. Joseph came upon a scripture during translation about baptism and pondered about the authority necessary to baptize. He went down to the Susquehanna River where John the Baptist appeared, gave Joesph and Oliver Cowdry the Aaronic priesthood and instructed them to baptize each other.
The spirit was amazingly strong in that room. I told him this story about Joseph Smith and you could feel the presence of the spirit in the room. It was overwhelming. He had tears in his eyes and said these were for sure the words of God. He said, what I read in that book changed my life last night.
There was no way on earth. I was going to waste the opportunity to identify the spirit to him. I asked him how he felt right now. He said he couldn’t describe it in words, but his soul felt full.. He said he wasn’t sad, but he was crying. He said, I’m the opposite of sad. He said, the way I feel right now feels like love. I said, it is love, it’s the love of your father in heaven. He sent his spirit here to you to help you understand the truthfulness of the things that you are being taught.
He said, mission accomplished! I know this is true. I felt it last night reading and I knew I had to learn more about that baptism and receive it if at all possible. I said, it is very possible, that’s why we’re here.
I told him about Joseph Smith and the first vision. I started with the story about Joseph Smith looking for the truth and checking out all of the churches. I mentioned that he wasn’t able to find one that had the fullness of the gospel. He was looking for one to be verified to his heart by the spirit of God.
I stopped and said, I think that’s just like you. I feel like you have been looking for a while and have been quite frustrated in your inability to find what you have found here last night and tonight. He said, that’s absolutely true. It has been a long hard journey and I can’t believe you know that. I can tell God is with you.
I said, God can always be with us. It’s called the gift of the Holy Ghost. He said, I read about that last night. I said, the importance of this is that with that gift they could walk with God and he could direct their path. Isn’t that what you have been looking for? He said yes. I said, that’s what you found here.
I said, Joseph Smith was given metal plates made out of gold that had engravings on them. These engravings were writings of prophets who had lived in America before and after the arrival of Jesus Christ. They wrote their prophecies and the word of God as he revealed it to them. These people were your ancestors and those words were meant for you.
He said, I felt that and I feel that right now. I said, I know the Book of Mormon is true, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that we have a prophet of God in the world today. Because of this, I know that this is God‘s church and he directs it like he directed me to your door last night. He said, just like I felt last night, I want to be part of that.
He asked me if he could keep the Book of Mormon I had given him the night before and I said, absolutely! That’s why we give them out. We want the word of God to be in as many people’s hands and homes as possible. The Book of Mormon is a word of God just like the Bible and it brings us closer to God when we read it. He said, I’m going to read it, I’m going to read it all.
I said, as you read, you will feel the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the things you’re learning. He said, just like last night? I said yes. I said, when you pray, God will confirm the truthfulness of those things to you again in your heart. I said, the spirit will help us in all aspects of our life with protection, comfort, and will give us knowledge that Heavenly Father needs us to have to serve him. He said, this is so cool. He said that it’s kind of like a guidance system on a helicopter. It helps you be in the right spot and make good decisions.
I told him about my impression to go over there the night before. I mentioned how comfortable I was sitting on my couch in front of my TV watching my football game, but God had other plans. I told him that God had plans for him. God had stretched out his hand and touched his heart.
I knew then that this man had been prepared by God and was ready to receive the gospel. Three weeks later he was baptized and to this day is a faithful man. He lives in Peru and he is a helicopter pilot for the Peruvian national police.
His life has been blessed by the church. He is an active member. He’s flying helicopters and he has both guidance systems working.
After the meeting, Kenny was bouncing off of the wall. He had felt the spirit and was exploding with the spirit on the inside even though he didn’t understand anything that was said. I took the opportunity to help him identify what he was feeling and teach him about the Holy Ghost.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 