Sometimes God sends you a lift

One night I picked up a girl down by the apartments near Costco in Orem. It was a little bit crazy finding her because the GPS had us on opposite sides of the building and she was a little frustrated trying to find me. Finally, we talked on the phone and we put it together and she got in the car.

I could feel a tremendous sense of frustration with her and I knew it had nothing to do with not being able to find me. I asked her, how are you doing? She said, not good. Even though we’re not supposed to pry and ask personal questions, I decided to do exactly that. I asked her what could possibly be going wrong.

She said that her aunt was being a problem. She said she had some trauma in her life earlier in her life and that her aunt had offered to have her come out here and help her. She said she was grateful for that but now her aunt had changed things up. She said that her aunt had withdrawn her support and she didn’t know what she was going to do, where she was going to live and how she was going to be able to do the therapy that they had all agreed she needed.

As I looked at her, I had the impression that she loved children and they loved her. I had the impression that she felt safe with children and that she felt love from and for them. I said, you love children don’t you? They’ve always responded well to you haven’t they? She kind of was quiet for a minute and almost brushed it off. She asked, why would you say that? I said, I just felt by the spirit that this was one of the gifts you have. It’s something that brings much joy to your life. She smiled and kind of changed the subject. I knew that the impression was true and was puzzled as to why she kind of dodged the subject.

I felt very impressed to talk to her about the atonement. I felt like she needed the atonement on so many different levels at this point. As I thought about the atonement, I also received a prompting that she was a member of the church even though she hadn’t indicated that in anyway.

I went full in talking about the atonement. I talked about how the atonement of Jesus Christ is the way God helps us through life. I told her that family members will fail us, people around us will fail and we even fail ourselves but through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can all be reclaimed. I told her that the atonement of Jesus Christ is like a medicine that makes everything better.

I asked her to think about a soccer player that gets a light hit on the field and then rolls around like he’s been shot. I told her to think about how the trainer comes out and sprays him with this aerosol spray. I said that normally they just jump right up like nothing ever happened. I said, that spray is magic. She laughed. I said, the atonement is something that. If we understand it and how to apply it, in almost every circumstance, it can lift our burdens and make it so that we can go forward unscathed and be happy.

I said, the first thing the atonement does is it helpsus forgive other people. I told her that people let us down and sometimes it feels very personal and it’s difficult. I felt impressed that the person who had abused and hurt her was very close. I said, when that person who abused or hurt you did these things, God was sad. I told her that God loved her because she was his daughter and these events made him very unhappy.

I told her that her Father in Heaven loved her and wanted her to access the atonement so that she could feel his love and have her burden lifted. I told her that Satan teaches us to blame God. Satan teaches us to reject the people in church who are not perfect because they may let us down. I said, Satan teaches us to point fingers but God points to Jesus so that we can look to him and live.

I told her that through the atonement of Jesus Christ she could begin to heal, forgive and move on. I told her that the power of atonement is how God pulls each one of us out of our difficult circumstance. I told her that in that atonement Jesus Christ suffered for all of our pains, inequities, injustices and every negative thing that we could experience in life. He suffered those things so that we don’t have to and we can look at him and have him take that pain on for us. I told her that this was God‘s plan. She asked, why did God let these things happen to me? Wouldn’t a loving God do something?

I told her that he gave us the atonement of Jesus Christ so that we could have our burdens lifted. Then we could use our abilities to lift those around us who suffer in a temporal way. I said, it’s our job to lift and help and then through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be healed.

I told her that Heavenly Father sent us here so that we could be tested. Heavenly Father gave us agency but some people use that agency poorly. I said, when they do, many times people suffer. I told her that even though we might be the victim of someone else’s agency, Heavenly Father still has a plan to give us comfort, light and love then bring us home.

I told her that through the atonement of Jesus Christ she would be able to put down the sword that she was carrying. She said, I never want to put myself in those situations again. How can I forgive those people? She said, they abandoned me. She said, my mother died when I was young, my father and his wife were just horrible to me. She said, in the end, they just abandoned me. She said it was very abusive.

I could feel that she felt alone but I also had the impression to teach her that she was never truly alone and that her Heavenly Father wanted her to know how much he loves her. I taught her that we lived with our father in heaven for thousands of years and the feeling we felt in his presence was essential and central to who we are. I told her that we are hardwired to seek that love. I told her that this love was manifest to us when we read the scriptures, when we pray, and when we access the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Her response kind of surprised me. She said, I love Jesus but I don’t know about Heavenly Father. I said, your Heavenly Father and your relationship to him need to be improved. You need to learn about him and you need to have his spirit in your heart.

I asked her what problems she had with Heavenly Father . She said, all my life I felt like I’ve been abandoned by my father. I don’t know that I can trust him not to abandon me. I said, he’s been there with you all along and I believe he put you in my car tonight. Your father in heaven loves you and he’s reaching out to you. This is why you are here tonight.

I said, unless we have a knowledge of his love and the power of his spirit, I don’t know how we can move forward in this life. I said, I don’t know how we would function in this life. I can’t imagine life without the blessings he gives us and the love that he shows. This includes the fact that he sent his son Jesus Christ for us. I told her that it was very. important that she begin to develop a relationship with her father in heaven. I told her that he wants that more than anything.

She said, I’ve always just tried to do it with Jesus. I have always thought that this is enough. I said, I love Jesus Christ, he’s my older brother, but our Heavenly Father sent him and gave him his power.

I perceived by the spirit that she was looking at Heavenly Father as a punitive person just waiting to punish us. I said this to her and she agreed. She said, that’s kind of how I look at it. I said, Heavenly Father is a perfect loving father and he wants all of us to come home to him. He is trying to do everything he can to get us home, every one of us, if we will. I said, that’s why we have the temple and that’s why we go to church. This is why we take the sacrament so that we can have his spirit to be with us so that we can go home.

I said, Satan is telling you that Heavenly Father doesn’t love you but Satan is a liar and he has tricked you. I told her that to have the kind of life she wanted to have she needed to have a relationship with her father in heaven. She needed to go to church and take the sacrament, she needed to say her prayers and speak with her father in heaven and she needed to read the Book of Mormon.

She said, well, I go to church but I love Jesus and so I read the Bible, I don’t read the Book of Mormon. I said, these things will make a difference in your life. I promised her that if she would do these things, she would feel the love of her father in heaven and her life would begin to change.

She said, I just haven’t had great success with fathers in my life. I told her that this one would never let her down and that he would be there for her. I talked to her about how faith is one of the most important things that makes it possible for us to accomplish the tasks put before us in life. I asked her about Nephi’s bow. She didn’t remember the story. I told her about Nephi‘s bow and how when it broke, they had to learn to rely on God instead of their own abilities and their own knowledge.

I told her that because of this experience they were able to have enough faith to build a boat that they didn’t know how to build, put it in an ocean that was very large and sail it to a world that they didn’t know for sure existed. I said, these were very difficult things. They didn’t have the faith, knowledge or ability to do them. Through the power of God accessed through their faith and by following his directions, they were able to accomplish something that they were not able to do on their own.

I said, in your life you feel like you have been confronted with things that are very difficult for you. You don’t know if you can accomplish these things, in fact you don’t think you can. I tell you here tonight that you can’t do it but God can and if you will look to him he can lift your burdens and see you through your trials. The spirit was strong in the car and I testified to her of the truthfulness of these things. I testified to her of the power of faith as well as the power of the love of God that we each seek. I said, he’s calling to you.

I felt like we had turned the corner. She talked about her boyfriend and how things were really hard with him. She mentioned that he struggled sometimes emotionally. She said, sometimes I feel abandoned by him too. It’s just not healthy. We both felt like we were prompted by God that we shouldn’t be together but that only lasted for about three weeks and it’s not going very well.

I said, you should do what God says. You should follow the spirit and trust your revelation. I felt like it was important for me to identify the spirit in the car and I asked her to tell me what it felt like. She said it felt very peaceful, loving, and warm. I said, that’s how you feel in the presence of your father in heaven and it’s how you feel in the presence of the spirit. I said, we need to learn to follow this and it will bring us home to our father in heaven.

I talked about how important faith was in this journey. She said, I learned that on my mission. I was shocked. I asked, a mission? When did you go on a mission? She said, I went in 2016 to the Independence Missouri visitor center. I asked, how was that? She said, it was good and she liked it but that she hadn’t had any of those feelings for quite some time.

I felt like it was important to double back and reiterate, the previous instruction that I had received for her by the spirit. I said, well, just like you taught on your mission back then, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and you need to be reading it. I said, it teaches about our father in heaven‘s love for us and the atonement and mission of his son Jesus Christ. It teaches us how to come home.

I said, you need to pray, you need to ask Heavenly Father to help you access the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, as you do that, you will feel love fill your heart. Patience, and understanding will guide you and your burdens will be lifted.

I said, you need to go to church and take the sacrament with these things in mind. I told her that the sacrament would fill her spiritual tank so that she could have strength and power from a spiritual perspective to do the things that she needed to do.

I told her that her father in heaven wanted her to be successful in her relationships too. She said, I don’t think anyone can love me. I said, your Heavenly Father loves you tremendously and as you embrace his spirit and do the things that we’ve talked about, people will want to be around you and the kind of people you want in your life will find you. You will find love in that group.

I said, it’s past time for you to quit making excuses for bad behavior and embrace this higher expectation and this higher level of love. I said, it’s past time for you to quit accepting abuse and making excuses for it. It’s time for you to realize that as a daughter of God, you deserve to be treated as such.

I said, you need to find that light in your soul that you have let dim and make it glow. It will attract the kind of people you need in your life. I said, most of all if you felt the spirit say you shouldn’t be doing something you shouldn’t be doing that thing. This includes your relationship.

She said, well, he is a good person. I said, just because he’s a good person doesn’t mean that it’s right for you or that it’s right for you at this time of your life. Your Heavenly Father knows best and you need to follow that prompting.

She said, he is even in a bishoprick. I’ve always thought that because he had a position in the church this would make it so that I could be fine with him. I told her what my grandma always said. My grandma always said that position in the church will never save a man, but it may well condemn him. I said, positions in the church are how we serve God. Obedience to the commandments and the atonement of Jesus Christ are how we are saved. I said, the two should go hand-in-hand, but they don’t always go hand-in-hand and we need to trust and have faith in the whisperings of the spirit.

I said, if you both felt it, I would say the debate is over. I said, you deserve to be treated right. You deserve to be treated like a daughter of God.

She said, I needed to hear this tonight. Before I left, I prayed and asked that someone would be sent to help me. I’ve been here in the car and I feel like everything you’ve said are all of the things I need to do. I feel like God answered my prayers .

I told her that God puts people in my car and gives me the words to say to them from time to time. He shows his love to them in my car. I never cease to be amazed how much he loves people. I said, he loves to help them find their way home. I said, tonight several times he has given me words to say in my heart and I said them. She said, I’ve been astounded at how you knew to say everything that I needed to hear. You’ve told me things that there is no way you could’ve known and the spirit has let me know that this came from God. I need to do what you said. I need to do what God says!

I said, Heavenly Father is there for you, he sees you as his child. I told her about a situation I had when I was struggling with a sick family member and prayed for help. All of a sudden, I had a vision of them with their head in my hands like a child. It was like when a child comes up to their parent and puts their head in their hands and smiles up at them. When that happened I felt love for that person. I told her that at the first of the ride when she was struggling, I saw her like this. I saw her like her head was in my hands and she was smiling. I told her that I knew that this reflected how her father in heaven saw her. I told her that I could feel his love for her because I had seen her in this light.

She got choked up and said, I have to tell you, earlier you said that I loved children and I blew that off. I want you to know that I do love children. I’m a school teacher by training because I love to be around children. I was a little taken aback because I didn’t know how you could know this. Now I know, I know that the spirit let you see this and I know God was working through you

She said, you’re like a dad or a grandpa that I’ve never had. You’ve been telling me the things that I’ve needed to hear and you’ve brought the spirit of God back into my life. By this time, we had been sitting outside of our destination for an hour and 10 minutes. The place where she was going to go had already closed during that time. The spirit had been so strong and the love of God so present in the car that she embraced it totally and refused to walk away from it.

I took her to another place to drop her off. She asked me if it was OK if she gave me a hand hug, (a handshake) and I said yes. She got out of the car and went in to the building where I dropped her off.

As she got out of the car, I thought about the difference between the light in her eyes and the smile on her face contrasted with the angst and frustration I felt when she got in the car. Her countenance had changed and her father in heaven had approved of her decision to change her life and make better decisions.

As she left I looked at her, she was exuding happiness. She had felt the spirit of her Heavenly Father and she knew he loved her. Contrasting that with the anxiety, doom and gloom that she personified when she got in the car, it was amazing to see. This was the change that the spirit touching her soul had made.

.

One day I was working in Orem and I got a call to pick up somebody near my house. it was a house of a Spanish-speaking person that I know.

At first I thought that the person I know was maybe going to come out of the house but instead it was a friend of his. He walked right past the rear door of the car and got in the front seat. I hate it when people get in the front seat. It makes you feel uncomfortable and it’s not safe. Sometimes I make a point of saying something about this but this time the spirit told me to be quiet and listen. I perked up and turned up my listeners.

I had never met this guy and we talked about our mutual friend. I told him that his friend used to be in my stake and that we were still friends. I told him I do interpretation of our sacrament meeting into Spanish every week and I have several of the Spanish-speaking people from the area who come to worship with us.

I used this line of discussion to introduce the church. He put off dry member vibes and I felt prompted by the spirit that this man wasn’t a member YET! By talking about the church and his friends, I hoped to introduce it in a way that would make him open up.

Open up he did. He talked about how he wasn’t a member of the church but that his daughter was and that his wife had joined the church with his daughter. He talked about how he wasn’t going to join the church because his family was a really strong Catholic family and they just didn’t do that. He said that he thought that it would be a betrayal to his family to join the church.

Then he got to the real reason why he didn’t join the church. He said, besides that, your church doesn’t want me. As far as I could see your church only wanted my wife and my daughter.

He said when the sister missionaries were there they totally ignored him, went around him and tried to separate him from his wife.

He said, the members of the ward treated him like he had some rare special disease that they were rescuing his wife and daughter from. He said, it was really hard on our marriage.

As he spoke, I knew what he was going to say before he said it. I could see it in my mind’s eye and I could feel his frustration, hurt, anger and emasculation.

He said what made it worse was that his wife and daughter always gushed about the Elders that would come over with the sisters. He said, it kind of felt like they were trying to replace me. He said that they treated him as an obstacle. He said that since the missionaries came into their life 10 years ago, his wife has been very critical and dismissive of him with regard to anything spiritual. He said that this is when he decided to never be baptized and stick to the family thing.

For the record, I’m not saying this is what happened. I’m saying this was his perspective and whether it’s true or not, intended or not, his perception is reality to him. I could hear it in his voice and I could feel it in the intensity that he said it with.

It’s quite a thing when the spirit lets you have a peak into someone’s life like that. I knew that due to the fact that the spirit had let me feel that, it would also give me the words to say so I started saying what came to my heart.

The first thing I felt that I was supposed to do was compliment him on the love for his family. I told him that I could tell that he loved his family very much and that he enjoyed being with them. He wanted them to be proud of him. I said that the love he felt for his family is a very godlike love. I said, we learned that kind of love in the preexistence because we felt perfect love from our father in heaven.

I told him that as a father and husband, that love was a gift given to him from his father in heaven so that he could share it. I said that I thought it was cool that even though things hadn’t been perfect, love was still his greatest concern and his greatest desire was to love and be part of his own family.

I said, your Heavenly Father loves you very much. He asked, “even though I’m not a Mormon”? I said, absolutely. I said, I think you’re a great man and a very good example.

I said, Heavenly Father loves everyone, this means each one of his children. I said, he wants us to use that love to bless others. He wants us to spend our lives coming closer to him so that we can feel his love more fully and completely. I said, it’s all about love.

I said, I feel bad and apologize to you that your perception was that you were not loved or wanted. I want you to know that you are loved. I said, people make mistakes, but God is perfect and his love is perfect.

I told him that God loved every person in the world who had ever lived and that they are all his children. I told him, that’s exactly what the church teaches. If you really want to know what your family’s real religious heritage is, I will tell you. I said, and it’s not the Catholic Church.

He looked puzzled and said, they’re all Catholic but I’m interested to hear what you have to say. I told him that they may all be Catholic now but back before the Spanish came to America they were not Catholic. I told him that his ancestors here in America had prophets and they received revelation from God and they wrote those revelations down.

I told him that this was the same God who had prophets in Israel and they wrote their revelations down too. I told him that this is why we have the Bible and this is why we have the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon is the collection of revelations and writings from the prophets who were his ancestors that had lived in America anciently. I said, those people believed in God and loved God just like your family does.

I told him that they felt the same love of God that he feels and that this love is universal because God loves all of his children. I told him that God gave them prophets so that he could help them and lead them along the path back to him.

I told him that those prophets prophesied about Jesus Christ and that he would come to them. He asked, here in America? To my ancestors? I said, yes to your ancestors.

I told him that in the Bible Jesus had said that he had other sheep that were not of that fold and that he would go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I told him that after his resurrection he did just that.

I said that Christ ascended into heaven in front of his apostles in Jerusalem and came to America. I explained to him how Jesus descended from heaven, pure and white with great glory and stood on the temple steps. I mentioned to him how his ancestors touched the prints of the nails in his feet and his hands.

I told him that they knelt before him and they pled for salvation. I said “he gave them baptism as an answer to that plea. He called up 12, gave them authority and commanded them to baptize everyone even though they were already members of the church. He wanted to save those people. I told him that those people were his ancestors, his great, great grandparents many years back.

I told him that Jesus held those children, his ancestors, in his arms, and he blessed them. He loved them with that love that we had been discussing.

I said, those were your people being blessed by Jesus Christ. I said, he blessed them and their posterity which includes you. You are blessed by God.

I could see that he had a shocked, disarmed look on his face. He was no longer combative about religion and I could feel his heart open to what I was saying.

I said, Jesus Christ invited your ancestors to be baptized and to walk on the path back to their father in heaven. I said, “and today he is inviting you to do the same, that call and invitation that was accepted by your wife and daughter. That invitation is also extended to you.

I said, you were never intended to be excluded from anything and the fact that you felt that way makes your father in heaven sad. He would never leave you out.

I told him that sometimes people aren’t really good with communication and they get focused on what they are doing and not what’s happening around them. I said, but Heavenly Father put you here today so that you can know that he loves you and that this is for you as well.

I could tell that he was feeling the spirit. He was smiling and instead of a bristled tough vibe that I had felt earlier. I was feeling a soft open vibe off of this man.

I said, those ancient prophets in America wrote down their prophecies. I said, they etched them on plates of metal. I told him that these plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, a young man who was called to be a prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. I said, he was also given these plates by an angel who was one of the prophets who lived anciently in America. I said, he translated those engravings and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon today.

I said, the Book of Mormon is your religious heritage and the religious heritage of your family. It shows the love of God that burns in your heart and demonstrates that love throughout the history of your people.

I said, you didn’t even know what the Book of Mormon was did you? He said, no. No one ever told me what that book was. I said, you didn’t know that Jesus came to your ancestors did you? He said, no, I had no clue what it was in the Book of Mormon, they never told me, and I’ve never heard about Jesus coming to America. He said, that’s really cool.

I asked him how he felt in his heart right then. He said, I feel like what you’re telling me is true. I asked him, do you feel like Jesus came to America? He said, yes. I asked him what he thought about the Book of Mormon and he said, I need to investigate that.

I felt impressed to show him. my picture of Tulum. I pointed out to him that it had three doors and above each one of those doors it had an area for a carving representing the God that pertains to each door.

I told him that Tulum was built around 800 AD. I pointed out that this was 700 years before Columbus came to America. I told him that no white Europeans had been here yet. He agreed with me. I said, the carvings above each door are interesting.
I told him that the one above the left door is of a king God with robes and a crown.

I told him that the one above the middle door is of a God descending from heaven. I showed him a carved representation of that God.

I mentioned to him that the third one is empty. He whispered, the Holy Spirit. I didn’t have to say a word.

I asked him that if Jesus didn’t come to America how did the people 700 years before Columbus know about God, the father, his son Jesus Christ who descended from heaven to the inhabitants of America and the Holy Ghost, who doesn’t have a body therefore there is no carving of him.

I pointed out to him that the representation of Jesus made way back then depicted him descending, but it showed him with a cup in one hand and wounds in both hands. I asked him, why would they put wounds in the hands if it wasn’t Jesus Christ. He said, that’s true!

He said, wow, have I got investigating to do. I told him that in no way would he be letting down his family by joining the church but that he would be coming home to the religion brought to his ancestors by Jesus Christ. I said, you would be a blessing to your entire family.

I told him that he would be a key part of saving his ancestors. I told him that as a member, he would be able to go to the temple and be baptized for them so that each one of his family members could have the opportunity to embrace that heritage.

He said, I really do need to investigate this now. This has made me think and now I feel compelled.

I told him that it wasn’t me that was making him feel this way. I mentioned to him that he had been feeling the spirit in the car and that the things he was learning and feeling were put in his heart by the spirit of God that was with us. I asked him if he felt loved right then. He said, I feel incredibly loved. I said, that’s the spirit of God and it’s testifying to you.

He said, I do know that what you said is true. It just feels so right. I said, Heavenly Father wants you to be baptized. He wants you to be respected by your family and he wants you to feel loved by him and by your family.

I said, once you’re baptized within a week or two you’ll receive the priesthood and at that point I believe things will begin to change with regards to you and your wife.
I felt very strongly prompted to promise him that.

He said, at this point, it’s a point of pride and I don’t want to do this with or because of my wife. I had a momentary panic because that would just be too easy. I could imagine him walking into his house and say, hey honey I’ve decided I want to take the discussions and get baptized. That was not going to be the case. There was too much water under the bridge with the way he felt.

We sat there for a second then he said, but I would like my daughter to do this research with me. I think she could help me. We are all very well aware of the soft spot fathers have in their hearts for their sons and daughters. This made so much sense to me, especially considering how our conversation had gone in the car.

I said, that would be awesome! I think your daughter would be the perfect person. She is the perfect person to do this research with you.

I said, I think it would be awesome if you did the research, had the lessons and did all your preparation for a baptism without your wife knowing. Then you can just tell her the morning of your baptism that she needs to come. He laughed and said, that’s exactly what we need to do. That would be awesome.

I said, as your family joined the church you felt like you had been separated and toppled from your position as the head of the family. As you do this, you will be placed right back in your position and you will feel one again with your family. He said, that’s what I want.

He said, Thank you so much for taking this time to help me today. I won’t be betraying anyone. It’s just the opposite. He said, my daughter is home now and my wife is at work. I’ll go talk to my daughter. He shook my hand, got out of the car and went in the house.

 One Saturday night, I was down in Utah County working. It’s a little different working in Utah County because unlike  Salt Lake City where many of the popular bars are in one area there is not one area where most of the bars are found. In Utah County every town has only one bar. The exception to this is Orem that does not have a bar.

I got a ride to go over to the bar in Springville to pick up a ride to go to Orem. To me this made total sense because it seems like the Orem people think they’re free agents and they go to any bar in any city they want.

I got to the bar.  It’s located just west of the freeway on the frontage road. I pulled in front of the door and started to wait. I started getting these texts about how they were going to be out in a minute, but they never came. Finally, I was getting excited because I was going to be able to cancel the ride take the money and get another ride somewhere.

Then a couple came out. When I saw them. I was struck by how they didn’t seem like they belonged. They were out of place, and I got the impression that I would be discussing the gospel with them.

As you know, if you read this, occasionally I have talked to people who have been leaving the bars but generally, it’s not where I get my most impressions. I kind of don’t expect it because most of the time when they’re coming out of a bar they are drunk. That is not a favorable or likely condition for them to feel the spirit or even remember anything they felt. I think most of the time, God would not have me testify in these situations and I don’t get promptings.  To put it another way I wasn’t expecting this prompting.

They got in the car and mentioned that it was her birthday and they apologized for taking so long to get out. They said that they had to say goodbye to all of their friends and were having a hard time closing out their tab. Apparently they had paid for all of their friends.

I said, that’s great and I wished her a very happy birthday. They said thanks and talked about how much fun they had with their friends. They talked about how they liked being around their friends. They mentioned that they were engaged and were going to be married in September.

I asked where they were going to be married and after they paused for a few seconds they said, in an apple orchard down in Santaquin. The spirit told me that they knew that this wasn’t what they had wanted to do. That feeling killed the vibe for a minute. 

After a minute they talked about how all of their friends were jealous about their relationship and how well they got along.  Doing this was a little self congratulatory for them and it picked their spirits back up. It made them feel better about themselves.

I decided to jump right in. I didn’t know anything about these kids but the spirit was bringing some things to my heart to say and I decided I needed to say them. I knew that God knew them and so it would all work out OK. I said, I have people in my car all the time they do nothing but rip on the opposite sex.  They say what kind of horrible people the opposite sex are and how all of the good ones are gone. I said, that may be for them, based on their choices but that there are a few commonalities in great relationships.

I said, one of these commonalities is a desire to be married more than they want anything else. I said, if you want to be married more than you want anything else, you’ll be married regardless of what else comes up. I said, some people want to be right more than they want to be married and they end up being right but they’re not married. I said, others want to win the fight more than they want to be married and they win the fight but in the end they’re not married.

I said, they also learn the importance of bringing God into their relationship. Many of these people totally disregard the commandments of God and jump into the physical parts of the relationship on the first night or early on. I said, this will destroy the relationship and make it hard to create a firm foundation to build on.

As I said these things, I realized that because of the fact that I pick these two up at a bar, it was at least a possibility that the law of chastity was a huge problem and that I may have said something contentious or that struck a nerve.  The spirit confirmed to me quickly that I was all right.

Just as I was thinking this, the guy spoke up and said, you have a good point! The first time we were intimate was quite a while after we started dating.  He said, I went to church the next day because I felt guilty. He said, I was raised religious and so that guilt found me.

I asked him where that guilt came from? He said that he thought it came from all of the years being taught by his parents. I said, I think that guilt came from inside of you because you knew that what you were doing was not what you believed in. I said, I think you knew that  God had higher expectations for you and it hurt to think that you let him down. I said, he’s your father and you had felt his love in your life and now you felt like you turned your back on him.

I realized that this was pretty strong but the spirit put it in my heart to say and pushed me to say it. When that happens, you just go with it. You know that God has a plan.  As I sat there and quickly contemplated this I had a very strong impression that he was a returned missionary and that she was young in the church.

I felt impressed to talk about repentance. I said, God doesn’t want us to feel horrible. God wants us to come home. That’s why he sent his son Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus Christ so that we could repent of our sins and come back home. It’s called the atonement of Jesus Christ and it works. He said, I think you’re right. I need to do better.  

I said, how long have you guys been members of the church? She said, how do you know that we are? I said, I just feel that the spirit is prompting me that you are members of the church. He said, yes, we are. I baptized her on my mission in Alabama. Since the day we met, I’ve known that we were supposed to be married. She left Alabama and came out here and that’s when everything fell apart with regards to the church.

He said, I haven’t closed the door completely on coming back to the church. Then looking at his fiancé, he said, neither has she, although it’s a lot more closed than it is with me.

She chimed in saying, yeah my doors are only open a crack. I had the distinct impression that the breaking of the law of chastity by these two young people preparing for marriage, was only one part of the story.  I felt that she had a different issue that needed to be addressed.

As I thought about what the issue might be, I kind of had a feeling like she had left something comfortable and familiar. She was lost. I felt like she was lost living out here without her family and she got lost in the church out here.

I know that many times the church can be difficult for people who are baptized outside of Utah and then move to Utah. When they move to Utah, the culture of the church, in many cases, is just very different.  It takes a strong testimony sometimes to see God‘s hand instead of people’s flaws.

I said, yeah, sometimes that transition could be really difficult. Sometimes things people say and the way wards interact in general can be really difficult. I said, it’s hard to mesh and find a place sometimes.

I told her about the time in our previous ward when the lady told us that she didn’t want to sit by us because she didn’t like the noise our children made. I said, at first I was offended and then I decided I would go to church every Sunday early so I could find out where they sat. I did this so that I could go sit right behind them every Sunday. Eventually, we became good friends. She laughed and said, that takes a lot of guts. I don’t know if I have that much courage.

I said, I don’t think I do either. It’s not courage that’s self generated but it’s confidence that I get through the power of the atonement.

I said, one of the problems we have in the church many times is that we only look at the atonement as what we access during the process of repentance. Looking at him I said, when I spoke about repentance with regards to being intimate before marriage, that’s what you thought about. I said, you weren’t wrong either. Repentance is how we cleanse our sins when we have made mistakes or broken the commandments. I said that this is only a small portion of the power accessible to us through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I said, most of the time when we talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ we talk about it in the context of repentance and that’s a good thing and a wonderful thing. I said, The rest of the atonement is also very necessary especially right now in your lives. Looking at their faces, I could tell they were puzzled yet interested to hear what I had to say.

I said, when Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to perform the atonement, he bled from every pore and suffered for more than just our sins. He suffered for the inequities, the injustice, the pains, the embarrassment, the abuse we would suffer, the unrighteous judgments people would pass on us and all of the negative emotions of our existence. I said, it was in every way an infinite atonement.

I said, he did this so that we could have our burdens lifted; the burdens of sin, the burdens of judgment placed upon us by others, the infirmities we would feel, the injustice we would face and the battles we would fight. He suffered all of this so that we could look to him and live.

I shared my parable of the glasses where you take five clear glasses and fill them with juice at different levels. I asked them how they would subsequently even out the levels of juice in each. They said that they would take some from the fullest one and distribute it through the others back-and-forth until it all came out even. I said, that is the way man looks at things. Some have it and some don’t. I said, if someone has it we feel like we need to take it from them and give it to others because it’s just not fair. That’s how we look at it, as the natural man. I said that the way Jesus looks at it is that he doesn’t take from one to give to another. He just brings in the pitcher and fills all of the glasses to the brim. His sacrifice was sufficient to love everybody, lift everybody and fill everyone’s cup regardless of our condition.

I said, regardless of what your challenge, embarrassment or situation is, turning to Jesus is like having a healing ointment that you can rub on it that will make it feel better. By turning to Jesus, he can lift us. I said, when we are faced with a challenge, Satan tells us to blame God and God tells us to look to Jesus and live.

I talked about the serpent that Moses fashioned out of bronze and put on the staff for the children of Israel to look at to be saved.  They had been bitten by poisonous snakes and people were dying. I said, people died because they didn’t believe that they would be saved by doing something so unsophisticated and simple as looking at this snake on the staff.

I said, we need to be smarter than this and realize that the atonement has been done for us. We need to realize that our sins and other tribulations have been suffered for already and if we look to Jesus, we can live.

I told them about Alma and his people in the valley of Elam where they were held as slaves.  I said that because of the atonement of Jesus Christ they were able to look to Christ and have their burdens lifted to the point where they could barely feel them. I told them that this is God‘s plan to help people who are ridiculed, persecuted, embarrassed, offended, wounded in any way or who have sinned. God‘s plan is to have us look to his son and live. I told them that Satan‘s plan was to blame God and pull away from the church.

I asked them which route they had chosen to take. When I asked this, it was quiet in the backseat for quite some time. Then she said, maybe we didn’t make the best decision. I just didn’t understand this. He said, me neither. He said, I spent my whole life in the church and served a mission, but I’ve never heard the atonement explained like this. He said, to me it was always about repentance and I didn’t realize it was so much more.

I said, the cool thing is that it is still about repentance, but I testify that in your life, if you will look to Jesus Christ, he will help you through every circumstance and you will live. I said, God loves you, he’s your father and this is how he brings us home.

The spirit was really strong in the car and there were tears being shed. I said, what are you guys feeling right now. He said, I’m feeling the spirit. I looked at her and asked her as well, what are you feeling? She said, calm and emotional at the same time. I said, that’s the spirit. That’s how you feel in the presence of the spirit. I said, we’re all feeling the same thing It just manifests itself differently to each one of us. I said, when you feel this you know that God is confirming to you the truthfulness of the things that are being taught. 

He said, it looks like I’ve screwed everything up. I said, that’s what Satan would have you believe. He’s there telling you that you can’t be forgiven. He’s there telling you that the people in church are judging you. He’s there telling you that the people at church aren’t friendly and that you don’t fit. He’s there telling you that you won’t feel comfortable when you go.  He tells you that you don’t belong anymore. 

I told him, if you guys will go to church and focus on the Savior and the atonement, none of these other things will matter. You’ll be able to get yourselves straight, and you will feel the spirit in your lives.

I looked at her and I said, for you this has been really hard because it felt like a personal rejection when you moved here. You were used to being welcomed as a new member of the church and they invested in you. Here you’re just another member, you felt betrayed and abandoned.

I said, that’s exactly how Satan wanted you to feel. I said, if you will access the atonement and cover yourself in it, it will take the power away from Satan to affect you like this. I said, if you guys will do this, your friends really will have examples to look up to.

He said, I’m willing to do it. I want to do this. She said, I will if you will. I said, when you go to church, if you feel like someone is judging you, you need to realize that everyone has sin. I said, you expect them to be patient and have tolerance for your sin but you also need to have patience and be tolerant of their sin. I said, their sin is judging you. If you react horribly to them judging you, it only means that you are judging them. Go up,put your arm around them, tell them you love them and don’t let Satan win. Never let Satan win.

The spirit was really strong in the car. I said, I believe God put you in my car today to get this message.  I know that by the spirit he gave me the words to say so that you would know that what I was speaking were his words. He wants you back and it’s time. Don’t let another week go.

They looked at each other and said, after what we felt here tonight, I think we know what we have to do. We need to go back to church.

I said, we started this talking about you guys getting married and I want to end it like that. I said, I believe God is happy that you guys are getting married but I know he wants you to be sealed in the temple. Apple orchards are nice but having this spirit that we felt here tonight bless your marriage is the next level. I said, that happens in the temple. I said, that’s got to be your goal. Let’s turn this around!  

There were sniffles and tears going on and they each grabbed one of my shoulders and shook me. They thanked me and got out of the car. I’ve never talked to a couple like this. I usually don’t pick up people who have been drinking from bars and talk to them about God but that night God wanted the atonement to be taught and he wanted to bring back a couple more of his children. I think we have taken a big step in that 

One day I was driving in Salt Lake City. It was later on in the afternoon and I picked up a lady in her 50’s that was living in some apartments where University of Utah students usually live. I’ve never picked up anyone over 30 in this place and was surprised at first when she came out.

I said hello to her and was surprised to hear a very thick Spanish accent come back from her. It turns out she was from Ecuador and she is living here in the United States with her daughter who was attending the University of Utah. She is roommates with her daughter, which is something that I am sure her daughter appreciates. My thought at that time was that it kind of takes helicopter mom to a new level in my opinion.

We started to talk about how much she has enjoyed living here. She said she really liked it and that her daughter was doing really well. She said that they were really worried about having their daughter come to the United States and so she came here with her to protect her . She said that while she’s here she’s taking English classes so that she has more options when she goes home.

I told her I thought that was cool! I said, there are a lot of people here who speak Spanish. She said, yeah, I know. It’s been kind of fun. She looked at me and said, no offense but you’re the last person that I would’ve expected to speak Spanish. She said it blew her away.

I laughed and said, that happens from time to time. I shared some stories with her about people making the mistake of thinking that I didn’t speak Spanish and subsequently embarrassed themselves with the things that they said. She laughed.

She asked how I learned my Spanish and I told her that I learned it on my mission in Argentina. She said, you have an Argentine accent, so I figured that you either were from there, lived there or something. I said, I learned spanish teaching people about Jesus.

She said, I’ve always been a little interested in the Mormon church. Back at home, they brought one of their books by and gave it to me. It’s there in my bookcase in my living room. She said, I never opened it.

Then she turned to me and asked, can you tell me what you guys believe in? We only had about two minutes left in the ride and that’s a lot to pack into two minutes. I took a deep breath and told her that in my opinion, our beliefs center around three things.

The first one is that God is our father and he loves us, everyone of us everywhere in the world no matter where or when we live. He is perfect and he has a perfect plan for each of us.

The second one is that Jesus Christ is God’s son. Jesus came to earth, was crucified and resurrected so that we could all live with his father someday if we are willing. He showed us the path that we need to follow to go home. He taught us the things that we need to do like being baptized.

Third, we believe that God always has and always will work through prophets. We believe that he has his prophets on the earth today and that the Book of Mormon, that she had in her house, was a translation of ancient writings by prophets that lived here in America. It was translated for us by Joseph Smith, who was a modern prophet. I said, we believe in prophets because they speak for God.

I felt the spirit in the car and I could tell she was feeling it. I asked her how she felt. She smiled and said, really good. She said, I like how talking about this makes me feel.

She said, I wish I had my Book of Mormon with me. This has been so much fun, hopefully we can ride together again. I reached into my glove box to grab a Spanish Book of Mormon but I didn’t have any. I was not happy that I hadn’t restocked. I hadn’t done that and an English book would’ve done no good at all. We had arrived at her class and she was late. She jumped out of the car and ran into her class.

The spirit told me that this wasn’t over by a long shot. I had the impression that the following week I would give her a ride another time. That’s kind of strange because it doesn’t happen very often but I started looking forward to it and prepping as to what I would say.

There were a couple of things that I noticed. These were things that I had wanted to say but I didn’t have time. I wanted to talk to her about the spirit we felt. I wanted to help identify the Holy Ghost to her. She had clearly felt the Holy Ghost and her interest was peaked but I hadn’t had time to follow up on that.

I really wanted to give her a Book of Mormon too. It’s just like things didn’t come together smoothly, everything went so fast. I decided to trust that the Lord would put her back in my car. I said a little prayer and went about the rest of my day.

Fast forward to the following week. It was even a different day of the week. I was about ready to bail on Salt Lake City and head to Utah County. I decided to take one more ride and there I was right in front of her apartment. It was a different name on the reservation so I didn’t think it was her but lo and behold, there she was.

She got in the car and said, this is crazy. Clearly this was meant to be. She said, we need to continue that conversation from last week. She said, I’ve got some things I need to ask you.

I said, I’ve got some things I need to say as well. I guess we both have unfinished business. She laughed. I said, why don’t you go first.

She said, all right, I’ve just got a couple of questions. First is,what do you guys think about repentance? Is repentance complete and what are the things that you can be forgiven for?

I said, that’s a great question. When you understand what I said last time about how our father in heaven loves each one of us and he wants us to come home to him, you understand how important it is for him to make a way for us to become clean. I said, that’s repentance.

I said, when Jesus Christ was on earth he paid for our sins so that we can become clean. I said, we call this the atonement. In the atonement, he made it so that he could take upon him our sins and pay that debt that we are not able to pay.

She asked, what kind of sins can be forgiven? I said, God is very forgiving. With the exception of murder or denying him/fighting against him, repentance is something that’s readily accessible to everyone who is willing to take the proper steps. I said, those proper steps include recognizing your sin, confessing your sin, and changing your ways. She said, I love that answer. I said, so do I, we all need repentance every day! She laughed.

I said, another really important part of repentance is baptism. It’s important that we are baptized by the proper authority so that we can be cleansed from our sins.

I told her that in the Book of Mormon, Jesus gave them his baptism and his authority to perform that baptism. I told her that we do that exact baptism in our church so that everyone can be cleansed from their sins. I said, when your baptized in our church, you will be baptized with his baptism by his authority and you will be cleansed from your past sins.

She looked up and smiled. The spirit was bearing witness so I decided to take the opportunity to help identify that to her. I asked her, how do you feel? She said, relieved and happy. She said, sometimes sin makes you worry and I didn’t know if I could ever become totally clean.

I said, you can become clean. When you are baptized, if you’ve repented, your sins will be cleansed and you will not feel that burden. She said, that’s what I want. I said, that feeling you’re feeling right now is the spirit of God. God sent his spirit so that he can confirm truth to our souls.

I said, you’re feeling that right now, correct? She said yes. I asked, what does that mean about the baptism of Jesus Christ and repentance? She said, it means it’s important and that what you are saying is true. I asked her if she would like to have that and receive that remission of her sins and she said more than anything.

Her next question kind of cleared up the reason behind everything regarding her previous questions. She asked, can you be forgiven in your church if you are divorced? I said, yes. I said, it’s more the sin that causes the divorce that is the issue. If we repent of our sin, God will forgive us even if we’ve had a divorce. I said, God‘s purpose is to heal us, not reject us.

She asked, what if somebody has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church for divorce, can they still be baptized and forgiven in your church? I said, yes! Absolutely! God is here to mend our hearts and bring us home, not put up walls and keep us out.

She said, I was excommunicated from the Catholic Church when my ex-husband and I got our divorce. It’s been very painful and hard for me. She said, I’ve been trying to understand repentance and feel God‘s love. I didn’t think I could feel God‘s love in a church that was so unloving about my situation. I didn’t think that I could find Christ in a church that couldn’t try to help me through the pain I had in my life.

I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ is not only there to help you receive forgiveness of your sins but it’s also there to help you through the pain of your situation. God, through the atonement of his son Jesus Christ can bless us in our affliction and lift our burdens. I said, that’s what you need. She said, you don’t even know how much I need that. She said, I feel like I’m starving.

She said, “feeling the spirit in the car with you has fed me and I want more”. I reached in and grabbed the Spanish Book of Mormon that I had this time because I was prepared. It is one of the Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists. I gave it to her and said, here’s some food for you. I said, this book was written by the prophets who lived in America anciently and contains the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America. I said, this book was translated by Joseph Smith, a modern prophet who saw God and served God. It is another testament of Jesus Christ and his divinity.

I said, this book speaks of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost so that God can walk with us and how we can endure the end. It teaches us these things so that we can come home to him. This book will have the food that you need.

I said, we also go to church on Sunday. She said, there’s a church house around the corner is that where I would go? I asked her if her daughter had friends that were members of the church and she said yes. I said, why don’t you ask them if you can go with them? Are you friends with them as well? She said, yes, I really like those girls.

She said, my daughter is also trying to get a boyfriend and he goes to your church. I said, well, it’s about time you got to church. When you go to church, you should take the sacrament and listen to the sacrament prayers. I said, in those prayers we promise to obey God‘s commandments and in return he will give us his spirit. I said, that will feed you.

She said, I love this feeling. I want it more. If you tell me that I can have it by doing this, I will embrace it.

We had arrived at the classroom again and we were late again. Turns out I talk too much, but she was grateful and said she would follow up with her daughter’s friends. She thanked me for answering her questions and showing her this new path. It should be quite a journey.

One day I was in Salt Lake and I was headed down to Utah County. I got a ride from around Bangerter Highway and 70th South all the way to UVU. Bingo! That’s awesome.

I rolled up in front of this house and there was a young lady standing outside. I love it when they’re standing outside waiting for you. So many times you have to spend so much time waiting. A lot of people make you wait five minutes or even close to seven minutes before they show up. When time is money that’s frustrating and I was excited she was standing out there.

We were in a residential area, a cul-de-sac, so I assumed I was taking this young woman back to college. She seemed  older than a freshman and she seemed to have a rebellious spirit.  The way she was dressed screamed this. It was totally the vibe that she put off.

The good thing was that she was very friendly and we started to chat. The conversation quickly turned to my experiences in driving rideshare. She talked about how all of her friends are scared to take rideshare. I told her that the company knew that and that’s why they sent her the best driver.

I asked her how often she took rideshare and she said she does it quite frequently. I asked her to share her favorite or least favorite experiences and she did. 

When we start telling stories about rides, it makes it easier sometimes. It makes it easier to relate, to settle in and be comfortable. Especially on a long ride like this one.

As she finished her story, I started to tell some of my stories and my experiences driving people in the car. Funny stories, freaky stories, and some scary stories.

As I was thinking about which stories I should tell, and there are many, the spirit told me that I was supposed to tell stories from my blog . I had previously decided that due to the party girl vibe she put off, probably talking about religion would not be advised. The spirit however again assured me that this is what I was supposed to do.

I eased into it at first. I talked to her about how it’s good to be a driver because that way I can help other people. I talked to her about the people who had tried to commit suicide and the people that had been roofied that I’ve been able to help. Given the fact that you can be deplatformed if you discuss something personal, political or religious, sometimes doing this is quite a leap of faith.

Given the fact that I had received the prompting, I decided to jump right in. No guts, no glory I guess! I started to tell stories from my blog about people that have been put in my car.

I didn’t say it just like that. I just started telling the stories and following the spirit as to which stories to tell. I told the story about the guy who tried to attack me from behind and got shocked when he touched me. I told the story about the guy who had been in jail and the spirit gave me that knowledge.  I shared this knowledge with him so that he would know that the rest of the words I said were true.  Then he got baptized 4 weeks later. I talked to her about the girl who had a dream and the Lord gave me the prompting about that dream and about parts of that dream before she told me about the dream. I talked about how it  had astounded this girl and how she was later baptized.

It was amazing how telling these stories changed the temperature in the car. The spirit was there and I could tell she was feeling the spirit. I had the prompting that even though she was feeling the spirit she didn’t recognize it. She only knew that she felt good.

Each story was told completely and with full religious context backed by the spirit. I remember being prompted  that I shouldn’t shy away. I remember thinking that when I was in the MTC, I was taught that anything you say will be fine as long as you say it with love and with the spirit. That has been my experience in life.  When you say things with love and the spirit, the Lord will deliver the message to the heart.

As I told the stories, the spirit assured me that she was receiving the intended spiritual confirmations of what I was saying. The spirit gave me these words to say and I said them. I asked, what do you think of these stories? She said, I love them, they make me feel so good! She said, I was raised as a Mormon and so I used to believe these things.

I asked, did your family leave the church? She said no, Just me. I left the church when I was 16. I quit going but the rest of my family goes. She said, my sister is going on a mission in a month but I don’t believe in that.

I asked, why don’t you believe in it? She said, “there are just too many things”, as if that was an answer to my question. Unsatisfied with her answer, I said, look, right now you have an opportunity to clear up some of these things and questions.

I said, in the past, you have been terrified to ask the questions that were in your heart and discuss with your family the reasons why you didn’t want to go to church. You didn’t want to discuss these things and so you left the church rather than risk alienation.

I said, the cool thing here is that because. you have never seen me, you don’t know who I am and that after today, you’ll probably never see me again, you have the opportunity to ask me the uncomfortable questions. You can ask me the questions that you have felt uncomfortable asking your family because you didn’t want to cause trouble.

I felt very strongly that this was one of her issues. I felt like she had been in arguments before. As a result of those arguments and confrontations she had not ever asked the deep question or resolved the underlying issue. I felt like she had let it go and this is why we found ourselves in this situation.

She hemmed and hawed a bit and then started saying, well, really there’s not anything in particular. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do that anymore. As she said that, I heard in my head, “I never got my answer”. I had the very distinct impression that this young lady had prayed. and not known how to recognize the answer that she received.  I felt very strongly impressed that this was an opportunity to help her feel the spirit, recognize the spirit and get her back in the game.

I asked her how long it had been since she went to church. She said that she was now 22 and she quit going to church when she was 16. I felt very strongly that she had received the answers to her prayer. but that she hadn’t recognized them. I think this happens a lot because it happened to me.

I decided to tell my story about how when I was young I prayed and I prayed and I prayed.   I never got what I recognized was  an answer. I didn’t think I had felt the spirit. I said, then one day it clicked for me and all of a sudden, then I remembered all of the times that I had felt that feeling and realized that the problem was me not recognizing God‘s hand, not him forgetting me.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked what she felt right then. She said she felt excited and warm and peaceful. I told her that that was the spirit. I told her that when she was a teenager she had tried to pray to find out if the church was true. I told her she had asked in prayer and that she hadn’t felt like she received an answer. I told her that because she didn’t get an answer she recognized, she didn’t feel like God had revealed anything to her.  She couldn’t say the spirit told her the church is true and so she decided to rebel a little bit.

I said, bit by bit you quit going to church, you quit praying and you quit believing. I said, even though the rest of your family went to church, you didn’t think that it was for you because you hadn’t received that answer. You even wondered if anybody had been given an answer by the spirit or if they were just saying it because everybody else did.

She said, that’s exactly how it went! I prayed and prayed and prayed. I never got an answer and finally, I just gave up. I decided that if I didn’t get my answer that it wasn’t that important.

I asked, you were thinking about this just before I said this weren’t you? Isn’t it interesting that you were just thinking about these things and I started bringing them up?  I asked her, how do you think that happened? Did you think I was just a lucky guesser?

She said, no. There’s no way you could have known those things. I said, the Holy Ghost put those things in my heart to say so that you would know that the rest of the things I say are true. Heavenly Father has sent  his spirit to us here in the car and you have recognized it. She said, I’ve loved how it felt. I said, that is the spirit of God.

I said, God gives us his spirit so that we can know that things are true. I said, God confirms truth by giving us his spirit. When you feel the spirit, that is your answer. This way you know it’s true.  That’s the answer you were looking for all of those years ago. That is how God speaks to you. He speaks to your heart and he speaks to your soul. And sometimes we just miss that.

When you were a young woman, you had a certain expectation of how that revelation would look and feel.  That expectation was not realized. This feeling that you’re feeling today is how God answers your prayers. 

When I was younger and I recognized the spirit, I realized that God had been giving me this confirmation all along and that I just needed to learn how to listen to God. I told her that once we understand this, God can reveal truth to us through the Holy Ghost. This is how he does it. This way God can walk with us.

She said, I love this. I said, so let’s realize what is happening here today. That prayer you uttered all of those years ago has been answered and God has given you his witness here today that these things are true.  Right now the spirit is helping you know that those prayers have been answered and that God wants you back.

I told her that we lived with Heavenly Father for thousands of years and his love was the most important thing in our existence. We felt it and we knew when we were in his presence because we could feel his love. I told her, we all feel that love differently and we certainly all express how it feels differently. I said, today you have felt God‘s love and he has confirmed to you that the things you’ve heard are true. Now you know that you have had that witness. You know this is the witness you looked for.

Your spirit recognized the presence of its father and you have put that together here in this car today. Now you just need to seek to have that with you so God can direct your path. Now you know by your own revelation that your father in heaven loves you and the church is true.

She said, wow, I wish someone had explained this to me before. I said, it’s a journey we all have to take because we need to learn to listen. I said, I think we need to learn to listen so we can value the communication and the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. We have to developed that relationship so that we can hear his voice and do his will.

I said, how cool does it feel right now, how much do you enjoy what you’re feeling right now?  She said, it’s life-changing. I love this feeling. I wish I never had to leave your car. I wish this ride wouldn’t end.

We were just then approaching her apartment complex at UVU and she said, I’m serious, I wish this wouldn’t end. I said, this feeling doesn’t have to end. You can have the spirit with you anytime you want. That’s why we pray. That’s why we go to church. That’s why we read the Book of Mormon and that’s why we take the sacrament.

I said, when we take the sacrament, we are told that we can have his spirit to be with us always. I said, that’s what you want, right? She said, at the first of this ride I would’ve said that’s crazy but now I say that’s what I want more than anything. She said, I’m afraid it’s too late for me.

I said, it’s not too late for you. I told her that she needs to know that when she feels like she can’t come back, that comes directly from Satan. I said, Jesus suffered the atonement so that he could lift us out of despair. So that he could rescue us from the mistakes we make and bring us back onto the path. That’s why he suffered and he did it for us.

I said, when you take the sacrament worthily you renew your baptismal  covenants. He can forgive your sins and help you get back on the path so that you can have his spirit to be with you always. I said, that’s the path, that’s how to do it. You go to church, you say your prayers, you read the Book of Mormon and you take the sacrament worthily.

I said, when you do those things, God will give you his spirit and cleanse you of your sins. She said, I don’t even know how to start. I asked, do your roommates go to church? She said, no. They party too late on Saturday night. I said, you need to go to church.  Church is on Sunday, who can you go to church with? Let’s make a plan. She said, my sister!

She said, my sister who’s going on a mission is going to school here too. I think I can go to church with her, right? I said, absolutely. I said, what you should do is call her and talk to her about our ride. You should talk to her about what you felt and how you’ve had your prayer answered. You should tell her that you now know that the church is true and that you finally have had that witness that you looked for all of those years ago. She said, my sister will probably ask if that’s really me on the other end of the line if I call her and tell her that. She laughed.  I said, won’t that be fun? She said, yeah, she’ll love that.

I asked, when are you going to call your sister? She said, I’m going to text her right now to call me as soon as she’s out of class I will tell her as soon as she calls me. I’ll ask her if I can go with her on Sunday.  

She said, I can’t believe this ride. It seems to me like God rode with us in this car. It’s like this ride was meant to be. I told her that I believe that God puts people in my car to get messages. I told her that I believe that God put her in my car to get this message just like those other people in the stories that I had told her.  I said, God knows who you are, he knows where you are and he’s all about bringing you home.

She said, I want to do that and it does feel like home. I feel better right now than I have felt in as long as I can remember. This is what I want. We pulled up to her apartment and she said, look, I already sent the text to my sister. I can hardly wait to share this news with her.  I can’t believe how this all happened! I said, the most important thing for you to remember is that God loves you and today he put you in this car so that he could give you a hug and let you know that he wants you home. That’s how God brings us home. She nodded and smiled then got out of the car and went into her apartment.

One day at 2 o’clock I got a ride to Salt Lake City. The ride took me out to West Valley by 2100 South. On the way I knew I had to be back in Provo by 5 o’clock but I didn’t want to waste the hour driving back deadhead so I turned my directional option on. The directional makes it so that I can only be given rides in a certain direction. I always set it for Payson, that way I make sure that I have more opportunities.

I dropped off my passenger and immediately got another ride. I picked up a lady at a insfusion center. Infusion centers are places where people go to get IVs full of nutrients, vitamins, and other things to make people feel better. They get them when they are sick, dragging or hung over. They help people get a pep in their step I guess. I hate needles so that wouldn’t be me.

This woman came out and got in my car. I could tell right away she was from Africa due to her accent. The really interesting thing was that she wasn’t very friendly. In this state of unfriendliness, she was fidgeting around like she was looking for something in her bags. After a few minutes of searching and fidgeting she said,I can’t find my keys.

I asked, do we need to go back? You may have left them at the infusion center. She said, I think that’s a good idea, that’s probably what I did!. She asked me if I needed to have her end the ride and order a new one which would have made me a lot more money and she knew it. I said, no I got this. Let’s go. I flipped around and back we went.

As we pulled up, the people ran out from the infusion center with her keys in their hands. She was very excited and thanked me profusely. From that moment on, she was very warm and engaging.

We talked about the traveling we had done. She was from Nigeria and had moved to the US with her husband to go to school in Chicago. University of Chicago is where she got her masters and then they moved to Utah for work. I have to say that despite having an accent her English was flawless. I actually think they speak a lot of English in Nigeria but we didn’t get into that.

She asked me how much I had traveled and I said that I had been to every state and 25 countries. She was shocked, blown away and impressed. I try to be impressive when I can! lol. She asked, have you been to Africa? I said wellllll, and then started to explain.

I told her that I have been to Egypt several times but that’s kind of honorary Africa. She laughed. I told her about one day when I was in Egypt, I visited very important sites from the world’s three great religions. I told her that the Muhammad Ali Mosque was on the hill right above where we were. I went to one of the oldest Christian churches who’s foundation they say was laid by the apostle Thomas. They say that church was built over the site where Jesus lived when Jesus, Joseph and Mary were in Egypt after his birth. One of the oldest synagogues is about 300 feet away from that Christian church and they are both just down the hill from the Muhammad Ali Mosque.

That synagogue has stones that were used by Moses in its altar and it’s built over the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool, where Moses was pulled out of the Nile. I was lucky enough to meet and get to know the rabbi in that synagogue. After he gave us a tour, he grabbed his keys and took us down to the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool. It was a really cool experience. My passenger’s mind was blown.

This was cool because a lot of times when I share this story I have to explain the significance of the pharaoh’s daughter’s wading pool to people, but she grasped it immediately.

She said that she was overwhelmed and that this was very cool. She loved that I had walked where Jesus walked in Africa. I said, probably more like walked where he toddled! She enjoyed that quip and smiled. She said, I guess you’re right.

While I was telling the story I began to have recognizable promptings as to the direction I should take the conversation. I knew that this woman loved Heavenly Father and Jesus. She felt a very deep connection. She had never considered that Jesus had been in Africa..

I immediately started talking about how we are all children of our Heavenly Father, and he loves every person that was ever born no matter where they were born or when they were born. I told her that God loves everyone and he wants them all to come home. She very much agreed.

I said that I believed that she was a very religious person. She said yes, she was Christian. I said, that’s awesome! You believe in baptism. She said yes. I said, you believe that it’s necessary that people be baptized. She said yes, I said, you believe that God loves all of his children and that he created all of us. She said yes. I asked her if she believed that Jesus Christ was crucified for all of us and paid for our sins so that we can come home to our father. She said, yes. I believe in Jesus Christ.

I said, this is all really important to our faith. Would you allow me to talk to you a little bit about what we believe? She said, I would very much like to know. My friends have taken me to your church but they haven’t told me what they believe and why they believe it. I would like to hear that.

I started, God loves each one of us and he is a perfect loving father. He has prepared a plan for each one of us so that we can have the possibility to come home, no matter where we were born or when we were born, it’s the same for everyone. Heavenly Father loves us because we are his children. He loves us with a perfect love.

I said, the way God has shown his love is through prophets and the revelations they received from him. I told her that when God gives us commandments. It helps us be free. It helps us in our lives. She said, I totally agree with that.

I told her that we believed in the Bible and all the things that happened in Jerusalem but we don’t believe that God is a provincial God. We believe the God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem and that most of God‘s children didn’t even live in Israel, where Jesus lived.

I told her that in America, among the ancestors of the ancient inhabitants of this land, there were prophets because God loved them too. I told her that they received revelations and wrote them down. The people were blessed by these commandments. I told her that they had the church and they were baptized according to the understanding that they had.

I told her that while Jesus lived his life in Jerusalem, prophets had been prophesying and teaching of him in America and in other places.

I told her that after Jesus was crucified and resurrected he told his apostles in Jerusalem that he had other sheep that weren’t of this fold. These were other people that belonged to him. He said that he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

She said, I remember that from the Bible. She said, I’ve always wondered what that meant . I said, this is what it meant, there were other people who had been expecting Jesus to come. I said, after he ascended to heaven, leaving his apostles and disciples in Jerusalem, he came to America.

Heavenly Father announced from the heavens to the people that this was his son, their savior. I said, Jesus descended from heaven and stood on the steps of the temple.

I told her that the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. They worshiped him, knowing he was their God. They asked him to save them and in response to this plea that they made of their God in his presence he called up 12 of them. He gave them the authority to baptize and instructions on how to baptize the people. He commanded that every one of them be baptized. He commanded that they be baptized even though they had previously been baptized. This time he commanded that they be baptized with his baptism, by this authority and to a new level of discipleship.

I asked her if she thought that it would be important for these people to accept this commandment to be baptized to this new level of discipleship. She said, yes, very important. She said, it’s important that we do what Jesus wants us to do. I agreed. I told her that he gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so they could always walk with his spirit. She said, that’s cool!

Then I said, the coolest thing was that after he said this, he said he had other sheep that were not from Jerusalem or from the Americas. He said that he had been commanded by his father to go to them. I asked her if she knew where those sheep might be. She looked puzzled and said, everywhere? I said, Isaiah tells us that Jesus would go to Pathos and Kush. I asked her if she knew where they were and she said no.

I said, Pathos is kind of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean coast of Africa. I said, kind of like Egypt and Greece.

I asked her if she knew where Kush was. She said no. I said, Kush is the ancient empire of Africa and it was based in Sudan. Her face lit up. She said, Africa? I said yes. Then I repeated my question. Where else do you think Jesus might have gone. She gave an excited, Africa! I said, we don’t have those records but I believe that. I believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to his children because God loves all of his children, no matter where they were born, or when they were born.

I said, when he was with them, he would have done the same things for them that he did for his children in America. He would have blessed them and healed them. He would have loved them and he would have given them this baptism. I said that this is what I believe he did in Africa.

I said, the Book of Mormon testifies that God loves everyone and it’s a key to your understanding of your relationship with your Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. She said, I love that.

The spirit was really strong in the car. It was tingling and surging. I asked her if she could feel the spirit in the car and she said yes. I asked her what it felt like and she said tremendous peace. I asked her what it meant and she said, it means that what you say is true. It means that I was put in your car to hear this and that I need to listen.

I told her that this is exactly what the spirit meant and why it was here. I began to testify to her of Joseph Smith. I asked her if she’d heard about Joseph Smith and she said yes. I told her that he translated the writings of those prophets which included the visit of Jesus Christ to America and that’s how we have the Book of Mormon. She said, that’s amazing, everyone should know about this.

I said, that’s what we try to do. We try to help everyone know about this and we try to help as many people as we can get the same baptism that Jesus gave to the people here in America, a baptism to that new level. I said that this new level includes the knowledge that Jesus visited other people and that God loves everyone. I said, it’s not just that God loves everyone. It’s that God has a plan for everyone.

I asked her if she had ever seen one of our temples. She said yes, I went to one on a Sunday with my friends. Without correcting her, I said, well our temples are really sacred places. They are a sacred place where heaven and earth come together and the promise that each one of God‘s children will have an opportunity to come home to him is realized there.

I told her that in those temples we do what’s called baptism for the dead. I said, by doing this each one of God‘s children who has ever lived, no matter where they lived, will have an opportunity to come home. I said, you know that we believe everyone needs to be baptized, right? She said yes. I asked her what percentage of the people that have ever lived on earth were God‘s children. She said, every one of them. I asked how many of them never had the opportunity to even hear of Jesus Christ. She thought for a moment and she said, a lot. She said, I think it’s probably most of them. She said, when you think about China, India and Africa and all the people who have ever lived there, those numbers are really high.

I said, that’s exactly right. I said, would a loving father who wanted each one of his children to come home design a plan that would condemn that many of his children without even giving them a shot? She said, no, I don’t believe he would. I said, that’s what we believe too. I said, in the Bible they practiced what was called baptisms for the dead and that’s what we do in our temples.

I said, when Jesus died, his spirit went to the spirit world and taught the people who hadn’t heard the gospel. I said, he organized the teaching of the gospel to everyone who had died and ever would die. He made it so that every person that ever lived would have his gospel. I said, part of that gospel is the knowledge that we need to be baptized to be able to come home.

She said, that makes sense. She asked, so do they somehow ask to be baptized? I said, no, well, maybe sometimes but the way it works is that they are all taught, each and every one of them. They are all baptized by proxy in our temples, each and every one of them or at least they will be. When they are baptized, they have the opportunity to accept or reject that baptism.

I said, this way God can bring home every one of his children if they want to come home to him. We do the work for all of them here on earth by being baptized for them. Then she said, and the angels do the work teaching them the gospel. I said, yes, you got it.

I said, families are really important to us so in the temples, we are also married for eternity. We call it being sealed. We are not married until death do us part because we believe that we were given the authority to seal things on earth that are sealed in heaven. She said, just like Peter. I said yes. I said, we use that authority to seal husbands to wives and children to parents. We do this in our temples.

I said, we do that not only for us but we do it for those who have passed as well. When they accept their baptism, they can also accept their sealing to their family. This way, we know our families are eternal.

I told her that we build these temples all over the world. I said, there are temples on every continent. The temples are there so the people who live there can do the work of their ancestors. She asked, even Africa? I said, yes! I told her I didn’t know exactly where right off the top of my head, but I knew there was one in South Africa and another in Ghana She quickly grabbed her phone and googled Mormon temples in Africa and said excitedly, there’s one in Nigeria. That’s close to where I’m from!

She said, that’s amazing! I have a husband and two boys and I would love to have that, I need to get one of those Book of Mormon’s. She said “I didn’t get one from my friend, but maybe she’ll give me one”.

I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and handed it to her. I explained that it had the questions of the soul in the front cover and she read the questions.

Clearly, she didn’t understand that I had given this book to her as a gift and she asked, “is it OK if I take a picture of these questions?” I said, that book is your book. She had a tear in her eye and she said, thank you. I said, when you read it, pray and you will feel the same peace you felt in this car today and that’s how God will confirm to you that it’s true. She said, I know it’s true. Everything you have said here today is true. I felt the spirit and I’ve known that the things you’re saying are from God and that he put me in your car to get them.

She said, it’s like a new door has opened up and I can’t explain to you how I feel but I know it’s true. I know the words you’re saying are true.

I said, that’s a lot of change in one day, isn’t it. You’ve learned a lot and you know it’s true. I want to testify to you that it’s true and that I learned that it’s true just like you’ve learned here today. I told her that the spirit had born witness to my heart and confirmed to me the truthfulness of these things. She said, there’s no denying it.

I said, take that Book of Mormon with you, read it and pray and find out what Jesus taught and said to his children that didn’t live in Jerusalem and know that this is your heritage and your blessing. She had tears in her eyes and she said, I’ll do that. I know this is true.

She asked, what do I need to do next, what are the next steps for me on this path? I said, do you remember your friends who took you to church? She said, yes. I said, call them and tell them about our ride today. Tell them what you learned and tell them what you felt. Tell them that you know it’s true. She said, I will. I said, if you will promise to do that, the book is yours.

She smiled and said, I will do this. This has changed my life and it will bless my family. I know these things are of God and I know that this is why I am riding with you today. I know it was not an accident. I will do the things that we have talked about. I can’t wait to talk to my friends about this ride.

She said, I can’t believe how great I feel. God is great! Thank you for bringing this to me. She got out of the car and went into the house.

It was amazing and how I felt was amazing. I tingled all the way to my next ride. What an amazing spiritually perceptive woman.. I can imagine the joy her friends will have as they take her to church again, this time with a testimony and a Book of Mormon.

One day I was down in Springville in the business park off of 1400 North. I was going to pick up a ride. A lot of times when you pick up people after work in an industrial park setting, they are dirty and tired. We call it work, haha. When I pulled up, I saw that this guy was very well dressed, clean and he had a smile on his face.

The spirit was bouncing around in my heart and I knew something good was going to happen on this ride. I knew that this young man was prepared and that God had some things he wanted him to know.

He got in the car and the smile on his face matched the cheerful disposition around him. This was a good dude. We started chatting about what he did for work and how long he had been here.

He had just moved here four weeks ago and he lived in Salt Lake. I was taking him to the train station in Provo so he could get on the Front Runner to go home. He said, I really ought to move down here. He said, it’s so pretty down here and all of the people are so nice.

I asked him if there was a huge difference between the people here and the people in Salt Lake. He said, yes, I like the people here.

I felt like I needed to take this opportunity to follow the spirit and do what I was supposed to do. I asked him how familiar he was with the church. He said, all the people at work go to the church but no one has really ever taught me anything about it. He said, I think we’re going to be moving down here to Utah County next month so I can be closer to my job. Is the church the same there as it is here?

I said, yes, the church is the same everywhere. I said, a lot of churches are different from one building or one preacher to the next but all of our churches operate the same way and teach the same things. I said, our church is run by a prophet of God and Jesus Christ is the head of our church. I said, we believe in continuing revelation from God to us and because of this, we are on the same page for the most part.

I said, we have a prophet that receives revelation from God. We have apostles who are also called by God that receive revelation. That revelation blesses our lives. I said, all of our church congregations run under their direction throughout all the world.

I said, we believe that all of the members have the ability to receive revelation as well. I said that we all serve in the church. We give the sermons, we teach classes and we visit other members of the church. I said, when we do this, we try to listen to the spirit for revelation so it can help us know the things that we should teach, know the things that we should say and know the things that we should do.

I said, this is probably why you feel the way you do down here and around the people you work with. They are trying to have this spirit with them so that they can be better disciples of Jesus Christ and have his power. He said, that’s awesome!

I said, to us, it’s all about God‘s love. I said, God is our Heavenly Father and he loves each one of us individually and deeply. I told him that this relationship is the most basic and fundamental relationship in our existence.

I told him that our lives here on earth are a quest to learn how to live in such a way that we can have his spirit to be with us. By living that way, one day we can return to live with him. He said, that’s beautiful.

I said, are you Catholic? I had felt the prompting that this was the case. He said, yes, I am one of those two times a year Catholics. He said that he had done the communion when he was 12 and since then he hadn’t been back to church other than Christmas and Easter. He said, come to think of it, I really miss spirituality in my life.

I said, having the spirit in our lives is very important. I asked, have you realized yet that this is one of the reasons why you like it at your new job? The people around you have that spirit and even though you don’t know them well, you’re attracted to being around them because you are feeding off their light.

He said, I was just thinking that today. He said, I was just thinking how much I enjoy being around them. This is why I was wondering about what your church believes.

I said, we believe that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he sent his son to pay for our sins. He also suffered for our challenges, burdens, infirmities, pains and the injustice we experience in this life. I said, he suffered these things so that he could lift us through our burdens, trials and depression. He can cleanse us from sin and help us come home to his father.

I said, he did that in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He sacrificed his life so that we can live with his father forever. I said, we believe because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ everyone will be resurrected. I said, we believe in new beginnings.

I asked him if he’d heard of the Book of Mormon and he said yes. I asked him if he’d ever seen a copy and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I told him that this was the Book of Mormon and that it was a very important book. I told him that it was a companion to the Bible and another testament of Jesus Christ.

I told him that the people who had lived here in America anciently had prophets. I said that they had written their prophecies and the things that they taught to the people. I told him that the way God blesses us is through the words he gives his prophets and through the revelation that we receive personally. I told him that the Book of Mormon is chuck full of all of that. I told him that reading the Book of Mormon can bless our lives and help lift us through our challenges because it talks so much about Jesus Christ and his atonement.

I said, that’s why we’re called the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. I said, Jesus Christ really is the cornerstone of this religion. I said, that’s why it bears his name.

I asked him if he had ever heard that Jesus Christ came to America. He looked surprised and said, no, I’ve never heard that. I talked about how Jesus Christ came to America after his resurrection and that he descended from heaven then blessed the people. I said, he gave them authority to baptize and commanded them to each be baptized, even though they had already previously been baptized.

I told him that they were baptized to a new covenant and to a new level of discipleship. I told him that this is the same baptism we have and that we perform. We do this so that we can all step up to that level of discipleship.

I told him that part of this is that after we are baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said that it can be with us at all times. I told him that the Holy Ghost comforts us, teaches us and guides us. That’s why the gift of the Holy Ghost is so important. When we have this gift we have the right to have the Holy Ghost with us if we are worthy and doing the things that we should do.

I told him that this is what he felt around the people at work. I said that this was where the light he saw in their eyes came from. He said, yeah, I was meaning to ask you about that. I said, It’s a wonderful thing when you’re living your life in such a way that you can have the light of the gospel shine from your face. I told him that this is what he had seen and experienced. He nodded with recognition.

He said, who is Joseph Smith? Wasn’t he the one that wrote the Book of Mormon? I said, no, not quite. I told him that Joseph Smith was a young man that was confused about which religion was the true religion because there were so many professing to be true. He smiled and said “just like all of us”. I told him that Joseph Smith prayed to ask God the father which church he should join.

I told him that as he prayed, God the father and Jesus Christ descended from heaven and stood above him in the air. I told him that they called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. I said that Joseph Smith was a prophet and since that day we have always had prophets on the Earth. I said, today the name of our prophet is President Russell Nelson and he lives in Salt Lake.

He said, that’s so cool, I like that. I could tell that the spirit was really working with this young man. He had readily accepted everything I had said. He seemed to have no doubt. I asked him what he felt, and he said, tremendous peace and it’s like I found a puzzle piece that I didn’t even know I was missing. He said, this makes a lot of sense for some reason. I asked, even though the things I’ve told you are new and you’ve never heard them before, how do they feel? He said, they feel right.

I told him that if he will read that Book of Mormon and pray he will have this feeling in his heart. The things he is reading will make sense. They will fit just like that puzzle piece. I told him that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ and we are here to be his disciples.

He said, well, I certainly have seen that at work. I said, the spirit you felt here today was sent by your father in heaven to help you know that the things you’re hearing are true. I asked him, even though these things are new, do you think they’re true?

He said, yes! I totally believe they’re true. He said, they make too much sense in my mind right now, and the spirit has certainly been here. I said, Heavenly Father isn’t trying to trick us. When he sends his spirit, he does it to help us know truth. It confirms truth to our heart.

We had arrived at the train station about 15 minutes earlier and the spirit had been testifying the whole time. He asked me if he could take that Book of Mormon. He asked if I was sure that it would be fine. I said, yes, that’s why I have them.

I told him that we needed to figure out a way for him to learn more. He said, I figured I’d go to church. There’s one by my house. I said, that’s awesome. I told him that it would also be pretty cool if he could take that Book of Mormon to work tomorrow and show it to his friends. I said that he could tell them about our ride. I told him to ask them to teach him what they know.

He smiled and said, that sounds like a really good idea. I’m sure glad I got this ride today. I think it’s changed my life. He got out of the car and jogged over to get on the train.

It’s very cool to watch the spirit change someone’s life. The spirit can work fast even in a short ride.

One night it was late and I was down by Lehi. I got a ride clear down to Santaquin. I didn’t want to go to Santaquin because I had been down there earlier that day and it was pure ice. A semi truck and a bus had slid off the freeway and it was sketchy at best. I was going to let the ride go because it wasn’t nearly enough money for the ride, but I felt very strongly prompted to take it.

As I arrived at the Thanksgiving Point exit I noted that there were about 20 sets of police lights on the freeway at Point of the Mountain. I made a note to self that I wouldn’t be going any further north.

I pulled into the Maverik on the west side of the freeway and there was the guy that I was supposed to take. He was standing out in front with a backpack in the shivering cold. He was a 6’4”, African-American man and he had truck driver vibes. We give rides to a lot of truck drivers and he just had that kind of vibe around him.

He got in the car and we started to drive. He asked me about driving and how it was. I answered his questions. I felt impressed that I needed to get into talking about his life so I could find out why I had been prompted to take the ride.

I felt impressed to talk about the importance of fathers, how important fathers are, even though their role is minimized and demeaned in almost every segment of our society.

We talked about how children stand on their father‘s shoulders in life. I said that expectations that are set by their father‘s achievement level in society become a starting point rather than a ceiling for most children. I said, that’s what fathers do, you stand on their shoulders. I said, father’s become both our social and spiritual foundation.

I said, in our society, in many cases we have pushed the fathers down and out of the lives of their families, especially in disadvantaged communities. We talked about how horrible this scourge has been in these communities.

He said, I sure have seen that in the black community. He said that fathers had been replaced with the government and the result had been devastating.

He was remarkably open about who he was in some ways and very closed up in others. I was by surprised the areas where he volunteered information.

He told his story about growing up in West Valley and how after his parents broke up his father lived in Alaska. He said that his father tried to do as good as he could over the phone, but it just wasn’t the same.

He told me about his troubled youth and young adulthood. He talked about how he had a daughter who was now three years old but he had spent most of her life in prison. He said, what you said rang true and my mind is blown.

He said, I’ve been working with my attorney and in two weeks I’m going to see my daughter for the first time in three years. I’m so excited!

With the conversation clearly focused towards families and fathers I decided to talk about the church and our belief in families.

I told him that our belief in families starts with the fact that we have a firm knowledge that we have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves each one of us. I talked about how much we loved him and loved being with him. I told him that this love continues here on earth.

I told him that we believe that our Heavenly Father loves us and he also loves to hear from us. He wants each of us to come home someday. I said, that’s why he gave us Jesus Christ and the church so that we could feel his presence and have the things we need to come home.

He said, that’s really cool! I have never heard religion framed in that context. I told him it’s all about families.

He said, I like that. He said, I don’t really believe in any church in particular, but I had a cell mate who had some books that I thought raised some interesting points regarding our souls being eternal. I told him we have some books like that too, they’re called the scriptures.

I said, there are a lot of things that people know almost instinctively. I said, one of the reasons why they know things like that is because they are eternal truths. I said that we learned them from our father in heaven and our spirit remembers them still. I said, that’s why those things that you learned from your friend’s books resonated with you. It wasn’t the first time you’d had those thoughts or those feelings.

I said, your father in heaven loves you and he’s always reaching out to you. By this time, the spirit was in the car and I could tell he was feeling it. I told him, that’s why these things I’m saying feel right. They feel like they fit like a glove. He said, that’s it. It doesn’t feel strange to hear you say those things. He said, it’s always fun to learn more.

He said, I like this conversation. This is my favorite ride ever. I feel like my heart and my mind are open to what you’re saying. I love talking to you about these things.

I told him that because our Heavenly Father loves us so much, he didn’t want us to suffer and wallow in sin. I told him that Heavenly Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins so that we could repent and come home to him. I told him that Heavenly Father is the father of everyone and he sent his son for everyone. He sent his son to his children all over the earth.

I asked him if he ever heard that Jesus came to America? He said, no, really? Where does it say that in the Bible?. I said, in a couple of places. I mentioned how Isaiah had said that Jesus would go to Europe, Asia, the Isles of the sea, and Africa. He said, I had no idea of that. Where does it say that?

I said, after he was resurrected he said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted as his sheep. I asked him who he thought that might refer to. He said, all of those other people, including Africa?

I said, that’s exactly right. That’s what I believe. I asked him if he’d ever heard of the Book of Mormon and he said yes. I said, the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Christ because the people who lived anciently in America had prophets, and Jesus visited them. I told him that they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. He taught them and he blessed them.. I told him that he blessed their children and their posterity. I testified that those prophets wrote about these things and those testimonies of Christ ARE the Book of Mormon

By now the spirit was really strong and I could tell it was working on him. I said, when he had finished in America, he said that he still had other sheep that weren’t from here or from Jerusalem, and that he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I asked him who he thought those people might be.

He said, well clearly the other people he was supposed to go to. I said, yes! Even possibly your ancestors. Right then this tall hulking man in my backseat had tears in his eyes. He said, wow I never thought it could be possible that Jesus might have visited my ancestors. I said, I believe he did and I believe he did all of the same things there that he did in America. I said, I believe he taught his gospel, I believe he gave them authority to baptize, and he commanded them to be baptized.

I believe he gave them baptism and repentance so that they could come home to his father. I talked about repentance for a moment and how through repentance we can become clean. I emphasized repentance and not baptism. I did teach that baptism is a part of repentance and that Jesus brought baptism to them and taught all about repentance .

I felt a desire in him to be clean and I wanted him to understand not just the cleansing power of repentance but the importance of repentance in changing your life and your soul. I told him that he could become the person he wanted to become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his repentance. He could become the father he wants his daughter to know. As I talked about repentance and the atonement, the spirit was really strong in the car and I knew that I was saying the words I was supposed to say, but I wasn’t expecting what I heard next.

I asked him if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached and grabbed one of the copies prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, this is your copy. He held it in his hands and stared at it. Then he said, you know, I was baptized a member of your church when I was a teenager. He said, I was even given the priesthood at one point. He said, apparently I didn’t learn very well, I failed.

He said, I guess I just never learned all of the good stuff. I said, there’s a lot of good stuff in there and it will change your life. I said, if you will read that book, say your prayers, repent and go to church, you will see a great transformation in your life. I said, you need to go to your ward, find your Bishop and talk to him about this ride and what you have felt here.

He said he would do that. He said his girlfriend’s father had been trying to get him to go to the church there but he had resisted. He said, I guess that makes me pretty stupid. I said, that would make you just like the rest of us. We all fall short, we all have sin, and we all need Jesus Christ and his atonement to become clean. You’re just one of the crew.

I looked down between my seat and saw a calendar that I had stuffed down there. Liz Lemmon Swindle is one of my neighbors and a good friend. She’s in my ward and she reads my blog. Every year she makes a calendar with her beautiful paintings of Jesus Christ. She gives me some of those to use in my missionary work. She’s always been very supportive with her art in any way that I needed or that could bless the lives of the people I was working with. I had one of those calendars right there between my seats. I reached and grabbed it. As I did, I saw that one of the paintings was her painting of the young black child being held by Jesus. I thought that this was very interesting given the context of the situation and knew that my eyes had been guided.

I held up a calendar and said, look at this! This is a painting representing Jesus in Africa. My neighbor is the artist and I think it’s very cool. He said, can I look at that? I gave it to him and he stared at it for several seconds and said, I love this. This feels right. I said, what you’re feeling is the spirit of your father in heaven. This is how you know the things I’ve said are true. I said, when you feel this, you know the things you’re hearing are true and that you’re supposed to do them.

I told him that Heavenly Father had put him in my car this night so that he could receive this message and so that he could know that his father wanted him to come home. I told him that his Heavenly Father wanted to have a relationship with him just like he longed to have a relationship with his daughter. I told him that this is the way. I told him Jesus is the way and repentance is the way.

It must’ve been really dusty in the car because his eyes were really moist and he was sniffling a little bit. He said, I feel that and I haven’t felt peace like this for a long time. He said, I’ll go to church with my girlfriend’s father this week. He said, obviously that’s why you’re here because that’s what I’m supposed to do.

He grabbed me on the shoulder and shook my hand and shook my shoulder and shook me and then he said, thank you for everything. He handed the calendar back to me. I said, Liz didn’t give me that to tease you with, Liz gave me that to give to you. That’s yours. As you look at those pictures of Jesus Christ, know that your part of that whole story and that your ancestors are part of that whole story. I said, know that it’s through Him that you can feel like you feel right now for the rest of your life. He smiled and said thank you. He grabbed my shoulder and my hand again and shook me one more time.

He said, I’m glad God put me in your car tonight. Now I know what I’m supposed to do! He got out of the car and went into the house.

One day I got a call to pick up a young man in north Orem. I was taking him down to Center Street in Provo so it wasn’t a really long ride. When he got in the car, he had a good vibe to him even though he had a rough worn exterior. He appeared to be in his early 20’s

I could tell that he was Polynesian. When I meet a Polynesian I always wonder whether they’re Samoan, Tongan or Hawaiian so I asked. He said that he was Samoan so I said, talofa lava. (Hello). He said, you speak Samoan, huh? I said, no I just know how to say that one word. He said, you said it really well. We laughed. I asked him how long he had lived here and he said that he had just arrived a couple of weeks before.

I asked him, with a smile on my face, with winter here, why he would consider leaving Samoa and its warmth to come to the cold? I said,, doesn’t the beach sound better?

As I said this, I had an incredible impression that he was here to be taught. I felt like both his parents and his father in heaven wanted him here to be taught. His answer bore this out. He said, my mom sent me out here to live with my auntie and my cousins.

He said, they’re all clean guys who go to church every Sunday and my mom wants me to be like that. He said, she says that but I’m not sure how that’s going to work!

I said, so your mom sent you out here to join the church, huh? I asked, what religion are you? He said, catholic but we never go. I guess my mother thinks that I need more structure. That’s why she sent me here. She says, the Mormons have a lot more structure and my aunt and cousins are Mormon.

I said, that’s really cool! Do you get along with them? He said, yeah! They’re awesome! He said, it actually feels quite amazing being in their home.

I asked him, how are you doing so far with your assignment to join the church? We both laughed and he said, I really haven’t even started yet. I don’t know where to start. I don’t have any idea any idea what the Mormons believe or what they believe that’s different from what I was taught as a catholic.

I said with a smile, for one you have to go to church if you’re a Mormon. He laughed and said he figured that one out already!

I asked him if he wanted to know why so many people in Samoa are members of the church. Why would they become members of this particular church instead of the Catholic Church for example? He said, this has been my question for a long time. I haven’t felt like asking my cousins because I didn’t want to sound disrespectful, but I want to know why they left our family church, which was the Catholic Church and joined so many other Samoans, who are Mormons.

I told him that there are a couple of reasons for this. I said, one of the reasons for this is that many of the Polynesians believe that our church is the same religion that their ancestors believed in.

He said, that’s crazy. How could that possibly be? I said, we have to start with Isaiah. I asked him if he’d heard of the prophet Isaiah and he said yes, a lot of his friends were named Isaiah so he was very familiar with that name.

I told him that Isaiah prophesied many years before Jesus was born that he would be born crucified, resurrected, and go to certain places around the world after his resurrection. I told him that one of the specific places mentioned by the prophet. Isaiah was the isles of the sea .

I asked him to tell me what comes to his mind of when I say isles of the sea. He said, the Polynesian islands. I said, among other places that is exactly correct. The isles of the sea included the Polynesian islands and the Americas. I said, it was all of the land out there in the ocean that they didn’t know what it was called. That’s why they called it the isles of the sea.

Then my passenger said, are you telling me that Jesus came here? I said, absolutely. I said, after he was resurrected, he told his apostles that he had other sheep that he was going to go see so they could be counted in his fold. I said, he was talking about the people in the isles of the sea, as well as other places.

He asked, how do you know that he actually got here? I said, we have the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ because it talks about the revelations that the people here received and the visit of Jesus Christ to America. I told him that in America, Jesus Christ loved the people and blessed the people and taught them how to come home.

He taught them that they needed to be baptized with his baptism, by his authority, so they could take that step up to a new level. They needed to become the kind of disciples that he needed to preach his word.

I told him that after he was done teaching the people, blessing their children and calling down the power of heaven to be upon them, Jesus Christ said, still other sheep I have. Jesus said that they were not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout, whether he had been. He said he had received the commandment from his father to go to them so that they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

This is when Jesus went to his other sheep in the isles of the sea, and other places in the world. He said, that’s so cool! I’ve never heard this. I said, how do you feel? When I told you that, how did you feel? He said, it made me happy. He said, I feel happy and peaceful.

I said, that’s the spirit of God telling you that the thing I have just said is true. Jesus Christ came to America and then he very possibly went to your ancestors so that they could have the gospel and have this baptism, so that they could be saved.

He said, that’s awesome! He said, my cousins have a Book of Mormon, maybe I could borrow one from them and read about this. I reached into my console and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and said, why don’t I just give you this one? I showed him the tabs and the questions of the soul. I said, read these questions. I asked him if he had ever had any of those questions.

He said with a smile on his face, yes! All of them! I asked him if he had any idea where he came from, why he was here on earth or where he was going after this life. He said, I’ve always wondered those things. I’ve never gotten good answers to those questions but I feel like there’s a purpose to this whole thing! I told him that that he was 100% right. Our purpose is to learn to come closer to our Heavenly Father. We do that by following the same spirit he was now feeling. I told him that when he said that he felt peaceful and happy, this was the spirit of our Heavenly Father, confirming to him that those things were true. The spirit always confirms truth so that we know how to make the decisions that our father would have us make.

He said, that’s very cool. He also said that his cousins, who are members of our church, seem to think that they know where the Polynesians came from. He said, is that in the book too? I said, yes, it is, absolutely! The reason why they say that is found in the book.

I told him that in the book there was a man named Hagoth who was a very curious adventurer who gathered thousands of people. I told him that they built boats that were very large and sailed off into the sea from the northwest portion of the land, southward. I told him that they were never heard from again here in America. I told him that many Polynesians believe that this is where their ancestry comes from.

He said, that’s very cool! I wonder if there’s any way they could find out. I told him that a few years ago I read an article in National Geographic that said that there was an indigenous tribe in Columbia that share genetic markers with the Polynesians. I told him that the article assumed that the Polynesians had traveled to America, but that many menbers of our church believe that the Polynesians came from America.

I told him this includes his cousins and himself. He said, you’re telling me that this book is my family history? I said, yes. This book is the writings of the ancient prophets that God sent to your ancestors.

I told him that one of the children of the prophet at that time, who was called to preach the gospel, went with Hagoth and his people on the boats. I said, I believe that the teachings of those prophets are your religious heritage.

As I talked about the Book of Mormon, the spirit intensified in the car and so I asked him, how do you feel right now? He said, just like before, only with a lot more intensity. He said, I could get used to that kind of peace. He asked, how did we get that book? Where did it come from?

I told him that the ancient prophets engraved their writings on plates of gold and they were buried in the Earth. I told him that a prophet of God was called to translate those writings and this is how we have the Book of Mormon.

I decided that this was a great opportunity to teach the first vision. I love to teach the first vision because it always brings the spirit with power. I proceeded to teach him about Joseph Smith. I said that he was trying to find the truth in a difficult world and a confusing situation.

I stopped and said, I think you can relate to that. You’ve been confused about religion and it’s purpose. Joseph Smith felt that very same way. He said, it’s really crazy because that’s exactly how it’s been for me. It’s been crazy because nothing has seemed to make sense to me with regards to organized religion. He said, I haven’t ever felt anything like I have here in this car today.

I said, Joseph Smith read in the Bible that he should ask God so that he could learn the things that he desired. He desired to know which church to join and he was totally confused just like you are.

I said, he went to a forest and knelt to pray. He asked God to show him which church to join. In answer to that prayer, God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. I said, they called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. They told him that there were a lot of churches that taught the words, but that their hearts were not with God. They called Joseph Smith to restore the exact same church that Jesus Christ had founded when he was on the Earth.

That’s why our church is called the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He said, I feel like my hair and body are tingling and I feel that power and peace. He said, that’s true. I know that’s true.

I said, after that vision, God sent an angel who had been one of the prophets who wrote in the Book of Mormon to give Joseph Smith those plates. Through the power of God, Joseph Smith could translate the plates. This is the Book of Mormon. This book is the record of your ancestors. This is the same religion they believed in. Today we have the same authority and that same baptism given to them by Jesus.

I said, this baptism is how you become a member of the church. I told him that when he is baptized, he can be forgiven of all of his sins. I said, your sins are why your mother sent you here in the first place. He looked down and said, yes, you’re right. She wants my auntie to straighten me out and my auntie wants me to become a member of the church. Now I see why.

I said, now you feel why. If you will do the things that you need to do, learn the word of God by going to church, read the Book of Mormon, say your prayers, be baptized and obey the commandments you will be able to have that spirit with you.

He said, this is pretty awesome. I need to have this. He asked me if I was sure that he could keep the Book of Mormon I had given him. I said, yes, it was made for you. He said, this book is a great treasure.

I asked him if he would go and talk to his auntie or his cousins about it and he said, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk in the house holding this book without them asking ME about it. So yes, I will. This is what I need to do. He said, I probably need to be baptized too!

He put his hand on my head and rubbed it and then shook my hand. He got out of the car and went into his auntie‘s home, carrying that great treasure.

One day, I picked up a young man who was a cook at a restaurant in the mall. He got in the car and he had such a good feeling about him. We started to drive and I got the impression that I needed to invite him to go to church. That is pretty bold even for me.

As we drove, I talked to him about whether or not he liked living in Utah. He said he liked living here very much and that he really liked the people. I asked him what church he went to and he said that he was a baptized Catholic. He said that since his parents had both passed away he had never really been religiously active.

I said, well, since you’re living here, maybe you ought to look at the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. Maybe you should start going to our church. I said, the kind of people you’re running into that you like are probably members of the church. There’s probably a reason why they are the way they are and it has to do with the church. He said, I never thought of it like that.

This young man was from Venezuela and he was struggling to find his footing here. He had been a successful businessman in Venezuela yet here he could only get a job as a cook. He said, I guess I could use a lift up.

I told him that I do interpretation of our sacrament meeting into Spanish every Sunday and I invited him to come. That’s what the spirit had told me to do. He reacted very favorably and asked “what time and where?”

I told him where we meet and when we meet. I told him that it was the very next day and we would love to have him come. He told me that he would be moving soon and had an appointment to look at an apartment during that time so he probably would not be able to make it. He said that he would do it another day for sure.

He got out of the car and I thought to give him my phone number. He gratefully accepted it. He said he would be in touch and would go with me another week.

A couple of weeks passed and I hadn’t heard from him. Where I didn’t have HIS phone number, there was nothing I could do about it. One day I got a ride out in Vineyard that was going up to the mall. I didn’t think anything of it, even though that was the place where this young man worked.

My rider came out and got in the car and I hadn’t even seen his face when he got in. Out of the backseat his voice said, hey you’re Bruce right? I said, yes! I looked in the back and I saw his face and I knew it was him. He said, do you remember me? I said yes! He said, I guess I still owe a trip to church with you. I said, yes, you do.

It was Saturday again, and I said, tomorrow we have meetings. What time do you want me to pick you up. He said, whenever you want. He said, I have a new address. When I get home, I’ll text it to you. I told him I would pick him up at 11. He said, I believe Jesus put me in your car twice now. I am supposed to do this.

He asked me what he needed to know. I said, it’s easy. I told him that Heavenly Father is truly the father of our spirit. I said that he loves each of us and we love him. I told him that when we were in the presence of our Heavenly Father, we loved being there and our spirits still remember that. I said, Our spirits still want to go home to their father. He said, I believe that Jesus loves everyone just like you do.

As we said these things, the spirit was very strong in the car and I identified it by asking him what he felt at that moment. He said, I feel energy and warmth. He said, there’s a tremendous peace. I said, that’s how you felt in the presence of your father in heaven and if you seek that feeling, it will guide you home to him.

I said, Heavenly Father loves everyone who was ever born and wants them all to come home. He has a plan that will make it possible for every one of these children to come home if they want to accept his gospel. I said, everyone will have that chance.

He said, I like that. He said, that’s kind of how I believe even though I’ve never heard anyone teach that. I said, the spirit teaches truth and it’s bearing witness of that to you right now. He said he could feel that. He knew it was true.

I told him that Jesus died and was resurrected for us. He made it so that everyone will be resurrected. He made it so those who are baptized and have done the things they need to do will be able to come home to their father in heaven.

He mentioned how the Catholics believe that if children are not baptized, they can’t go to heaven. He asked, is that the same thing? Do they get left out here too? I said, no! They don’t ever get left out. I said, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his atonement made it so that every child that dies in innocence comes home to Heavenly Father.

I told him that we need to repent and make ourselves clean so that we can come home to our father in heaven as well. I said, this is why we need baptism.

I told him that Jesus told the people in the Bible that there were other sheep in other places and that he was supposed to go to them because God loves all of his children and not just those in Jerusalem. I said that he went to them, he gave them the power to baptize and invited them to be baptized, I said that he did this even though they had already previously been baptized. I told him that this baptism was the baptism of Jesus Christ and the one that opens the doors to heaven.

I told him that the visit of Jesus was recorded by ancient prophets here in America that might have been his ancestors. I told him that this record was given to Joseph Smith, a modern prophet, who translated them. I said, we have this record today. I told him that it is called the Book of Mormon. He said, I’ve heard of that. I told him that it was the religious heritage passed down to him by his ancestors.

I told him that Jesus Christ held his ancestors in his arms and he blessed them. I said that he loved them and the blessing he pronounced on them and their posterity rings true for him today.

I told him that this was the same baptism we have today and we can perform that same baptism because we have the same authority that Jesus gave to his apostles here in America. I told him that through that baptism he could become clean from his sins and stand clean before God. He said, I want that. He asked, how do I get that?

I told him that he had to go to church, meet with the missionaries and learn the things they wanted him to learn. I told him that once he did this, he could begin to cleanse himself and make himself worthy to stand before God. He said, that’s amazing.

He said, what about my parents? They never had that baptism. Can they be with God? I could tell this was a very sincere question and I was so happy to have the ability to teach him about the temple. I taught him that we go to the temple and are baptized there for the people who have passed. After this baptism they have the opportunity to accept or rejected it.

I told him that seeing what a great young man as he was, I’m sure that his parents would be very happy to accept the baptism of Jesus Christ. He smiled. He said, that’s awesome. He said, how do you go about getting that done? I told him that we have temples and in those temples we performed this ordinance for those who have passed. I said “soon after your baptism you would be able to go and do this”.

I told him that the temple is a very special place where we work together with those who are no longer living so that we can all be together in the kingdom of God. He said, “that is beautiful!”

I told him that in the temple, we also do marriages that are eternal and do not end with death. They are eternal and our families are also eternal. I told him that my wife and I had been married in the temple and so we will be together with our family forever.

I told him that the cool thing about the temple is that not only do we do baptisms for people who have passed but we also perform marriages and sealings for people who are no longer living.

I told him that he would also be able to someday participate in the sealing of his parents to each other and to their family. His smile was huge and he said,that’s what I want.

He asked, how do I do this? I said, we can have missionaries come over. I’ll introduce them to you tomorrow at church. They will teach you about the church. I said, they will teach you about Joseph Smith, and how he saw God the father and Jesus Christ. I said, they called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ. I said that in this restoration he received the proper authority to make all of this happen. I told him that with this authority his family could be brought together forever. He was excited and said, well, I guess I need to go tomorrow for sure. Later that night he sent me his address.

The next morning I was there at 11 and I picked him up. On the way to church we dropped by the chapel where his future ward meets and I introduced him to the bishop and the missionaries. They were really excited!

We went to church and he loved the meeting, but most of all he loved the spirit. After the meeting he said, this is what. I want to be baptized.

One day I picked up a young woman down by Smith’s in Provo. She was going to Spanish Fork. It seemed like a really good ride for me so I was in a really good frame of mind going in. I became slightly annoyed when it took her a long time to get out to the car.. They have 5 to 7 minutes before you can cancel the ride so for at least that amount of time you have to wait or you don’t get paid anything.

After the 5 to 7 minutes, you cancel a ride and leave. Time was ticking away and I had almost decided that she wasn’t coming out and that I would be able to cancel. Once you’ve waited that time you’re almost better off canceling because you get most of the money for that ride and you can get another ride really quick.

With about 20 seconds left, I saw her. She was jogging down the path from her house to get to my car. I decided to wait even though the time had passed and I could the cancelation fee at that point. I think it’s the old coach in me but I like to see a little effort! It was like a windsprint at the end of practice. As she ran up to the car, I looked down at the ride duration and the spirit told me that I would need this time. The spirit told me it was the perfect amount of time to testify and teach. I was actually very excited to get the ride going at that point.

She got in the car and we started to drive. As we were driving at first, I wanted to find out if she wanted to speak English or Spanish. She was from Peru. She was doing really well with her English and I wanted to honor that. We decided to speak English and started chatting.

I asked her how she liked living here and she said it was amazing. She said that it was so much better than California. She said she had lived in California for a few years and that it just felt dark but here it felt peaceful and there was light. She seemed like a member of the church culturally but the spirit indicated to me that she was not a member of the church.

I asked her if she knew why it felt peaceful and why she thought she could see a difference between here and where she had lived before. She said, I think it’s because here they love Jesus. I said, that’s exactly right! I discussed with her the correlation between living God‘s commandments and having that light and peace in your life. She readily agreed.

I said, we also have a prophet who gives us God‘s will. I said that the words the prophet tells us are considered to be commandments. I said, it’s always been that way.

I asked her if she was a member of the church, knowing that she was not. She confirmed that to me. She said, I did date a guy one time who was a member of your church, before he quit going. She said, he was someone who held a position in your church. She said, “it was an important position, but I can’t remember what it was”.

I started running off the possibilities Bishop? No. Elders Quorum President? No. High Council? Yes She said, yes, that is it. She said, he quit going and told me all kinds of horrible things about the church.

For a second, I tried to decide where to go from there. Should I ask her what he said and trying to refute that? Should I ignore it and teach on? I said a little prayer and had a prompting that said, it’s about love and the spirit.

The spirit outlined to me how I should teach this. I said, you said before that you felt peace and light living here. She said yes. I said, did you feel that same peace and light when he said those things that were horrible? She thought for a second and said, no, no I didn’t. I asked, how did you feel when he said those things?

She said, I felt anxious, frustrated and bad. As she said this, it became clear that she was reasonably spiritually perceptive. I decided to ditch English altogether and speak with her in Spanish. I think she appreciated that and the conversation. started to take off.

I said, isn’t that interesting? Those things you learned didn’t make you feel good. They didn’t make you feel peaceful and happy. I said, you already identified to me that being around people who are members of the church makes you feel peaceful and happy. How do you compare those two feelings?

She said, I love the feeling I have around my friends who are members of the church and I very much disliked the feeling around that man. I said, what you felt and what you were feeling when you were with your friends and when you were talking about how you felt living here was the spirit of God. That’s how you feel in the presence of God. I said, the spirit of God protects us, helps us and testifies of truth to us. It guides us down the path to truth and back to our father in heaven.

As I said this, the spirit came into the car. I said, that spirit you feel right there is the spirit of God. I asked, how does it feel? She said, peaceful and warm. I said, when you feel that you know that the things you’re hearing are true, and your path is the correct path. She said, that makes sense, that’s why I feel it around my friends who are members of the church. I said yes.

I said, why didn’t you feel it when that guy who had left the church was saying all those nasty things? She thought for a minute and then said well, I guess it is because those things weren’t true. I said, that’s right. God does not play with us. He won’t send his spirit to test testify about something that is not true. I said, he loves us and he wants to bring us home.

I said, God is the God of everyone. We are his children and he loves us. I said, he wouldn’t give us a misleading feeling regarding something so important. I said, when we feel those negative feelings, we know that the things we’re hearing are not true or at least that we shouldn’t follow them. I said, it’s a way we can know to follow and trust the right people.

She said, I really like that! She said, I love God! I said, I think he knows that and he loves you too. I told her that we all lived with him before we came to earth. I said that what she was feeling right now in her heart was her personal reaction to how she felt in his presence. It’s how he lets her know what she should do. She said, I like that! I said, it’s how he brings us home.

I told her that our prophet gives us new commandments all of the time. I said, when we obey those commandments, we are free and we can have his spirit to be with us.

She said, I suppose I do have a lot of questions about the church. I just haven’t felt like I should ask my friends and they haven’t brought it up. I guess everyone was nervous to do it. I said, is your question right now, what is the difference between our church and your church?

She said, yes! That’s my question. I asked her if she wanted me to explain the difference and she said yes. I said it’s all about God‘s love and his spirit. I said, God loves us so he gives us commandments and he gives us prophets, so he can reveal his will to us. We are grateful that we have those commandments. When we obey, we feel his love and are then eligible to have his spirit.

I said, we believe God loves everyone in the world not just the people from Jerusalem. I talked to her about how Jesus had said other sheep I have. I said that he told the people in the Bible that he was going to go to those people, those other sheep. I said, the people he was talking about were your ancestors.

I asked her if God loved everyone and she said yes. I asked her if God loved her ancestors that lived here in America and she said yes. I asked her if God had prophets in America to lead and teach her ancestors. She thought about it for a minute and then said, well, I guess he should have had them. She said, I guess maybe he did. I just have never heard of anything like that, but it sounds right. It feels right.

I said, he did have prophets here amongst your ancestors. I told her that her ancestors were brought here by the hand of God and nurtured by his word and protected by his commandments. I said, God loves his children and shows that love through commandments and your ancestors were no different. I said, he had prophets here who taught his words and taught about Jesus Christ. I said that they taught that Jesus Christ would come visit them someday.

I told her that their religion looked forward to the day that Jesus would come. I told her it looked much like many religions do today. They taught of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, and they looked for Jesus to come and save them.

I said, this is who Jesus was talking about in the Bible when he said other sheep I have that are not of this fold. He went to her ancestors to do exactly what he was commanded to do. She asked, do you mean that Jesus came to America? I said yes. I asked her if she believed that God is an all powerful God? She said yes. I asked if he had children scattered all over the world? She said yes. Would he only go to a few of them or would he go visit all of them. She nodded her head and said I would think he would go to all of them.

I said, that’s what Jesus did. I said, your ancestors here in America were waiting for him. He appeared in the heavens and they heard the voice of God the father announce his arrival. He descended down until he stood on the steps of the temple.

I said, your ancestors were there. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. They knew that he was their God. I told her that they prayed in that moment for salvation. As a direct answer to that prayer, he called 12 of them. I said, he gave them authority to baptize and he commanded each one of them to be baptized in the way he instructed. He commanded this even though they had already been baptized.

I looked in the mirror and I said your ancestors met and knew Jesus. I said, your ancestors were held in his arms and blessed. I said, he blessed them and their posterity, which includes you. I said, your ancestors knew that feeling of peace and light that you recognize.

She was sobbing, she took a shirt out of her purse that she had brought with her and started dabbing her eyes as tears were streaming down her face. I asked her, what do you feel right now? She said that she felt an overflowing joy and peace.

I told her that all of these revelations from the prophets here in America and the account of Jesus Christ visiting America were contained in the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had heard of the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She said her sister had a copy. I told her that this book was her religious heritage. I said, that book teaches that her ancestors knew Jesus Christ. I said, that book teaches that you’re one of his sheep.

She said, I feel a profound happiness and joy that I can’t contain. She said I can’t believe that I’m crying like this. I said, it is the spirit of God telling you that the things I have been saying are true.

I asked her, how do these things that I’ve said feel? Do they feel good or do they feel like the words that the ex member man had said? She answered quickly saying, these things are true. I’ve never heard them before so they’re not familiar to me, but I know inside that what you’re saying is from God.

I told her that the spirit is being her guide. I said, the spirit testifies of truth and because I have spoken that truth you are feeling the spirit. She said, I know that is true. I told her that it is really important to understand that this was the answer to her ancestor’s prayer for salvation. Jesus gave them his baptism.

I pointed out that they had each previously been baptized but this time he was inviting them to be baptized by his authority and in the way he taught. He gave them his baptism to a higher level of discipleship and to a new covenant. I said, Jesus expects us all to have that baptism.

I told her that her friends had been baptized by that same baptism and so had many of the people who live here. I said that this is why she feels the spirit here. I said, obedience to the commandments, including the commandment, to be baptized brings the spirit of God into our lives.

She said, this is starting to make sense! I said, there’s more! I said, the invitation that Jesus extended to your ancestors to be baptized to that new level of discipleship and to that new covenant is also extended to you. I said, that’s what we do in the church. We teach of Jesus Christ and we invite people to accept the invitation to be baptized by his baptism.

I said, in the Church of Jesus Christ, we try to be disciples of Jesus Christ on that next level and follow his commandments. I told her that her friends knew this was true and that’s why she was drawn to them. I said, “you are drawn to light”.

I told her that when we are baptized, it makes it so that our sins can be forgiven. We can be clean and pure before God. I looked in the mirror and she was continuing to cry, and I saw a look on her face that I perceived to be concern.

I said, you are concerned because you don’t think that you are worthy. I said, we’ve all done things in our life that we need to repent for but God has given us baptism and repentance so that we can become clean and enter into his presence. I said, baptism is the key that lets us enter in.

She said, that’s awesome! I wonder why my friends haven’t told me about this. I told her it’s because they didn’t want to offend her. I said, they loved her as a friend and they didn’t want to say something that would drive a wedge between them. She said, this is a great gift. I need to have this in my life.

We were pulling into the place where I was dropping her off and I was trying to figure out a way forward for her. I asked her if she wanted me to have missionaries come over and she was a little hesitant. Then I thought about her friends. I said, when will you see one of your good friends who’s a member of the church? She said, in about a minute, that’s where I’m going right now. I told her to ask that friend about this.

I told her to tell her about the ride, what she felt and what the spirit had testified to her. I told her to ask her friend to help her be baptized. She said, that’s what I’ll do! I’ll do that right now as soon as I get out of the car.

She said, I feel like this might be the reason why I was brought to Utah. I’ve always wanted to have that peace like others seem to have. I said, this is how you get it. I said, today you have had a testimony born to you by the spirit of God. You know that Jesus came to America. She nodded. You know that we have a prophet on the Earth. She nodded and said yes. You know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it was translated by a prophet of God. She said yes.

I said, finally you know that you’re supposed to be baptized. She said, yes, I know that. I said, that sounds like a great place to start with your friend.

She said, God put me in your car today. I’ve never felt his spirit so strong and know so perfectly what I should do, but now I know.

She got out of the car and waved at me like five times between my car and the door where she went in. Heavenly Father loves this young lady and she will be a great addition to the church because she understands the spirit and she understands the love of her father in heaven.

One day I was working in Provo and I got a ride to go to Salt Lake. I didn’t know if I wanted to go to Salt Lake right then and I thought about not taking the ride but I got an impression that I needed to, so I did. When I got to the address I found that it was about six houses north of where Heather and I lived when we were first married and on the same side of the street.

I thought this was cool and I was excited to see if I knew the family. I waited for about four minutes and then I started to think, well, maybe he’ll cancel. If he cancels I get the cancellation fee and I don’t have to drive to Salt Lake. Win-win and I started thinking like that, but then I felt chastised.

I felt like there was a purpose for me to be at this home. Finally a kid came out and got in the car. He was a 24 year-old kid so clearly he was born long after we moved out of that house. I found out that their family had only lived in that house for about 10 years.

As we started driving, I wondered why I had a prompting that I needed to take this ride so I decided to start by asking him why he was going to Salt Lake. His answer set the tone for the rest of the ride. He said, my father is dying in the hospital and I need to go up to the hospital and sign a do not resuscitate order.

When he said this, the spirit said, now teach the gospel. Teach him about how much his father in heaven loves him and how Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. The spirit also gave me a prompting that he was a member of the church but that he was less active. I had the impression that partying and girls were a huge part of his rebellion.

I took that last information and put it aside knowing that at some point, I would want to bring it up. I decided immediately to talk about love. I told him that losing your father can be very difficult. I told him that my father passed away last summer. I told him that one of the things I learned is that Heavenly Father loves us so much and that he is in charge even when we feel like things are spiraling out of control.

I told him about the experience that I had with my father‘s passing. I told him that the spirit had commanded me to go up and give my father a blessing, releasing him from this life and calling him to the next life. I shared with him that before I gave my father that blessing, my father and I gave my mother a blessing. I told him that my dad wasn’t even as sick as my mom but I gave him that blessing and within 48 hours he passed.

I told him that as sad as that was, it was really comforting to know that our Father in Heaven was in charge and that he knew my father individually and personally. I told him how nice it was to know that my Heavenly Father had a job for my father to do.

I told him that it was really hard not to have my dad around. It was really difficult not to be able to call him and talk to him but then I realized something. I told him that I realized that my father in his depleted condition was not able to do the things for me he wanted to do. He was not able to help me like he wanted to but that now, unencumbered by his worn out physical body, he is able to be with me and help me from time to time when I need it.

He said, do you believe that? I said yes. I told him that Heavenly Father says that it’s his work and his glory to bring to pass the eternal life of his children. He said, I remember that.

Then I asked, well, what do you think would be the work that my father would do? Would it not be to help his children? I believe that my father is around and he helps us. I told him that I am sure that Heavenly Father would want that

I told him that for me it’s a little bit like Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. I asked him if he remembered the scene where Obi-Wan is killed by Darth Vader. He said, yes! He said, I love Star Wars! I said, before Obi-Wan dies, he says, “if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”. I said, for me, it’s a little bit like that. My dad can be around me and help me in ways that he was not able to because of his limitations.

He said, that’s really cool, I’d never thought of it like that.

Then I felt the impression to teach him about the atonement. I asked him, what the atonement is. He said, the atonement is how we are forgiven for our sins. I said, yes! That’s a small part of what the atonement is. I asked him, what else the atonement does? He sat there befuddled for a moment and then said, I have no idea. I thought that’s all it did.

I told him that the application of a huge overwhelming portion of the atonement is how our Heavenly Father lifts us through our trials and burdens. It’s how he makes it so that we can get through. I told him that life isn’t fair and the bad things happen to good people. I told him that because of this Jesus Christ suffered during the atonement so that he can help us bear our burdens and lift us through our trials.

I told him about Alma and his people after they escaped King Noah and how they relied on the atonement to lift their burdens. Even though their burdens were never removed, they were so blessed by the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ so that they could barely feel their burdens. I told him, this is how God lifts us through our trials.

As I said this I felt like his father’s condition wasn’t the only burden he carried and that he was blaming God for everything.

I told him that Satan tells us to blame God for our trials and problems in life but God asks us to look to Jesus Christ. I told him that through Jesus Christ and the power of his atonement, all things can be made whole. I told him that God says, look to Christ and live. I told him that if we look to Christ, we will live with our father in heaven forever and we will live spiritually while we’re here on earth. I told him that if we look to Christ, we can live with happiness and joy in our lives regardless of the circumstances .

I asked him it’s like if you have five clear cups with different levels of red punch in them and you needed to make sure everybody had the same amount of punch, what would you do? He said, I would take some from the ones that had more and put in the others so they were all equal. I told him that’s how we think but that’s not how God thinks. I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s like he comes in with a pitcher full of red punch and just fills all of the glasses to overflowing, regardless of what level they were beforehand.

I told him that Jesus Christ makes up all of the difference so that we don’t have to be beaten down and overwhelmed by sadness or events in our lives. I told him that Jesus Christ makes it so that we can all be whole, so that we can all be happy regardless of our circumstance.

I felt the spirit very strongly as I talked about this and I asked him what he was feeling. He said, he’d been feeling very sad all day, sad, distraught, and angry. He said, but now I feel peaceful. He said, I feel so much better.

I told him that what he was feeling was the spirit of God. It was the Holy Ghost! I told him that when he felt this he knew that his Heavenly Father loved him and that he would be there for him if he would just turn to him. I said, look to him and live.

I told him that he had known this feeling for thousands of years and that he had missed being around it as he had become less active in the church. I then realized that I hadn’t shared any of the prompting I had received with him nor had I asked him if he was a member of the church. I just went off of the prompting so I decided to do that now.

I said, you are a member the church, right? He said yes. I said, you are inactive aren’t you? He lowered his eyes and said yes. I asked him how long he had been inactive and he said that he quit going to church when he was a priest.

I said, first you quit going to church and then you started partying with your friends and doing inappropriate things with young ladies. He said yes. He asked how I knew these things and I told him that the spirit whispered them to my heart. He said that this blew his mind. I said, Heavenly Father knows everything and he gave me these things so that you would know that the things I am saying are true. I said, these things that you did have driven a wedge between you and the spirit. It made it harder for you to be close to God and feel the comfort and peace that you are feeling right now.

He said, I love this feeling. I said, that’s great! What do you need to do to make sure that you keep this with you? He thought for a minute and said, I guess I need to do better. I said, let’s come up with a few things that you need to do.

I said, first and foremost, I think you should ask your dad for a father‘s blessing. He said, my dad can’t even get out of bed. He’s in so much pain. I said, can he talk? He said, yes he can. I said, you sit next to the bed and have your dad place his hand on your head while he’s laying in bed and give you a blessing. Have him give you a father‘s blessing.

I asked , what do you think that would mean to your dad? He said, I think he would love it. I asked what would that mean to him and he started to tear up. He said, it would mean the world. I said, today when you go in there, you ask him to do that. He said, I will do that!

I said, the next thing we have to do is work to make sure that you’re worthy to have this spirit with you always. You need to make sure that you’re doing the things you need to do so Heavenly Father can have his arms round about you. You need the Holy Ghost to walk with you. He asked, what do I need to do?

I said, these are the primary answers. You need to go to church, say your prayers and read your scriptures. He kind of smiled and rolled his eyes. I said, you need to do these things because that’s how we bring the spirit into our lives so that it can be with us.

I told him about when I was on my mission and I learned that by taking the sacrament, I could fill my tank spiritually. I told him that becoming worthy to take the sacrament and then taking it worthily, could transform everything else in his life. I told him that he would feel the spirit fill his soul if he would do that.

He said, so do I just start going to church? I said yes. I said, we used to be in your ward. I said, there are a lot of good people in that ward. You need to go to church and feel their strength and have it lift you. I told him to go to the bishop and talk to him about what he’s been through over the last four or five years. I told him to tell the bishop that he wanted to get worthy to take the sacrament so that he could have the spirit with him.

I told him if he would do this the bishop would help him. I said, you could even serve a mission if you wanted to. I said, you might want to ask the bishop about that. He said, my dad would love that! He asked, is that still possible for me? He said, I think I will talk to the bishop about that.

I told him that he had to read the Book of Mormon every day. I told him that even if it’s just a little bit that he reads, he needs to read the Book of Mormon every day because that will bring the spirit into his life. He said, I can do that.

I told him that as he reads the Book of Mormon, he needs to pray and learn to talk with his father in heaven. I told him that he needs to learn to have a relationship with his father in heaven. I told him that he’s just like his earthly father and that he loves him and wants to bless him. He wants to hear from him. I said, that’s why we have prayer so that we can call home.

We were coming up on the hospital and I asked, will you commit to do these things that we’ve talked about? Will you go ask your father for a blessing today? Will you start going to church every week? Will you talk to your bishop about getting ready to take the sacrament? Will you read the scriptures every day and will you say your prayers? I said, that’s what God would have you do.

He said, I’ll try! I looked in the mirror at his eyes. They were still moist from the tears that have been flowing throughout the ride and I said, do you still feel the spirit in the car? He said yes. I asked, what does that mean? Does that mean the things I’m saying are true? He said, yes it means that they are true.

I said, does that mean that you should do the things on this list? He thought about it and said yes. I asked again, will you do these things? He said I’ll try hard.

I said, since you love Star Wars so much, Yoda had a really great saying, it was “do or do not, there is no try”. I said, even Yoda knew that saying you’re going to try is not a commitment and that without a commitment you won’t follow through.

I asked him again, will you do these things? He said, yes, I will. I asked, will you make a commitment to do it? He said, yes. I asked him to imagine how happy his father and his Heavenly Father would be to hear this. He smiled at the thought. I told him that I would pray for him and his family. I told him that I knew that Heavenly Father put him in my car today because he needed help. I told him Heavenly Father knows what we need and that he loves us enough to make sure we get it. I said, now you get to thank him for that.

He said, I feel so much better now than I did before. He said, I’m so glad that God sent you to drive me up here today. I think I can do this now. I pulled up to the door and he walked into the hospital with the peace that the spirit brings to sign the papers that will allow his father to pass away.

One night I was driving in Salt Lake and I was on the west side of town. Usually when I’m on the west side, I pause it so that I can get back into downtown but this time I decided to let it ride.

I got a ride out by 3500 South and around Bangerter Highway. I pulled into a business park where I was supposed to pick up my ride and there he was. You could tell this guy had been working.

He had work boots, kneepads, dirty clothes, and the whole get up. He got in my clean car and we started to go. I asked him what he did for a living. He said he worked in the lighting industry. I guess installing lights can be a dirty job. Through the dirt, I could see a lost man and had the impression that he was a member of the church.

He was headed clear out to Copperton and so away we went. We started talking about the lights he installed and what preferences people have for lights. He talked about how they can change the brilliance and softness of lights to accommodate the desires of the people these days.

I told him that he sure lived a long way from his work and he laughed. He said, yeah and I’m sick of taking rideshare twice a day. I asked him why he was taking rideshare at all and he said that he had received a DUI and couldn’t drive his truck.

I asked him how that was and he said that it went a night in jail and he had to pay a lot of money to get his truck out of impound. He said that he hadn’t driven his truck since and that it had been nearly one year. He said he would get his license back after one year and this rideshare nightmare would be over. I laughed.

He said that because of his DUI, his drivers license had been suspended for a year and so he had to take rideshare. This information didn’t fit with my first impression that I had received about him being a member of the church but I decided that’s why he was in my car.

I wondered if he had been convicted of a DUI or a DWI. The difference is that on your first offense, they will give you a DWI and it only cost about $5000 whereas a DUI is given to your subsequent offenses and it cost $10,000.

He assured me that he had been convicted of a DUI, even though he hired a high-powered attorney and that he had previously had the DWI so this time they threw the book at him.

I said, it seems to be like you’ve got something to figure out. He said, yeah, I’ve gotta learn to stay away from the wrong women. He said, I had been sober for about two years and I met this girl who loved to drink. I fell off the wagon. He said, I couldn’t say no to her. He said that she blew him off the second he got his DUI but he didn’t think that was a very bad thing in the end. He told me that she was nothing but trouble.

Right then I had the distinct impression that I should loudly and vociferously proclaim a solution to his problem. I said, you should go to church! You should go to church every week! I said, you should go to the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints and date girls you find in church on Sunday.

I told him that those girls won’t want him to drink and they’re not going to push him to do other things he shouldn’t be doing. I said, if you know what I mean.

He smiled, then said, I know exactly what you mean and that’s exactly what I need. He kind of laughed it off for a minute. Then I had the impression to say it again, so I did. I said, you need to go to church. How long has it been since you’ve been to church?

He said, well, I was raised in the church but I haven’t been in over a decade. I said, well, I think it’s time to start. Now the way I’m describing this may sound a little bit flippant but here was no mistaking the power that I felt when I said it. They were words that were given to me to say, and I said them and they were spoken with power.

I could tell they touched him. I could tell that he was shocked and taken off guard for some reason. I decided that this was a good time to bear my testimony about the importance of getting worthy to take the sacrament and then relying on the strength of the atonement to keep himself sober and worthy each week.

He said, that’s awesome! He said, I actually can’t believe that you just blurted that out like you did. I said that God puts people in my car sometimes. He gives me messages by the power of the Holy Ghost that I’m supposed to say. I told him that I felt very powerfully that I was supposed to say that to him.

I said, I also know that you felt it and that you feel the Holy Ghost in the car with us right now. I said, God has put other people in your path to say the same thing, don’t you think it’s time to listen?

He said, this is crazy! I was just up in Idaho two weeks ago visiting my friend, who used to be a member of of the church. We were talking about hunting and then all of a sudden he stopped looked at me and said “I feel like I’m supposed to tell you that you need to go to church. You need to go to church and attend the singles ward”.

He said to me “how did you know this? “This is an incredible coincidence”. I told him that there is no such thing as a coincidence and that it wasn’t a coincidence that God had been reaching out to him in more ways than this. God was trying to get him to go back to church and get him to change his life.

I told him that obviously there are people at church who God has put in place that he needs in his life. I said that they would be a tremendous force for good and would help him along. I also told him that with his experiences, he could be a great missionary and would have tremendous empathy along with a capacity to love people who are struggling.

I told him that it’s not all about going to church and having people help you. The best thing that happens to us at church is the other people need us as well. I said, I think the message is pretty clear you need to go to church!

He said, I do. I need to fight my addiction and I need to have God on my side. I told him that if he will have God on his side, it will help him fight the cravings because the spirit of God will push it out and he will fill his soul with that instead of Satan‘s counterfeit.

He said, “that is exactly what I need”. I bore my testimony to him about the power of reading the Book of Mormon and saying his prayers. I said that if he would do those things, that God would lift him and bless him. He said, well, I have a Bible and I can read it. I said, that’s awesome! I always encourage the reading of the Bible, but I’m talking about reading the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon carries a spirit with it that would bless him and lift him and give him more power. I told him that having the power of God around him would help him tremendously. I told him that he could listen to it on the way to work and read it at home whenever he felt the spirit waning.

I told him that he should read it every day besides those times and that he should pray multiple times a day. I told him that he should fill his life with the spirit and light.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Book of Mormon‘s prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. He said, I can’t take your Book of Mormon. I said, this is your Book of Mormon! It was prepared for you.

He said, that’s awesome! I asked him if he knew where his singles ward met and he said he didn’t. I jumped on the Meetinghouse locator and found his singles ward. I asked him if he knew anyone that went to that ward and he said he knew a couple people.

I asked him if he would call those people that night and talk to them about attending with them. He said, I’m not sure they want to sit by me, they might be afraid the building will fall on them. Funny story, but I’ve heard many people say that and so I laughed and said, that would be what Satan would want you to think. He has a counterfeit for the spirit and he whispers silly things in our ears to keep us from doing what we should. He is always working hard to raise doubts.

I said, even though you said it in jest, I know deep down you worry about how you’ll feel or be received. The truth is that some might judge everyone has their sin. I said, I promise you that if you go and focus on God and focus on the spirit that you will be lifted and you will feel the difference.

I took that opportunity to bear my testimony of Joseph Smith, the restoration and the word of wisdom. I testified of the word of wisdom and the promise in the word of wisdom of being able to run and not be weary, walk and not be faint, and that the destroying angel would pass us by. I told him that there would be great treasures of knowledge given to those who obey the word of wisdom, but first you need to shake that destroying angel… alcohol.

He said, I never heard that part. I said, pretty cool huh? He said, yeah! I said, how about getting on THAT wagon! That one will take you somewhere good. He smiled and said, I like that.

I asked him what he was feeling right then and he said that he felt the power of the truthfulness of the things that I had said and he felt them all the way down to his heart. He said that he felt that it was all true. He said that he felt that the things that I had said were true.

I told him that the reason he knew they were true was because the Holy Ghost whispered them to his heart and confirmed them to his heart. The feeling he was feeling right then was the presence of his father in heaven. He said, it feels great! He said, this is a high I could get used to!

I told him that his spirit was used to it that his spirit had been used to being in the presence of his father in heaven, for thousands of years in the preexistence. I said that when he felt that spirit, his own spirit recognized the Holy Ghost. When he felt that spirit tonight, he knew that his father in heaven was letting him know that the things I was telling him were true.

The spirit was working with this young man in a very obvious way. He was moved and had become very reverent. He said, this is what I need to do. I’m going to the singles ward on Sunday. He said, I can’t let this go anymore or it will cost me my life. I told him that now he knows that there’s much more at stake than his physical life. I told him that he is a son of his father in heaven and his father loves him and wants to bring him home. He wants him back into the fold so that he can live the spiritual life he was intended to live as well.

He said, that’s what I’m going to do then. He grabbed me by both shoulders and shook me and said, this is the best thing that could’ve happened to me. You helped me see God‘s hand.

He said, I guess all ride-share experiences aren’t that terrible. He winked, smiled, got out of the car and went in the house.

I gave a ride to a young man from Jamaica. He works at a restaurant in Park City. I picked him up and we talked about how everybody in Park City is from somewhere else. As the drive went on we talked about how his dad doesn’t like it here. I asked him why his dad doesn’t like it here in the Utah. He said that his dad would trade it all to live in New York. He gave New York up to live here and has been salty ever since. I said I would give up on New York in a heartbeat.

I said that his dad should learn to like it here. He said, I think he would like Utah if he gave it a chance because it’s so peaceful. I asked him why it’s peaceful? He said, that’s easy, because the people are so nice. I asked him why the people are nice. He said he didn’t know.

I said it’s because they obey the commandments. He said, ah man! That means you can’t do anything fun, that’s a buzz kill. I laughed and asked him to think about it differently. I talked about obedience and how obedience to God‘s commandments isn’t a buzz kill or handcuffs in any way. Just the opposite, they’re the only way to be free. I used drugs and alcohol versus sober and in control as an example and he agreed. I said, another example is having sex with lots of different women or out of marriage with diseases and out of wedlock pregnancy versus relationship in marriage with love.

In each case I asked him which would be the happier person. He said, the one who was obeying the commandments. I said, which would be the more peaceful person in their soul. He said, the one that obeyed the commandments. I asked, if you had a lot of these people who obey the commandments together would you feel that peace? He said yes.

I talked about how God gives us commandments and he reveals them through prophets. I testified to him that we have a prophet today who reveals God’s will to us because we face new challenges that didn’t exist in Bible times more than a thousand years ago.

I asked him if he had friends who were members of the church. He said yes. He said he had one that went to Brazil on his mission who is a very good friend. I asked him if he knew what he did while he was in Brazil and he said no.

I talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how there were prophets in ancient America and they taught the people God‘s word. I talked to him about Jesus coming to America and how he commanded people to be baptized. I taught him that Jesus invited everyone to be baptized with his baptism and that this invitation is still being extended today. I told him that extending this invitation to receive the baptism commanded by Jesus Christ is what his friend did in Brazil. I taught him that as we are baptized, we can become clean from the sins that we commit and be pure before God. I asked him if he would like to be clean and feel that peace. He said yes! He said, it would be amazing.

Earlier as we talked about commandments I received the impression that he had much experience with and some hard times due to the breaking of these commandments. When he said it would be amazing, he lit up and I could tell it struck a chord.

I taught him about how in Jerusalem Jesus had said “other sheep I have”. I said that those sheep were in America and other places around the world When he got to America he said that those were the sheep of whom he spoke but that there were still other sheep and that he had received a commandment to go to them. Jesus said that these sheep were not in America or Jerusalem or the lands roundabout.

I asked him where he thought the other sheep might have been. He was pensive and didn’t answer right away. I asked again because I wanted his response. He said, possibly in Africa? I said, I believe so. I said, the Book of Mormon is proof positive that God is an all loving God. It shows that he loves everyone no matter where they were born, no matter when they were born just the same. He sent his son to all of them. I asked him, if an all powerful God had lots of children which one would he visit? He said, all of them. A perfect father would show love to all of his children

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said he did. I asked him if he knew that this is what it taught in that book. He said he had no clue but he couldn’t wait to read it.

The spirit was powerfully testifying at this point. I asked him what he felt in his heart right then. He said, this is crazy, it is so powerful, emotional and peaceful at the same time. I love this feeling. I asked, do you know what that feeling means? He said, no, what? I said, it means these things that I have said are true. I asked him if he doubted the truth of what we were saying in that moment with the spirit in his heart as a guide and he said no. We talked about how God sent his son to his ancestors and to my ancestors. I said, we all have an inner part of us seeking to connect with the Savior and when it recognizes the spirit it latches on.

He said that was awesome. I asked him if he would call his friend who went to Brazil and tell him about the ride when he got out of the car? He said, absolutely. He said he was going to do it right away. I told him that when he called his friend he should tell him what we had just talked about. I said his friend would know what to do from there. He said he was going to make the call as soon as he got out of the car. I told him to tell his friend what he felt in the car. I told him to tell him that he had heard that he could become clean through baptism and ask him if he could help him do that. With a huge smile, he said that he would ask those questions.

I asked him again what he was feeling and he said that he felt joy, happiness and peace. I asked him what that joy happiness and peace was telling him. He said, it’s telling me that this is true.

I told him to tell that to his friend and he said he would. I told him to ask his friend why he didn’t explain this to him in the first place. He laughed and said, that’s exactly what I’ll do. This kid was awesome and what a great experience it will be for them.

I picked up a man named Israel one morning about 3:30. It had been busy that day and he had been waiting for about an hour for a ride. He was depressed thinking that no one would be able to take him home. He said that he thought it was a blessing that I was there! I love it when the story starts like that!

He was Latino but he didn’t speak Spanish. His family was from Mexico but he was not raised Catholic, his family was Penecostal. He was very proud and well-versed in his people’s heritage and history. It was kind of a passion of his.

Over the years he had lost touch with his faith a bit because of questions he had that were never answered. Due to of this he quit going to church. I asked him if he was open to hearing another perspective on God. He said, absolutely!

He started by asking me if I wanted to know what the problems were that he found with his religion. I told him I didn’t want to get into talking bad about his religion or what his problems were because I wasn’t there to tear that down. I told him that it’s not what his religion did wrong that was his problem, it’s that his religion didn’t address everything and that left him wanting.

I asked him if God loved everyone in the world that lived now or had ever been born. He said, absolutely, God loves everyone, he is our father. I asked him if God loved his ancestors who lived in Mexico hundreds of years ago and thousands of years ago. He said, yes!

I showed him a picture of Tulum. He was familiar with Mexican archaeology and recognized it right away. I pointed out that there are three doors at the top of the tower in the temple. I also pointed out to him that above those doors there were three spaces for engravings. I showed him that in the first space on the left there is a king God with a crown. The middle space is a descending God, descending from heaven to visit the people. The third space is empty. I asked him why that last one would be empty, he said he didn’t know.

I asked him if he had ever heard of Kulculcan or Quetsacoattle. He said yes, he was familiar with the history of the bearded white God. He knew that’s how Cortez tricked and conquered the Aztec empire. I told him that this descending God on that temple was the same God that they were waiting for when Cortez arrived. He said, that makes sense because the stories of the bearded white God indicate that he descended from heaven.

I asked him what more he knew about that. He said that this great white God came and taught good things, blessed the people and said he would return and that’s why they were caught off guard with Cortez.

I asked him if he would like to know about or read a book that contained an account of the visit of that great white God. He got physically excited and said, yes!

I pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon. I said, this book has the answers you’re looking for. He was a little shocked and said, I knew you were Mormon, I could feel it but I had no idea that the Book of Mormon would have that information. Can you show me where it is so I can get the book and read it? I handed him the book in my hand and said, this is your copy. It was one of the copies prepared by the Secrists.

I explained the Book of Mormon and its origins. I testified of Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon. The spirit fell on the car and his interest increased. I noticed the spirit and said, what is that you’re feeling? He said that he was feeling euphoric and had an assurance that what I was saying was true and that he should listen to me.

I opened the book to third Nephi 11 and talked to him about what had been going on up to that point. I told him that this is where Jesus came to his ancestors, this is where Jesus rescued them and this is where his people saw and touched the Savior of the world. I asked him how that made him feel and he said, amazing!

I went back to talking about the tower at Tulum and said, so if the middle one is Jesus, then who is the king God on the left? He said, God the father. Then I said, given the middle one is Jesus and the one on the left is God the father why is the third one empty with no image? He thought for a minute and said, that must be the Holy Ghost. In his Pentecostal church they talked a lot about the Holy Ghost.

I told him that the Holy Ghost is a very important part of the Godhead. I told him that the Holy Ghost is given to us so that we can discern truth. I told him it also comforts us and teaches us how to walk with God. I told him that a pursuit of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost will inevitably lead us back to God. I told him that’s why the gift of the Holy Ghost is very important. That way when we’re worthy, we always have the right to have him with us.

I testified to him that the Book of Mormon was true, that Jesus did come to his ancestors, that his father in heaven loves him and that the Holy Ghost bears witness of that. I told him he would never look at Tulum the same ever again. I said, that is evidence that your ancestors saw Jesus Christ and he taught them. I asked him again, is the spirit telling you that’s true or false? He said, I feel it’s true.

I talked to him about Jesus then going amongst the people and instructing them to be baptized even if they had already been baptized. He commanded that they be baptized in the way he taught with the authority he gave them. I asked him if that was important. He said, yes. You can’t go to heaven and be saved unless you are baptized. I told him that this is why Jesus himself was baptized, to set the example that we all needed to be baptized.

I asked him, “given that Jesus gave authority to baptize and indicated a proper baptism, would that be the baptism you would think was the correct baptism?” He said, yes. I asked him if that was the baptism he received in his church. He said no. I asked him if he would be interested in having that baptism and he said yes.

I asked him about the people who had died without receiving this baptism. He said he didn’t know what would happen to them. He said, that’s one of the things that always bothered me. The plan we teach in my church seems incomplete. I told him that the true indication that God loves everyone is not only that he sent his son to them but that he provided a way for them to be baptized. I said that in our temples we are baptized for those people. Then they have the opportunity to accept that baptism and it opens the gates of heaven so that they can enter. I told him that in Ephesians it mentions baptisms for the dead and that this is how God has prepared a way for everyone to come home. It shows God loves everyone. He said, that’s perfect

I said, the Holy Ghost testifies of truth just like it has here tonight. I told him that after the people who lived here in America were baptized, Jesus then gave them authority to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost on the people so they could have its constant companionship.

He said, this is amazing. I love that this is the religion of my ancestors. I asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon and he said that he would. I asked him if he knew any church members and he said yes. He said that his two best friends were Mormons and returned missionaries. He wondered out loud why they never told him these things. I told him to walk up to his friends with that Book of Mormon in his hand and ask them that question.

He seemed like a guy who just found a brand new restaurant and was bursting at the seems to tell everyone about it. He commented out loud on the spirit that had testified that night about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He had always been taught to look for the spirit. Fortunately the spirit was with us that night.

A testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith born by that spirit had changed his life. I would have loved to be watching when he talked to his friends the next day! Hurrah for Israel.

One night I was in Utah County and I picked up a lady out in Palmyra. I’ll bet you thought that was in New York, not so fast!

Palmyra is west of south Springville, kind of between Springville and Spanish Fork out towards the lake. It’s out there!  I actually like driving out there because it’s country. There are ditch banks, hay stacks, cows and fields.  It makes me feel like I’m at home in Idaho.

One thing about being in the country is that you see a lot more stars and when there’s a moon, it lights everything up. When there’s not a moon, you can’t see anything.

This night there was no moon and there are no street lights per se to light things up. It took me a bit to get to this young lady. I couldn’t find her. I decided to stop on the indicated spot and wait for five minutes and cancel if she didn’t show up.

I waited for about three minutes and then she just popped in the back of the car behind me. I couldn’t see her, both because she was behind me and because it was so dark back there. I had no idea what she looked like or anything about her. 

Sometimes that’s kind of scary because you just don’t know who’s getting in your car if they get in behind you and when it’s dark like that, it’s pure faith.

We started driving and the first thing out of her mouth was “your Mormon aren’t you?”  Not hello, not good evening.  I said, yes! Of course 100%! She said, I had my daughter baptized in your church. My grandpa baptized her. I told her, that’s so cool!

I asked her if she went to the baptism and she said yes. I felt like I should ask her what she felt at the baptism and she said she felt calm and peace. I said, I’ll bet you don’t feel too much of that in your life. I’ll bet that was something you really enjoyed feeling. She said, absolutely.  There’s not too much peace in my world.

I still hadn’t seen her but I followed the spirit down that road. I said, life’s crazy but that’s so good that you took the time to get your daughter ready to be baptized. I asked, so, you are a member the church too?

She said, I guess you could say that. I was baptized when I was young but it was a bad situation with my parents.   I ended up back here with my grandparents. I haven’t ever really gone to church. I let my daughter get baptized because she goes to church with my grandparents and she seems to really enjoy it. She said, I guess it’s the thing to do around here.

She asked me, do you like it here? She said, I mean here in Utah do you like it here? I said, absolutely. I said, I like it here but I believe I could be happy anywhere because I know my Heavenly Father loves me.

I said, there’s a calm and peace here that I like because the people here obey the commandments of God in large part just like your daughter. The people here get used to that peace and calm, but the cool thing is that you can take that with you when you go other places. Because of this, you can be happy anywhere you go.

I told her I was from Idaho but I had that peace and calm (and cold) in Idaho.  I said that  I was born in Las Vegas and we had that peace in our home in Las Vegas. I told her that God gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost when we are baptized and his spirit can go with us so that we can have that peace and calm.

She said, I don’t believe in God per se. She said, I believe there’s something out there but a person? No way! I don’t believe that. I felt strongly in this case, as I do in most cases when people say something like this, that what she meant was, if there is a God, then there are commandments and if there are commandments, there are restrictions on my unbridled lifestyle that I don’t want to adhere to. Therefore, if I do not recognize God, there is no guilt or responsibility. That’s what I think she was saying and that’s what I think most people with this attitude are saying.  They just don’t want to be told that they are wrong. 

I felt strongly prompted that this was a time to bear a firm testimony of our father in heaven and his love for us. I testified to her that our father in heaven is a real person and that he loves us. We call him father because he is our father and the whole purpose of this life is to learn how to make good decisions and live right so that we can come back to live with him.

I told her that Heavenly Father loves everyone that was ever born because they’re all his children. She said, how can someone love so many people. Most of them don’t even know about the church. I said, God is all knowing and all powerful.

I told her that his son, Jesus Christ, set up the preaching of the gospel to everyone that dies without hearing it so that every one of his children will be taught how to come home. I told her that we go to temples to do baptisms for the people who have died and been taught so that they can choose to accept or reject that baptism. I said, that baptism is the key that unlocks the door so that we can return home to our father.

I told her that when we are baptized, we are clean and able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I told her that the Holy Ghost walks with us, protects us, comforts us, teaches us and bears witness of truth to our hearts. I told her that this is why she felt the peace at the baptism because the Holy Ghost was there.

The spirit was in the car and I could tell she was feeling it. I asked, what do you feel right now?  She said that she felt that same peace. I said, that is your father in heaven, testifying to you that the things I’ve said are true and that he loves you. You are his daughter and he wants you to come home just like he wants your daughter to come home.

I said, he is a father. He is a just father and he he has made a way for all of us to be able to come home if we will. I told her in that same temple we can be sealed as families and not be separated permanently by death. She said, I know about that and I think it’s beautiful. My grandparents were sealed in the temple and it’s very important to them.

I said, that should be very important to you as well. God wants all of us to live with him along with our families.

We were heading to American Fork and we were just passing the Orem Temple and I said, here is a temple. That’s where we do these important things. She said, that temple is so beautiful. Every time I go by I this feel same peace.

I said, that peace is your father in heaven inviting you to come home by the influence of his spirit. I said, your daughter knows this, your grandma knows this and now you know it too.

I told her that God puts people in my car so that they can get messages and hear my testimony sometimes. I told her it’s not a lot of times as a percentage, but I’m glad that he gives me the chance to testify because I get to feel the spirit like we were feeling it right then. She said, I love this. I told her a couple of stories of people that had been in my car that came to my mind to share and she liked them.

When I finished the stories, she said, I noticed that you were told by the spirit what to say to those people. I said, yes! Heavenly Father will help us minister to his children and sometimes if we listen, he will put into our hearts the things that we should say.  These are the things that they need to hear and he will give us those words.

She said, that’s cool. I said, the question is, why are you in my car? The question is, what are the things that have kept you from going to church? Clearly your grandparents believe. What has been the thing that’s kept you away?  She said that she had already said that she didn’t believe that God was a person but that now she was wavering on that thought. 

Then she said, it’s kind of one thing that my grandmother says all the time that really kind of frustrates me. She says you’ll never be given a trial that is beyond your ability. You’ll never be given something greater than you can handle.

My rider said, that’s just not true. People have trials all the time that are too much. She said sometimes they commit suicide. I don’t know why my grandma would say something like that to me and it drives me crazy.  It sounds a bit self-righteous.

I said, your problem is that you don’t understand the atonement of Jesus Christ and you don’t have a testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ. She said, I suppose you are right but I’m not talking about my sins.  I said, in reality that’s only part of what I’m talking about.

I told her that she’s only using a small portion of the atonement and that the atonement of Jesus Christ was all encompassing. I told her that the atonement happened when Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross, and later was resurrected. He not only paid for our sins, but he suffered all of the pain, anguish, unfairness, oppression, and evil that could be inflicted upon us. I told her that because of this, he has the ability to help us and lift us.

I told her that because of this we can do more than we are able to do and be happy. I told her that it had been a rough 4 1/2 years for me since my professional life came crashing down but this said, I had been happy and able to deal with all of the emotions and pressures.  I had relied on the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I told her that it made it so that I was able to not just sit here and focus about how unfair it was or look around and develop hatred for other people who hadn’t been affected and who didn’t understand, but I was able to do like Jesus would do and turn out, bear my testimony and say the things the Lord put into my heart and be his instrument.

I said, in return for me doing that, he has lifted me and blessed me and I have been happy in this trial. I said, God is great and he loves each one of us. He knows who we are individually and he has a plan to save us not just in the end, but all the way through.

She said, you said he gives you things to say like he did in those stories. What has he said to you about me?

I think we all know that’s not how this works. It’s not something that you just do on demand. When the Lord whispers the words to your heart, then you say them, but you don’t try to make it up or do it on demand.

As luck would have it, it just so happens that I’d been receiving a prompting for a while that this girl was in trouble with drugs and had a severe addiction problem. I felt like the reason why I picked her up at her grandparents in Palmyra was that she had taken her daughter there, and she was going to go to rehab.

I said to her, you know, this isn’t really how this works. We don’t ask for signs. This is how God lets you know that he loves you and the rest of the things I’m saying are true.

Then I told her about the impressions that I had about her addiction and everything like I said above. She said, amazing! And then there was silence for about a minute and she said that was just amazing again and then she was silent a third time and again she said, that was amazing. I can’t believe that you knew all of that.

I said, I didn’t know it, but your Heavenly Father knew it and he gave that to me to share with you so that you can know that the rest of the things I say are true. He gave that to you so that you can know you need to go to church, read scriptures and say your prayers.

I told her that Satan had convinced her that God does not exist, but he does exist and so does Satan. Satan is fighting you and God is fighting for you. I told her that God wants her to walk with his spirit just like she feels it right now and that it could help her fight the war that is her addiction.

She said, when I do drugs, there’s a thrill, but it’s not lasting. This seems like such a better path. I told her that if she will bring God into her life, have him there always, if she will read the Book of Mormon and say her prayers multiple times a day God could help find that peace by having his spirit in her soul and she will feel filled.

She said that’s exactly what I need. I think I will do that. I’m going into rehab tomorrow but I don’t have a Book of Mormon. I pulled out one of the Book of Mormon’s I have prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. I said, read this every day, anytime you feel your addiction cravings. Read the Book of Mormon and pray. She said, I am desperate! My daughter needs me and I need to do this.

She said, I will! She said it’s amazing that you knew to say that thing. Someone had to tell you and I think it was God. I said, he’s your father and he loves you and he wants to have you feel his love and this is how we do it. I said, when you get ready to take the sacrament, that will be a way that you can fill your tank with the spirit as well.

I told her God has given us so many ways to walk with him. We need to reach out and do those things so that we can have the power to overcome the counterfeits that Satan throws in our path, like your addiction.

I asked her, so are you craving your addiction right now? She said, no! You know, I was just thinking that same thing right before you said it. I said, it’s because the spirit is here and that’s why. Satan can’t be here. The spirit is here and satan’s influence is muted.

I said, it’s important for you to know that I don’t need to be here for you to feel this spirit. Read the Book of Mormon, pray and get ready to take the sacrament by going to church. If you do those things, God can help you and God will help you.

By this time we had arrived and she got out of the car and headed inside waving on her way to the door. Right before she went in, she held the Book of Mormon up and waved it like a trophy. I hope that she grows to understand the power of the words and the spirit that accompanies those words that are in her hand. She’ll find out that her grandmother was right. She has a daughter counting on her. 

A while back I picked up a college student in Sugarhouse who was doing Christmas shopping. It was October and I admired her early approach to the holiday. She was a student at the University of Utah and I felt like the spirit was prompting me to talk about the church with her. She looked like a member of the church in every way but the spirit assured me she was not. I proceded with that knowledge.

I saw an opening with the Christmas presents and I took it. I said, a lot of people complain about the commercialization of Christmas but I think that commercializing Christmas is a choice. She asked, what do you mean? I said, well, in my family I told people that if they ever gave me a list they would never get anything on the list. I told them that part of their gift was that I went to the store and spent time thinking about them and what they would like. That didn’t go over as so well with the children but they usually got things they liked and for me it was never about the commercialization but always about the gift and the person. That way, Christmas can be focused on my family and on Jesus Christ.

I said, far too many people don’t bring Jesus Christ into that equation. She said, I know and it really bums me out. I said that this year part of my family will not even be in the country. They are going to be in Argentina. She asked me if I had been to Argentina and I said, yes, I went on my mission to Argentina. She asked if I still spoke Spanish and I said, yes, I still do interpretation of church meetings.

She asked how I could still speak Spanish after all of these years since my mission. I told her that when I was in the MTC we had an apostle come and he promised us that if we would say our prayers and read our scriptures in our mission language that we would never lose it. I told her that a promise from one of the apostles is a promise from God and since that day I have never said a personal prayer in English and I read my scriptures in Spanish. I told her that my Spanish is better today than it was when I was on my mission. She was impressed.

She said her friend just got called to Argentina on a mission and she thought it was awesome.

This was the opening I was looking for. I asked her if her friend had told her what she would be teaching and why she was going. She said no but that she thought it was really cool. I asked, do you want to know what she will be teaching? She said I absolutely do!

I asked her who wrote the Bible, she said prophets. I asked her what they wrote and she said, the word of God. I asked her if God loved the people more who lived in Jerusalem more than the people who lived in other parts of the world. She said no.

I asked her if she thought that God was capable of giving his word to people other than the people who lived in Jerusalem and she said yes. I asked, her given that love why wouldn’t God bless them with his word as well? She thought for a minute and she said that she thought that he would.

I told her that Heavenly Father loved each of us and that he has given us prophets through which he reveals his will and his commandments. I told her that we have a prophet today that speaks with God for us and he had called her friend to go to Argentina.

When I talked about the prophet and her friend she began to tear up. She said, that feels so right! There has always been a special feeling around that girl and what you just said feels right.

I pulled out one of my Book of Mormons that was marked by the Secrists and I said, this book is what she will take to the people in Argentina. I asked, have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon? She said, I live in Utah, of course I’ve heard of the Book of Mormon. She laughed! I said, do you know what it is? She said no she didn’t have any idea. I told her it was the revelations that God gave his prophets who lived here in ancient America. It contains all of his truth and is another testimony of Jesus Christ and his divinity. It is a companion to the Bible.

I told her that her friend was going to take this book to Argentina and use this book to teach people that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he paid for their sins, sorrows and their oppression. He made it so that we could return to God again. I said, that is what is in this book and that’s the power of this book.

She asked, where can I get one like that one!? I handed it to her and said, that book is yours if you will do one thing. She asked what? I said, read it and pray about it with your friend who’s going on the mission.

She said she would and that that sounded like a great idea and a great way for her to understand her friends mission.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I told her that I know the book is true. She said, I believe it is too. I can’t wait to learn. I said that the Spirit of God will help her learn. I asked her if she knew what the Spirit of God felt like and she said she wasn’t sure. I asked her what she was feeling right then and she said warm energy. I told her, that is what the spirit of God feels like to you. I asked her what she was thinking right then and she said her mind was alive with questions and possibilities. I told her that that is how she felt when she was under the influence of the spirit and how God would reveal his will to her.

I told her to talk to her friend about that. I told her to tell her all about this ride and what she felt. I told her that her friend could help her understand the spirit as well.

She had to go to class but she thanked me. Then she reached out, touched my shoulder and said, I want you to know how much this ride has meant to me. It’s like I found a piece to my puzzle that I didn’t know was missing. Then she got out of the car and ran to class. I feel sure she will have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Life

One day I was working down in southern Utah County. It’s kind of interesting that I was pulled down that way late at night because I started my day attending the Payson Temple with President and Sister Gilbert! They’re doing awesome and they love serving in that beautiful temple.

Anyway, later that night I found myself out in Santaquin picking up a young lady and taking her to Orem. It was way out in South West Santaquin almost Goshen to be exact! We’re talking way out there!

I picked her up and we started driving towards Orem. The road takes you through Santaquin and as we drove through town, she pointed out a business that is considered to be haunted. There is a show on TV called Ghost Adventures that went out there to verify the veracity of the haunting claims.

I think most of the time people make up stories, then call those people so that they can come in and give them a verification that allows them to do haunted houses or other Halloween centric events. It’s a total money play and scam.

She told me that a friend of her family owned that business and asked if I was familiar with it. I said that I had heard about it and I had heard that the ghost adventures did a show there. She said, that’s right! My parents are friends with the guy who owns it.

She said, I find that very interesting. My friends and I go in buildings and spend time in spaces where they say there are spirits and ghosts . I just really have fun doing that.

By this time we had gone all the way down Main Street in Santaquin and were up on the freeway heading north and you could see the Payson Temple on the right hand side of the car. It sticks out like crazy. The brightness cut through the darkness. It looks and feels very inviting. I said, talk about your places where there are lots of spirits!

I said, in that place there are a lot of spirits. I told her that this is the place where we go to do things to help out the people who have passed. I told her that we go there and their spirits go there because it’s a house of God, their Father in Heaven.

She said, really? I had never thought about that! I asked her if she’d ever been in a temple and she said that she went through a temple open house in Ephraim. She said it was a beautiful building, but she didn’t remember being taught much about what they did there.

I told her that it’s where we go to feel God‘s love. I told her it’s where we go to help people who have passed on so that every one of God‘s children can have the option to make the choice to dwell with him forever if they want to.

She said, that really sounds cool, how does that work? I told her that when Jesus was in the tomb, his spirit went to the spirit world and set up the teaching of the gospel to those who had died without the opportunity to accept it. He taught the gospel to the spirits who were there so that they could understand the importance of the gospel and believe in him. .

I told her that this was found in Peter in the Bible, and the Bible also teaches about doing baptisms for the dead. I told her that these two things go hand-in-hand.

I told her that we go to the temple and are baptized for those people and then they have the opportunity to accept that baptism or rejected it. I said, if they accept the baptism we do for them, it’s just like they had been baptized when they were on the Earth. I said that baptism is necessary and a requirement to enter into the kingdom of God

She said, so they have the option? You don’t force anything on them? I said, that’s right! Our Heavenly Father gives us the right to choose and that’s an eternal principle. We will never be forced to be with God if we don’t feel comfortable or if we’re not willing to make the covenants that he wants us to make.

I told her that God loves every one of us and we are his children. I told her that God has created kingdoms for his children based upon the level of obedience they desire to embrace. I told her that the things we covenant in that temple make the top kingdom available to each one of God‘s children if they want to embrace it.

I told her that every one of God‘s children will have the chance to be baptized and have the chance to be sealed to their family forever. I asked her if she remembered the cl sealing room from her tour of the temple in Ephraim. She thought about it for a minute. While she was thinking I described it as a room with an altar in the middle and mirrors on each side so you can see forever. She said, oh yeah, that was a really cool room.

I told her that we are married in rooms like that but not just until death. We are married for eternity. I said that we also go in those rooms to be sealed in behalf of our ancestors so that they can also have the blessing of being married for eternity. They can also have their children sealed to them in an eternal family unit.

She said, that’s beautiful, I love that. She said, I was baptized when I was eight, but I only went to church one more time after that. I haven’t been back to the Mormon church since.

She said, I do go to church every Sunday in my current church but I have become very disillusioned with this church because no one can answer the questions I have and no one helps me know where I can turn to get the answers to those questions.

I told her that the gospel of Jesus Christ was not full of mysteries and that the Holy Ghost helps us understand the kingdom of God. I said, the closer we get to God, the more we want obey. The more we go to church and the more we read the scriptures the more we understand the kingdom of God. We begin to desire to be in the presence of God. If we learn to dwell in his presence on earth, dwelling in his presence for eternity will be a natural step and exactly what we want to do.

She said, that’s cool! She said, the preacher has been getting on my nerves in my church because I’m not perfect”. He says that if I repent for something and then return and do that thing again, the angels will not save me. She said, he told me I will not be picked up by them and saved.

She said, being perfect is hard, and I believe that my father would want to forgive us. She said, I believe Jesus would want to forgive us and help, us not threaten us and throw us out.

I said, you’re right. I said, you’re a daughter of your Heavenly Father. What kind of a father throws his daughter out when she makes a mistake? She said, not a very good one. I said, your Heavenly Father is perfect and his love is perfect. A perfect father doesn’t ever throw his daughter out for a mistake if she wants to make it right. She said, you’re right, that’s how I think. I said, that is your Heavenly Father and that’s what repentance is all about.

I told her that when Jesus suffered for our sins he paved the way for us to have our sins erased even if we trip up and do it again. He has made it so that we can repent again and come back to him. He said he would forgive 70×7 and that’s pretty cool because I need all the leeway I can get.

She laughed and said, me too. I said, when your baptized, your sins are washed away and you are clean. The cool thing is that if you’ll pray and repent during the week and prepare to go to church and take the sacrament you will renew the covenants of your baptism and you become clean again.

I said, repentance and the sacrament allow us to keep clean and keep progressing. I told her that Heavenly Father knew we were going to make mistakes and this was his plan because he wants us all to be able to come home.

She said, that’s pretty cool. That’s very loving. That’s not at all what my preacher says about Mormons. She said, he always rips on the Mormon church and I’ve noticed you haven’t ripped on my church at all. I think that’s how it should be.

She said, one time in a youth activity our preacher wanted us to do Mormon bashing, but I refused. I didn’t think that Jesus would run around bashing another religion and it didn’t feel right.

I said, Heavenly Father gives all of us the influence of the Holy Ghost to help us know right from wrong. What you felt was a confirmation that tearing down the church of Jesus Christ was not right. That’s awesome!

I said, now it’s time for you to learn what’s right about the church of Jesus Christ. You can learn how, in the church, you can find those answers that you have been missing. The ones that your preacher cannot answer.

She said it’s not just this preacher. I’ve been to three different churches and not one of them can answer my questions but you seem to have been nailing it tonight. These answers are much better than any of the answers given to me before by my church leaders and I never even asked you the questions. Maybe my search for religion has led me right back to where it started when I was eight.

We moved away from Utah and I never went back to church. We started going to different churches and I never gave the Mormon church a second thought. Once I was back in Utah, I was kind of already on a different path. She said, that path doesn’t work for me anymore and I need to find God‘s path.

The spirit was in the car and seemed to be guiding her along through the progression of thought that she was experiencing. I also knew that it had been testifying to her as she easily accepted the things I said.

I asked her what she felt in her heart as we discussed these things. She said, she felt an incredible peace and “it’s like knowledge bombs, exploding in my brain”. She said, it all makes so much sense. It seems like Heavenly Father would have a plan that works. This plan seems like it’s perfect. That’s how God‘s plan would be. I said, what your feeling is the Holy Ghost and it’s testifying to you of the truthfulness of the things we have discussed. This is how you feel in the presence of God and it’s helping you see the truth, that’s why it makes so much sense. What you’re feeling in the car tonight is a manifestation of God’s love for you, his daughter.

I said, one of the main differences between our church and these other churches is the authority we have to perform baptisms and to perform marriages for eternity. This is the same authority that authorizes what we do in the church and it comes from God.

I told her that in ancient America, they had been anticipating the arrival of Jesus after his resurrection. I told her that he descended from heaven and they asked him to save them. I told her that as a direct response to that plea he gave them authority to baptize and commanded that everyone be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized in their other churches.

I told her that even though he had told them that they needed to be baptized in his church, he didn’t spend any time badmouthing their previous churches or commitments to him. He looked forward and invited them to take a step up to a new level of discipleship and a new level of commitment.

I told her that later he touched the 12 he had chosen and gave them authority to give blessings and to give the gift to the Holy Ghost. I told her that this authority is very important and we have that same authority in our church today. I told her this is the baptism we have and that you had. I told her that this is the baptism and the authority that everyone is invited to receive. We invite everyone to take that step up to that new level of discipleship.

I told her that that authority is the authority that our bishops have and that the father’s in the home have. Our prophet who lives on the Earth today and speaks with God holds all of the keys and authority to act and speak for God today. This authority is the difference. I told her this authority is the key that opens the doors of heaven and that’s why heaven and earth meet in that building. Coincidentally, I said that as we were passing the Orem temple and it was there just at the perfect time.

I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no. I gave her a copy of the Book Mormon prepared by the Secrists and I asked her if she would read it. She said, I love to read and I know a little bit about the Book of Mormon, so this would be great.

She said, my grandma goes to church all the time and she will help me out. She said, my grandma thought I was lost with regard to religion. I said, once you were lost, but now you’re found! She laughed and said, nice!!

By this time we had arrived at the house of her friend that she was going to visit. She said, I’m going to go to church with my grandma and I’m gonna read this book. This is what I need to do. She said, I feel very strongly right now that this is the path that I need to be taking and that I was brought back to this path and put in this car to learn and feel the spirit so that I could do just that.

She shook my hand, gave me fist bumps and opened the door. She got it out of the car, waved and went in the house.

The day before Thanksgiving I was in Provo picking up a few rides. On that day, you never know where your rides are going to come from or go. The normal patterns are all disrupted and so it’s kind of potluck. I’d hoped to stay down in Utah County because I didn’t want to get far away and I didn’t know how good the nightlife was going to be in Salt Lake so I just thought I’d stay down in Utah County.

I got a ride on 100 North in Provo that went to the airport in Salt Lake. At first, I was a little disappointed as this was totally not my plan but I felt that I should take it. I have about 10 cancellations a month that I can use and I had used plenty of them so I had a second thought. Then I felt prompted that I needed to take this so I did. I drove up to the sidewalk where he was and I couldn’t process what my eyes were telling me.

The guy I was picking up was very rough looking and I started to doubt the prompting that I had received and thought again about canceling the ride. Dpending an hour in the car with someone that brings a bad spirit is hard. On top of that it was pure 100% rush-hour and it was going to be bumper-to-bumper and stressful.

As I considered canceling it the words of President Mortensen, who was the first branch president that I served with at the MTC, came back to me. He would say “always trust your revelation”. That impacted me because sometimes we doubt our revelation and then dismiss our revelation.

I decided to trust my revelation and the thought came to me, you just need to change the spirit in the car.

He got in the car and we started chatting about where he was going. He was going to the airport in Salt Lake to get on the Salt Lake Express shuttle going to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving. I lit up when he said that because my dad used to drive for Salt Lake Express after he retired and finished his missions. I decided to tell him a little about my dad.

I talked about how my dad had a very difficult life as a young man. Then how he had found the church and turned it all around. He raised a family in the gospel, served three missions and in the end, was called home by his Heavenly Father through the power of the priesthood.

I told him about my father’s passing and the revelation I received about the blessing I gave him. I told him that in the blessing I commended my father to his Heavenly Father and told him about the mission that he was to perform on the other side.

He said, my parents both passed recently and it’s been very hard for me. I said, where are you from? He said, I’m from Florida originally but when I was four my birth parents died. I was taken out of foster care and adopted by a family in Springville. He talked about that family and I mentioned to him how much I admire people who adopt like that.

I told him, “my goodness I was a handful when I was four!” He laughed and said, I guess I never thought of it like that. I could hear the pain in his voice and knew that my discussion to this point had been guided by the spirit. I knew God had a plan.

I started talking about how much our father in heaven loves us and that he loved him enough to put him in a home where he could be taken care of. This family had lots of members. The sister in Idaho Falls that he was going to visit was another adopted sister in this family.

I said, that’s cool that you can be with family on Thanksgiving even though both of your sets of parents have passed. He said, “me and her get along really well. “

I said, you were raised in the church, right? This would have been a long shot if the spirit hadn’t been with me because he had tattoos, big piercings, a rough exterior and no outward appearance that would indicate membership or discipleship. There was no light in his eyes.

He said, yes, I was raised Mormon but I don’t believe any of that stuff now. He said, I believe that it’s important to be spiritual but I do not believe in any religion. He seemed very adamant about that.

It’s kind of one of my pet peeves when people say this. To me, it means, I am committing sin and have committed sin that I do not want to straighten out and rectify. They think that by saying this they get the ultimate pass. They think that they can say hey, I’m a good person and I think everyone should be a good person and no one should judge what a good person is. It’s the ultimate copout because in this thought pattern, sins are not sins, good is not good, bad is not bad and everything is reduced to a preference. I could see this is how he had gone in his life.

The spirit indicated to me that he had done some things and he didn’t want to face up to it. I looked at him in the mirror and said, I think you’ve had some rough situations in your life. I think you really don’t remember God and you certainly don’t remember how much he loves you.
You don’t remember Jesus Christ and the things he did for you.

I felt very strongly that I should speak to him about the Garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus suffered all of the sin, inequities, pain, embarrassment, unjust behavior and problems that we would ever suffer.

I explained to him that a lot of people talk about the atonement as repentance and that’s all. I said, the atonement IS about repentance but so much more. I said, there was never an experience you had that your father in heaven was not able to help you through because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, the vilest sinner and the most oppressed person can both find healing from their affliction in the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I told him what happens is that when we are wronged, treated unjustly or we treat someone poorly we get angry and Satan is in our ear telling us to blame God. I said, God points to Jesus. Jesus through the atonement can heal our hearts, heal our minds and heal our souls.

I told him that the atonement is like a medicine that we can put on our soul to soothe it so we love and crave being in the presence of God. I told him that I felt like this had been the case with him. I told him that Satan had been in his ear saying blame God and he had done exactly what Satan told him to do.

I told him that he had gone through some tremendous suffering but God had never left him and would never quit loving him. I said that Heavenly Father is like an earthly father that never quits loving and never quits trying to bring us home. He just needs us to look to Christ so we can be healed.

I could tell I was starting to gain his attention. I had seen a spark in him and he was starting to engage. I felt prompted to share a story from my blog that happened in my car. I told him the story about a young man who I picked up in Salt Lake a couple years ago. This story is one of my previous stories called the spirits in prison https://sometimesgodsendsyoualift.com/2021/08/22/the-spirits-in-prison/

I talked about how this guy got in my car and during our conversation I had impressions that I needed to share with him. He said that was OK and I talked to him about how three weeks before he had been in jail, abused and hopeless. He was about to succumb to the darkness in the middle of the night. He prayed and he looked up and saw a beam of light and he held onto it like a lifeline. I told him that the young man wondered how I could possibly know that. I told him that God had given me those words so that he could know that the things I was saying were true. I testified of Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon then gave him a Book of Mormon.

I told my passenger that a month later this young man was baptized. That night he realized that his father in heaven was reaching out for him. He reached back.

I have mentioned this a couple of times in other rides, but very rarely, maybe one or two other times. This time I felt very impressed to share that story.

As soon as I finished that story, he said, that could be me. That was me! He said, I was in jail because of some bad decisions that I had made. I was drug addicted, abused, and looked at myself as a victim. I hated the world and I laid there in the darkness about to succumb to evil.

He said, I prayed and I saw that same glimmer of light and it gave me hope. He said, how did you know to share that with me? I said, Heavenly Father gave me these words today so that you could know that the rest of the things I say are true and that they come from him.

He said, it seems like you’ve been reading my history to this point. I believe what you just said. I said, it’s not just that, it’s the feeling of the spirit that’s in the car. I could tell that the spirit was very active in the car and that he was feeling it. I wanted to get him to talk about it.

I asked him what he felt. He said, I feel like the things that you said are true. I didn’t feel like he was going to go any deeper than that about how he felt but I was prompted to testify more.

I talked to him about Joseph Smith being called to be a prophet. I talked to him about how Joseph received the keys of the restoration. I told him that we have the same keys and authority today to run the church. Those keys give us authority to bind in heaven and on the Earth. I told him that those are the things that make our belief different than any other church. I told him we have a prophet and we have the authority that God has given us so that we can do the necessary things in order to return to him.

I said, one of the things that you have been concerned about with regards to religion is that it seems very exclusionary. I told him that this is not uncommon in his generation. I explained to him that through temples, God provides an opportunity for every one of his children, no matter where they were born to be baptized and returned to him. I told him, our religion is the church of God, the church of Jesus Christ, and it has the mission and capability of saving every one of God‘s children who was ever born.

I told him God is a perfect father and a loving father and he wants all of his children to come home. I asked him if he would like to go home someday to be with God and he said yes.

I told him that Jesus Christ came to America when he came, he gave that same authority to the people here so that they could be baptized because that baptism was so very important.

I mentioned that all of the people had previously been baptized in their previous church but that there is only one faith one baptism and one church. Jesus wanted everyone to be baptized with his baptism in his church. I told him that Jesus loved them, he helped them and he blessed them and he gave them salvation through baptism.

I asked him how he felt about that and he said, I feel like that’s true. He said, I’ve never felt that in my life like I feel it right now. I asked again, how does it make you feel? He said, I don’t talk about my feelings but I will say that I know that it’s true based on those feelings.

I said, I feel impressed that you were on the outs with your parents when they died and they very much want you to come back. I said, I feel like their prayers are guiding this encounter of ours.

He was quiet for a minute then he said that his parents had died while he was in prison a couple of years ago. The last few conversations they had were not loving or friendly. He said, it left a hole in my heart. I don’t know that I have anyone to turn to.

I told him that his parents had taken advantage of the atonement that I spoken of before. It had healed their hearts and they wanted to reach out to him, he was still in their prayers. I told him that they prayed him into this car so that I could testify to him. I told him that he now had the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and change his ways.

I felt to ask him if he had felt the presence of his parents in the car even though I had not felt their presence. I went ahead and ask that question. He said, yes, I have and it’s kind of mixed feelings for me because of the way we left things.

I told him that one of the amazing things about the atonement is it not only forgives us of our sins and helps us in our suffering, but it also makes it possible for us to forgive others. I told him that we need to learn to forgive, look to Jesus and quit blaming God. I told him that if we looked to Jesus, the sword will be taken out of our hand and we will be able to forgive people.

I told him that we’re all just down here doing the best we can and that included his parents. I asked him if he would like to forgive them and he said yes. I asked him if that was a burden on his shoulders and he said yes. I said, look to Jesus and you can do that, he will lift that burden and help you.

The car was full of the spirit and I said, God put you in the car today because he wants you back and your parents have been praying for you. He said, there’s no way you could’ve known these things if that wasn’t true. I asked him again, do you want to go on through your life in bitterness and sorrow or do you want to throw that off and walk uprightly before God? I said, do you want to be clean? Do you want to be clean and worthy before God?

He said, I really do but I don’t think that’s possible anymore. I said, that’s Satan talking. I told him that Satan whispers those words in his ear and he whispers words like that in the ears of every single person. I told him that he needs to learn to throw off Satan and quit listening to Satan and his lies. He needs to read the scriptures and pray. He needs to come back to his Heavenly Father and listen to the words that God puts in his heart.

I said, listening to the words of God in your heart is so much more powerful than listening to the whisperings that Satan puts in your ear.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said yes. I asked him if he downloaded the app onto his phone and he said no. I helped him do it. I said, you should put those headsets in and listen to this. It will lift you so that you can feel like you’re feeling right now anytime you want.

I said, what you are feeling right now is how you feel in the presence of God and your spirit will crave that. I said, that will fill the holes in your life and make you feel full and whole. I said, that will help you avoid drugs and that will help you come home to your father. It’s like a homing beacon.

He said, I sure would like to have this with me. I sure would like to feel like this. I told him if he would pray and read the Book of Mormon every day he could feel like this and it would lift him. I asked him if he knew where the ward met near him. He said no. We looked it up and found the church and time.

I told him to go to that ward and feel for this spirit. I told him not to go there and judge people really fast before they judge him. I told him not to focus on what the other people are saying or doing but to focus on the spirit and how it feels. I told him that there are people at church that do judge and they shouldn’t. That is their sin but we want to be just as tolerant of their sin as we expect them to be of ours. I said, go there and feel.

I said, the most important thing to remember is that the church is a hospital not a museum for perfection and everyone there is sick. I told him that Satan told him he couldn’t go to church because he had sinned. I said, that’s what Satan does. He says, blame God and blame the church. He whispers things in your ears to dissuade you from taking this step.

I said, you’re strong and independent. You tell Satan to get lost and you do what you know your father in heaven wants you to do. After today, you know he loves you. After today, you know that the church is true and after today you know that you need to make some changes.

He said, I’ve got some serious things to change and some decisions to make. He said, I know God put me in your car so that I could learn what I need to do. I said, will you commit to going to church on Sunday? He said, it’s going to be hard but I will, I will go and feel.

I said, look at the light in everyone’s eyes. That light is not there because they’re perfect. That light is there because they’re trying really hard to do the things their father wants them to do and they’re trying to come home. I said, that could be you too.

He thanked me and said he would do this. He got out of the car and got on his bus.
I believe that this is the Thanksgiving weekend that his parents have been praying for. Just another ride to the airport! Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

One night I was out driving and I picked up a young man in Vineyard . He was heading out to do some work. He was an apprentice at a job and he was looking to have an opportunity with this company.

I asked him if he lived here all of his life and he said no, he wanted to get out of here as quick as he could. I asked him why he wanted to get out of here and he said that he thought he would be more happy in another place.

I took that opportunity to get on one of the soapboxes that I get on quite frequently. I talked to him about deciding to be happy and that if you’re not happy with where you are, you won’t be happy with where you’re going. You can’t stand around and expect other things to make you happy.

I talked to him about not being happy. I really got the prompting that his lack of happiness had more to do with his disobedience and the fact that he had left the church than any other factor. I looked in the mirror and he only looked like he was about 22 or 23. I felt that I needed to start discussing the gospel with him but I didn’t know how to begin.

Then he started talking about corruption and how there is a lot of corruption everywhere. As an example he said, think about P. Diddy. Am I a conspiracy theorist to think that a lot of people helped him out to do the horrible things he did?.

I said no, you’re not a horrible person at all to think that! Then I felt the words pop into my head that I should say. I said, you look at Epstein and his Island and P. Diddy and what you see are a lot of people that do horrible things and they protect each other from being found out or punished. I said, in the end after doing much damage, they finally get caught.

He agreed then I said, you know about the Book of Mormon don’t you? He said, yes, I was raised Mormon, my parents are still Mormon, but I’m not Mormon anymore. I asked , do you believe in the book of Mormon? He said, no.

I said, will let me tell you about something that is in the Book of Mormon. I talked to him about secret combinations and how the Book of Mormon prophesied that they would be amongst us. I talked to him about how the whole purpose of those secret combinations was so that those people could do horrible things like seek power,have whoredoms, take away peoples rights and freedoms and steal. They made themselves rich off the backs of other people and they did it in the secret combinations.

I told him that they got together and swore oaths to each other. These oaths were from Satan and were passed down for hundreds of years.

I told him that these things sound exactly like what’s going on today. I told him that these people did horrible things and were protected by the law and protected by governments and protected by wealthy people for years and years.

I said, the one problem is that Satan won’t stick with you to the end. I said, Satan uses you until he’s used you up and then he drops you off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Then you die. I told him that I always tell people that Satan will drop you off somewhere between Battle Mountain and Winnemucca. He had driven that stretch road and really like that analogy.

I told him that the Book of Mormon warned that in our day secret combinations would be around so that we can look for them and fight them. I said, the Book of Mormon was written for our day and you have stumbled on the fulfillment of a prophecy from the Book k of Mormon.

He said, I left the church several years ago but I still remember a lot of the things from the Book of Mormon. I asked him, what were the things that made you leave the church?

He said, my parents pushed it really hard on me and I just rebelled. I don’t believe it anymore because I didn’t think it was right the way they taught me about it. This explanation made absolutely no sense to me. The spirit told me that the problem with this young man was that he didn’t have a testimony. The spirit told me that this young man had a sin that he had committed and it bothered him tremendously He didn’t have a testimony and he left the church rather than face it.

I decided to start with the Book of Mormon. I testified that the Book of Mormon was true and that it was the only book on earth that presented a vision of God that was loving and all inclusive.

I asked him if he believed in God and he said yes he did. I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and he said absolutely. I told him that our father in heaven loves every one of his children, no matter where they live, no matter when they live, and no matter how far they stray. I said, our Heavenly Father wants us all home.

I said, most of the world believes that Jesus was born and raised in Israel, died in Israel, was resurrected in Israel and everything happened in Israel. The world believes that all the prophets were Israelites and that’s why we have the Bible.

I asked him if thought that was fair. Is it fair to think that a loving Heavenly Father paid all his attention to one part of the world? He said, I never thought of it like that, but no, you would think that God would be the God of all of the world and love the whole world.

I asked him how God showed his love. He thought for a minute. I said, God shows his love by giving us prophets. He gives them revelation and commandments for us. When we obey those commandments, we are happy. I said, it’s all about us being happy. The whole purpose for is for us to be happy. I said, happiness is a state of being, not a spot or a location.

I said, when we listen to the prophets and obey the commandments we can be happy. I told him that there had been prophets here in America and they taught the ancient people of America their prophecies and the commandments of God. Then I testified about Jesus coming to America, descending from the heavens. As I was doing this the spirit fell over the car, it felt electric. I told him about how Jesus stood before them. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands and then they begged him for salvation. He gave them authority and commanded that they be baptized.

He commanded that they all be baptized so that they could go home and live with their father in heaven. I told him that this was the way that we make it home. I told him that God wanted all of his children, not just in Jerusalem, but in other places to be taught by his son Jesus Christ.

I told him that Jesus held the children and blessed them. Then he wept. As I was telling him this, I looked in the mirror and he looked like he’d been hit by a train. I could tell the spirit was working on him and he said, I keep getting chills. I haven’t felt like this for a long time. I said, it’s the spirit of God and you were put in my car tonight to feel that.

I said, you were put in my car tonight so that you can know that God loves you. You were put in my car tonight so that you can know the Book of Mormon is true. I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon. He said he had one that his mom gave him when he was baptized. I said, have you ever read it? He said, no.

I said, God has given you a witness that it is true. I said, when you were a young man, you sought a witness from God and didn’t believe that you had received it. This is what it feels like when you received that witness and you have received it tonight here in this car and that’s why God put you here.

He said, wow, this is pretty amazing. I asked him, do you have any doubts right now that the Book of Mormon is true? He said, no, it just seems to make sense to me and feel exactly right. I keep getting those shivers.

I told him that this was the spirit of God and this witness was given to him so he could follow the truth and it would lead him back to his father. I looked in the mirror and said, the spirit has given me some promptings and one of them is that you committed a sin. In your eyes this sin is pretty bad and you are not able to forgive yourself and you don’t think God will forgive you either.

I told him that God wants to forgive him and wants him to come home. He was a little bit emotional and had a shocked look in his eyes. He told me that he had never told anyone that and asked me how I knew. I told him, God gave me those words to say just like he put you in the car today. He gave me those words so that you can know that the rest of the things I say are true.

He lowered his eyes and said, yes that’s true. I told him that Satan, the same one that pushes those people into those combinations also works on us one by one. I told him that what Satan does is he gets us to make a mistake and then he lies and tell us we can’t be forgiven.

He lies. He tells us that our father in heaven can’t do anything about it and that we are lost. I told him that he felt lost. I told him that this was why he left the church because he didn’t feel worthy.

I told him that’s just exactly what Satan wanted him to believe. I told him that Satan hates the atonement of Jesus Christ, and if you will believe his lies to the point where you don’t take advantage of it, he wins.

I told him that Satan‘s whole game is to get people to not look to Christ and not take advantage of that atonement. He lies to them. He tells them there’s nothing they can do. He tells them that they can’t be clean and he is a liar. He is the father of all lies and you believed him.

I said, God gave you a witness that the Book of Mormon is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, what does that mean about Joseph Smith? Does that mean he was a prophet or not? He said, now that I know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith had to be a prophet or he couldn’t have translated it.

I said, that’s exactly right! Truth cannot come from a fraud. It had to be a prophet of God who translated that book. He agreed and I said, we also have a prophet of God today and listening to these prophets is how we know how to stay on the path and look to Christ. He said, I need to do better. I need to start doing that again.

He said, I don’t want to go to church with my mom and dad. I don’t even know if I want them to know I’m going. I said, in time, you’ll work through your issues with your parents, but in the meantime, you’re 22 and single. There’s a singles ward you can go to and you don’t need to go with your parents.

I told him to go and talk to the bishop. I told him to tell him his story and include the miracle that happened in this car. I said, it’s very important that you don’t say, I know the Book of Mormon is true and just leave it at that. You need to read and study the Book of Mormon and you need to go to church and pray.

He said he would do that. He said, I will read the whole book. I promise you. I said, will you commit to go to church? He thought for a minute and said yes he would. I found the location of the young adult ward for him and they met later on in the day. You know, sleep is important for kids at that age.

I guess I kind of need to change my happiness spiel. I said that happiness cannot be found in a place. The thing is, we know that happiness is found in the presence of God. That day in the car in the presence of God’s spirit we were happy and we knew that truth was being revealed.

The key is living with the spirit so we can take our happy place with us wherever we go. I guess deciding to follow Christ, love God and serve him is deciding to be happy.

One afternoon I was in Salt Lake up by the University of Utah. I had to pick up a girl and take her up above the capital to a home on the top of the mountain. She had long red hair and was very friendly. She got in the car and we started talking about her being Irish and me being Swedish and laughing about blondes and redheads. It was a lot of fun.

She was an artist and I told her that my neighbor is an artist. I told her about Liz Swindle and how she painted pictures of Jesus. She said that the church had beautiful art that she loved but it’s too bad that some of the people act like they do.

Then we started talking about where we lived. I said I lived in Orem. She misheard what I said and thought I said Ogden. She said, I like Ogden, it’s so much better than if you were from Utah County. I laughed and showed her the logo on my Orem high school football coaching shirt. I said, I live in Orem.

She had a shocked look on her face and began to scramble and backtrack. I said to her, don’t worry about it, it’s all good. She said, I just don’t like the kind of people that live in Orem. I like it up here so much better. I asked her what was wrong with the people in Orem and she said that they were all judgmental. It always amazes me when people dislike people they don’t know for being judgmental because it is the pot calling the kettle black in a very real way.

Then she said, besides, I’ve left the church a few years ago and I don’t do that anymore. She said she couldn’t be part of a church that hated all the other churches. I stopped her and said, well that’s not how it is at all.

I said that we don’t tell people from other churches that their belief in Christ is evil. We tell them to bring what they believe and we’re going to give them additional blessings, an additional level of discipleship and more understanding. I told her we have the full gospel but it doesn’t discount the truth that they already know and feel in their hearts.

I asked her if she remembers about when Jesus came to America. I asked her how much time Jesus spent criticizing and belittling the people for their current beliefs and practices . She said she would imagine that it would be zero. I told her that all of those people had been baptized before. All of these people had worshiped Jesus before. When Jesus came he brought a new understanding, new commandments, a new baptism and a new level of discipleship with the full gospel and he taught them.

I asked her to visualize being there in darkness for three days and nights after tumultuous earthquakes, tsunamis and destruction of your land. Then you hear a voice that breaks the silence as you lay there in pain and suffering. The voice touches you to your heart and soul and introduces Jesus Christ. Later you look up to see Jesus Christ descend from heaven and stand on the steps of the temple.

I said, that’s what happened. These people were laying there in their misery for three days and three nights. Finally the darkness broke and they saw Jesus descend from heaven and he stood in front of them. They went up to him and they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. They bowed before him and in one voice they all said “Hosanna” . I asked her what the word “hosanna” meant and she said “glory to God?” In a questioning voice.

I said no it means save us! It is a plea for salvation.

I told her that these people asked God to save them. Their God, who stood right before them, heard their plea and in a direct response to that plea he called 12. He instructed them how to baptize and gave them authority to perform this baptism that he authorized. He did this so that these people could take a step up to the next level. These people who had previously been baptized were given a ladder to heaven. The first step up was the the baptism given to them by Jesus Christ.

All these things happened without him ripping on their previous religion or discounting their faith or the love they had shown him in their previous worship.

I told her that this is something we get wrong sometimes. Sometimes we are over sensitive and closed. She agreed big time. I said, it happens when members of the church feel like they’ve been persecuted, they circle the wagons and turn inward. Jesus Christ would always have us turn out. She asked, why don’t other people talk like that? I said, a lot of people do talk like that. This is the way God would have his children interact with each other. He would have them do it with love and understanding.

She said, there are so few members of the church. How can it be the only true church when only a small percentage of people even know about it? What about the people that don’t get the opportunity like people in the Middle East? I’s not fair. I said, we look at life and opportunities as single events in a small sphere with no context. God looks at it from the beginning of time to eternity and our opportunity will be a perfect opportunity for us. Every one of God’s children will have a perfect opportunity. No man can tell you when you’ve had your opportunity, that’s between you and God. By this time she was crying I could see that the spirit was touching her and the feeling of the love of God was like a flood of emotion.

I said, do you remember what it feels like in the presence of your Heavenly Father? She looked puzzled and said no? That’s what you’re feeling when you feel the spirit. When you feel the spirit, God is testifying of the truth that has been spoken. You can feel the spirit anytime truth is being taught because it testifies of the truth.

I felt inspired to tell her that she had left the church because some people had made some personal harsh and unjust judgments about her. I told her that was on them and that she needed to show more love and develop love like our Heavenly Father has for us. I said that she needed to follow the example of the savior and forgive. I said that their judgement hurt so bad because she felt guilty for the sins that she had committed. She felt called out and resented it. I told her that Heavenly Father would have them love her. Everybody sins, both those who judge as well as those being judged.

I asked her if she had nieces or nephews and she said she did. I asked, when you look at their eyes what do you see? She said that she sees pure love and innocence. I said, what do you think when you look in those eyes? She said I think I love that child so much. I said, what would you do for that child? She said, I would do anything for that child. I said, what would you do to save that child? She said, I would do anything to save that child. I said, what would you do if a child was disobedient? She said I would try to help that child and teach that child. I told her that this is just like our father in heaven. We are each his child and he loves us more than she loved that niece or nephew. 1000 times more than she loves that child and he wants to teach us and help us. This is what the church is about.

The spirit was bearing witness of the love of our father in heaven for each one of us. I asked her if she could feel the spirit right then. She was very emotionally engaged and said, yes, I needed that so much today. I really needed this. I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said yes. I told her to read about Jesus coming to America and to feel for this spirit because God would manifest the truthfulness of that book to her. I said that this is how she would feel in the presence of the spirit. She said she would do this.

I said to her, I started driving about four years ago and the one thing I found is that God puts people in my car when they need to hear a message. I told her that today she was put in my car to hear this message, that God loves her and that the church is true even though the people are imperfect. I testified that the Book of Mormon is true and that the truth of it has nothing to do with how the members of the church act. It only tries to help them be better.

She said, I believe that. I bore testimony that the church was true and the spirit was there with us. I asked again, did you feel that? She said yes. I could tell she had to go and I said, before you go I have one last thing. Do you know what feeling that spirit means? She thought for a minute and smiled and said, I guess I need to start going back to church, don’t I? I laughed and said yes. She said, OK message received.

She thanked me and said once again, you don’t know how much I needed this today. She got out of the car and went into her home. It never ceases to amaze me how God knows where we are even when we have strayed and he understands the moment when we need help or can be touched. He is the father that looked into our faces and feels that love. He will never let go of that love.

On Halloween night Heather and I were going to a volleyball game. I had decided that I could take a couple of rides around Provo. It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I was picking up rides in Provo.

I took a ride, finished it and then got another ride. It was to the airport in Salt Lake. I thought to myself, “there’s no way I have time to get this and then get back in time to go to the volleyball game”. So I went to cancel it. As I reached for the phone, I received a tremendous impression that this was the most important thing and that it would all work out if I took this ride.

I pulled my hand back, looked at the clock and tried to figure out how that could work. Blowing up date night is not necessarily an advisable approach for a husband.

I decided to follow the prompting and picked up the young lady. I am glad I did. She had been trying to take the front runner up to Salt Lake City and then transfer over and go on to the airport.

She was a manager at her job and it kept her longer than she wanted to stay and because of that she wasn’t going to have time to catch the train. She was a little flustered and hurried.

She was pretty young. I’d say 23 or 24 and she seemed to be quite mature, guarded and in control. I asked her where she was going. She said she was going to Las Vegas to go trick-or-treating with the little boy she was going to adopt. I told her how cool that was and that I was really excited for her. I told her how important it is that we all have people in our life that love us.

As I was saying those words, the spirit whispered. some things for me to say and a way for this conversation to go. I kind of just had to light the fuse.

I asked her why Utah? She said that she just needed to get away from Las Vegas and everything down there. This was the prompting I had. She had escaped Las Vegas to get away from bad influences and to get away from an abusive family situation.

I asked her how it felt to live in Provo. She said she loved it. She said she loved the feeling inside and out. She said she loved walking down the street and looking in peoples eyes. She said this is exactly where she wanted to live for the rest of her life.

I got the prompting that she was a member of the church and said to her, you are a member the church aren’t you? She said, well, kinda. I said, well you either are and that means you’ve been baptized or you’re not. She said, I guess I am by that definition.

I said, I think it’s really cool that when I asked what you liked about Provo you led with what you feel. I told her that she feels like that here because people here follow God. I told her that it’s the spirit of God.

I told her that when she’s around the spirit of God, it makes her feel good. It makes her feel loved and right. I told her that before we came to earth we lived with our Heavenly Father for thousands of years. Our spirits know and crave that love and that feeling. I told her that this is why she felt like she was finally at home.

She said, that’s right! I do feel like I’m home. I’ve had people ask me what it feels like here and that’s the best way to put it. Home!

I told her that Heavenly Father has prophets on the earth and one of them lives in Utah. I said that the people in this area, for the most part, try to live according to the words of God‘s prophet. I told her that it’s a mean world out there and it’s amazing to have the support of your father in heaven and the words of his prophet to help us.

She said, that’s really cool! I never really thought much about why it feels that way. I told her that Heavenly Father has prophets on the Earth so that he can guide us. I told her that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he wanted to know which church was true. He was confused and he was looking for that same peace and love that she feels in her heart.

I told her that because of that search he prayed and God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They called him to be the prophet. I said, he was the first prophet in the latter days and we’ve had a prophet since that day.

As I testified of Joseph Smith and the love of God the feeling grew in the car. I asked her what she was feeling and she said I’m feeling like I’m gonna cry. I’m going to be a mess. I didn’t want to be a mess!

I told her that there were bathrooms in the airport and that she can get all fixed up and everything would be OK! We laughed and continued with the conversation

I told her that I had some promptings of some things that I wanted to share with her if that would be OK. I told her that sometimes God puts people in my car and gives me things to say. She said that would be great! She asked me to continue.

I told her that the prompting that I received was that she had a non-loving abusive mother and that she was forced to grow up really fast. I told her I felt like she didn’t have the childhood she wanted and that she certainly didn’t have the love that she should have had from her mother.

I said that the reason why this little boy was so important to her is that she saw herself in him and she was going to do anything possible to save him from the horrible situation that she felt her life had been.

I looked in the mirror and she looked shocked. Tears were running down her face and she said, I never cry, why are you doing this to me? She said it with a chuckle so I knew she wasn’t angry.

I asked her, even though you’re emotional right now do you still feel the spirit in the car? She said that it was 100% the spirit she felt. She said, how in the world could you possibly know this thing? I just met you.

I told her that when we’re baptized, we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said, when you were baptized, you got the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said, the gift of the Holy Ghost helps us know what we should do. When we are worthy and clean the Holy Ghost can give us words to say, tell us what God would have us do and help us walk in his path.

I told her that God put her in my car today so that she could know of his tremendous love for her. Even though she had a tough time he had never left her. He had brought her to Utah and put her situation where she could feel his love and grow in the gospel.

I said, even though you consider yourself to be less active somewhat, the reason you’re here is to get active and enjoy the spirit of God in your life. She said, that’s amazing!

She said, I know 100% that I was supposed to be in this car and the things you are saying are exactly right. I need to listen because I’ve wondered why I was here in Utah. I’ve wondered why I felt compelled to be here. This has been a question of mine.

I told her that God brought her here for this purpose, but that she had some questions that she was afraid to ask anyone. I told her that she had those questions and the answers to those questions as something of a barrier to full participation. I told her she could ask me those questions.

She said, I don’t know, I’m a little embarrassed. I said, look, you don’t know me and I really don’t know you. I don’t know where you live and there’s really no way I can contact you. It’s safe to ask me those questions and the spirit is telling me that you really want to ask me those questions.

I said, the spirit is telling me that you’ve been dying to get these answers but you just don’t want to offend anyone. She was still crying and she said, yes that’s 100% true.

She said, here goes! She said, where I live there is a family ward and a singles ward. My roommates want me to go to the singles ward but I’ve been going to the family ward because my plan is later this year to finalize the adoption on this boy.

She said, I was baptized when I was eight but never lived in a home where I was loved or attended church. My mother physically and emotionally abused me and never made the gospel an option. She said, my mother was not a good person and she would never let me go to church. She always found some chore or responsibility that she made me to do so that I couldn’t go to church.

She said, when I have gone to church here I’m sad for what I missed but happy for what I feel. I said, what’s your question? She took a deep breath and said, the Word of Wisdom.

She said she lives with girls who are single and they drink Mate, a drink that everyone in Argentina drinks, and they drink Diet Coke. She said, they go to church and they have temple recommends so they go to the temple.

She said, I went to the family ward and they just got a new bishop. Last Sunday I met with him for the first time. He told me that if I drink Diet Coke or Mate that I am not worthy to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. She said that was something she really wanted to get worthy to do. She said that last Sunday he had told her this and it made her tremendously sad and she didn’t know where to turn. She said that she was considering whether or not to go back to church.

She said, I’m all alone out here but I have felt like that my whole life. He didn’t seem to want to help me. She said, I don’t feel like I have anyone to talk to about this. I don’t have anyone that I can ask the tough questions.

It’s not a coincidence that just at this moment God put her in my car. I let her know that this was no coincidence. I let her know that God knew she had this question and he put her in my car because he knew that she had struggled in that interview about the Word Wisdom.

She said, well, what’s the answer? I said, it’s important to understand a couple of things here. It’s important to understand that the Word of Wisdom is a law obedience, not a law of health. I told her that we are blessed for our faith and obedience to the Word of Wisdom.

I told her that there are a lot of members of the church that dissect the Word of Wisdom and try figure out why, scientifically, each thing is prohibited or encouraged. I told her that this is fine for people to do following their own revelation for themselves or their families. I told her that the church has a standard of what the Word of Wisdom is and then if people want to or feel moved by the spirit to add to or go deeper, that’s up to them. I told her that for worthiness purposes with regards to the Word of Wisdom, it was important for her to know that it was a law obedience, not a lot of health.

It’s a law of obedience it’s not a mathematical formula. I told her that some members of the church in their pursuit to purify themselves go to new levels. They feel personal revelation on things that they may do for themselves but the church says, and the missionaries teach, that tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs, coffee, and black/green tea are the things prohibited by the Word of Wisdom.

I said, being a bishop is a really hard thing to do and when you feel something so intensely like I’m sure he felt about Diet Coke and Mate then you know he said what he said out of love. I tried to help her see a higher level.

I said, didn’t you say your roommates go to a singles ward? She said, yes! I said, why don’t you go to the singles ward? I said, when you’re in the singles ward and you go in for your temple recommend interview with that Bishop he will ask you if you obey the Word of Wisdom. When he does don’t ask for his explanation because you know what the church’s standard is. Go with the church’s explanation that I just gave you.

She said, then the answer would be yes. I said, that’s right and that’s the only thing that you say in answer to that question. I told her that as she studies the gospel and gets more deeply involved with the spirit, she may be able to receive other promptings of things that she could do to come closer to God, but those are for her and come directly from her Heavenly Father.

I asked her if she reads the Book of Mormon every day and she said that she didn’t. I told her if she did it would change her life. I told her that reading the Book of Mormon brings the spirit of God into every facet of your life. I told her that she will get answers to prayerful questions while she reads, even though the actual text she is reading might not contain the answer. She will get revelation from the spirit while she is reading the Book of Mormon.

I felt prompted that she had not developed the habit of praying frequently and had never been taught the importance of prayer. I asked her if this was true and she said yes. She said, I pray now and then. I told her she needs to pray multiple times every day and have a prayer in her heart. I said, walking with God is an amazing thing when we will do it. I asked her if she would commit to read the Book of Mormon and pray every day and she said yes!

By this time we had arrived at the airport and we were pulling in to where I was dropping her off. She was only going to have 25 minutes to make her flight , but the spirit had been so strong in the car. I wanted to end with my testimony. As we pulled up I testified to her that her Heavenly Father loved her and he put her there that day. I testified to her revelation is real and personal. I told her that as she matures in the gospel, that revelation will help her come closer to her father in heaven. I testified that father in heaven loves us and that Jesus atoned for us so that we could look to him and be free. I said that through the atonement we can have our burden lifted even those from our childhood.

She said, I’ve been struggling with this so much. This is just what I needed. Thank you so much. She grabbed my shoulder, smiled, got out of the car and went into the airport.

On my way home it was rush hour but somehow I miraculously hit every perfect turn and everything was just right. Even though there was a lot of traffic, it was like I cut right through it, almost at freeway speed as others were stopped. I got home in plenty of time to go to the volleyball game. I did not blow up the date night.

One night I picked up a guy at the airport in Provo. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to that airport but it’s really slick and easy. We started to drive and he talked about how his company usually had him fly out of Salt Lake but he really had enjoyed the Provo Airport.

We started to drive and talk about all of the time he was going to save not driving from Lehi  all the way to the Salt Lake airport and being there so early.

He told me that he had been traveling for business and he absolutely loved his job. He said that he wished he could have been smarter about his life in the last little while but that his job had helped pull him out of his situation.

I asked, what kind of a situation is that? He said, I had a couple of deaths close to me that shook  me up. Before that I owned a couple of companies and was doing really well, but after these people passed, I just shut down for about three years and blew all of my money.

He said, all of a sudden I got lots of stress, and it was hitting me hard. He said that the way the world is going with regards to politics it had also become an obsession for him.  It made it hard for him to see clearly. It made it hard for him to feel like he had a future.

He said that the people are so corrupt, the government is so corrupt, everyone lies, and they’re trying to take what we have. He said, I don’t know how to deal with it and I don’t know what to do.

I asked him if he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. When I said this, I didn’t say it as a question to garner information. I said it kind of as “well that proves the Book of Mormon true” kind of comment.  In response to this  I received a very distinct prompting that this young man had been IN some churches, but not OF our church for sure! 

He said that of course he heard of the Book of Mormon and that he believes God is really important in our life. He said, that’s why I read the Bible. I want to be close to God. I told him that “close to God” is where he needed to be. 

I told him that in these difficult times we need God our lives. I told him that if he wants to feel the presence of God, the Bible is important but the Book of Mormon brings us closer to God and brings his spirit closer to us than any other book we could read. I told him that’s what he needs.

I told him that Joseph Smith had a lot of turmoil in his life and was looking for the truth. He was looking for the church of God and couldn’t find it. I told him that he read in the Bible that he should pray so he did.  God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet. I told him that later an angel, who had been a prophet in America, gave him the sacred engravings that contained the writings of the ancient American prophets. He was called by God to interpret those writings from those ancient prophets.

I told him that he did exactly this and that is how we got the Book of Mormon. I told him that the ancient prophets who lived in America saw our day and that this book had been given to us in our day so that people could take advantage of it. It was written so that we could see their mistakes and learn from them.

I told him that when we read that book, we can feel the spirit of God. As I talked about the Book of Mormon, the spirit of God clearly manifested itself in the car. What had been a generic conversation had become very focused. I asked him if he could feel that, and he said, yes. He said, I feel like I should listen to you. I feel like the things you are telling me are true.

I told him that God sends his spirit to testify of truth. He sends his spirit to us so that we can be guided in this life. He said, I felt the Holy Spirit many times in my life. I said, how did it feel? He said, a bit like what we’re feeling right now, but not as intense.

I said, the Holy Ghost testifies of truth wherever it is found and this is how God testifies to us.  I said that this is how God comforts us and this is how God helps us. He sends us the Holy Ghost so that we can be one with him. He said, that’s great!

I said, before you were really worried about the political situation and all of the dishonesty and corruption. He said, yeah, it kind of freaks me out a little bit. I asked, how do you feel right now about that?

He thought for a minute and then said, I feel like it’s still a problem but it’s not freaking me out right now. I feel peace about that. I told him that was because the Holy Ghost brings peace. I asked him if he remembered when Jesus said, my peace I give to you and he emphasized that it wasn’t peace as the world sees peace, but HIS peace .

He said, oh, that makes sense. I said, when you read the Book of Mormon, you’ll feel that peace.

I have to admit that at first I judged this young man as being a member of the church. He certainly was a cultural member of the church. He was from Brigham City. He had worked at Maddox, which makes him awesome.

Everything he said, the way he talked and the way it felt led me to assume that he was a member of the church. The spirit let me know otherwise.

I told him that in the Book of Mormon they had a lot of political upheaval and issues. They had people who wanted to install a king. People who were elitist and thought they were better than the other people, and they thought that they were superior and that should give them the right to rule.

I told him that there were other people who participated in what they called secret combinations. I said, they made and took oaths to protect each other and to help each other commit sin, to steal,, to participate in iniquity, whoredoms and to take the freedoms away from the people.  He said Epstein island? I laughed. 

I told him that these people caused the downfall of their society.  I told him that we are warned in the Book of Mormon to watch out for them in our day and fight them in our day.

I told him, we don’t have to worry if we have the power of God. I said that if we fight with his power, we will always be victorious. He said, that’s amazing. Is that what’s in the Book of Mormon? I said, among other things. I said, the Book of Mormon is principally a testament of Jesus Christ. I said, we have the Old Testament, we have the New Testament, and we have the Book of Mormon another testament of Jesus Christ.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was written by those prophets so that we could learn from their times. The Book of Mormon was written by their prophets so that we could know of God‘s love for us and for everyone.

I said that the Book of Mormon is where we learn that God loves everyone no matter where they live, and he sent his son to his other sheep scattered all around the world. He said, that’s beautiful! I told him, a God that’s all powerful would certainly want to share the good news of his son with all of his children and he said, absolutely.

I said, a God that’s not constrained by geography or proximity would certainly bless all of his children like that. He said, absolutely! He said, I guess I should’ve read that book. He said, even though I grew up in Brigham City I have never been a member of the church.  My father left the church before I was born. He has come back to the church in the last few years and tried to gather all of us children in, but it’s been something I have fought.

He said that he was baptized in the Methodist Church when he was about five years old. He said he still remembers that. I told him that being baptized is important and it’s amazing that he still remembers that!  I told him that parents have their children baptized because they want to show God their love. He said, that’s exactly right. My mom and dad wanted me to believe in Jesus.

I said, when Jesus came to America all of the people had previously been baptized just like you were. They had learned from their prophets that baptism was important and they were baptized to show their love to God.  I told him that when Jesus descended from heaven, he stood in front of them and they felt the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet.  I said that they pled with him to save them. I told him that as a direct response to that plea, he called up 12, gave them the authority to baptize and commanded that they all be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized.

I told him that they were commanded to be baptized to a new level of discipleship, to a new higher covenant, to a new life in the service of their Heavenly Father. I told him that every one of them he did just that. I told him that every one of them was baptized by authority given to them by Jesus, and in the way that Jesus Christ commanded that they be baptized.

He said, that’s so cool. I told him that this is the same baptism we do in our church. I told him that his previous baptism served the purpose of letting his father in heaven know that he loved him but that Heavenly Father expects more of us. I looked at him in the mirror and said, Heaven Father expects more of you.

I told him that once we are baptized, we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost, so that Heavenly Father can be with us always, not just when we’re hearing truth.  We have the right to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. I told him, this is how we navigate the world today. This is how we live in the peace of Christ. This is God‘s plan to lift us up and carry us through.

I told him that we get the Holy Ghost right after we are baptized so that we are clean and we remain clean. The Holy Ghost will always be with us as a constant companion.

I could feel the spirit telling me of his desire to be clean and received a prompting that this desire had been very impactful to him and that I should talk about it more. I felt like he thought he was unclean and unworthy to become clean.

I told him that I had this prompting. He said that there’s no way I could’ve known that if God hadn’t told me. He said that he had just been thinking this that very day.  He said he had decided that there was no way he could make it to heaven because he didn’t think God would rescue him because of his sins. He said he was ashamed of them, but he didn’t really see how he could become clean. 

I told him that it happens through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told him that Jesus paid for our sins and our condition. I told him that Jesus understood who he was and how he felt. I told him that through his baptism he would be cleansed and the Holy Ghost would bear witness of it to him, that he was now clean. He said, that’s what I need.

I told him that Heavenly Father expects him to take that next step and be that new level of disciple. I told him that Heavenly Father put him in my car today so that he could feel the spirit and understand the importance of this.

I said, to this point, you’ve kind of turned a deaf ear to your dad. He has found such joy in taking that step and he wants to share that with you. He said, I never thought of it that way. I asked him what he felt right then in the car. He said, my chest is on fire with the spirit. He said, I love this feeling and I’ve never felt it like this, I’ve never felt it so intensely.  I asked him what that means. I know that was repetitious but I wanted him to say it.

He said, it means that what you are saying is true. It means I need to be baptized by that same baptism if I want to be on that level of peace and discipleship. I asked him, is that something you want? He said, more than anything. He said, if I have that spirit with me, I can see how it would be very easy to know how to walk with God during these troubled times. He said, I’d love to have that.

I said, well, here’s how we start. Do you know where there’s a church close by? He said, yes, right over my back fence. I told him to go on Sunday at 9 AM for the meeting and feel the spirit that was there. He said, I’m going to do that.

He said, maybe I should invite my dad to go with me. I think he would like that!  I told him that I think his dad would love that and that he should absolutely do it.

He said, I’m excited to feel this more often. I’m excited to go to church and I want that baptism. He said, I’ll call my dad first thing in the morning. He got out of the car, waved and walked into his house. 

One night I decided to just go out and drive a little bit around Utah Valley. I came home early and decided not to go back to Salt Lake and was just trying to make a little extra money without burning a lot of gas. I got a little ride from Provo up to Orem and then I got a ride from Orem while I was on that ride and I didn’t see where it was going, but I accepted it anyway.

When this young lady got in the car, the app said we were going to Magna. MAGNA! From Orem! I took a quick look at my cancellation rating to see if it would be possible to just say no, and it was. Nevertheless I had a strong impression to take the ride so I did. I pulled up in front of an apartment and this young lady came out and got in the backseat.

It was dark and she came up from behind the car so I didn’t get a really good look at her before she got in the car. Once she did, I felt emptiness and sadness. I looked in the mirror and saw her face. There was very little emotion in her face. I could tell that she was emotionally drained.

The spirit told me that this woman needed a lift. It wasn’t the last time I’d hear from the promptings of the spirit during this drive. I asked her what she did for a living and she said she just had some part-time jobs but mostly she had been caretaking for several years for her mother who had just recently passed.

I started saying the words that came to my heart immediately. I felt the spirit and assurance about the words that I was saying so I just said them. I told her that I felt prompted to say that she had been caring for her mom and now that her mom had passed she was relieved from that pressure and responsibility. I told her it made her feel good not to have that pressure and responsibility. I said that she felt guilty because she felt relieved.

She said, yes! That’s exactly how it’s been. She said, death is a really crazy thing and I don’t like it. I said, you’re right! Death is a very crazy thing but I have some insights if it would be ok for me to share them. She said yes! Fire away!

I told her that death can be one of the most spiritual experiences that we can have. As I said this, I received a prompting that she was a member of the church. I hadn’t asked and she certainly didn’t look the part, but the prompting was very specific and strong.

I told her that Heavenly Father knows when it’s our time and he brings us home. I told her that Heavenly Father loves us and we want to be with him. I told her that when we die, we go home. I told her that we have work to do and it’s not always in this life. I told her we have family and friends on the other side and that reunion is sweet.

I told her the story about my father‘s passing and that I had received a prompting to give him a blessing. The prompting said that I was to release him from this life and call him to a new responsibility with his father in heaven. I told her, my dad wasn’t as bad off as my mom at that time, so I thought that I was maybe losing it a bit.

I told her I was in church when I got that prompting. I went up to Idaho and gave that blessing to my dad and two days later my father passed and my mom is still with us. I told her that God is in charge and when he needs us, we go.

I told her that now her mother doesn’t suffer, now her mother wasn’t restricted by her bodily condition and now she doesn’t require the kind of assistance that she had rendered to her mother. I told her that now her mother is serving others.

I could tell that this touched her. I told her that our spirits love our father in heaven and his love for us is what makes everything work. I told her that when she feels the spirit, she feels this love. The spirit was in the car and we passed the temple.

I told her that the temple is the place, where heaven meets earth and we connect our families. I asked her, wouldn’t you like to go to the temple someday? She said, I’ve always wanted to but I’ve never felt like I could make it. I told her that this is how Satan keeps us down. He lies to us and tells us we can’t make it. I told her if she really wanted to she could make the changes needed in her life to go. I told her that she had been thinking about this a little bit lately. I said that she he felt like it was a daunting task but that her Heavenly Father would walk that path with her. I told her that the holy ghost would be right by her side.

I told her that its more than that too. I said, in the temple she could be sealed to her parents. She could do baptisms and sealings for her ancestors and that she could be the focal point to bring her family together. She looked up and said that would be wonderful.

The Holy Ghost was manifesting itself in the car and I could tell she was feeling it. It was working on her and I could see that she recognized it. I asked her what she was feeling and she said peaceful and loved. I told her that’s how she felt in the presence of her father in heaven. I told her that when she felt that when she knew the things she was hearing were true and that her father in heaven had sent his spirit to be with her to confirm truth.

I told her that with her new free time and new priorities since her mother’s passing, she should fill that with good things. I told her that family history work is one of those things. I told her that she could go to the temple for her family.

I told her that I felt by the prompting of the spirit that she doesn’t pray and hasn’t prayed for years, she doesn’t go to church and she never reads the scriptures. She said, you can tell all that? I said, yes. I told her that she was put in my car by Heavenly Father so that I could tell her how much he loves her and that he wants to hear from her.

I told her that the way we talk to our father in heaven is through prayer. I said that in her life, she had never had a father and there was a great big hole in her life. She said, that’s correct!

I told her, you have always wanted a father to fill that hole. I told her to let her father in heaven fill it. I told her to develop a relationship with him and his son, Jesus Christ. I said that if she would rely on the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that hole could be filled and she could feel complete.

She was choking back tears. I told her that when bad things happen Satan wants us to blame God but God wants us to look to Christ. I told her that Christ can lift us out of our condition regardless of how desperate it seems. I told her that Christ had suffered so that he could lift our burdens and guide us. I told her to pray to her Heavenly Father and she could develop that kind of a relationship.

I told her that one of the reasons that it’s important to read the scriptures is we feel the presence of our father in heaven. I told her she needs to read the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had one and she said yes, it was her mother‘s Book of Mormon. I said, as you read that book, you will feel close to your father in heaven as well as your mother. I told her that this would fill that void and she would feel direction from God.

I told her that she needed to go to church and when she goes to church, she needs to prepare spiritually to take the sacrament. I told her that one really cool thing about the sacrament is that it was given to us so that we could commune with God. Through the sacrament we have the promise of having his spirit to be with us. This way we can be happy and it can fill that hole in our lives.

I told her that’s why we go every week. I said that Jesus told us to meet often and take the sacrament. I told her that it would give her tremendous strength if she prepares to go to church and take sacrament.

She said, I haven’t done any of these things in years. I told her that the spirit had given me those words to say and let me know that she hadn’t done those things. I said that if she would do these things god would lift her burden and give her peace and rest from the turmoil in her soul. She said, I don’t know how you’ve hit everything right on, but you’re 100% right. I told her that God gave me these things to say so she would know that the rest of the things I said were true. She said, well, so far, you’ve hit the nail on the head.

I said to her, you’ve done some things that you are ashamed of. You’ve done some things that would have made your mother very sad had she known. You’ve been ashamed of these things, and it’s one of the reasons why you haven’t prayed and one of the reasons why you haven’t gone to church. You have felt like you were unworthy of God and unworthy of light.

She said, now you’re getting pretty specific but still right on. I told her that Satan is the father of lies and everything he says is a lie. I told her that he lies to us to take us away from God. I told her that he wanted her to blame God, turn from the church and not feel God‘s love, warmth and light.

I said, you feel all three of those in the car right now don’t you? She said, yes. I said, God is reaching out to you and Satan wants desperately to retain you. I asked, who do you want to follow? She said, Jesus.

I said, the way to follow Jesus is pray to your father in heaven, read your scriptures and go to church. I told her that Satan would tell her that she wasn’t worthy but that God would tell her that he loves her. He would invite her in and help her become worthy. God would tell her that she’s always worthy of his love and he wants to help her be better and he can do it through his son Jesus Christ and his atonement. She said, that’s beautiful!

I asked her if she would go to church this Sunday, read the Book of Mormon and say her prayers twice a day. She said, that would be a huge change for me. I said, right now with the spirit you’re feeling you know that’s what your father in heaven wants you to do. She said, yes. I asked her if she wanted to be happy and she said yes. I said, given the path you’ve gone down, this is the only way to become happy. She said, that is correct. This is what I need to do.

I asked her if she would promise me and her father in heaven that she would do those things and she said yes. She said she would go to the church on Sunday at the church house right by where she lives and gets started. I told her to go and have a chat with the Bishop and he would be able to help her.

Then I got another prompting. I looked in the mirror and she was very emotional. I could tell the spirit was working on her and she could feel the love of her father in heaven. I said, you’ve missed this feeling haven’t you? Satan has told you it never really existed. She said, you’re correct on that. I didn’t think it existed. I wondered if God existed, but this ride is shown me that he does exist.

I told her that I was receiving a prompting that she had a very traumatic abusive experience and in that experience, she felt alone, forsaken, abused and lost. I told her that Satan had been telling her since that day that God had abandoned her.

I told her that Satan had been telling her that there is no way a loving Heavenly Father would allow that to happen to someone he loved. She started to cry and said, yes that’s exactly correct.

I told her that she needed to remember that Satan is a liar. I told her that any path that she had gone down because she felt unloved and unworthy of redemption was a lie and she had been tricked into it.

I told her that her father in heaven never abandoned her and that he had put her in my car today so that I could tell her that he loves her. I told her that the first thing she noticed when she got in my car was his spirit and then she felt his love.

She said, I felt that the whole ride. I said, your father in heaven really wants to fill that hole in your soul. He wants to fill the hole in your life and he wants you to know that you are important to him. He wants you to be able to come home.

Your Heavenly Father wants you to know that his arms are open. I told her that the church is not a museum for perfect people but a hospital for sick people and the thing that makes people spiritually sick is sin. I told her we all have it and we all need to go to church to get better. I told her that this is why Satan works so hard to tell people they shouldn’t go to church because he doesn’t want them being healed from their sin. He wants them to double down and indulge.

She said, everything you are saying is true and is striking a chord with me. I said, to be clear, I’m just saying the words God puts into my heart. God loves you and God is reaching out to you.

I asked her if she had realized that her mother was behind this whole ride. I told her that her Heavenly Father and her mother were teaming up on her. She said that she had felt her mother in the car and had felt her quite a bit around her lately.

I told her to let God heal her heart and heal her soul from the abuse and sin in her life. I told her that God wants to fill her heart and fill that hole that has been there for so long. She said, I want that so much.

I asked her again if she would go to church on Sunday and she said yes. I asked her if she would pray tonight and she said she would. I asked her to read the book of Mormon every day. She said, if it makes me feel like this. I will do all those things

I told her to remember what the spirit felt like and when she was praying, reading and going to church, she should look for those feelings so she would know that God was with her. I told her it would help her get clean and come home.

We pulled into the driveway of the home that was our destination. She got out and waved goodbye. It was an intense, loving ride and it’s always amazing watching our father in heaven reconnect with one of his children and bless them with his light.

I picked up a girl in Park City with a very different name. I’ve never seen that name before in my life and I was interested about its origins. We were heading down into Salt Lake City, so I knew that I had time to learn all about it.

She got in the car and I quickly realized that she spoke Spanish. She was from Peru and she had worked at several restaurants on Main Street in Park City. We started talking about her job and how she liked it in Park City. I had a very distinct impression that she was a member of the church. I asked her if she was a member of the church. She said no.

We talked a little bit longer and then I started speaking in Spanish. She said that she was blown away by my Spanish and asked me where I learned it. I said, in the streets. In the streets of Argentina! We laughed and then I said, are you sure you are not a member of the church because I get the feeling that you are?  She said no again but she hesitated a bit. She was clearly uncomfortable giving that answer.

We talked a little bit more and then I asked her one more time, are you sure you’re not a member of the church?  She said, well, I was baptized but I haven’t been to church in quite some time. I asked her if  her name had been removed from the records of the church and she looked puzzled. She said, no, I didn’t do anything like that. I just quit going.

I smiled then said, that being the case, the correct way to answer my question is yes!  I am a member of the church but I haven’t gone in a while. We both laughed and I asked her why it had been so long. She said that she had some relationship issues that had happened in her life that took her away from the church and she had just never felt like going back. She said she didn’t want to deal with all of the hassle of explaining everything.

She said, it’s almost irrelevant now because I work on Sundays at these restaurants.  I thought, I know that these restaurants aren’t open at 9 AM so we can find a ward for her for sure. I didn’t tell her that, but I know that.

I felt very impressed right then that I needed to tell her that her problem was that she was looking at this as if the people in the church and their actrions are a barometer that determines the truthfulness of the church. 

I told her that it seemed to me that she was saying that the people in the church might not approve of me therefore, the church is not true. I told her that’s a lot of assumptions and those assumptions were promoted by Satan. I told her that Satan‘s number one goal is to get us to forget that our father in heaven loves us. Satan wants desperately for us to turn our back on God and believe that God has turned his back on us.

 I told her that the real truth is that our father in  heaven loves us and he never leaves us. I told her that he loves us so much and wants to help us. I asked her if father that loves his child, could sit there and watch his child suffer without wanting to help that child. I told her that any good father that loved his child would do anything he could to help his child and be with his child.

I told her that the people in church may or may not act right. They may or may not do the right thing, but one thing is for sure, their father in heaven loves them. The reason why we go to church is not to be seen at church. The reason why we go to church is not to be part of a club or a group of people. The reason why we go to church is to remember our covenants with our father in heaven and to reestablish that connection through which we can feel his love strongly.

She said she hadn’t considered that. I told her that we all have things that go on in our lives. Sometimes we lose our jobs or sometimes even friends hurt us or betray us. Sometimes we have illness or unjust things happen to us.  One thing is for sure, our Heavenly Father always loves us.

Our Heavenly Father sent his son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ suffered all of those things so that when we were down and hurt we could look to him to pick us up and bind our wounds. I told her that she had blamed God instead of to embracing Jesus Christ and his atonement.

For a second she started to contend with that assertion. She thought about it and then said, you know, I guess you’re right. If you consider that the church is where we meet God, I turned my back on that source of strength and help.

I told her that God could walk with her and help her. I told her that he had been with me and had help me in my car. He had protected me and he had given me the words to say to people. He knew that the best way to help me was to let me serve him.

I told her that Satan would have us turn inward  and worry about how everything affects us and how miserable we are. He wants us to be consumed with what’s going on with us.  What God would have us do is develop a character that resembles the character of Jesus Christ. A character that would turn out to serve and love instead of huddle down and dodge contact.

I told her that God had put people in my car and gave me things to say to them. He had put the things in my heart to say that only they knew. He had shown his power and allowed me to help people. I told her that’s why she was in the car that day.

I shared a couple of stories from my blog with her and the spirit was in the car. I asked her how long it had been since she felt that. She said a long time. She said, my spirit feels like it’s resting. Like it’s been under attack and now it could rest in this car. I told her that this is the spirit of God and she can take it with her if she will.

It was funny how this ride bloomed like a flower.  She was very closed at the start but as we went along, the spirit energized the conversation and she began to bloom. By this time she was opening up to the spirit.

She said, don’t they have meetings for the unmarried people at the church house some evenings? I said, yes.  I knew that this was her way of beginning to look at the possibilities of re-engaging at church rather than turning away. I knew the spirit was whispering this to her right then.

I told her that this idea had come to her from the spirit and that yes, it was true, the groups of young people do get together for activities at the church. She said, maybe I could join them at one of those. I said, I’ll bet they’d love that. We talked a little bit more about the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had been reading in the Book of Mormon. I already knew the answer but I wanted to hear her say it.

She said, no. I don’t even think I have one anymore. I grabbed one of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists that I have and I gave it to her. I said, here’s a new one. If you want to have this feeling that you’re feeling right now, all you need to do is read this book and pray.

I told her that reading the Book of Mormon would bring the spirit of God faster than anything. In this busy world of hers, she needed to rest.

Then she said, you know the missionaries texted me two days ago. They asked her if they could get together. She told them no. Then she said to me, I can’t even have them over at my house or talk to them because I’m a single woman, right?

I said, well, you can’t have them in your house alone but you live really close to McDonald’s.  You could have them meet you at McDonald’s. You could have them meet you at the church. You could have them meet you at any neutral place and I’m sure they’d love to do it.

She said, with an excited tone in her voice, really? I thought that was against the rules. I told her that the rule was that they couldn’t be alone with her in her home or in a car, but in public, it was fair game.  She could meet with them, she could pray with them and she could learn from them.

She said, hold on just a second while I text them. She started texting the missionaries to try to set up an appointment at the McDonald’s by her house. The missionaries responded back and they set that appointment.

I asked her again to identify what she was feeling. She talked to me about being in a place that she felt like she was floating and resting. I told her that this is how she feels in the presence of her father in heaven. It’s how she felt with him in the pre-existence and when his spirit was there, she would feel like this. I told her that this is how she felt on the day of her baptism and she had been thinking of that in the car. 

She said, you’re good at this.  I told her that God knows her heart and knows what she’s thinking but most of all he loves her and he wants her home. We were pulling into the racquet club down in Salt Lake Valley that I was taking her to. I asked her what she was going to do with this new information and with this new recognition of the spirit.

She said, I think I need to quit feeling sorry for myself, blaming people and blaming God. I need to do what you said, look to Christ and let him heal me. I think the missionaries are a great place to start.

I told her that God had whispered to me from the start that she was a member of the church and that’s why I persisted to ask three times. I told her that it’s important for her to know that God isn’t giving up on her and he didn’t let me give up on her either.

She smiled and said thank you. She reached up and grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it. As I’ve discussed before, it almost never happens that passengers touch the driver but often in these kinds of spiritual experiences they touch me.  I think it’s to have a tangible feeling to go with what they’re feeling on the inside.

After she touched me, she got out of the car, smiled, waved, and went in to play tennis.  

One day I was in Provo and I got a ride down at the health department on South University. When I pulled up, I picked up a young lady. She had just come from a doctor’s visit because she was pregnant!

I was excited for her and we talked for a minute about what her husband did for work and then the conversation turned to what she did for work.

She said that she had to quit work because she was really sick in the pregnancy. She said that it was really hard for her because she hated being bored but she hated being sick as well.

I got the impression that I needed to answer a question that this young woman had and so I started paying attention to the spirit, trying to tune in.

I asked her if she liked living here and she said yes! I asked her if the people had treated her well and she said that the people had been very kind. I told her that people here are generally very kind because they are members of the church and have a tremendous desire to do what Jesus would do.

She looked shocked that I talked about religion. She said, you’re the first driver that’s ever talk to me about religion! I said, if we live right, it should be part of everything we do. She agreed. She said she loved to study the Bible. She said that learning about Jesus gave her a lot of hope.

I told her that the people here that are members of the church believed exactly that same thing. Jesus gives tremendous hope in our lives and hope in our future.

I said that hope and the spirit of God that accompanies that hope is the thing that transforms our communities. I asked her if she thought she had felt this in our community compared to other communities where she had lived. She said that it was clearly different here and she attributed it to what I had previously mentioned. 

I asked her what her religious affiliation was and she said that she was baptized  Catholic, but more recently had been occasionally attending evangelical worship services.

I asked her if they were answering her questions, the questions she had as well as the one she was afraid to ask. She said, no, no one‘s ever answered that question. The spirit was prodding  me to talk about the baptism of little children. I started getting this with intensity and I think it was pushed along by the fact that she was pregnant.  I think that is a very natural time to be considering this question.

I said, it’s about babies isn’t it?  It’s about whether or not a baby is condemned if it dies without baptism. She said, how did you know? I told her that when we’re baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost and it whispers to us the things we should say because Heavenly Father knows what’s in our hearts and in everybody’s hearts.

I told her that the Holy Ghost had whispered to me to say this. I told her that the fairness of access to Jesus and his plan, along with the requirement of baptism that we all believe in, have been a concern to her for quite some time. It was amplified now that she was going to have a baby.

She said, that’s so true! I’m not just concerned for my baby but I am concerned for all the other babies that I had previously believed we’re not able to go home to God because they were not baptized. She said, I just don’t know what happens to them! She said, if that principle and aspect of our church is wrong and I believe it is, what else is wrong?

She said, this is why I went to the evangelical church to see if I could find some answers on this question. She said, they didn’t address it. They didn’t address the fairness.  Why so many people who never hear the name, Jesus Christ, whether it be because of the situations of their life or their age when they pass seem to be stopped and condemned. She said it was very concerning to her.

I asked her if she went to our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She said she went there once but it was when she was starting to be sick with her pregnancy and she had to leave early. She said she hadn’t been back.

I asked her if she knew how our church believed with regards to this subject. She said no, she didn’t because she didn’t get to spend much time there. I told her that I believed it was important for her to understand what we believe on this subject.

I told her that the central point of our belief is that our father in heaven is our father and he loves us. I asked her if God was perfect and she said yes. I asked her if a perfect parent would do everything in their power to save all of their children and she said yes. I could tell she meant that because she said it with enthusiasm.  I told her that our perfect father in heaven has a perfect plan to save everyone of his children if they will be saved. She agreed with me.

I asked her if a perfect father with a perfect plan and perfect love would reject a child who was not able to be baptized due to lack of exposure to the teachings of Christ or geographic restrictions that made baptism impossible?  She said, not the God I believe in.

I said, first off, I want to put you at ease regarding the fate of these children. I testified to her that we believe that our father loves each one of us. I said that he is our father and that his son, Jesus Christ, paid the price for our sins. I told her, included in that price was the fact that he paid for the original sin so that no one is held accountable for Adam’s transgression.  Because of this, every child is innocent and pure before God and has no sin to answer for. 

I told her that in the atonement, Jesus Christ paid for that sin so that every single child anywhere who dies goes directly to heaven. I told her that they don’t have anything to prove because Jesus said that we are to become like them to enter into the kingdom of God.

She had a tear in her eye and she said, that sounds right. She said,  is right she said, I always believed that they would go to heaven but I didn’t understand its relationship with Jesus Christ. I said, he paid for that sin!

She said, that makes me feel so much better. Where can I learn more about this? I asked her if when she went to our church she was given a Book of Mormon?  She said yes, but it’s in English.  She said, even though I read English, I don’t read it well enough to read that book.

I told her that the Book of Mormon is a compilation of the prophecies received by the prophets of ancient America. I told her that God spoke to the people here and taught them through prophets. I told her that they recorded these prophecies just like they did in the Bible. I told her that the Book of Mormon was the religious history of her people here in America.

I told her that God loved her ancestors every bit as much as he loved those in Jerusalem. I told her because he was a perfect father, he sent his son Jesus Christ to visit them after his resurrection.

I told her that the account of that visit is recorded in the Book of Mormon. I said, in this book, you can learn about how much God loves your ancestors and loves you.

I told her that at one point, Jesus had them bring all of their little children to him and he loved them and he cried. I told her that angels walked in their midst and these little children were blessed by the hand of Jesus. I told her that these were her ancestors and this was her legacy.

She said, I’m stunned. This seems like something I should know about. I said, more than that it’s something that, you should know inside. I asked her what she felt right then. She said, having the answer to this question that has bothered me for so long has kind of freed my mind.  I feel tremendous peace. I told her that this was the power of God confirming to her the truth of what I had said.

I told her that Joseph Smith was called by God and Jesus Christ to be a prophet and later he translated the writing of those ancient American prophets so that nowadays we have them.  We are able to read them and learn from them. I said, this is where we learn that baptizing little children is a mockery of God. 

She said, that’s exactly right. I pulled out a Book of Mormon in Spanish. It is one of the Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists. Instead of pointing out the questions of the soul and the tabs as I usually do, I took her right to Moroni 8.  My experience with Moroni 8 is that I have never read that to a Catholic that didn’t 100% agree with it.  Even though it directly contradicts their church’s doctrine and practice.

Knowing that this was her concern and her willingness to believe my words on this subject without even reading it from the scripture made me happy. I knew this would be fun. As we read, we emphasized a couple of parts like the fact that this was a prophet saying that these were the words of Jesus Christ, not words made up by a man.

I emphasized where it says that it was a mockery before God and that those who practiced this needed to repent. I pointed out it emphasized that Jesus came to cleanse the sins of the sinners. I read this phrase. “the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me”

I continued reading with these verses

“10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.

11 And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

12 But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!”

She said, this is exactly what my question has been and this is the exact answer to that question. I told her that when I an answer to a question comes from God it makes sense and settles your soul. She said, that’s exactly how I feel. 

I said, Jesus Christ was sent to save us all but especially in this case the little children.  He also saved those who are not capable of sin due to the fact that they may be mentally challenged or in someway incapable of sin.

I said, God has a plan for all of his children and Jesus always did say to bring the little ones to him. 

She said, this is the best thing I’ve ever read. I said, that was awesome of your friend to give you an English Book of Mormon but why don’t you hold onto this Spanish one too!  She said, I would love to do that if that’s fine. I said, that’s why we have them.  I grabbed one of my business cards to mark the Moroni chapter 8 page. 

She said, I’m going to have to call my friend who took me to your church and discuss this with her. It’s amazing to me the way you knew this question and were able to answer it. She said, the answer was there all along. It makes so much sense.

I told her that baptism for those capable of sin is still important and that when Jesus came to America before he attended to the little children, he gave his baptism to their parents.  Even though they had previously been baptized he invited them to take a step up in discipleship with this new baptism.  I told her that every single one of them were baptized, including her ancestors.  I told her this was the same baptism we have today in our church and by that same authority.

I told her that every single one of them were blessed by the hand of God, including her ancestors.  I told her that God had answered her question and made her aware of those blessings given to her through her ancestors so that she can claim them. I said, that’s an amazing legacy. She smiled and agreed.

She got out of the car and went in to her home. I imagine that her friend was a little shocked to hear from her. I imagine her friend was a little disappointed when she left early on the day that she attended our services but I think this phone call she was going to get more than made up for it. 

On Monday, I was working up in Salt Lake. Mondays can be hit or miss so while it’s going good you want to make hay. I worked hard during the day and it got to be evening time and it slowed way down. In a 1/2 hour time I only had one ride and I was concerned about whether or not I was gonna make the money I needed to by the end of the night.

I got a ride to pick up a guy at the same McDonald’s I referred to in my blog a couple of weeks ago. He was a young man from Ghana and I was taking him to the train. I was interested in where he was going, whether it was Provo or Ogden. His answer surprised me. He said he was going to Logan.

I said, Logan? That’s a long way up there. I knew that the train didn’t go north past Ogden and so I asked him if once he got to Ogden he ordered an Uber to get to Logan. He said yes. I asked him if that was an easy thing to do. He said, not easy at all. I asked him how much he would spend and he said about $50 total.

I asked him what time he would get home and he said it would be around 1:30 or 2 o’clock. I heard myself say things that I should never say like, why don’t you just pay me the $50 and I’ll take you to Logan.

As soon as I heard those words coming out of my mouth I also heard the spirit say, and while you’re driving him you will be talking to him about the gospel. I thought, OK I guess we’re on. I finally got on the same page with my voice and what is was saying. He paid me the $50 and away we went.

I figured as long as we were going to talk about the church we might as well get started. I asked him how long he had lived here and he said for a while. He said he lived in Chicago before. I asked him if he liked it here and he said yes.

I asked him why he liked it better than Chicago and he said, it’s more peaceful. I said, you know that it’s more peaceful because of the church, right? He said, I think it’s because good people live here and the church has something to do with that.

I asked him what church he belonged to and he said he was Pentecostal and Catholic before. I asked him if he had ever talked to any members of the church or had any friends that were members of the church.

He said, a while back I had some friends that I talked to about your church. Their name was Elder. He said, I went to church a few times but we haven’t been studying together the last couple of months. I’ve just kind of decided that I want to stay where I am.

I asked him what they taught him would be the difference between his church and our church. He said, well it doesn’t really matter because everybody teaches good stuff and in the end everybody’s talking about God.

I asked him if it would be OK if I told him what we believe and he said yes. I told him we believe that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and he prepared a way for each each of us to come home and live with him.

I told him that God is our father in heaven and he loves us. I told him that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, so that we could be cleansed from our sins, have our burdens lifted and be brought back home to him. I said, we believe God loves everyone.

I asked him if he had heard about the Book of Mormon and he said he had. He said, I look at that like a Bible. He said, anyone can write a Bible. You just write down your dealings when you walk with God. He said, if I write down my dealings when I walk with God, someday my great grandkids will read that. To them it will be just like the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

He said, and you guys have people like that as well! The truth is I couldn’t make any sense of anything that he had just said, but I knew that he believed it intensely, so I started to ask questions.

I asked him if he knew where Moroni came from. He said that he didn’t know where he was from. I told him Moroni was a prophet that lived here in America. We believe that God had prophets here in America. I told him that those prophets didn’t write their thoughts as they walked with God, they wrote the actual words of God, and that is the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was proof that God loves everyone and not just the people in Jerusalem. I told him that the Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus came to America after he was resurrected and descended from heaven to the people.

I said, God loves everyone so he sent his son to the people in America. Jesus said “still other sheep I have” which are not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the land roundabout where I have been. I’ve received a commandment from my father to go to them so they can hear my voice.

He said, the Bible says that Jesus went to Hades to teach the gospel to those who had died before him who hadn’t heard his gospel. He said, because they had died before Jesus was born he had to teach them, but once he had been on the Earth everyone was responsible to find his word.

I thought that this was kind of strange and I could see why the elders may have backed off of him a little bit. I asked him how many people in the world die without hearing about Jesus Christ ever. He said, a lot. I said, probably over 70%. He said, that sounds about right.

I told him that a loving Heavenly Father who is perfect would never allow 70% of his children to fail and not be able to come home because they never heard the gospel. I told him that Heavenly Father would make a plan that would give each one an opportunity to come home.

He started talking about how in his church he learned that there are those who are God’s children, and those who are God’s creations and there’s a differentiation between the two. God‘s children are the ones that hear his voice and accept it and the rest are his creations.

I was done. As he talked, there was no spirit in the car. The things he said did not fit and rang hollow spiritually. I could tell we both felt that.

I told him that God has prepared a way for everyone of his children to have the opportunity to come home. I mentioned that he had talked about Jesus teaching those who had died without hearing the gospel. I said, he taught them but he set up the teaching of the gospel so that every person no matter where they lived or no matter when they lived, would hear the gospel because God loves all of his children not just certain ones. God loves everyone and he is the father of everyone and a father will save every one of his children if it’s at all possible.

The spirit whispered to me that I needed to testify and give the spirit something it could confirm. I testified that our father in heaven is a loving father. That we know him and our spirits know him. I testified that our loving Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us to come home if we will.

I told him that every one of God‘s children will have and deserves to have a perfect opportunity to accept the gospel. I told him that every person on this earth is a child of their father in heaven, and he loves them equally.

I told him that according to Jeremiah, he knew us before we were born. I told him that he knew us and we knew him and we wanted to be with him. I said that feeling his presence was the most loving amazing feeling in our lives and we wanted to be with him. I told him, when we came to earth we forgot everything. When we felt it for the first time on earth, our spirit recognized it. We knew it was his spirit and we wanted to be part of that.

I decided to bear testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I told him that Joseph Smith was a young man that was confused about religion. As I said this, I realized those words came from the spirit because this young man in my car was truly confused in the things that he was telling me. I knew he didn’t believe the things he said, but they were just things that have been told to him.

I told him that Joseph Smith was seeking the true church and he read that he should pray and ask God. He decided to do that. I said that he went to the Sacred Grove and he prayed and God, the father and Jesus Christ descended from heaven and called him to be the prophet.

I know I’ve said this before but every time you bear testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, the spirit comes in the room. This time was no exception. All of the confusion of his previous teachings was washed away when the spirit came in the car. It was an amazing thing to see and an incredible thing to feel. From that point forward, which was about Kaysville, the car was full of the spirit, revelation, and angels helping us along.

I told him that it there had been prophets in America, who wrote the book of Mormon and in Jerusalem, who wrote the Bible. I told him that God called Joseph Smith to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth, just like it had existed when Jesus was here.

I use the analogy of the mirror. I said, think of the church as a mirror, a big huge mirror that was held up by 12 pegs. I said, those pegs were the apostles. I asked what happened to the apostles? He said they were killed. I asked, what would happen to the mirror if you knocked out the pegs? He said, it would fall, crash, and bust into a million pieces.

I said, that’s exactly what happened. When the apostles were killed, the church fell. I told him that the apostles were important because Jesus had given them authority. He gave them authority to seal things on earth that were sealed in heaven. They performed baptisms and administered the affairs of the church.

I told him that authority and those apostles were gone. The church fell into disarray. I told him just like with the mirror some people went up and grabbed pieces of the mirror. They used the pieces that they grabbed and loved so much to fashion a church or belief system but they didn’t have all the pieces.

He said, well, maybe what we need is everybody to come together with all of the pieces and then we could have the mirror again. I said, the problem is that there were parts of the mirror that were lost and no one on earth had them. That’s why God needed Joseph Smith to restore the whole mirror with all of the pieces, so that we could have the gospel of Jesus Christ, including the authority.

I told him that when Jesus came to America, he descended from heaven and the people begged him for salvation. I told him that Jesus’ answer to this prayer was that he called 12 and gave them authority, instructions on how to baptize, and commanded that they baptize all of the people, even though they had previously been baptized.

I told him that it was very important that the whole mirror, the whole gospel, be taught. I told him this is the baptism that we have. It’s the same baptism by that same authority. I said, authority is really important. God sent Peter, James and John to Joseph Smith to give him that authority so that they could do the things that God would do if he were here. I told him that they were given the authority to seal things on Earth that would be sealed in heaven, just like Peter had been given that authority by Jesus. I told him that we have that authority today and we use it in the temples to seal families together. We’re not just married until death do us part. We use the power of God to seal our families together for eternity .

I told him that Joseph Smith gave that authority to other people and we have that authority today. I told him that we have a prophet on the earth who speaks with God. I told him we have 12 apostles. I told him that that was the organization of the church. I told him it talks about that in Ephesians. It says that until there’s a unity of the faith, there would be prophet and apostles. I asked him if there’s a unity of the faith in the world, he said no.

I told him that the Bible also teaches that if God is doing anything,he would reveal it to his prophets on the earth. I asked him if God is doing things. He said yes. I said, then there have to be prophets. He agreed.

I told him that one of the things that we know is that if we follow our prophet, we can guide ourselves and our families home.

I told him that this Saturday and Sunday we have general conference where the apostles and prophets speak to us. I told him that they give us the words of Jesus Christ and the words Jesus Christ would have us hear. I told him, there’s a message there for everyone because they’re not just the prophets and apostles for the church, but they’re the apostles and prophets for everyone in the world because God loves everyone.

I told him that the priesthood in our church isn’t like it is in other churches. I said, if I belong to another church and my child is sick, I call the priest and they pray and maybe he comes over. Possibly he just says a prayer. I told him that when our child is sick, I lay my hands on my child’s head just like Jesus did and I give that child a blessing by the power of God.

I told him that’s a huge difference and that this authority and this power make it so that it is easier to walk with God and do the things that he would do. I told him that during Covid a lot of churches went out of business. They really struggled. I told him that with our church it was really not as big of a deal because fathers in their homes could bless the sacrament, bless their families, and do the things God would do if he were there. I told him we could do this because we have the authority of God and it’s called the priesthood.

By this time, the spirit was building in the car and it was undeniable. I asked him if he could feel that, and he said yes. I told him that when he was living with God before he was born this was the same feeling he felt in the presence of God. I told him that he would always feel that familiarity in the presence of God. He said, that’s true.

I told him that the spirit of God always comes when truth is being taught. The spirit of God testifies of truth. He said he believed that. I asked, what does that mean about the things that I am teaching? He said, that they are true.

I felt prompted to say that he had felt that at times in his other church and he readily agreed. I said, that is because in your other church, they had pieces of the mirror, pieces of the gospel, and when they taught that truth, the spirit bore witness of it.

I asked him, how much of what I had said today has the spirit had born witness up to? He said, I felt the spirit with everything you’ve said. I said that’s because it’s true.

I told him that I believe he was put in my car to hear this message today. I testified to him that if Joseph Smith was a prophet and Russell Nelson was a prophet then the church is true. He said, yes that’s correct. I said, the spirit has born witness of that to you today. He said, that is correct. I said, if the Book of Mormon is true, then the church is true because Joseph Smith translated it and we all testify of it. He said, that true.

I testified to him of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that through prayer, the Lord would teach him the gospel by reading the Book of Mormon. He said, I have looked in it a little bit. It does seem to lineup pretty nicely with the Bible. I said, that’s because the word of God is the same.

I felt very impressed to go back and talk about Jesus coming to America and baptism. I said, when Jesus came to America, he invited each one of those people to be baptized, even though they had already been baptized. I told him that each one of these people were baptized so that they could accept a new covenant, a higher law and a new level of discipleship. I said, I believe Jesus put you in this car today because he wants you to accept that same invitation and have that same baptism.

I told him that we all need to be baptized. I told him that God has not only prepared a way for each of his children to be taught so that they can come home, but he has given us the ordinance of baptism for the dead. I told him that when we’re baptized for the dead, we go to the temples and we are baptized for someone who has died. I told him that when people die, they are taught the gospel. I told him that because they don’t have bodies they can’t be baptized and that’s why we go to the temple to do baptisms for them. Then they can choose to accept their baptism. As I was saying it, it didn’t even sound at all like he struggled with that concept. He accepted it right away. Earlier in the ride he would’ve been a little combative about this.

He said, I think you’re right! I need to be baptized. The spirit was really strong in the car, and I got the distinct impression that I had to do something that I’ve never done. First, I said, what has changed your mind? He said, the spirit has told me the things you’re saying are true. I need to be baptized.

I said, you mentioned two Missionaries had been talking with you. He said, yes. I said, do you still have their phone number? He said, let me see if I can find it. He dug through his bag and came out with the number.

I asked, is it OK if we call the missionaries right now and tell them that you want to be baptized? He said, yes, let’s do it. We called the missionaries, it was 9:10 so I knew they’d probably be in their apartment. I said hello to the elders and then I asked them if they remembered my passenger.

Death silence on the other end of the line let me know that they were having a hard time membering that name. Then he spouted up and said tell him I’m the big black guy. When he said that, they remembered him finally.

I told them that we had been talking about the church and the gospel and kind of gave them a rundown of everything. I said, he’s got something that he wants to tell you. He spoke up from the backseat and said, I want to be baptized. I didn’t think they heard him so I asked him to say it again.

He said, I want to be baptized. There was a moment of shock and then celebration from the elders. Then one elder said, when do you want to be baptized? He said next Friday. I said, is that possible elders? Has he been to church? He said, I’ve been three times and the elder said yes we can do this.

I told the elders that we had about 20 minutes left in the ride. I said I would talk to him a little bit more about baptism. They thought that was a great idea. They scheduled a meeting for the following evening at 8:15, cheered very loudly and then we let them go do their quiet time.

Our ride continued. I started talking to him about baptism and how when we are baptized we are cleansed from our sins. We become clean. I told him that if he repents, when he’s baptized he will be clean. The spirit prompted me that he was right then thinking about something that he didn’t think he could be forgiven for.

I told him that right now there was a sin that he had committed that he didn’t think he could be forgiven for. I said that Satan was telling him that he couldn’t be forgiven for it. I told him that this was a lie. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ is more powerful than Satan. I told him that when he’s baptized, the guilt and pain from that will be removed and his repentance will be complete.

The spirit flooded in the car and he said how did you know that? I told him that when we are baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost whispers things to us so that we can know the will of God and say the words of God. I told him that God gave me those things to say so that he would know that the rest of the things I was saying were true.

He said, the spirit has told me that everything you said tonight has been true. I knew that was the truth because I had been feeling the spirit very powerfully all along the way.

I told him that once he is baptized, he can go to the temple and be baptized for his grandfathers. I said, I believe your grandfathers are dead aren’t they? He said, yes they are. I said, you can go to the temple and be baptized for them because they’ve been taught and they’re waiting for you. I told him that they were so happy tonight about his decision. They know that finally now they are going to get their baptism. I told him they’ve been waiting for centuries for him.

We could really feel the spirit of these grandparents in the car. It was very cool.

He said, how long will it take me to be able to go to the temple and do that? I said, that won’t take very long. I told him that if he gets baptized next Friday, he should be able to go to the temple and do those baptisms before the end of the year and possibly before the end of October. He said, I can get the whole family going! I said, that’s right

We were pulling into his house and I could tell he wanted to ask me if I would pray with him before I left. I said, is it OK if we pray? He said, I was afraid to ask you but I suppose the spirit told you that too. I said,yes.

We shared a prayer and I asked Heavenly Father to bless him in his preparation and help him repent so that he could feel the cleansing power of the atonement. It was a very sacred moment in that car, and he said, I’m very excited to be baptized.

He said, I’m so glad God put me in your car. He said, this was the best ride ever. He got out of the car and went into the house. When I sit back and look at this experience, I realize that there were many things that I wouldn’t normally do, but there I was in Logan. By the way, his plan is to go back to Ghana. My thought is that this is just exactly the kind of young man the church needs in Ghana.

I picked up a young man on ninth south just east of State Street by the Chip chocolate chip cookies store. Against my better judgment I did not stop and have any. He got in the car and he talked about how he was taking Uber because his car broke down and he was downtown because his phone got smashed and he had to replace it. He was having a bad day.

I told him it’s a good thing he didn’t lose his wallet or it would’ve been a trifecta. He laughed and said, I lost my wallet last week! We laughed. I asked him where he was from and he said he was from Salt Lake all of his life. He had a Latino name so I asked him if he spoke Spanish and he said he did. He said it came in handy now with his friends getting back from their missions. He said that now he talked to them in Spanish.

I asked him if he knew what his friends were teaching on their missions and he said that he thought they were teaching about Jesus and the church but he didn’t know. I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what his friends were teaching on their missions and he said yes, he would like that very much.

I told him that his friends were teaching that God is the father of all of us. That he loves each one of us and that he has a plan to give all of us a chance to come home to him. He said, I believe that. I told him that his friends weren’t going out teaching that the Catholic Church is evil. He said that people he knew were saying that Mormon missionaries were out just ripping on the Catholic Church. I said that they weren’t out saying that other religions were evil. They were out teaching that other religions had a portion of the truth but we have the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

I told him that we have everything they have but we have more. He said, what do you mean by more. I said, we believe that God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem. I told him that God had prophets in other parts of the world not just in Jerusalem. I told him that God specifically had prophets in America not just in Jerusalem.

I told him that those prophets wrote the revelations they received and we have them today in the Book of Mormon.

I asked him, does God love everyone? He said, yes. I asked him if God is a perfect God and he said yes. I asked him if that perfect God that loves everyone would try to make a way for all of his children to hear his word and be able to come home to him. He said yes.

I told him that when Jesus was in Jerusalem after his crucifixion and resurrection,he said “other sheep I have which are not of this fold” and that he was commanded by his father to go to them. I asked him, who do you think those other sheep were? He said, everyone.

I said, that’s right. I asked , did you know that in America when Jesus was crucified there were earthquakes and three days of darkness? Following those three days of darkness they heard the voice of our father in heaven and they looked up and they saw Jesus Christ decending from heaven dressed in white and he stood in front of the people. They touch the prints of the nails in his hands and feet and they knew they were in the presence of God.

He said, wow! The Spirit blew the doors off right then. I asked him if he felt that spirit and he said yes. I asked, how would you describe it? He said, it’s power. It just overwhelmed me so much that I just had to say the word wow. I told him that Jesus taught the people and gave them a new law, a higher law, and gave them a baptism. It was his baptism so that they could take the next step to the higher law.

I told him that this higher law was what his friends were out teaching so that people could come to Jesus and have that baptism. I said that this way they could live that higher law and find additional joy in service to Jesus. . He said, that is amazing. He said, my friends are always so happy, this must be why. I always admired them going on missions. It was a joy for them. This must be why.

I asked him if he remembered me talking about the prophets in America and he said yes. I told him those prophets wrote the prophecies they received from God just like the prophets in the Bible. I said they also wrote the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America in their records. I told him that those records were given to the prophet Joseph Smith and he translated them and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon.

He said, that sounds like a very important work. My friends have given the Book of Mormon to me but I’ve never read it. It’s never been explained to me like this. I asked him how important it would be for him to actually read the book and he said very important. He said, the feeling I feel right now makes me think that it’s true. I need to read that book.

I said to him, so you believe the Book of Mormon is true based on what you’re feeling right now from the spirit? He said yes. I said, God sends his spirit so that we can know truth and he manifests his spirit when we’re hearing the truth. He said, yes and this is true.

I told him that Joseph Smith was called by God and Jesus in person to be a prophet. I said that they descended from heaven and stood in front of him and called him to be the prophet to restore the gospel on the Earth. I said, part of restoring that gospel was translating the Book of Mormon. He translated this book from those engravings written by ancient prophets by the power of God. I asked him if he thought, based on the spirit he was feeling during that testimony and remembering that God sends that spirit to testify of truth, if that meant that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He said, he has to be. A false prophet could not write a true book.

Just then we were getting off the I-215 at the 4700 S. exit. That’s where the temple is. I said, your friends have been out helping people get the baptism of Christ because it’s important that everybody be baptized. He said, yes. In our church we believe that everybody needs to be baptized.

I asked him what he believed would happen to people that lived 1000 years ago in America . They didn’t know about baptism. I asked him if they were God’s children. He said yes. I asked him if God loves them and he said yes. I asked him if God would automatically condemn them and not provide a way for them to be baptized. He said that didn’t seem right but that this was what his church taught.

I pointed at the temple and said, in that building they do baptisms and they’re called baptisms for the dead. It’s where people will go in and be baptized for and in behalf of someone who has died. I explained to him that Jesus organized the teaching of the gospel to those who had died without hearing these teachings during the three days that he was dead. I said that each of them has an opportunity to accept the gospel when they are taught. I told him that then we go to the temples and are baptized for them. They have the opportunity to accept that baptism when it’s performed for them and enables them so they can go home to their Heavenly Father.

I said, we all have a lot of ancestors that need to be saved! We do that in the temple. We provide a baptism for them.

I said to him, this is how everyone has a chance to come home under perfect circumstances. He said, this is beautiful. He said, my mind is firing and my heart is beating. I want to know about this. I want to follow through. I told him that the first thing that Jesus did when he came to America was he called up 12 people and gave them the authority to baptize and commanded all of those people even though they had been previously baptized to be baptized with his baptism. I said, this was the invitation he gave them so that they could step up to this new, higher level of discipleship. I told him, Jesus is extending that same invitation to you.

He said, I want to accept that. That is amazing. I said, right now you’ve been thinking about one of your friends in particular that served a mission. I said, you are itching to call him about this aren’t you? He laughed and said, how did you know?

I asked, is this friend that you’ve been thinking about the one who gave you the Book of Mormon? He said yes.

I told him that as soon as he gets out of the car he is to go call this friend and tell him what he learned and what he felt in the car. He said he would. He said he had been pulling up his phone number just before I said that.

He told me that he had never believed that someone’s life could be changed in a 15 minute car ride but that’s what happened tonight. How great will it be for that friend to get back home and find more work to finish here! How great will the celebration be when he’s baptized by his friend! Bringing friends and family together in the gospel is one of the most rewarding things we can do.

One night Heather and I had gone to the BYU volleyball game and I went out to work after the game. I had quit working about 4 o’clock so that we could make it to the ball game. It went five sets so it was late when I started working again.

I was going to start with a private ride. Before the game I had thought that I would drive for an hour or so before I picked up the private ride but because the game went long, I had to go straight to it. I picked up my friends at the Provo airport and took them to the point of the mountain and then decided to go to work.

Prior to the private ride, I had decided to work in Provo but I thought as long as I was in Salt Lake, I would work in Salt Lake. I drove from the point of the mountain down to Salt Lake City and it was 11:15 pm when I turned on my app.

The thing that was crazy is that at 11:15 there were no rides. I drove around for 15 minutes, no rides. Finally, I got a ride and I jumped on it without looking. It took me over to the Motel 6 just off of 600 S. and 200 W. in Salt Lake City. It was a pick up with three stops

As I approached the motel, I realized where I would be picking this person up. On advice from the police I never pick up people at that place. The police told me that they’re all druggies or prostitutes and I should never pick up there. They have told this me as I have pulled me out of there, and I’ve had them tell me as they were passengers in my car. They told me that it’s very dangerous. Personally, I believe that there are more drugs sold out of that Motel 6 than in all the Walgreens in the valley combined. It is a hive of activity after 11 PM.

I pulled into the parking lot and immediately put my car in reverse to get out of the parking lot and my plan was to just drive off and cancel the ride. The spirit said no. I prayed because I wanted to verify that feeling and it came to me again that I should not cancel the ride.

Out of the hotel and into and my car came a lady. That was of interest to me because it was a guy name who had booked the ride. She got in my car and everything seemed very disconcerting about her situation. She looked haggard and like she had been beat up and abused in every way.

I could smell incense, which usually people in that situation burn to cover up the smell of marijuana, which told me that she had been smoking marijuana or she was in a room where everybody was smoking marijuana.

I started the ride and it took us a half a block to the McDonald’s. We went up to the McDonald’s and she wanted to go through the drive-through but the line was very long so she decided she wanted to go in and order. She went in and they told her she had to go through the drive-through so she came back out and we got in the line. Finally, we had a chance to talk and I had an opportunity to find out why it was that Heavenly Father wanted her in my car.

I asked her why she was going to McDonald’s and she said to get food for her kids. I asked her how many kids she had and she said two. She ordered six double cheeseburgers and drinks with fries. She paid with a $100 bill which sends up red flags because that’s how those people in those sketchy businesses are paid.

I asked her how far away her kids were and she said they were at her apartment about 3 miles away. We got the food and we left. I prayed to have Heavenly Father help me navigate this one and the impression came to ask about her kids. I said, tell me about your kids.

She said she had two kids and asked how many I have. I told her I have three. I told her it’s hard to raise kids these days, but I suppose it was hard to raise us too. She laughed, then she told me, you’ve treated me so kindly, do you mind if I talk about my kids? I said, go ahead.

She told me that her kids were 13 and 22. She told me that her 22-year-old was a girl that just returned from a Mormon mission. My ears perked up. I realized then why I was inspired to ask her about her kids. I asked, how is she doing? She said that her daughter was doing great.

I asked where her daughter had gone on her mission and she said, she went to Washington state. I told her that’s very cool and how excited I was for her daughter. I told her that I served my mission in Argentina and it was an amazing foundation for the rest of my life and taught me the things I needed to know to make it through life. I looked at her in the mirror and said, I bet you’re proud of her. She put her head down and said, yes, I am.

I thought back and remembered as a member of a branch presidency in the MTC I interviewed thousands of missionaries, many of whom had parents who were spiritually in trouble or who had left the church. Their greatest desire always was for their parents to come back. I got the strong impression that the daughter had prayed for this blessing like many of those other missionaries had.

I looked in the mirror at her eyes and said, is your daughter trying to help you? Her eyes filled with tears as she said, she tries all the time. She’s such a good girl and my boy who’s 13 is a great young man.

She asked me if I minded if she opened up to me. She said, I feel like that’s what I’m supposed to do here. I think thats why I’m here with you. I said, go ahead.

She said, I used to go to church all the time. I was very active. I was married in the temple and I was a relief society president. One day my husband cheated on me and I lost it. I went into a spiral. She said, it shattered my world and I was never able to recover. She said, I just kept spiraling downward to the point where now I’m doing things to earn money that I would’ve never thought I would ever do.

She said, I can’t go to church because of the things I do, although I’d like to get back to the point where I could go to church.

Sometimes when I receive promptings it just opens up a floodgate and that was the case here, as I heard about her life and her disastrous downturn.

She took a breath and I said, do you mind if I share some thoughts with you? She said please do. I told her that there are two things that she has forgotten that she needs to try to remember.

The first one is that her Heavenly Father loves her and that love is unconditional. I asked her to think about how much she loves her children. She said she loved them with all of her heart. I asked her if there was anything they could do that would make her turn her back on them and she said no.

I said, well, why do you think that a perfect father in heaven who loves you perfectly would turn his back on you? I asked her why she thinks that God would not be there for her in her time of need?

She said, I blame God. I blame God for what happened to me. She said, he could’ve stopped it. I told her that Heavenly Father is a perfect father who loves us. I testified to her and the spirit bore witness. The spirit it entered the car and I said, do you feel the spirit? She said, yes. I said, that is the love of your father in heaven. He loves you!

I said, our Heavenly Father gives us agency. I said, if our Heavenly Father had forced us to do everything we were supposed to do and took away our free will to choose, would we be happy? Would we blame him for not being happy? She said, probably. I said God needs to give us the ability to act for ourselves so that we can work out our salvation and learn the lessons of success and failure.

I told her that because we have this agency, sometimes we use it poorly. When we do it almost always negatively affects other people, but that doesn’t mean God loves them less. It just means that someone misused their agency.

I told her that Satan is there to take advantage of this and that is the trap that she had fallen into. I told her that Satan says blame God. He says that it’s the people at your ward who are hypocrites along with the other people you know that are in the church who are also hypocrites that are the problem. Satan tells you to leave and that you can’t go to church. Satan tells you not to pray. Satan tells you that God doesn’t love you.

I told her, Satan is a liar, Satan is a manipulator. I told her that she had been deceived by Satan.

I told her that God, on the other hand, stands there and points us to Jesus. I said in the atonement Jesus suffered for all of our sins but not just our sins. He suffered for all of our hardships, our infirmities, our injustices, and all of the pains we would have to suffer in this life. He did this so that he can lift the burden from us.

God points to Jesus as his way of helping us cope so that we don’t have to turn away from him so that we can embrace him. She said, I never thought of it that way.

I told her that the atonement is the thing that helps us when everything‘s wrong. I told her when our life is burning down around us he can lift us. I told her that when we don’t feel worthy the atonement is the thing that can help us get to the point where we are worthy.

I told her that Satan says blame God. Christ says love God. I told her that love is more powerful than hate and blame and our love for God is the most powerful love. The spirit was burning in the car and she said, you know, I know that I’m supposed to be here in your car to hear this. Thank you so much for saying that to me. I needed to hear that.

We were rounding the corner to the apartment for her so she could run in and drop off the food. Then I was supposed to take her back to the drug and prostitution motel.

I said, one thing is for sure, Satan has his hooks in you. He has convinced you that you can’t go to church. You need to go to church! She said, I want to get to the point where I can go again.

She said, I think about that all the time. I want to get to the point where I can go again. I told her that she doesn’t need to wait to get to the point where she can go again, she needs to just go. I told her that the church isn’t a museum for perfection. It’s a hospital for the infirmed. I told her that everyone there has sins.

I said, what you’re worried about is what everyone will say. You need to understand that everyone there has sin of all types and all levels. You need to ignore what everybody else is saying. Pray to your Heavenly Father that the atonement of Jesus Christ can help you understand and love those people, even though they may be judging you. This way you can be tolerant of their sin, which is judging.

You need to go back to church and the spirit. The people at church will help you get to the point where you can be worthy to participate in church like you previously did.

I told her that Satan had sold her on the notion that she had to clean her life up before she could go back to church. I told her that this was not the way it works.

I told her that Satan had been whispering to her ever since her husband cheated. I told her that Satan had whispered to her and told her to blame God, he had told her to do the things that she’s been doing, and he had told her not to go to church. He told her she couldn’t go to church and she was listening to him and doing everything he said. I said, have you ever thought that you would be the kind of woman that would do everything a man told you to do without questioning him?

She said, no, I wouldn’t do that! I said, that’s what you’ve been doing. Satan‘s been telling you what to do and you’ve just been letting him guide you around. It’s time to stop!

I said, you need to go back to church and work through it. I told her that her daughter was praying for her tonight. I told her that her daughter was praying for a miracle. I told her that I knew that while her daughter was on her mission, she was praying for her and that’s why she was in my car.

I asked her again, what have you felt in my car? She said, I felt peace, I felt love, and I felt the spirit. I said, these feelings should be a testimony to you that the things I’ve said are true and that God has a plan for you to come back. He’s even given you your daughter as your own personal missionary.

I told her that God wants her back now God wants to help her get there. The church is the hospital where they bandage you up and put the medicine on you to help you overcome your challenges. she said again, I know that God put me in your car tonight. I was supposed to hear this.

By this time we were at the apartment where her daughter and son were and she was going to run in to take the food to them. She was supposed to come right back out and get in the car. She said, I’m going to mention this ride to my daughter. I said, that’s great! Why are you going back to that place? She said, I don’t know.

She got the food and went into the apartment. I waited for 15 minutes and then I texted her on the app and I said, are you coming back out to go? I hope you’ve decided to stay. I can just end the ride. She said, just a minute.

Then she texted me back and she said that she had been talking with her daughter about our ride and she had decided to stay there.

I told her to remember to go to church on Sunday and she said she would. I ended the ride and drove off. I couldn’t believe the turn that ride had taken. I couldn’t even believe I picked her up but I knew that Heavenly Father had sent me in there to pull her out of that den of iniquity. I was happy he did.

That daughter who just finished her mission, who prayed for this opportunity, was having her prayers answered that night and God was going to see to it!

.One night during the winter it was pretty snowy and I was on one of those runs where they don’t allow you to reject a ride or you forfeit the bonus. I was down in Sandy and I got a ride at the mouth of big Cottonwood Canyon where the buses drop off the skiers. As I pulled in I saw the guy waving at me. He was a young guy and seemed to be a typical skier.

When he got in, I swiped the arrow on the app so I could see where we were going and lo and behold he was going to Provo. When passengers are going to Provo it is a good thing for them but not for you when you’re working. I wasn’t very pleased. I had my mindset on working in Salt Lake where it was snowing and I could making bank. It wasn’t snowing in Utah County.

I decided to just shut up and do it and away we went. I asked him why he was going to Provo and he said that there was a girl who was his friend from high school that was attending BYU. He was going down to see her. He was a student at Arizona State University and a member of the ROTC. He was a Marine in that program and he kind of had his life planned out that way. He obviously liked this girl in Provo because it was worth spending hard earned cash to get three hours with her.

I was concerned about him getting back up to Solitude where he was staying that night. I knew that there weren’t very many drivers that had cars capable of making it to the resort. I did however, know that my car was capable of making it. I also knew the most of the current drivers are immigrants and do not have experience in snow driving. I am however an East Idaho trained snow driver and I have tremendous snow driving skill.

I offered to take him to Provo, hang out at home for the three hours then take him all the way up the mountain back to solitude. He seemed relieved and excitedly accepted the offer. He said that he thought he might have to walk 3 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon because he didn’t think he would find a driver to take him all the way to the to the resort.

I started to talk to this young man and I could feel that he was a good young man. I could feel his goodness and I could feel his sincerity. I could feel his desire to make good choices and do the right things and I was impressed by how he carried himself.

I asked him about his religious history and he said that he believed in the Bible. He said he believed in God but that he didn’t really have a religious foundation. I asked him about the girl he was going to see. I asked him if he liked her as in would he like to date her. He said yes. I asked him what he liked about her and he said that it was just a feeling he had when he was around her. I told him that I felt that part of this feeling was a peace he felt when he looked in her eyes. He said, wow that’s very specific but exactly right. None of the other girls have that.

He said that at one point she had given him one of our Bibles that he read part of. He said he didn’t have it anymore but that he thought that was nice of her. He said she was thinking about going on a mission but he didn’t know anything about that.

Since he brought up the Book of Mormon I thought we would talk about it for a minute. I asked him if he knew what it was and he said not really, he had only read a little bit. I told him it was an account of God’s spiritual dealings with the ancient people of America. I told him that the people in America had prophets just like the people in Jerusalem because God loved the people in America just like he loved the people in Jerusalem.

I told him that God revealed his word to prophets in America just like he did to the prophets in Jerusalem. I told him that they wrote these words down. This is why we have the Bible from Jerusalem and the Book of Mormon from America. I said that they both teach that Jesus Christ is the son of God and they both testify of his divinity. He said, that’s really cool.

I asked him if he thought God loved everyone and he said yes. I asked him if a loving God would only talk to one of his children if he had 10 of them and he said no. I asked him if he had children in 10 different states, would go to each state to visit them and he said yes.

I told him that he was literally a son of God and that God loved him. I told him that God loves all of his children and he sent his son Jesus Christ to save us all. I told him that Jesus Christ went to all of his sheep to bring them into the fold.

I asked him if he had heard the scripture about “other sheep I have” from the Bible and he said yes. I told him while recounting that scripture, that when he said this he was talking about the people in America and in other places. I told him that in the Book of Mormon he said, still other sheep I have that I need to go see.

I could feel the spirit in the car as I testified of the Book of Mormon and God‘s relationship to each of us but I sensed that he was not recognizing that he was feeling it. I decided to probe. I asked him, what are you thinking when I say these things? He said, it’s like pure knowledge. I’m getting a rush of knowledge. I asked him what he was feeling and he said, I feel peaceful. It’s calm and warm in here he said, I feel good. But mostly I am learning a lot.

I asked him if the things that I had said to him sounded strange. He said no, it felt right. He reiterated that it seemed like pure knowledge downloading into his brain. I told him that this is how he would feel when he heard the word of God. The spirit of God was there and it was helping him learn and understand these things. He said, I know that’s true. That’s exactly what’s going on.

He said he loved this feeling and felt like he wanted to dig in and learn more and more. I asked him if he still had his copy of the Book of Mormon that was given to him by the girl at BYU. He said no. I pulled out one of my copies prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, I’m giving you this book so that you can have it. He said, it’s all marked and lined out. I said, this is your book you should keep it. I told him that it was a book prepared especially for him and that I wanted him to have it. He asked me if I would keep it in the car and give it to him later and I said yes.

I talked to him about baptism. I mentioned how Jesus Christ had come and asked everyone to be baptized the way he taught and by his authority that he gave them. He commanded them to be baptized even though they had all been previously baptized. He taught them the proper way to baptize as well. My rider asked me what the difference was in this baptism and the one he had. We went through the three points in the baptism; when you’re accountable, in the water by immersion and by the authority that Jesus gave on that day when he came to America.

I asked him if he studied, prayed and found out that this was true, would he be baptized? He said, absolutely. I would love to have the peace in my heart that I feel in the car and in the presence of this girl.

He then looked at me and asked, how do we get this thing started?

I asked him if he had ever gone to our church and he said no, he didn’t think they had any in the part of Arizona where he lived. I told him there are a lot of members everywhere in Arizona. I said that I even have a friend that was a bishop of a ward at ASU. I told him, I know that there is a ward in Arizona that he should attend. He said he’d love to do that. He asked me how he could find out where it is.

I asked him to leave me his address and when I picked him back up I would have the time and place of the meetings. He said he would do that and he gave me his address.

One thing I would love to say here is that his questions were always genuine and very introspective. He was on a search for truth, not a search for a girl even though he found this feeling he wanted to have in his life during his pursuit of that girl. He was genuinely interested and excited for a ride back. He asked me to keep the Book of Mormon in the car and said that he would snag it on the way back.

I dropped him off at BYU at 6 and promised to be back at 9 o’clock.

At 9:00 I came back and there he was with the girl on the sidewalk. They gave each other a hug and he got in the car. We started to drive and talk about his evening.

He said they went bowling at the Wilkinson Center and had a good time. I asked him if he told her about our conversation and he said he tried to once but that she deflected that conversation a bit. I told him not to be discouraged by that because she probably didn’t want to feel like she was pushing him. He said he could see that. He said that she told him that she’s going to go on a mission.

That gave me the opportunity to talk about missions and how we go out to testify of Jesus Christ. I said that we testify about how the gospel has blessed our lives. I told him that it not only blesses our lives as individuals but as families because we are able to be sealed together as families through the power of the priesthood in temples. I pointed out four temples on the way back.

I told him that I had found the bishop and ward in Arizona for him to attend. He said, that’s great. Do I just show up on Sunday morning? I told him that I would have that bishop reach out to him on Saturday. and that someone would meet him at the door on Sunday. He said, that’s great! I’m excited to do it. I want to get started.

I texted him the page from the meeting house locator. He was excited because that was really close to where he lives. He asked if it was OK for members of the church to be in the military. I said, of course. I started listing a bunch of people who are members of the church who have been in the military including general authorities and apostles. He was impressed. He felt like he should ask me what I thought about him. Following the promptings of the spirit I told him that it seemed to me like he was looking for something in his life. I said it seemed like he felt like he was wandering a little bit in his life and was looking for something to fill the void in his soul. I told him that God put him here tonight so that he could feel God’s love and get this information. I said that God wanted him to grab that knowledge so it could get him on the path.

He said, “that’s exactly right. That knowledge was amazing. It was amazing how clear it was and I really have a desire to learn more.” He said, you would think that learning something like that would satisfy your desire to learn but it heightened my interest and that’s really cool.

When we were going back up the canyon he was very impressed with my expertise in snow driving. He said, in my head, there are so many ways that I got the right driver tonight. I laughed and said, it’s amazing how Heavenly Father knows what he’s doing. When I dropped him off I made sure he had his Book of Mormon and I told him for sure the next day I would text him the information I found and that the bishop would be contacting him.

I asked him to commit to read the Book of Mormon and he said he would do it, 100%. I asked him to pray when he read it and he said he would because he wanted to feel the spirit again like he did that night

When I went to call the phone number for the Bishop that was in the meeting house locator, it was the actual phone in the meeting house, a landline. That number is of no use to anyone and should never be published but there it was. I didn’t know what to do because I wanted to talk to the bishop because we needed to reach out to this young man quickly.

I called my brother-in-law whose name is David. He lives in Phoenix and he was able to find the name and the phone number of the bishop of the ward for me.

Using that number I called the Bishop and the Bishop was excited! I couldn’t get the idea through to the bishop that this guy wasn’t a member. At first he thought he was a less active member. I said, no, we’re going to baptize this guy, you, me and the missionaries so he got on board and was excited to make the call.

This is a good young man trying to do the right thing. He and I both believe that he was guided to my car to get things going.

One Monday morning, I was starting my drive earlier than normal in Salt Lake. That’s a mixed bag because you never know how long it’s going to take for you to get a ride. You like to be able to get 3 to 5 rides per hour and sometimes in the morning it doesn’t work so well.

I turned on and drove around for about 10 minutes and finally got a ride. I went over to pick the guy up an apartment complex on 200 W. I waited for quite a while and wondered if I was going to be timing him out and collecting the no-show fee.

Finally, he came out of the building with a burst. All I could say was wow.

He was a great big, huge Tongan man dressed in black flowing clothes and a purple scarf. He had very long hair and some tattoos underneath his right eye on his cheek.

He didn’t look like he was feeling very good and when he sat down in the car, he said,Uuuuh. I said, not feeling so well are we? He said, no! I partied all night into the morning. I was really drunk, I passed out on the floor. He told me that there were a whole bunch of people there last he remembered, but when he woke up, he was the only one there and he had the worst hangover ever. 

Having never been drunk in my life, hence never having experienced a hangover, I’m not very knowledgeable with regards to how you feel during a hangover.  I am pretty sure from what I understand that you want to close your eyes to everything. And hope that the headache goes away.

As I’m thinking this and kind of chuckling to myself, I get the impression that I’m supposed to teach this man. That’s a bold endeavor because he’s a lot bigger than I am and you don’t want to poke the bear. Again, the prompting came that he was put here in your car today to be taught. The spirit said go. I looked in my mirror and there he was slinking back in the seat with his eyes closed, nevertheless I decided to go for it.

I said, mālō e lelei. That’s a Tongan greeting. He said, oh you’ve been around some Tongans before! I told him I was around a lot of Tongans when I coached football and he said, that makes sense.  I said, but I learned to speak some words in Tongan while I was serving in the MTC. I told him that as an executive secretary, one of my responsibilities was to look out for and love up the international missionaries of whom many were from Tonga.

I told him that as part of my endeavor to love and respect them, I tried to learn to say hello and maybe thank you in each of their languages. He said, that’s really cool. The spirit prompted me to keep discussing the MTC. I said, it’s amazing when you see how much your Heavenly Father loves each one of his young missionaries.

I told him that they would show up and I could feel his love for them. I told him, I’ll bet you had relatives from Tonga that I met when I was in the MTC. I noticed that he was very pensive and his eyes were wide open which I’m sure is not a normal state for someone with the world’s greatest hangover.

I felt that Heavenly Father wanted me to keep going, so I said, I loved the spirit the young elders had and I loved to see the love in their souls for other people and for their Heavenly Father. It was an amazing thing.

Then I found out why the Lord wanted me to talk about the MTC and missionaries. He said to me, my son is getting ready to go into the MTC. I tried not to look shocked as I reacted to his statement. I shouted, great! Knowing that probably shattered his brain from the hangover I asked, where is he going to serve?

He said, my son’s going to serve in the Calgary Alberta Canada mission. You could hear the pride in his voice when he said that. As I looked in the mirror, I could see his countenance was still low, even though there was a jump in his voice.

The spirit let me see a man who had been beaten down by life. The spirited let me see a man who had felt pushed out and ostracized. He hadn’t felt like he belonged so he left. The spirit gave me the words to say through promptings of how to approach this man. I said, do you want to know what the most important thing is your son’s going to teach? Do you want to know what the most important thing is that he has to learn before he can be a good missionary?

He said, yes! I told him that the most important thing that your son has to teach and learn for himself is the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told him that all the other things flow from that and that the atonement of Jesus Christ is the thing that everyone needs to cure their spiritual and physical ailments.

I told him that when Jesus Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane he suffered all of the pains, injustices, illnesses, unfairness, and pain from sins that we could ever imagine. He suffered them all at once and that pain was so great that he bled from every pore. I said, he did this so that he knows how to lift us.

I told him that the pain was so great that he asked God to make it so he didn’t have to go through that if possible. I asked him, if his son was suffering like that and he asked you to take that pain from him what would that make you feel like? He said, it would make me want to make it better and if I couldn’t, it would make me feel horrible.

I told him that was just how Heavenly Father  felt. He sent an angel to Jesus to give him strength to help him through it. I told him that because Jesus felt and went through all of that, now we can rely on him.

I said, if we look to him, he can help us. I told him that I had received a prompting that in his life, he had been very offended and very judged by some family members. I told him that he felt that he had been ostracized and not wanted. I told him that for sure he was wanted by his father in heaven and that his brother, Jesus Christ, had felt that same pain and he was waiting for him to turn to him for help. That’s the family that matters.

I told him that instead of turning to Jesus, he turned away from God. I told him that Satan tells us to blame God and blame our families. Satan tells us to self medicate and look for happiness in a riotous lifestyle.

I told him that Satan is a liar and that he never tells us anything that’s true. I repeated about four times that Satan is a liar and that he had been lied to by Satan.

I told him that on the other hand if he looks to God, he points to Jesus, and we access the atonement so that he can lift our burdens and heal our hearts. I told him, that’s what you need, you need your heart to be healed. You don’t need another bender with the dudes. I looked back and he was weeping. There were tears coming down his face. 

I reminded him of the story Alma, in the Book of Mormon. His people were captured by the Lamanites and put into slavery. I reminded him that when they called upon God and the atonement of Jesus Christ, their burdens were lifted and they could barely feel them. I reminded him that this didn’t mean that their burdens were removed but that because of Jesus Christ, their burdens were lifted and made bearable. They were able to be happy despite their trials because of the atonement Jesus Christ.

I asked him if he had younger brothers and sisters, he said yes. I asked him if when they were young they had come to him for advice and help because he had been there and done that. He said yes. I said, this works in a very similar way. Jesus Christ has suffered all things for us, and if we will turn to him and the power of his atonement , he can lift us and help us through these trials.

I told him that when we do this, it takes away Satan‘s power and his solution seems frivolous. I looked back in the mirror. More tears were flowing and not a word was being spoken.

The spirit told me that I wasn’t done yet. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ will make it possible for him to let go of the negative feelings he had towards those who had harmed him and allow him to forgive them.

I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ is what his son, who was going on a mission, had to offer to the world so that the world could heal just like he needed to heal. He said, I never thought of it that way. I told him that the damage done to his soul was not done by anybody else but by the hate and rebellion in his own heart. I said, that’s what happens when we look to Satan and his solutions to our problems. I told him, his solutions are counterfeits. I repeated again, Satan is a liar and he lies to us. I asked him if he wanted to do what Satan tells him and he said, no. 

I told him again that Jesus Christ was there to heal him, which I’m sure was great news, considering he was in the midst of this hangover.

By this time he was sitting up not slouched back and he was paying attention to what I was saying. His eyes were wide open, but he wasn’t saying much. I could tell that he was listening to every word I said.

I said, God put you in my car today so you could get this message. God put you in my car today to let you know that he needs you to come back. God needs you to be a missionary father and God needs you to be a witness. God needs you to not only be a missionary father but a missionary yourself.

I told him that he had made quite an impression as a rebel. I told him that everybody knew how crazy he was and how much he partied. I told him that everybody knew how far off the path he was. He bowed his head.

I asked him, can you imagine the shock in everyone’s life when you go back to church, repent of your sins and start walking with God? I asked him, can you imagine the impact that will have on people’s lives?

I said, they will see the power of the atonement in real time in your life. They will see how God transforms people in real time in your life. They will see the love of God reflected in your countenance and in your life and they will know that the atonement is real. They will know that you have been forgiven and they will know, if God can do that for you, he can do that for them too.

I told him that while his son is being a missionary, if he will clean it up and embrace the atonement with all of his heart, he will change as many lives as his son will. People will recognize the power of that change. I told him, that way you can be a missionary too.

The spirit was palpable in the car and I could tell he was feeling it. I asked him if he felt that and he said yes. I asked him what it was and he said, that’s the spirit. I asked him what that meant. He said, it means that what you’re saying is true.

I told him again, God put you in my car today. God put you in my car so I could say this to you. It’s time for you to make that change. God stands there willing to help and is pointing to the atonement of his son, Jesus Christ.

I told him, don’t look to Satan. Look to God and be saved. The tears were still flowing down his face and he said, I know God put me in your car today. This is just what I’ve needed, I’ve needed this for years. He said, I suppose this means I’m going to church on Sunday. I need to go to church with my boy.

I told him that his Heavenly Father is his father and he loves him and that he will do this with him. I told him that God needs him back and he needs the people that he is going to influence and bring with him. He said, I needed this! This is exactly what I needed and I’ve needed this for a long time. I said, don’t let Satan tell you that the things you’ve done are so bad that you can’t return. I told him that Satan‘s next trick is to tell you that what you’ve done is so bad that you can’t be saved so you will be discouraged. I told him that it’s not true. Jesus Christ has paid that price if he will allow Jesus to do so.

He said, I’m going to do that. He said, at first I was wondering if you go around picking up all of the sinners and teach them about Jesus. Then I realized that my soul was open to you. You spoke directly to me and that it had to be Heavenly Father telling you what to say.

I’m going to go to church Sunday and I’m going to turn this around. I know Heavenly Father put me in your car today.

He thanked me and got out of the car.

One day I picked up a guy up at the University of Utah engineering building. I pulled through the parking lot and saw him standing there. He was a well-dressed man in a nice suit. He was from India and had been lecturing or giving a presentation that day.

He got in the car and we started talking about how his presentation went and I asked him what he thought about the area. He said that he thought it was beautiful and that he loved taking pictures from campus. It’s really nice from up there, you can see the whole valley and he was enjoying it.

I told him that I live down by Provo and he said that they had other people in their company who were going to BYU. They go down there to lecture so he had never been able to do that. I talked about the difference in the mountains between salt lake and Provo and the drive down Provo Canyon, which I think is gorgeous. It never ceases to amaze me, the high percentage of people that I drive from Salt Lake that have never been down to Provo Canyon. It’s like on the other side of that mountain, Point of the Mountain. They know there’s something down there but they don’t care to go see what it is.

I asked him what he was going to do tomorrow and he said that they were going to go to the parks in southern Utah. I told him that they would be driving through Utah County and they should go up Provo Canyon, it would only take a few minutes. He told me that they had all day and that might be a good diversion and he thought that was a great idea.

I asked him what else he wanted to see while he was here and he said that he wanted to see some of the more important historical things and asked if we could drive by any on our way back to his hotel. I knew exactly where I was going to drive.

I drove straight past the city county building on State Street, mentioning it briefly and headed towards Temple Square. When we got to the Lion House and the Beehive House, I told him that those were Brigham Young‘s houses and he thought that was really cool.

With him being an engineer, I pointed out that the temple was being retrofitted for protection during a seismic event. He thought that this was cool and he was very interested to see the temple. He said that when he was young, his family had gone to the temple and heard the Tabernacle Choir.

I pointed at the tabernacle, and said well, if you heard the Choir, it was probably in that building because the temples are special places. I asked him what he knew about our church and he said that he knew us to be people who believed in family. I told him that this belief starts in that building.

I told him that when Jesus was on the earth, he gave Peter the power to seal things on earth that will be sealed in heaven. We believe that because of this power, families are sealed and marriages are for eternity not just until death. I told him that this gives our families more power in our marriages and more lasting joy.

He said, you know, we believe in my Hindu religion that marriages last beyond this life as well. He said, I’ve never heard anyone else say that, but I think it’s obvious that this should be true.

I have to admit almost complete and total ignorance to the beliefs of the Hindu faith so I decided to take his word for it. I said, when Jesus was on the earth, he organized the church with all of the teachings. As his apostles were killed, and as he was killed and resurrected the foundation of the church crumbled. It fell and broke into pieces. It was like a mirror, falling off a wall. The people grabbed parts and took them because they were important to them.

I told him one of the parts of the church as it existed when Jesus Christ was on the earth was eternal families and marriages sealed for eternity. I told him that we have that piece and we have the whole mirror.

I explained to him that after Jesus Christ was resurrected he came to America and to the people here. Then he said, other sheep I have which are not of this land or the land of Jerusalem, or the land roundabout. He said that he had received a commandment to go to them, and that could be why you have the teaching of eternal families.

He said, oh, I know about this! I was a little shocked. He said, we believe that Jesus Christ came to India. I’ve been taught that all of my life. He said, most people believe he came to India during the 33 years before he taught in Jerusalem but I could really see how it could be that he came after his resurrection like this.

I pointed out to him that the gospel was an extension of Heavenly Father’s love for all of his children, and that God loved all of his children not just the people in Jerusalem. I said that he sent his son to many of his children in different places all over the world. He said, this makes total sense. I mentioned that Isaiah discussed many locations where Jesus would go. He said, I believe he came to India.

I said, one of the things that Jesus taught in America was that everyone needs to be baptized. I asked , were there a lot of people in the history of India that weren’t baptized? He said yes. I said that Christians believe you need baptism to go into heaven. I asked him if that would be fair? Would a loving Heavenly Father excluded the people from India because they hadn’t been baptized. He said, no! Not a God I believe in!

I told him that when Jesus was in the spirit world for three days after his crucifixion, he taught and organized the teaching of the gospel to the people who died without hearing the fullness of the gospel. The other thing we do in the temple is we are baptized for those people.

I told him that we go to the temple and are baptized for our family members. He said, that’s amazing! It’s so cool that you can provide that baptism for your ancestors. I said, not just for ancestors, but for everyone who has ever died. I told him we are about doing that work. I told him that everyone of God’s children will have a baptism and the opportunity to accept it, or reject it.

He said, it has to be that way! He said, you know, I believe in a loving God. He said, you know, I also believe in one God.

He said in Hinduism they believe in many gods, but he always believed that there was one God and had a hard time justifying it. He didn’t know how they got to the point where they worship so many gods but he knew that there was one God.

Motivated by this, I told him that Heavenly Father sent his son Jesus to save us. I said, I believe that Jesus was sent to your people, and some people there were really great leaders, maybe even prophets amongst his ancestors and they did really amazing things to worship God. I said, these people were close to God. Overtime the masses begin to reverence these people with such high esteem that they deified them.

He said, that could be!. I said, it’s much like the Catholics have their Saints, who have been so elevated to the point that they are almost gods. They believe that they certainly have more power than men. They are dearly loved figures in many aspects. He said, that makes sense, but there is only one God and they need to accept that. He said, “this explanation makes so much sense to me”.

I told him that in the Book of Mormon they had prophets too. Prophets who prophesied the words that God gave them and taught the things that God would have them teach. They wrote down these teachings and that is why we have the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and a testimony that Jesus Christ loves everyone and that Heavenly Father is the God of everyone and loves everyone. I told him that we have that book today.

I told him that those prophets wrote their prophecies on plates and Joseph Smith received those plates and translated it by the power of God.

I stopped and bore my testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet that he saw God the father and Jesus Christ, and that the Book of Mormon was true. The spirit was in the car and it was strong. This man was having the truth verified to him of the things that he had been taught by the spirit throughout his life. I wasn’t teaching that much new to him because he already believed these things. The spirit was confirming them to both of us. As we pulled into his hotel, he said, this has been amazing! I’ve never felt this alive and my brain is firing with thoughts and questions. I told him that this thing he was feeling was the spirit of god. I told him that God had sent his spirit so that he would know that the things I had said were true.

I reached into my glove box and pulled out a Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and I gave it to him. I said, this book is the one that was written by these prophets. I told him that this book taught that Jesus Christ came to America and that he loved the people in America. I told him that this book teaches that Jesus went to other places, to other people. He interrupted me and said, to India! I said, this book teaches that God loves everyone from India to America to Jerusalem.

He said, I believe that and I want to read this book.

He said, when I was here before, when I was a child, we went and listened to the choir, it was so beautiful. I would love to do that again. The thing that blew me away was the power of that organ. I would love to see that organ played.

I told him that as luck would have it, Richard Elliott, the principal organist for the Tabernacle choir is a friend of mine. I told him that I would call Rick and ask him if there’s a way that he could go and see someone play the organ. He said, if you could arrange it for tomorrow morning that would be awesome. He said, but if he can’t, that’s OK but I really appreciate you doing this for me. I called Rick and got his voicemail. I left him a message and told him a little bit about what was going on. About two hours later, Rick called me and said that they had people playing the organ at 11 and that he would be more than happy to make special accommodations for my friend. Rick is always amazing to do missionary work with his talent and I appreciate his willingness.

I passed the message along to my passenger and he was blown away, touched, but saddened because those who were with him needed to leave by 9 AM. He said it just would not work this time but asked me if that might be something we could do in the future.

He responded, this gives me another reason to come back to Salt Lake. I told him to take that Book of Mormon and discuss what we talked about with his coworker who went to BYU. He said that would be fun and that he would do it . I asked him if he remembered what he felt in the car and he said it was an amazing surge of knowledge and power. I told him the spirit of God was there and he said he knew it was. He thanked me for taking the time to enlighten him. He said that truly he had been enlightened in that ride. I told him it wasn’t me that in enlightened him but the spirit of God. I know that someday he’ll be back to listen to that organ.

I know that if he will talk to his friends that went to BYU about the Book of Mormon, he will come back as a member of the church

One day I was staying down in Provo to work in the morning. I had just been to the dermatologist so I was feeling a little burnt and abused. I was staying in Provo because I was going to pick up some friends and take them to the airport at 1:30 so it didn’t make sense to me to go to Salt Lake.

I turned on the app and immediately got a ride to Salt Lake, a ride to the airport. The one thing I didn’t want to do and the one thing that I wasn’t going to do was go to the airport come back and then go up and back again. it just doesn’t make sense gas wise to do that. They barely pay enough money to cover the gas when you’re driving on the freeway like that so I was going to say no, but I just couldn’t do it.

I felt compelled to take this ride. I’ve been doing this long enough to understand that when you feel that you go with it and so I did. I drove down to South Provo past the cemetery and turned in to the neighborhood where this man lived.

He came out of the house and got in the car. While I was waiting for him to come out I noticed that my tire gauge on my dash was indicating a low tire so I got out and walked around the car really quick and used it as an excuse to open his door and get him in the car. I couldn’t see any deflated tires. They all looked fine.

The spirit told me to forget about tires and get in the car and start teaching. For the record, the guy looked like a member of the church. He was Latino, from Ecuador and he was leaving on a business trip.

I thought about people going on business trips and all the things they have in their head almost as a reason not to start but the spirit once again told me no, this is why he’s in the car. I decided that the spirit was going to be running the show so I shut off my analysis.

I knew we only had about 40 minutes and so I decided to get right to it. I asked him how long he had lived here. He said that he had lived here a couple of years. I asked him if he liked it and he said yes, it’s very peaceful.

I told him that the reason why it’s peaceful is that the people here try to obey God and when we obey God he gives us peace and he sends his spirit. I asked him if it was OK if I talked about religious things and he said yes.

As soon as he said this, the door was open and promptings flooded in. I said, I have a question for you. He said OK. I asked, why haven’t you been baptized yet?

Now I didn’t know he hadn’t been baptized other than the spirit telling me. He looked like a member of the church. He was taken aback a little bit. I asked him again, why haven’t you been baptized yet?

I said, don’t you know that’s the reason why you were brought here? He said, I thought I was here because I wanted to be with some of my friends who live here who are Mormons. I told him that them bringing him to the gospel of Jesus Christ is why he’s here.

I looked down again at my dashboard and the tire light was still on. I started thinking maybe I should pull off in American Fork or Lehi to fill the tire. The spirit said don’t worry about the tire and focus on what you are supposed to be doing. I put the tire light out of my mind, knowing God would take care of it

Right then I decided to open up with the impressions about him and direct my comments to those impressions. I told him that I know that his friend had taught him the gospel and that there were some reasons why he didn’t accept it.

I said, one of the reasons is your family. They are a very traditional and strong Catholic family. I told him that I knew by the spirit that part of his reservation was his fear of them and his fear of disappointing them. I told him that more than anything they wanted him to follow God and that this had created an inner struggle.

I told him that if he showed up having been baptized with the spirit of God around him, they would notice the change and it would open the doors for him to teach the gospel to them. I told him, that’s what you’re here to do, get baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I told him that his father might be a little upset at first, but with time, the spirit of God would work on him and he would be baptized. I told him that his parents raised him to be a man of God and what that means is that you follow God. I told him that God brought him here for this purpose and someday they would see that.

I told him that one of the other reasons he didn’t get baptized is that he hadn’t felt like he had received an answer to his questions about the truthfulness of the church sufficient to help him take that huge step. I took that opportunity to stop for a second and ask him what he felt in the car right then. He said he felt incredible peace and joy. I asked him if he doubted the things I was saying right then and he said no, you are spot on so far.

I told him that the peace and joy he was feeling came from God. I told him that this was God‘s way of confirming to him that these things are true and the fact that he had no doubts right then while he was in the presence of the spirit verified this. He said, wow, that’s really cool. I told him, now you’ve had that witness and if you think back at the times you were with missionaries, you felt that same thing. God has been testifying to you all along. He said, I was just thinking that same thing.

I told him that one of the reasons why he was in my car was so that I could help him feel that. I told him that God wanted me to help him understand this.

I asked him what he knew about Jesus coming to America and the Book of Mormon. He said, I have a Book of Mormon, but I don’t remember about Jesus coming to America. I asked him if he’d read the Book of Mormon and he said no.

I talked about how God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem therefore he had prophets here in America amongst his ancestors. I told him they wrote their revelations and that was the Book of Mormon. I told him it was the spiritual legacy of his people, left for him to benefit from and enjoy. I told him that part of that book is the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America.

I told him that after Jesus was resurrected he said, “other sheep I have which are not of this fold” and that he needed to go to them so they could be counted among his sheep and they could hear his voice. I told him, those were your ancestors. Those sheep were your ancestors!

I told him that they had been through three days of earthquakes, tornados, fire coming down from heaven and darkness. I told him that they heard the voice of God introducing his son. I said that Jesus descended from heaven and stood on the steps of the temple in front of them. I told him that Jesus invited all of them, all of his ancestors to touch the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. They came up one by one and did just that.

After they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet, I said that they all knelt and prayed saying hosanna which means “save us now”. I told him that they were praying to their God who was standing in front of them for salvation. They knew he was God and he was right in front of them and this was their plea.

I told him that as a direct response to that he called up 12, Instructed them how to baptize, gave them authority to baptize others, and commanded that everyone be baptized. He did this even though the majority had previously been baptized. He wanted them to have his baptism by his authority.

I told him that this baptism was a baptism to a higher covenant, a higher standard and a higher law. I told him that Christ expects more of his disciples and this baptism was that covenant.

I told him that Christ held the children and blessed them and then he cried. I told him that Jesus Christ gave these 12 the authority to give others the Holy Ghost so that once they had been baptized, they could have God’s spirit to be with them. I told him that we do this same thing today. Once we are baptized we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the thing that had been whispering to me the things to teach him. It’s a way we can have God walk with us.

I told him that the spirit can help us obey the commandments and that God gives us commandments as a way to bless us so that we can be happy. I told him about how my grandfather had been an alcoholic and loved to go out and drink. I told him that this made my grandpa abusive and a distasteful person to be around.

I asked him this question, even though my grandfather had fun drinking do you think that made him happy or would he have been more happy with his family and grandchildren? He quickly said, he would’ve been much more happy with his family and grandchildren. I said, when he disobeyed the commandment of God, he went with fun over happiness and chose poorly. Because of these poor choices he died at a young age from his alcoholism.

I told him that commandments are really important because they help keep us safe and help keep us happy. I told him that this is really important but sometimes we mess up.

I told him that one of the reasons why Jesus commanded his ancestors to be baptized is so that they could repent and come back to him. I said that this is how they could remain clean and become cleansed from their sin.

I told him that I had the impression that he was thinking of one sin in particular that he had committed. I told him that this was bothering him right then as we spoke. I told him that his baptism will cleanse him of that sin. I told him that baptism will make him able to stand before God and that through repentance and baptism that sin can be erased. He said, do you really think so.? I said, yes, I know it’s true.

He said I would love that. I asked, then you want to be baptized? He bowed his head. I told him that when he is baptized, he will be clean from that sin and the spirit will confirm this cleansing to his soul. He said, that would be amazing. I said, that’s why it’s so important. How can we have the spirit with us if we’re not clean? He said, I really don’t think you can.

I told him that it’s the same for our ancestors who have passed on. They need to be baptized so that they can go to the presence of God. They need the same baptism, the baptism of Jesus Christ. I asked him how they were going to get that. He said, I don’t know? I told him that I believe God is a God that loves everyone not just the ones who hear the gospel and he agreed. I said, how can he be a loving father if he doesn’t make a plan for all of his children to come home. He said, I’ve been bothered by this for years. it just doesn’t seem right.

We were passing the Draper exit and I pointed out that you could see three temples from there. I asked him if he knew what those buildings were and he said that they were temples. I asked him if he knew what we did in those buildings and he said no. I told him that we do baptisms for people who have passed.

I told him that when Jesus was in the spirit world, he set up the preaching of the gospel to the people there and many of them have accepted it. I told him that we go to those buildings and we are baptized in behalf of the people who have died. I told him that they have accepted the gospel, then they accept that baptism and want to be clean before God. I told him because of this everyone of God’s children can come home no matter what their circumstances were on this earth.

I told him that God loves everyone not just the people who were Jerusalem or who were in America. He loves everyone and he has a plan for us all. He wants us to come home, if we will.

He said, that’s amazing, that’s how it should be. I told him that he needed to be baptized because that’s one of the reasons why God sent him here to Utah. I told him that he needed to be baptized and then he needed to take the gospel and that baptism to the rest of his family, both on the earth and those who passed away. They are counting on him to save them. I told him it was his mission. His mission was to bring them all the baptism of Jesus Christ. The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked if he felt the spirit confirm that and he said yes.

I was happy and not surprised when he immediately responded with, I’ve always felt that God had a mission for me and today I know what it is.

A lot of times I ask people IF they will be baptized and I was about to say that when the spirit prompted me to ask WHEN he could be baptized. I summoned up the gumption and said, so WHEN will you be baptized? He smiled and said, I had some missionaries teaching me a while back but I got scared and didn’t want to commit. They just didn’t explain things to me in a way that I understood. I just didn’t feel the spirit like this. I didn’t feel the spirit like we are feeling it today. I asked him if he felt that fear today. He said, no! More like peaceful and excited.

I said, let’s do it now! Let’s decide when you’re going to be baptized. We pulled out the calendar and went over some days.

I told him he would have to go to church three times. He told me that he had already done that. He told me that a couple of weeks ago he went to a missionary welcome home of one of his friend’s daughters.

We came up with a date that he wants to be baptized, a goal date to work towards.

I gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him if he had one in Spanish. He said, yes, but I’ve never read it. I showed him the special attention given to these books by the Secrists and he was touched. I bore my testimony of the prophet, Joseph Smith and that he had translated that book. I told him it was written by his ancestors and that it was true. I told him we have a prophet of God today that speaks with God for us.

He said, I’m going to have my friend help me do this in my Spanish Book of Mormon. I want one just like this in Spanish.

He said, I’ve always known that God had a mission for me and that it was the reason why I was in Utah. He said, you hit the nail right on the head. He said, when I came out of my house today I was sad and a little down but the spirit of God in this car has lifted me. I feel peaceful and happy and I need that spirit with me. He said, you knew why I didn’t get baptized, you knew what my questions were and the spirit helped you see into my soul. I know that I needed forgiveness from my sin. You gave me the answers I needed. You helped me feel the spirit here today and I’ve never had an experience like this.

He said he was committed to being baptized and fulfilling the mission that God had given him.

He told me he was going to call his friend tomorrow and tell him that he wanted to be baptized and when. His friend’s daughter just got home from a mission so he should be able to help him out with that.

He got out of the car and went into the airport. As soon as he was gone, I got out of the car and I checked my tires. They were fine. Like my Heavenly Father said, don’t worry about the tires, you take care of him. I’ve got this.

Normally when I go to Salt Lake I don’t turn on the app in Utah county. If you turn on the app in Utah County you get sent to Saratoga Springs or worse, Santaquin! You never get to Salt Lake. You drive 20 minutes between rides to make four dollars. It’s a desperate and depressing death spiral of financial insecurity.

This is why you go straight to Salt Lake before you turn on the app. One night I felt impressed that I should turn on the app in Utah County. I came out of my house and started driving on 800 N. in Orem towards the freeway to go to Salt Lake with my app on. Sure enough, I got a ride that took me clear up against the mountain near the Pleasant Grove American fork border. The ride was going clear out to Saratoga Springs.

I didn’t feel panicked or angry, I knew this was one I should take so I did and away I went. I picked up the guy at a home and we talked about how he had been with family and friends and everything he had done that day. I asked him about his family and he said that they had moved up from Arizona when he was young and that his dad was a doctor. He said that his dad had passed away some time ago.

I could hear the grief in the young man’s voice and I could tell that his spirit was not well. I asked him if his family were members of a religion because God helps us get through these things. He said that he’s not religious but his mother is.

He said that his dad had been a Mormon bishop when he died. He said that he had been lost ever since. I told him that I was sorry for his loss and that it had to be difficult.

I told him that his Heavenly Father was worried about him and his earthly father was also worried about him even though he had passed. I told him that I pray to have the spirit in my car so that I can know the things that God would have me say. . He said, I can feel it. I asked him if it would be OK if I taught him the things that the spirit was telling me right now. He said, please do.

I told him that one of the problems is that we see life in spans of 40 years and God looks at our lives as a continual thing that never ends. His purposes began before we were born and continue after we die. He puts us where he needs us. I told him that because of this it’s hard for us to see and understand why things happen.

I told him that things happen to people that are difficult. Sometimes people use their agency to harm others, sometimes people die in unfortunate accidents or from diseases and it doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t seem fair. I told him that many times these things drive people away from God and away from the church.

I told him that God gives us agency and when something bad happens Satan tells us to blame God. He tells us that it’s God’s fault and that God took away our happiness. Satan blames God and tells us that God is making us miserable. On the other hand, God points to the Savior with love. God points to the Savior because of the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said that the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ makes it so that he can carry our burdens. It makes it so that we can have our burdens lightened even in the midst of confusion and affliction.

I told him that the atonement that Jesus Christ suffered was complete and that he suffered for all of the injustice, pain, abandonment, loneliness, suffering, infirmity, unfairness and every negative feeling and emotion. I told him that he suffered until he, who was a God, bled from every pore. I told him that he suffered so much that even he struggled and God sent angels to buoy him up.

I told him that because Jesus did this, he understands and he can help us. This is why God has us turn to Christ.

I told him that the atonement isn’t just for people who have no problems or few problems or a lot of problems, it’s for everyone. Jesus comes in and makes up the difference so we can all be whole. Jesus comes in and makes up the difference so we can all be healed both spiritually and physically.

I asked him if that made sense and he said, yes. He said that due to the fact that he is the oldest, his brothers and sisters would come to him and he was able to help them through things because he himself had been through them. He had suffered the same emotions that they were suffering. I asked him if that sounded like what his brother Jesus Christ had done for him. He thought for a minute and said, that’s crazy! Yes it does!

I started having an impression that he had turned to drugs and alcohol to drown his grief even though he was totally sober at the moment. I said to him, instead of turning to Jesus Christ you’ve chosen to turn to Satan, blame God and medicate with alcohol and drugs. I told him that this is Satan‘s counterfeit of what Christ can do. I told him that it is not nearly as good because it’s a counterfeit and it doesn’t last as long. I said it’s a cheap knock off.

I told him that he should go for the real thing. The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked him if he felt it and he said yes. I asked him what that meant to him and he said that what I was saying was true.

I had the impression again that his father in heaven and his earthly father were both very interested in him. I asked him if he prayed and he said he hadn’t prayed for a while. I told him that when he prayed he could speak with his father in heaven and could access the power of the atonement to help him and to lift him. The spirit bore a strong witness of prayer. I asked him if he would pray and he said yes he would.

I asked him how long it had been since he read the Book of Mormon and he said he couldn’t even remember. I told him that it might not make sense while he’s reading about Nephi, Laman and Lemuel but if you read the Book of Mormon, the Lord would reveal to his mind and his heart the things he needs to know to deal with his life.

He said, “ I am not good at reading anything.” I helped him download the church app and showed him how to listen to the scriptures on the app. I told him that the spirit would work that way too. He laughed.

I told him that if he would read or listen to the Book of Mormon and say his prayers he would feel his earthly father‘s presence when he was close to the spirit. I felt prompted to say that and I promised him that if he would do those things he would feel his father‘s presence along with the presence of his father in heaven.

I told him that I felt by the spirit, his father was very concerned about his family. I said that he is concerned about his brothers and sisters and that it was his time to step up and be awake. I told him that when he started praying and reading the Book of Mormon he would have a light about him. I told him that the members of his family would be drawn to that light and they would come to him to ask about it. He could then share this message of the healing the atonement brings with them.

I asked him if he would go to church and he thought about it for a minute. He said, “I can do that”. He said, “I haven’t been in forever. I’ll just drop in on the back row”. I said, that’s a start. I asked him, what would you do to have the things that I’ve said here today come to fruition? He said I guess I would do what it takes, I would love it.

I said, it’s all in your hands. You know what you need to do. I asked him how it felt to be in the presence of his father in heaven right now and he said that he felt comfortable, relaxed and happy. I told him that this is what the spirit feels like for him. I told him that he could have this with him all of the time and he could use this to help alleviate his suffering.

He said, that’s what I want.

I told him that it’s time to quit turning to Satan and his plan and start turning to God and his plan.

I told him that God puts people in my car to get a message sometimes. He said, I’ve known that for 15 miles and 25 minutes. We laughed. He shook my hand three times and got out of the car.

Two fathers were rejoicing that evening.

 I was picking up a rider up in Holiday and was taking him down by 72nd south west of the freeway. As I pulled up I saw a short man with a hair that was four different colors in stripes. He had some piercings and tattoos.  I received the impression that I was supposed to start talking to him about the church but sometimes you look at the roughness of the character and you have to prayerfully consider your next move.  The spirit said go, so away we went. 

When he got in the car I found out quickly that he was very friendly and we started talking about things we had in common. He was from Puerto Rico and so I spoke some Spanish with him. He loved that I could speak Spanish.  He asked me how I learn Spanish and I told him that I had served a mission in Argentina. He said, that’s awesome! I asked him if he had any friends that served missions and he said not that he knew of but that he knew some members of the church. 

I told him that I love Puerto Rico and that I’ve been there several times. He seemed pleased.   

I knew we had about 20 minutes so I jumped right in.  I asked him if he had ever seen any missionaries in Puerto Rico, he  said yes.  I asked him if he knew what they did and he said no. I told him that they go when they’re 18 to 20 and spent two years, paying their own way teaching people about Jesus and helping people.  

He said, I haven’t been to church since I was a kid. He thought that was am amazing thing to do. I asked him if he knew what they taught about and he said no. I told him that they teach about Jesus Christ and his atonement and how that blesses all of our lives. I told him that we have a prophet on the earth today and that there were prophets in America anciently.  I told him that those prophets wrote their prophecies and we have them today. They are compiled in a book called the Book of Mormon.

I asked him if he thought God loved everyone equally all over the world and he said yes. I asked him if God would favor one set of children by giving them instruction while leaving out the others. He said he didn’t think so. I told him that’s why there were prophets in America so that God could bless and help his children in America.  When I started talking about the prophets in America the spirit noticeably came in the car and I could tell that he was recognizing it.

I also told him that God had sent his son Jesus Christ to America where he blessed the children and taught the people. I told him that all of these revelations to the prophets as well as the visit of Jesus Christ to America was recorded anciently and translated by Joseph Smith. I told him we have the Book of Mormon which is that record. 

He said, Jesus Christ coming to America? I have never heard of that! I described to him how in Latin America the tradition of the natives is that there was a bearded white God who came and blessed the people.  He taught the people and he said he would return. I said, that’s who they were expecting when the white Spaniards showed up. I told him that it was quite different than what they were expecting and he laughed.  He said, they missed that by a mile. 

I told him the representations of this God are found all over in the hieroglyphs and ruins of Central America. I testified to him that Jesus did come to America and then he went to other children because God loves everyone.

I told him that Joseph Smith was called as a young man to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the earth because it had been corrupted. He interrupted me and said, yeah I totally believe the church has been corrupted. I told him that God didn’t use a faulty foundation to restore his church, he built it from the ground up through a prophet. I told him that Joseph Smith was seeking the truth, he wanted to find the church of God and he couldn’t find one that he believed had all of the truth. He read the Bible where it says to ask God and so that’s what he did.

He went to a grove of trees and knelt and prayed and God the eternal father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore that church. The spirit was powerful and there was a quiet reverence in the car. I asked him what he was feeling and he said power and clarity. I told him that this was how he felt in the presence of God and how he knew truth.

I told him that the message of those missionaries is that people need to repent of the things they’ve done and make changes in their life to reflect the will of God and then they need to be baptized. He said, I’m Catholic! I’ve been baptized.

I asked, when were you baptized?  He said that he didn’t remember it but that he knew he had been baptized. I told him that this was awesome and it showed that his parents loved God. I explained to him that when Jesus came to America everyone there had been baptized as well but that Jesus taught them his way of being baptized and gave them authority to perform that baptism. I told him that we have that authority and that’s how we baptize. I told him that it is a baptism that brings you to a new level, it brings you closer to God and brings you more blessings.  I told him that just like Jesus Christ invited the people of America to be baptized, He was extending that same invitation to him. 

Another wave of the spirit came through the car and I could tell that he understood the truthfulness of this concept. I asked him, did you feel that?  He said, yes, it’s the same feeling I felt before. I asked him, what does it mean?  He said, it means that what you are saying is true.  The feeling just keeps intensifying as we talk.

I gave him one of the Book of Mormon‘s prepared by the Secrists.  He took that book and looked at it. Now these books have colorful tabs and he laughed and said, this book looks like my hair! It’s got the same color as my hair does! I told him that the book was his and he asked me if I was sure, I said, yes, God put you here to receive this.

I told him that it is important to follow the spirit and seek the power he was feeling in the car that day. I told him that he needed to go to church where he could learn about taking the sacrament and making covenants with God, including baptism. He said, I would like that, but I don’t think I can do it because I have to work on Sunday.

I asked him, what time do you work on Sunday? He said that he works at noon. I told him that I was sure we could work that out. I asked him, if we can work it out, would you be willing to go? He said, absolutely!

We looked up the church he was supposed to attend and drove there.  It was perfect! Church started at 9 AM on Sunday and was walking distance from his house. Then he said that after church he could walk down to his barber shop that he owns. He was so happy.

I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. I could tell he was feeling the power of testimony. I told him that he was put in my car to receive that message and that God wanted him to act on it. I told him if he would, it would change his life, make him a more happy person and provide the meaning and purpose that he felt he had lacked. He told me that this had been the most amazing ride. I called  missionaries I know in his mission and got the phone number of the missionaries for that ward and I set them up.

What I know is that this day I saw the hand of God reach out and hug a child who barely remembered that he existed. You could see the love and you could see him desiring to have that love in his life. God is great! He led me to a golden contact under the rainbow (hair)

One afternoon I was working in Provo. I’d had a couple rides and got another one over near where we used to live when our daughter was born. I pulled up and I waited for what seemed to be an eternity.

I was ready to leave because we only have to wait seven minutes and I was double parked. I got a message that said, I’m coming. Once I hit seven minutes I can leave regardless of any communication that’s happened. I said OK but that didn’t mean I needed to stay passed the seven minute mark.

I had the feeling that I was supposed to take this ride and so I waited an additional couple of minutes. I looked over and there she was. It was a young lady with a motorized scooter. I popped the trunk in my car and she folded it down and put it in the back.

I hadn’t had a good look at her yet, but when she finally got the car I was pretty surprised. For such a young woman, she sure had a tremendous number of tattoos on her arms, face and neck. She had the smell of cigarettes on her and she was quite disheveled as she sat down in the seat.

I started to go and said, how are you doing today? She said, uggg. I said, that good huh? She laughed and then she said she was in a hurry and she apologized that it her took her so long to get there. She thanked me for waiting. I started praying to know why I was supposed to wait and what I should say.

It seemed to me that this girl had problems and the spirit directed me to know that even though she participated in a lot of bad things addiction wasn’t one of her problems. It was her behavior. I got the impression that she was more of a follower.

I asked her, do you mind if I say some things, some impression I’ve had since you got in the car? She said, yes! Go ahead. I looked at her eyes in the mirror and I said, you know, you need to surround yourself with better friends.

I told her, you know that and you keep putting yourself in a position to find better friends but in the end you end up with the same crowd. You need to find better friends.

She said, that’s amazing. I feel like I’ve been drowning. I moved here to Utah to get away from some of my problems and I found them here again. It seems like those kind of people just find me.

I told her, well, you need to put yourself amongst a group of people that don’t participate in the things that drag you down. I said, you need to put yourself amongst a group of people that will lift you and support you, not tear you apart and drag you down.

I said, you have broken the law and done drugs largely because of the groups that that you have associated yourself with. These people do not have your best interest at heart and they drag you down. I said, you find it hard to be a leader and stand alone and you go with the group.

I said, you came here looking for a better group and end up going to the same kind of people here that you left behind.

She said, that’s amazing! Right now we are going to rehab counseling. Not because I’m addicted but because it was court ordered as part of my sentence. I committed some crimes with these people and they left me twisting in the wind. Due to the fact that I had drugs in my system, they mandated rehab.

I said, you need to find new friends. I knew this was the second or third time that I had said this but finally she reacted to it and she said, yes I do. Where would I go to find the kind of friends I need?

I told her, you go to church. If you go to church, you will find the kind of people you need to surround yourself with. I told her, if you will try to be like those people, you can have the light of Jesus Christ in your life. It will pull you away from evil.

I told her that with the light of Jesus Christ, she will see that the people who are evil, many times, will shy away from her. I told her that this is what she needed. She needed to go to church and meet that group.

She said, I’m not Mormon and they don’t want to help me. I said, what do you mean they don’t want to help you? She said, well, I tried one time to get help. They sent me to a transient Bishop and he was no help at all. It was almost like he was trying to push me out of his office and there was no group. He did not invite me to go to church. There was no love in that room.

I told her that everyone has bad days sometimes, including Bishops. I assured her that God loved her and that he loved her more than she could imagine. I told her that before she came to earth she lived with her father in heaven, his love love was the most powerful thing in her existence. I told her that his love was in the car today. She said, I feel that.

I asked her where she lived now and she said she lived in an apartment with her brother. I asked her why she didn’t go to that Bishop instead of the transient Bishop. She said, I didn’t know where to go and I went to where I was told.

I looked up her ward and told her where they met and what time on Sunday. I said, this is where you need to be. I said, will you go? She asked, do you have to be a Mormon? I’m not a Mormon and I think that’s why they didn’t want to help me before.

I told her that they wanted to help. I assured her that the Bishop in that area would lift her and help her. I told her that all the other kids in that area were going to church in this ward and that she should go with them.

She said, OK, how do I do that? I told her that I could have mssionaries come over, introduce themselves , teach a little and take her to church. I told her that if she walked in with the missionaries, everything would be OK.

She said, that sounds like what I need to do. I would like to have a good religious group with good values that could lift me and help me so I don’t fall back into the problems I’ve had.

I asked her if she ever heard of the Book of Mormon and she said, yes! I asked her if she ever had been given a copy and she said no. I talked to her about Joseph Smith and how God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet.

I talked to her about how we believe in prophets. We have one today. I told her that there were prophets in ancient America and they wrote down their prophecies and that’s what the Book of Mormon is. I told her that it extensively teaches us about Jesus Christ and his atonement.

I told her that what I get out of the Book of Mormon more than anything is, I need to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. I told her that the Book of Mormon teaches extensively about the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told her that in today’s world we have sin and evil hounding us everywhere. There is a lack of justice and persecution is around every corner so the only way we can make it through is by using the atonement of Jesus Christ as a shield and as medicine to heal our wounds.

I told her that our sorrows, afflictions injustices and sins will be swallowed up in the atonement if we will allow Jesus to do that I told. I told her that if we look to him, he can heal us. I told her that he can heal our bodies, our spirits and set us on a path so that we can have the light of the spirit of God with us.

I reached into my console and pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I gave it to her and told her that in reading this book she will feel the spirit of God and it will prepare her to learn how to access the atonement. I told her that this book will prepare her to be baptized, be given the gift of the Holy Ghost so that she can carry that light with her.

The spirit was strong as I testified of the impact of the Book of Mormon on my life and I could see that she was feeling it. I asked her what she felt and she said that she felt just like she always wanted to feel, hopeful and peace.

I told her if she has that light, good people will be attracted to her and she will have protection from those who are not good.

She said, that’s what I need, that’s what I want. She said, just before you got here I was praying to God that I could find help in this way. She said, I want to ditch everything to do with my life and I want a new one. I want new friends, I want new feelings and I want a new understanding. This seems perfect.

She said, I was praying but I never had any idea that it would be my driver that would bring me the answer to my prayer. I said, God put you in my car and he gave me the words to say so that you would know they were from him. That is why these thoughts are coming to your mind, because God put them there. She said, I know that’s true.

I went into the Tools app and looked up the mssionaries and sent the referral.

By then we were at her program and she had to get out. She thanked me and said that she was blown away by the spirit she felt. She said, I’ve never felt anything like that. She said that there was true power in the car and that when I said things, it was like it cut all the way through.

She said, one thing I have learned in all of this is the God still loves me, even though I doubted it. I doubted it when I couldn’t find good people and I doubted it when I didn’t get help from the church. Now I know that God sent you and that he does love me. I know I matter and that matters to me.

She said, how did you know what to say? I told her that when we’re baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost whispered to me the things to say to her. She said, I would like to have that. I said one day you can. Do what the Missionaries say and one day you will have the gift of the Holy Ghost and it can be your constant companion. It can keep you out of trouble and it can give you discernment to make better choices with regard to the people in your circle. She said, this is just what I needed, thank you. She told me that her parole officer had told her that she would be able to be off of parole in September, two months early. She could use this as a springboard into her new life. She said I like that. She got out and she went in.

As soon as she was out of car, I called the sister missionaries indicated as the missionaries for her ward. I gave them her name and phone number and told them that they would be getting the referral that I had sent in. I gave them some background and they said they would be on it.

One thing for sure is that when God is the one is looking out for you, you always have a friend.

One day I was driving in downtown Salt Lake and I picked up a young lady at the corner of State Street and sixth south at the apartment building right across the street from Little America hotel. She got in the car and spoke English to me but it was very broken English.

When I was on my mission, people would look at me and say they didn’t understand what I was saying, even though I was speaking perfectly well. It made me very angry sometimes that they wouldn’t understand me and then they would speak really horrible English back to me.

I always wished that they would just try to understand and speak spanish rather than not even try. Sometimes I even had companions that didn’t speak as well as I did and because they had a darker complexion the people would say that they understood that missionary better than me. (there’s some kind of a social experiment there for sure.)

The short of it is that I always try to speak English to them and with them to honor their efforts at learning the language. It’s a hard thing and a frustrating thing. I want to respect them in that way.

As we drove I mentioned to her that I speak Spanish and she asked me to speak a little with her. I explained what I just explained here to her but I did it in Spanish. She lit up and said, let’s speak in Spanish. After a second, she said, wow, you speak really good Spanish. She asked me if we spoke Spanish in my home growing up or if my wife spoke Spanish. I answered no on both accounts.

She asked, how in the world did you get to speak that well? I told her that it was God. I told her about going on my mission and that when we go on a mission the spirit of God helps us learn to speak Spanish or whatever language. I told her that when I was preparing to go on my mission I was worried that I would never learn it because I hadn’t had any classes previously. I told her that Elder Packer of the quorum of the 12 apostles came to the MTC while I was there and he made us a promise. He promised that if we would say our prayers in our mission language and read the Book of Mormon in our mission language that we would never lose the ability to speak our mission language so that we could have it to serve God.

I looked at her and I told her that my Spanish is a fulfillment of that promise made by an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. I told her that as we read the scriptures, we feel the spirit of God. I told her also that as we pray, we have the spirit of God with us. I told her that the spirit of God quickens our intellect and makes us better than we are, stronger than we are, smarter than we are and more able than we are.

She nodded feverishly and agreed 100%. She said, I love God, I love going to church. I could tell that she wasn’t a member of the church by some of the things that she said but I could also tell that when I testified of the promise made by Elder Packer, she felt the spirit and she reacted to it. I could see in her eyes and I could feel the focus of her attention on the conversation intensify.

I asked her, what church do you go to? She said she attended the Evangelical church. I asked her why she went to that church and she said because there are a lot of young people and it’s close to where she lives. I told her that it’s important to be around people that love Jesus and that you have things in common.

I told her that in our church we have congregations just for people her age. She was about 25. I asked her if she had ever been to one of our meetings and she said no.

She asked me, when you were in Argentina on your mission, what did you do? Oh I love that question!

I told her that I spent my complete mission testifying about Jesus Christ and teaching people about Jesus Christ, his commandments and how he wants us to live. I told her we tried to model those teachings by doing service and helping people. I told her it was all about bringing people to Jesus Christ and the waters of baptism.

She asked me if that was something we were successful at. I told her that we were but it wasn’t us being successful. It was the spirit of God, touching the hearts of his children and teaching them truth.

She asked me what I taught that was different than what she was learning in the Evangelical church. I told her that the big difference was that we believe that God loves everyone everywhere no matter when they were born and no matter where they were born.

I told her that her people were a blessed people because Jesus Christ walked amongst them. Her eyes lit up and she said where did you learn that?

I told her that in the Bible when Jesus said that he had other sheep and he was commanded to go to them he was talking about the people in America. He was talking about her ancestors. I told her that Jesus came to America and he descended and stood in from in front of them. They came up and worshiped him. They asked him to save them.

She said, that’s beautiful! I told her that he called up 12 and gave them authority to baptize and taught the people how to be baptized with his baptism, the baptism he sanctioned and in the way he prescribed it. I told her that he commanded that they all be invited to be baptized by that baptism and they were.

I told her that this is the same baptism we do today and this is the same baptism I performed for the people in Argentina when I was on my mission. She said, that’s very cool. I told her we have the church of Jesus Christ restored with all the power and all the authority including the authority to perform his baptism and invite everyone to partake of it.

She said she loved that and she asked, where did you learn about this? I told her that in America there had also been prophets who received revelations from God and wrote them down. They included writing the story of the visit of Jesus Christ to America and this is how we know.

I told her that there has to be one true church because all of the churches disagree, so they can’t all be right. I told her that the authority makes the difference.

I told her that in the 1800’s Joseph Smith was looking for that true church and he couldn’t find it. I told her that he was confused by the fact that everybody taught different things and professed to be the church of God so he prayed and ask God to show him which church to join.

I told her that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph and called him to be the prophet to restore the true church. They told him that the other churches teach some truth, but not all of the truth. They said he would restore the fullness of the church of Jesus Christ on earth.

I told her that later, one of the prophets from ancient America, who had passed away, visited him as an angel and took him to where these writings of the prophets were buried. He gave them to him to translate by the power and authority of God. I told her that you cannot do anything without the authority of God.

I told her that this is the Book of Mormon. She said, oh, I’ve always wondered what that was. They don’t like it down at the Evangelical Church. I laughed and said that they would if they knew what was in it. I told her that it was a testimony of the divine mission of Jesus Christ and God‘s love for all of his children. I told her it was another testament of Jesus Christ.

She said that’s so cool! She said, I’ll have to go buy one of those. I said, as luck would have it I’ve got a copy right here. I pulled out one of the copies prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. She said, is this for me? I said, yes. I had her open up the front cover to questions of the soul. I told her that these are questions that a lot of people have and they answered in the book. She speaks English ok and the book was in English so I knew she would be ok. As she read the questions, her eyes lit up and she said, this will be fun. I’ve always had some of these questions.

Then she asked, this book came from my ancestors? I said, yes, the indigenous people of the Americas had prophets and they wrote down their prophecies and their dealings with God. I told her that it’s the story of a family that starts in Jerusalem and comes to America. These are her ancestors.

I told her that there were lots of ruins in South America that depict a God descending from heaven to the people and blessing them. Kulkulcan Quetzalcoatl are some of the names given to this god. I told her that these traditions predate the arrival of Europeans. I told her one ruin specifically shows a king God, a descending God and an empty space representing the Holy Ghost. She said, well that’s kind of proof right there of what you said.

I told her that this book is her religious heritage from her ancestors. Her way back great grandparents saw Jesus and he blessed them. By this time, the spirit was really surging in the car and there was a sweet tranquility. Identifying it was easy this time.

I said, do you feel that? She said, yes! I said, what are you feeling? She said she was feeling tranquility like she had never felt before. I told her that this was the spirit of God and it was telling her that the things that I had said were true. I said, God sent his spirit to testify of truth, and right now, his spirit is giving you a hug. She smiled and said, I feel that.

She said, I’ve loved talking about your church. I asked her if she would like to have some missionaries come over and teach her more about the church and she said yes. I got her information and then I said, I want you to know that God put you here today so that he could reach out and show you his love. He showed you his love by giving you his word. He showed you his love by sending his spirit to validate those words.

I said, just like Jesus invited your ancestors to be baptized. He also invites you to have his baptism. He invites you to have that baptism that he gave to them and the missionaries can help you get that. She said, I can’t wait! Have them call me.

There was a profound sense of the spirit and a real tranquil vibe in the car. It was undeniable and she was so happy. Joy filled the car and as she got out, she said, I’m going to do this. I want to go to your church.

We’d been sitting there for a minute, but finally she got out and went into work right before it was time to be there. She turned around at the door and waived.

I sent her information to the missionaries through the Member Tools app. Once you have sent in the reference, it takes you to your missionary page and you can click on the name of the person that you just sent in. At that time it will open up and you can see who the missionaries are who are assigned to teach the person you referred and the ward they should attend.

When I did this, I was really excited because they were some missionaries that I had worked with before with another person that was in my car. He got baptized. When they answered the phone, they were excited to hear this because they remembered me. We had a good time reminiscing and they were very excited to teach this young lady too.

This lady is in good hands, the hands of these missionaries and the hands of God most of all

One day I was downtown and I got a ride out in Rose Park. It was kind of right in the middle of Rose Park and when I turned the corner, I found the building where I was to pick up my ride to be an old LDS Chapel. The chapel was built in 1902 judging by the placard on the front of the building.

As I pulled up, I imagined all the amazing experiences people had in that building and the manifestations of the spirit. I remember hearing all of President Monson’s talks about Rose Park and being a bishop in Rose Park. I had to believe that possibly he was Bishop in that building or at least visited that building.

I was enjoying the thought when I pulled up to the side of the building and I saw that it had been purchased and repurposed as an addiction recovery center. A man came out and said that I was supposed to give him a ride. I thought that I recognized him from a previous ride or something and said so.

He looked in his phone and said that he didn’t think so as he looked up his ride history. The spirit told me that the reason that I recognized him was not that he had been in my car but that I was supposed to testify to him.

He was pretty open about the fact that he was in an addiction recovery program. He said that it was really cool for the addiction recovery program to be housed in a church. He said that he felt the spirit of God living there. He told me that the bad people they could see in the streets would just walk by on the other side of the road instead of walking close to the church. It’s almost like they knew not to bring that stuff there.

He said he felt protected there and loved in it. I told him my philosophy about addiction. I told him how I believe that our natural yearning to have the spirit of God in our soul is counterfeited by Satan through the use of drugs and alcohol.

I told him that our spirits lived with our father in heaven for thousands years and we crave his presence. Being in the presence of God is the most hardwired things to our soul. I told him it’s like there’s a hole in our soul that is intended to be filled by the spirit.

I told him that people want to fill that hole in their soul, where the spirit should be but chose to fill it by getting high and riotous living. It never last and it never stays so they need more and more of it and then they get addicted. He said, that’s exactly right. He said that he had been addicted to methamphetamine. I told him that one thing he should know is that the feeling that is supposed to be there, the spirit of God, is a manifestation of his love.

I told him that the love of God is what he really needs to fill that with and that the love of God is real. I told him God loves him and that I wanted him to know that. He was quiet for a minute and said, I’ve always considered myself spiritual, but I’ve never considered love from an actual father.

I said, that’s exactly what you have, love from a father and he’s reaching out to you. He said, you’re Mormon aren’t you? I said, 100%, yes I am. He said, you know my family has history with the Mormons. I said, really? Tell me about it.

He said, my great great grandfather was a slave who had joined the church and came west with Brigham Young in the first company of Pioneers. He showed me a statue of his great great grandfather that is up at the This Is The Place Monument as well as a description of who is great great grandfather was.

He said, when they got here, Brigham Young freed my great great grandfather from slavery and he gave him land. He said, my mom still lives on that land. I said, that’s really cool. Brigham Young was a great prophet and he freed your great great grandfather from slavery but I’m here to tell you today that this isn’t the only slavery we are talking about.

I told him that the addiction he was fighting was real slavery as well. I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ and using the spirit of God he could fill that hole so that he could fight the chemical addiction without having to fight the spiritual one.

I told him that the spirit of God will fill that hole and he could seek after that instead of drugs. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ is so important to him because Christ suffered for our infirmities, our sins, our injustices and all of the negative things that happen to us. He can make it right.

I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ he could find peace in his soul that would allow him to be successful in his battle.

The spirit was in the car as I testified. I asked him if he felt it and he said yes. Jesus Christ wants you to be freed from the chains of your slavery to this drug just as Brigham Young freed your great great grandfather from the chains of physical slavery.

I told him, that’s why you’re in my car today. I told him that God puts people in my car and through the gift of the Holy Ghost he whispers to my heart the things to say. I was impressed to tell him that this is why I was here and that he was being watched over and guided by two fathers, his father in heaven and his great great grandfather.

I told him that I had the impression that he’d been thinking a lot about his great great grandfather since he moved into that chapel and that his great great grandfather was in his thoughts and his heart today during our ride.

He said, yes! It’s very true. He said, I feel him here and I can’t quit thinking about him all the time. I spend hours thinking about him as I sit in that chapel in my room.

I told him it’s because those two fathers want him to get on the path. They want him to get on the wagon so to speak because on that wagon they’re headed to where he needs to go.

I asked him if he was ever baptized and he said no. He said that his father‘s family were kind of rebellious and that he went along with them.

I told him that when he got in the car, I realized that I was supposed to talk to him about the church. He said, “that doesn’t surprise me because I felt like I had to ask you if you were Mormon. Like I said, strange things have been happening lately”. I told him that this is a wonderful thing that God is reaching out to him and that his great great grandfather is helping.

I told him that I had the impression that he had done some things that he considered very shameful and he felt horrible about it. I told him that satan is telling him that he couldn’t be forgiven of those things and that he was lost. I told him that Satan was telling him that he had no worth and I told him that Satan was wrong.

He said, I don’t know about Satan, but I have those thoughts all the time. I told him that those thoughts come from Satan because they are lies and that’s what he does, he lies. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ made it so that he could be saved. I told him that Jesus and his atonement are more powerful than any sin.

He said, that’s amazing. I told him that in the church, we have an addiction recovery program. I felt to tell him that I believed that is one of the reasons why he was in my car. He could heal himself and then do great good by lifting others in that program. He said, do you think I could? I would love that! I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I told him he needed one. I told him that he needed to have the spirit with him. I said that he could read that book and the spirit of God would come. I asked him if he could feel a craving for his addiction right then and he said, no, no I can’t. I asked him if he could feel the spirit of God and he said yes. He said, that makes your point.

I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ can fill us and make us whole.

I asked him if he knew what the Book of Mormon was and he said, no. He said is it a Bible? I said that it’s a little like the Bible but that God had prophets in America just like he had prophets in Jerusalem and they wrote their prophecies down just like they did in Jerusalem. I told him that the writings of those prophets make up the Book of Mormon.

I told him that Joseph Smith was looking for the truth and that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be a prophet. He was given those records to translate so that we can have their words today.

I reached into my console and grabbed a Book of Mormon. It’s one of the ones prepared by the Secrisst and I gave it to him. I said, this is the Book of Mormon. It is another testament of Jesus Christ and it teaches us about the atonement. It helps us come closer to God. It will help you in your pursuit. If you will read the Book of Mormon, you will feel the power of God. He said, I will read that book and I will study that book.

I told him that in the Book of Mormon it talks about Jesus coming to America. I asked him if he’d ever heard that Jesus came to America and he said no, he’d never heard that. I told him about Jesus saying he had other sheep and he was commanded to go to them. I told him that then he came to America and visited the people in America and taught them and blessed them. He loved them and then said he had still other sheep, not in Jerusalem or America and that he had been commanded to go visit.

I asked him where he thought those other people might be located? He thought for a second and said,Africa. I said, I believe that. I said, Isaiah taught that this was a possibility. I said, I believe Jesus held your ancestors and blessed them and taught them to be baptized.

I asked him if he thought it was important to be baptized. He thought about it for a minute and said, a lot of people think so. I told him to go to heaven, we need to be baptized because there’s no way to be clean if we don’t get baptized. I told him baptism is the key to opening the gates of heaven so that we can go through.

I looked at his eyes in the mirror and I asked, how would it feel to be 100% clean? He said, that would feel amazing. I said, when you’re baptized, you will be cleansed 100% and you will be clean before God. He said, I never thought that I could be that guy.

I told him that every single person needs to be baptized. When Jesus came to America he commanded the people here be baptized. He commanded that they be baptized in the way he told them to and by the authority he gave them. I told him that we have that same baptism today.

I told him that his great great grandfather had received that baptism and that’s why he was able to be there with him today to help him and to lift him. I told him that his salvation and his sobriety is really important to his great great grandfather and to his father in heaven.

I told him, this journey begins here today but it ends with your baptism. I told him, you need to be baptized by that same baptism that your great great grandfather had. He said, I will do that!

The spirit was strong in the car and we could feel the presence of his great great grandfather. I asked him one more time if he could feel the spirit and he said, yes! I asked him, what does it feel like? He said, it feels like I’m floating and I love it. I told him that when he feels the spirit, he knows that the things he’s hearing are true. I told him that now he knows that these things are true. He said, they are things I’ve never considered before today, but to me, it’s clear that they are true.

He said, there’s something bigger than both of us working here. It brought you here and put me in your car today so that you could give me this message. He said, you knew things that people don’t know, and you said the things that touched my heart.

He said that he saw the missionaries walk by almost every day but he has never talked to them. He said “tomorrow I will”

He said, this is something I need to do. He took the Book of Mormon that I had given him, got out of the car and walked into his appointment. I’m assuming his great great grandfather was walking right by his side. Reflecting on this, I can’t help but be touched that a loyal, obedient and faithful pioneer blessed his family by bringing them here and is continuing to gather them and bless them as we speak. That’s a pioneer heritage.

.One day I picked up a lady at a hotel in downtown Salt Lake. She was headed for Ross Dress for Less. I asked her, I suppose you’re trying to dress for less? I always tell people that as a dad and a grandpa I am qualified to tell dad jokes. Much to my chagrin there wasn’t even a smile. There wasn’t an explanation or anything. It’s like it went right over her head.

I asked her where she was from and she, said no speak English very well. This surprised me because of how well she pronounced the words that she did say and it made me feel like less of a failure with the dad joke. It had me fooled into thinking that she did speak English. I asked her what language she spoke and she said Spanish.

I said, Perfecto! and I started speaking in Spanish. She started talking to me for a minute and then said, wait, you’re speaking Spanish! I laughed and said yes.

She said, where did you learn to speak such Spanish? I said, I learned it when I was I’m missionary in Argentina. By this time I knew she was from Argentina because I could tell through her accent and when I said that she lit up.

She asked me where I served and when I was there. I told her that I was all over the north eastern part of the country and the northern part of the province of Buenos Aires.

I told her I spent my mission teaching people about Jesus and what we believe. I told her it was important that we love Jesus and we do what he says.

The spirit gave me the impression that she was afraid to bring up questions because she didn’t want to offend me. I asked her, what do you know about the church? She said that she didn’t know very much. I told her that there are a lot of similarities between our church and her church. We believe in Jesus and that he was crucified, died and resurrected for us so that we can be clean and return to God.

She said, we believe that too! I said, we believe that prophets are God’s messengers and that when the profits received God’s words, they wrote them down and this is why we have the Bible. This is why we have both the New Testament and the Old Testament.

She said, we believe that too! She said, there are a lot of people in Argentina that believe in Jesus but they don’t go to church. I told her I was well aware of that but in our church we go to church more often so that we can stay close to God.

She said, I suppose that’s one of the differences. I told her we go on missions and we minister to the people in our geographic area so that we can do the things that Jesus would do and serve the way Jesus would serve. She said, I like that! That way people are engaged.

I told her we have more belief and more information about Jesus than they do. I told her that he had mentioned that he had other sheep that were not in Israel and that he went to those sheep. I told her that those people were in America and other places.

I told her that the people in America also had prophets who had received revelation and had written down the commandments from God so that the people would have them. I told her that the way God shows his love to us, is by giving us commandments so that we can be happy and we don’t fall into evil.

She said, I believe that but I’ve never heard it spoken. I’ve always kind of been taught that God will punish us if we don’t keep the commandments but have never considered the benefit of commandment obedience being a blessing from God.

I said, a lot of the problems in the world, a lot of the broken families, violence and general evil that happens are the result of people choosing not to obey the commandments of God. He gives us commandments so that we can have guard rails that keep us on the path where we want to be. They keep us on the path to happiness.

She said, I like that, it’s like a positive reason to like the commandments, not just fearing God. I told her that I personally believe that fearing God does not mean being afraid of God. Fearing God does not mean he’s out to get me. I told her that fearing God means not wanting to disappoint him.

I told her that our Heavenly Father is the God of everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem. That’s why he had prophets in America and other places because God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. He gave them commandments just like he gave the people in Jerusalem because he wanted them to be happy as well.

She said, that makes total sense. I told her that God is a loving father and he wants each of us to come home. He wants each of us to be happy. That’s a God that I want to sacrifice for. That’s a God that I want to serve. She said, i love that! That’s why you guys go missions.

I said, on our missions we teach that Jesus Christ came to America. We teach that prophets had prophesied that he would come because God loves everyone. I told her that Jesus descended from heaven and stood in their midst, they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet

I said, that’s not an angry god, that’s a loving God. I told her that after he visited the people in America, he said he was going to other places. I told her that there were other places not in Jerusalem or in America where he said he would go.

I told her that there are different traditions in many religions that sound an awful lot like “the son of God came down and dwelt among them”. I shared a couple with her and she said that she had no clue. I said, God is the God of everyone. God has all power, and he shared his son with all of the house of Israel not just the ones in Jerusalem and America. She said, I’d never thought of it that way,.

I told her that the prophecies of the prophets from America were recorded on plates and later translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. I asked her if she’d heard of Joseph Smith and she said yes. I told her that he was looking for the true church and went to the forest, prayed and then was visited by God the father and Jesus Christ. I told her that they called him to be the prophet and to restored Jesus’s church on the Earth.

I told her that later, one of the prophets who had lived in America appeared to him and gave him these plates that had been recorded by the ancient prophets of America. By the power of God he translated them. I told her that this is the Book of Mormon.

I asked her if she’d heard of the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She said, I even know a member of your church. She said, I live a few blocks away from your temple in Buenos Aires. I said, that’s awesome! I asked, who is the member that you know?

She said that it was her English teacher. She said that he lived in San Pedro. I told her that San Pedro was a city in my mission. She said that he had a wife and three kids. She asked me if I knew him. I kind of chuckled because even though Sam Pedro was in my mission, this guy wasn’t even born when I was there. I said, I do not know him but we are brothers. We are all brothers in Christ.

She said, that is so cool. I want to have a conviction like that in my life. I told her that her friend would be able to help her. I told her that her teacher might be able to teach her something that would help her much more than the English she was learning. She nodded her head and said, I think you’re right. There was a sweet calming over the car.

We had arrived at Ross Dress for Less and she wasn’t moving. I could tell that she was enjoying the spirit and that her spirit was soaking up the presence of its father. I asked her what she felt and she said she felt like she was shining from the inside. I told her that this was the spirit of her father in heaven and when she fell it she would know that the things she was hearing were true. I told her God’s spirit wasn’t around to try to trick us and this is how he brings us home. He uses his spirit.

She said, I love that! How do I learn more? I reached into the glove box and pulling out of Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists, I said, by reading this. As luck would have it, the Book of Mormon I grabbed was not the Spanish one that I meant to grab. It was an English Book of Mormon.

The spirit taught me how to proceed. I said, here is a Book of Mormon. It is the ancient record of the writings of the prophets in America. It was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith and we have it today, this is your copy. She said, are you sure it’s OK for me to take? I said, yes!

I said, it’s in English. I want you to show this book to your teacher and tell him about what you felt in the car and what you’ve learned. You need to ask him if he could teach you more about this. She said, that would be so amazing! He is a good man and I’m sure he’ll do it.

She said, my next lesson, this book is coming with me. I told her that in the front of that book were the questions of the soul that people have and the answers are in the tabs. I told her to have him go over them with her. She said she would.

She said, I am excited to talk to him about this. It seems to me to be a better way forward and my spirit sure does like what it’s feeling right now.

I thanked her, she grabbed my shoulder and thanked me too. She got out of the car, clinging to the Book of Mormon. Bonus material for her English class!

One day I got a ride to the hotels just west of the airport. I don’t like those rides and usually when I finish one of them i get back in town really quick. Nothing good can happen out there. The only thing that can happen out there is you get a ride to Toole and that’s not good.

Usually I pause my app so that I won’t get a ride but this time I felt impressed not to pause my app. I felt like I was going to give a nice ride so I left it on. I got a ride clear out in the northwest side of the business park.

That’s about a 3 mile drive so I got going. I couldn’t believe how far out there it seemed but when I finally pulled into the parking lot I could see the young man standing out on the curb. I pulled up close to give him easy access to the backseat. I got the impression that this young man really was the reason I was there.

He got in the car and when he did, I noticed that he had three earrings in his left ear. Two of them were rings and one was a huge dangling crucifix. I said back to the spirit, are you sure? The kid looked a little wild.

I knew he was Polynesian. I started by asking him whether he was Tongan or Samoan. He said he was both so I said that means I can say Malolele or Talofa. He said, yes!

I asked, which language do you speak the best? He said Samoan so I said Talofa and he said Talofalava. I asked him what lava meant and he said it’s like just an add on.

He asked me where I learned to speak and I told him that I had served in the MTC and learned how to say hello in languages to the foreign missionaries. I told him we had lots of missionaries come in from the Polynesian islands. He was excited and asked me if I knew their names. I told him that it had been a lot of years and that would be hard so I did not remember their names.

He said, that’s really cool though. He said that he had learned Spanish from the Mexicans that worked with him and he spoke some of it. I was very impressed with his level of Spanish. He said, I’m trying to teach them to speak English because they help me speak Spanish. I was really impressed with this young man.

I knew by this time that he was a member of the church. He didn’t say it but I just had that prompting. I told him that working with the missionaries was a great blessing because we got to teach people about Jesus.

I told him we got to teach people the importance of going to church and that their Heavenly Father loves them. I asked him if it would be OK if I asked him some personal questions and he said yes.

I asked him, how long has it been since you’ve been to church? I know you’re a member of the church Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. How long has it been since you’ve been to church?

He said, I haven’t gone in a lot of years. I said, but you’re still a member right? He said, yes, I guess I am. I guess I’m a member of the church.

I came right out and said to him, I said you know, sometimes God puts people in my car and the Holy Ghost whispers things to me to say to them. The few minutes that we have left in our ride there are some things that I need to say.

The first thing is that your Heavenly Father loves you and that you’ve doubted that in your life but it’s true. I told him that there is a God in heaven. I told him that his grandparents and his great grandparents knew it. I told him that God loves him and he is his father. I told him the love of God is greater than the love that you has for your own grandfather.

He seemed a little stunned and then I continued saying the words the Lord was putting into my heart. I said, there was a time in your life when you were abused. I told him that the spirit was telling me that when he was abused he felt helpless, betrayed and abandoned. I told him that because of this he clammed up and shut down with regards to feelings. I told him that he didn’t know how to deal with the guilt and the shame and so he covered it up.

I could see in the mirror that his eyes were watering up when I said this. I said, now you’re wondering how I know this. He had his head bowed and said, yes. He asked, how could you possibly have known that?I said, the answer to that question is, I don’t know this. The Holy Ghost whispered that to me so you could know that the rest of the things I’m saying are true.

I told him that he needed to understand that even though these things happened, God still loved him. I told him that God gave him the atonement of Jesus Christ to help him. I said that when Jesus Christ suffered, he not only suffered for our sins but for our illnesses, injustices and abuses that we would suffer. I told him that Jesus suffered the pain and shame that he had suffered due to his abuse. I told him that Jesus suffered these things so that he could look to Jesus and Jesus could help lift his burden. I told him that when we have something horrible happened to us, Satan points at God and says blame God and that’s what you did.

Then I told him that God points to Jesus and tells us to look to Jesus Christ and live. He tells us to look to Jesus Christ and have our pains and sorrows and injustices lifted as well as our sins.

I told him about how in the Book of Mormon, the people of Alma were slaves and it was a very hard thing. They believed in the atonement of Jesus Christ and called on his name. After applying the atonement their burden was lifted to the point that they could barely feel it.

I told him that it’s about time that he let Jesus lift his burden. I told him to quit hating, quit suffering, quit feeling shame and let Jesus Christ lift him up.

He said, wow the words you’re saying are very powerful, they are touching me. For a big Polynesian kid it takes a bit to make him cry but he sure had tears in his eyes. I asked him what he was feeling. He said he was feeling warm all over. I told him that this was the spirit of God. I told him when he felt this he knew that God was there and that the things he was hearing were true.

I told him, God sent his spirit so that you can know that the things I am saying are true. He said, that’s amazing.

I told him that we need to keep that spirit with us as much as we can because Satan is always coming at us with something. I told him about when I was on my mission and everything was going wrong, my companion didn’t like me, I didn’t speak the language and when I went to church I didn’t even understand a word. I told him that when I took the sacrament, it filled me. I told him it filled my soul and gave me the energy to go on. I told him that it filled my tank.

I asked him again, how long is it been since you filled your tank? He said, a long time. I told him, your father wants you back in church. He needs you to take the sacrament so that you can feel his spirit and have it with you. He needs you to have his spirit to be with you so that he can walk with you and help you do the good that you are trying to do.

I had the impression to tell him that when he was young, after the abuse and subsequent disappointments with some people in the church he had prayed to know if the church was true. He never felt like he got an answer. He put his head down and said, yes, that’s true. I said, this is your answer. This is your father reaching out. He gave me these words to say so that you would have no doubts.

I told him that he was always trying to help people too. I asked him to imagine how much more he could do if he had the power of God with him. I told him that through this power the Holy Ghost had whispered the things for me to say that I had no way of knowing in this car today.

I told him that a lot of times people are judgmental or they say things that are hurtful but he should remember to look to Christ instead of judging and blaming.

He said, I know I said this before but your words are very powerful. I’ve never felt anything like this. I said, God wants you back. God wants you to pray. God wants you in church. God wants you home.

By now some of the tears were escaping his eyes and he said, this is the best ride I’ve ever had. This may be the best thing I’ve ever felt. I asked, don’t you think it’s about time you went to church? He said, yes I do and yes I will.

I asked him what time his church met? He said, my mom goes at nine. I asked him if he would be with her this Sunday and he said yes. We pulled up to the place where I was dropping him off and it was a Polynesian restaurant. He said, my mom is right inside here. She will be so happy to hear about this ride.

He said thank you, shook my hand, got out and walked into the restaurant.

One morning I picked up a lady from Primary Children’s Hospital. I was driving downtown trying to get a lot of rides. They put out a promotion were if I got 70 rides in a week I would get almost a $400 bonus. I was looking for quick rides and was staying in the northeast corner of Salt Lake City so that I could increase my chances of getting short quick rides. I got a ride so of course I was a little disappointed when it said 48 minutes south. That’s Orem.

Now as you all know I love Orem but not when I had just driven from Orem to Salt Lake to start work. I would rather stay in Salt Lake but I felt pressured by the spirit that I needed to keep the ride so I did.

I pulled into the hospital and a lady got into my car I could tell right away she had a Haitian accent and so I started talking about people I know from Haiti like the Montfleury family that I baptized several years back. She said that she knew them and she knew Sister Montfleury’s sister. We talked for a minute about them and then I started having a prompting about her. At this point I knew she was a member of the church because of the people I knew that were her friends. She also looked like a member of the church and she talked like a member of the church. The prompting I was receiving seemed strange given those circumstances.

I had to work into a spiritual conversation so I started with the obvious, what brings you to the hospital? She said that her son was in the cardiac unit and just barely had been released from intensive care. She said they were a little worried about him because he always gets the flu really bad so they made sure he got the Covid shots and now he had an enlarged heart. He went into respiratory failure when he was exercising.

I talked about how rough Covid have been on all of us and told her of my situation with my work. I told her that I believed that in the end it worked out because I had found a purpose. I told her that I believed that God puts people in my car and that he protects me in my car. I shared a couple of stories with her from people that had been in my car and also the one when God shocked the guy who was going to attack me. She was blown away.

I said, “God protects me in my car and he puts people in my car and gives me things to say, so do you want to know…”, she stopped me she and said, yes that’s my question I want to know what promptings you’ve had regarding me.

She said that her heart was breaking and she wondered if God had a message for her.

I told her it’s not a parlor game. I explained to her that Ammon told the king the things that were in his heart thereby showing the king that Ammon had the power of God. I told her that God puts people in my car and whispers things to my heart and I say them. The purpose of saying them is to let them know of God‘s love for them and his power. She said that she could feel the spirit and wanted to know what I thought.

I said, mostly two things. The first one is that up and until this health crisis, you had not been praying and you stopped going to church. I told her, your father in heaven is sad and he needs you to pray and you need to go to church to feel the spirit and take the sacrament.

I told her about her father in heaven and the relationship she had with him developed over thousands and thousands and thousands of years in heaven. I told her that when she felt his presence it felt like home. I told her, that this spirit from the preexistence is the person she had always been even though it was hard to be that if you didn’t have the spirit of God and the light it provides in your soul. When people feel the spirit, they feel like they are home.

I told her the other thing was that she had been horribly hurt, abused and wronged by someone and that she needed to understand and enact the atonement in her life because Jesus had suffered those very things so that he could give her relief. I talked to her about how Alma didn’t remember the pain of his sins but he could remember his sins. I told her that once you apply the atonement you can’t remember the pain of your abuse or injustice but you remember it so that you don’t make those mistakes again. She started to cry and said, I was beaten by my husband and now it has destroyed my family. He brainwashed my children and tonight I was kicked out of the hospital. I didn’t know what to do. I was thinking that I needed someone to help me.

She said, Heavenly Father sent you to help me and I appreciate that. She said, you’ve certainly given me a lot to think about. I told her it starts with going back to church and focusing on her relationship with God and accessing the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told her if she would do that, eventually she would be able to forgive and move on to be a stronger person. She could serve others who have challenges in their lives. She said, thank you. That’s exactly what I’ll do.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I identified it to her. I mentioned to her that she knew that when the spirit was there, truth was being spoken. She said that she knew that was true.

She thanked me and got out of the car. I never knew what became of her but I knew that the spirited had testified to her soul.

Fast forward two and a half years. I was driving down the road contemplating an experience that had just happened. This experience will be a story someday. I was wondering and maybe even doubting about what happens after these people leave my car. I never see them again and most of the time I have no idea Then I got a ride. I picked up a lady right by the arts festival in Salt Lake and gave her a ride to the mall. It was this same Haitian lady and I didn’t recognize her. She had none of the hate and none of the vibe that had been with her before.

I gave her a ride to her destination and she said, don’t you remember me? I said, I don’t think so. When she asked this question my mind started racing feverishly but to no avail. I said a quick prayer and then she said, 2 1/2 years ago you gave me a ride and the spirit whispered some things to you that changed my life. Because of that ride, I’ve gone back to church and I’m active now. It was an amazing ride. Then the spirit brought it all rushing back to my memory.

I asked, did I pick you up at the Primary Children’s Hospital? She said, yes. My son ended up having heart transplant surgery. I asked, did I take you to Orem? She said, yes! I asked, did I drop you at about 700 North between State and main? She said, yes! You do remember!

She said that for quite some time now she had been hoping to see me again to thank me. She said her son is doing well and the whole family goes to church. She said that it has been a great blessing in her life.

How can you beat that for a Friday afternoon ride!? You just can’t!

One afternoon I was in downtown Salt Lake and I picked up a man on State Street by Temple Square. He was headed to the airport and he had no luggage.

Apparently, he was on a layover and had decided that during this time, he would run into town. He didn’t have any luggage because he checked his luggage, so the pick up was quick and easy. Sometimes when you pick people up on a busy street and they’ve got lots of luggage it can be really frustrating. For whatever reason, it’s hard for people to decide to just drive around when there is someone stopped in the inside lane.

We started to drive and it was immediately apparent that he wasn’t a member of the church. Some of the things he said let me know that this was kind of his first brush with the church. I asked him if he’d gone through the tours and he said yes. I asked him if he liked it and he said it was awesome.

He told me that he had been able to listen to a Tabernacle choir practice and that it was amazing. I decided to name drop and mentioned that my friend Richard Elliott is the primary organist for the tabernacle choir and he was duly impressed. Rick is a good friend and has been a participant in a few of my missionary opportunities. We have been friends since we served together in Argentina.

I asked him, other than the choir, what did he like? He mentioned the gardens and how everything was so beautiful. As we rounded the corner onto West Temple I pointed out the family history library. I asked him if he had gone to that building and he said, no! what’s in there?

I told him that was the family history library and that if he had more time, he could have gone in there and they could have helped him find new ancestors and learn things about his history. I told him that they have the world’s largest stash of genealogical records in that building.

I told him that there are people in there to help. If someone wants to, they can go in there and spend several hours finding things that they never knew. They can find people that they’re related to that they didn’t know of before.

He said, that would have been amazing! I would love to do that. I asked him if he was familiar with ancestry.com and other genealogical websites. He said that he was and that he always had an interest in watching shows about people looking up their ancestors. He said that it was very intriguing stuff.

He asked me if I thought there would be information in there on his family and I said, yes! I told him that all of those genealogical websites get the majority of their information from that building.

I told him that members of the church generally have free access to the basic services of those websites in exchange for sharing of information. I do know that this used to be the case and even though I’m not sure that this relationship continues, it emphasized the immensity of the work we do in genealogy in our conversation.

He said, I need to come out again one day. I will leave more time so that I can do that.

I could feel the spirit building and I knew we were going to talk about the church in particular, baptisms and how this all fits together. While he was talking, my mind, started organizing about a 10 minute discussion.

Then he asked, why in the world would your church spend so much time and money on this? He said, don’t get me wrong, it’s very cool, but what’s so important about this information?

With that question we were off! If that’s not an invitation to come on in and share your message I don’t know what is. I started with the temple!

I said, did you see the temple right next door? He said, I couldn’t miss it! He said, it’s too bad it was under construction because no one could go in.

I told him unlike the other buildings on Temple Square, the temple is a sacred place and only members of the church can go inside of temples. I told him that every other building was accessible to the public but for that building we needed special permission to go in because it is a very sacred place.

I told him that the Church of Jesus Christ has authority from God to do his work here on earth. I told him that the Church of Jesus Christ had the authority to baptize and that every person who will ever lived will get the opportunity to return and live with our father in heaven after this life. I said that the Bible teaches that each person will need to be baptized to qualify for this blessing.

I told him the baptism is a requirement to go in that building too, just like it’s a requirement to enter the kingdom of God. I told him that when construction is finished there will be a period of time when people can come out and tour that building before it is consecrated. He said, I’m going to be one of those people. I’m going to come out for that.

He said, I think everybody’s going to want to do that. That’s a beautiful historic building. I said, you’re right I told him, in that temple is where family history comes together with the salvation of God‘s children. I told him that this temple and others like it are essential in his plan.

I told him that without his temples our father in heaven would lose way too many of his children. I told him that because it’s a requirement to be baptized in order to enter into the kingdom of God everyone needs to be baptized. I told him that it’s not a baptism by a random preacher but it has to be a baptism performed by someone who has the authority to do so.

I told him that people who had received that baptism go to these temples where they perform baptisms in behalf of others. I told him that they can be baptized for their ancestors who then, having been taught the gospel, have a chance to accept that baptism and entry into the kingdom of God.

I told him that Jesus Christ himself set up the preaching of the gospel to those who had died without hearing the gospel. I told him that in the three days while he was in the tomb, according to Peter, in the Bible, Jesus organized the preaching of the gospel to those who died without the opportunity to receive it.

I asked him if God was a loving person or a hateful vengeful God. He said that he believed God was a loving person. I told him that is what we believe. I told him that we believe that God is a father and that he loves each one of us and wants each one of us to come home. That’s why he set this up so that we can go and be baptized to provide the opportunity for salvation to our ancestors.

He said, that’s awesome. He said, that sounds like it closes a loop that I hadn’t even thought of. I asked him if a loving father would make rules that would make it impossible for the majority of his children to come home and he said, no. I told him, that is why this is so necessary because the majority of Gods children never hear his word while they are alive.

I told him that a loving father in heaven who wants to save all of his children but requires baptism for entrance into his kingdom needed to have way to do both things. I told him that this is why baptisms for the dead were mentioned in the Bible, they understood this back then.

He said he wondered why we did research on other people that weren’t members of the church or relatives of church members. He said, it seems to me that you guys are getting information on everybody. They’re not just your own relatives. I said, that’s exactly right!

I told him that we are trying to do research and find names of everyone who was ever born no matter when they were born. I told him that this was important because all of those people needed to be baptized as well. We go to the temples so that we can offer salvation to our ancestors and so that we can be in the kingdom of God with our families.

He said, I love that. It’s about family. I told him it’s more than that! I told him that we also have our marriages solemnized and sealed in the temple. I told him that we are not married until “death do us part” but we are married for eternity because we have the authority to seal marriages for eternity. I told him that this means that a husband and wife and the children in that marriage can be together for eternity. Family!

I felt impressed to tell him that just as we need baptism to enter the kingdom of God, we need baptism to enter into the house of God once it has been consecrated. I told him that this is why only consecrated worthy members of the church can go. I told him that this building represents the kingdom of God on earth.

I told him, when Joseph Smith was founding the church, Peter, James and John appeared to him, laid their hands on his head and gave him the authority to seal things on earth that were sealed in heaven. This authority was given to Peter by Jesus in the New Testament. I told him, that authority has been passed down and today we have that authority.

I told him that this is a very important thing that we do in those temples as well. We seal our families and we also do that for our ancestors who have passed away. We have our ancestors sealed to their spouses and their children so we all become one big family sealed together in the kingdom of our father in heaven. He said, that’s amazing.

He said, I felt something really neat on Temple Square when I was talking to the missionaries and I feel it again right here in the car. I said, that’s the spirit of God. I told him that he and God have a personal relationship and when he’s in the presence of God, he feels his spirit. I told him that this was happening right now and that when he felt this, he knew that the things he was hearing were true and that they came from God.

He said, I know they come from God. He said, that just sounds right. He said, I need to get back out here!

He said, don’t you guys have a big temple in Berkeley as well? He said, I’ve never been up there but I’ve seen the golden Dome. (Even though it’s not a dome, I didn’t feel like correcting him but the top of the temple is golden). You’re right, that is a beautiful temple there.

He asked, what’s the difference between this temple and that temple? Is this one more? I told him that historically this was very significant but that neither of those temples was more important than the other because they did the same thing. He said, I never knew that. Then I said, you know the visitor center with the sister missionaries that you went through? He said, yes. I said they have one of those at the Oakland Temple as well.

I told him that it was just off to the north of the temple on the same temple grounds. I told him it was a beautiful rounded building and in the basement of that building there is a family history center with nearly everything that is available in the temple square church history museum.

I told him that if he would go to the visitor center, they could take him down and help him do research for his family. He said that he would love that.

10 minutes were up and we were at the airport. It was time for him to go and I said, I want you to remember what you felt. I promised him that if he would go to the temple in Oakland he would feel that same spirit and he would know what they told him was true. He said he would do that and he got out of the car and left.

I immediately received another ride from the airport into town. As I was driving to pick up that next person I was kicking myself. I was saying to myself, why didn’t you give him a Book of Mormon? I felt like I had failed because I had received an impression to give him a Book of Mormon but I just hadn’t done it because it just didn’t seem like the set up was right. It seemed like it would’ve been out of left field.

As I drove, I just didn’t feel great. I just kept making excuses to myself as to why I had failed but I knew that I had been prompted to give the Book of Mormon and I hadn’t followed the prompting. The new people got in my car. They were people from New Mexico in town for a blues festival. They were really great people and we were talking about music when all of a sudden, the lady said, someone forgot their phone!

The man who I just dropped off had left his phone in the backseat and this lady had found it. I knew that this was my opportunity to finish the job. This was my opportunity to give him his Book of Mormon.

I had no way of reaching out to this man but I knew that he would find a way to call his phone. That’s what I would do! I would pray that somebody would answer that phone. I put it up in the front seat by me and drove these people to their hotel in downtown Salt Lake.

I dropped them off and headed back to the airport because I knew he would be calling. I knew that before he got on his plane he would need to have his phone. I knew he would be calling. Sure enough on my way to the airport the phone rang. It was this man looking for his phone.

I told him that I had it and that I was on my way back to the airport right now to bring it to him. I told him I would meet him in the exact same place.

I opened up my glove box and pulled out a Book of Mormon. It’s one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and put it on my lap. I knew that if there was ever a time for a specialized book with the questions of the soul and the markings this was it. I had very little time to set it up so that was great.

I did however know that this is why he left the phone in the car. He left the phone in the car because I was supposed to have given him a Book of Mormon. The Lord was giving me a second chance and I wasn’t going to drop the ball this time.

As I pulled up, there he was right where I dropped him off. I got out of the car and gave him his phone and the Book of Mormon. I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and told him that it was an ancient record of the people who lived in America thousands of years ago. I told him that they had prophets just like they had prophets in Israel because God loves everyone. I told him that the gospel is for everyone no matter where they lived or when they lived. I told him it was the same program as baptisms for everyone who would ever live.

He said, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you bringing back my phone and giving me this book. He said, I will read it and I will treasure it. He said, I’ll go to the visitor center over there in Oakland because I want to feel that again.

He said thank you and walked in to go to his flight. Sometimes thankfully God does give us a second chance. Just don’t drop the ball.
◦

One Friday I had just started work. I got up into Salt Lake on the east side by the avenues so that I would be sure and get short rides. On Friday, you sure don’t want to be out on the freeways.

As I drove down the road, I got an opportunity for a ride. It was to South Jordan and I mean way out in South Jordan. That is like the most inconvenient place to go and I wasn’t going to go.

Once the ride shows up we’ve got about six seconds to accept it or not, I decided not to take it. The spirit insisted that I take it. Finally with about 5 1/2 seconds gone of six seconds I relented and took the ride. It turned out that I was going to the Huntsman Cancer Institute to pick up a mother and a daughter. The daughter was obviously having profound and aggressive cancer treatments.

The daughter was in her 20’s and they were Tongan. We started to drive and I was playing my music, ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon, INXS and so on. The mom was commenting on how much she loved the music because that was her era.

She said that she was from Northern California and grew up on that music. I told them that my dad and mom went on a mission to San Francisco and they were really excited. The church has a huge Tongan community out there and she was very proud of it.

Then the spirit started talking to me and I knew that even though the mom talked like she was a member that she had separated from the church and quit attending. The spirit prompted me to know that she had been offended and left some time ago.

I decided to work into talking about the church by talking about my experiences working with Tongan missionaries in the MTC. Knowing they were members of the church I felt strongly that this would open the door to the conversation I knew we were supposed to have.

I told them about one time when I was serving in the MTC that there was an elder from Tonga who had been promised in a blessing by his stake president that he would be asked to sing throughout his mission, even in the MTC. The Lord wanted him to use his voice in his ministry. He didn’t speak English and he didn’t know how that would work. He was in his class relating this story when I walked by.

I was out gathering missionaries for a special choir. These were missionaries that were pre-approved and I was sent to get them. As I walked by I saw that Elder and he just glowed . The spirit told me to go in and get him and bring him to choir even though I didn’t know anything about music and I wasn’t in charge.

I went and knocked on the door, went in the room and said, I’m gathering missionaries for a special choir and he’s supposed to be in it. Everyone’s jaw hit the floor. Later that teacher told me the other part of that story but it was amazing how God grabbed that elder and put him in that choir to fulfill the words of the stake president.

The mom said, it’s good that you listened to the spirit!

Then the spirit laid out the program and just like every program in the church, we started with an opening hymn. I turned off INXS and went into my Vimeo and played my video of the Tongan missonaries singing, Folofola Mai ‘a Sīsū is a link to the song. I have shared it here before but here it is again https://vimeo.com/578265270

The spirit came over the car and started working on everybody. During the song several stories that teach principles came to my heart and I knew that I was supposed to share them.

I had the impression that the mom was a very proud woman and that this pride had been hurt by members of the church. I felt like members that were family had been harsh with her regarding this and I knew that a frontal attack was not the way to go.

I started talking about how much I loved that song and she started talking about how that song makes her cry every time. She said that song is the song that her father used to sing. She sang along with it too.

When the song was done, she said she loved music and that she is a member of the church which was her first declaration of that. She said, I am a member of the church but I don’t go and haven’t gone for a very long time. I like the church but I very much dislike the people.

There it was! The thing the spirit had told me. I said, that’s really hard! It’s a challenge to go to church when you don’t feel like the people want you there. It’s hard to go to church when you don’t feel like you belong. I said, I know what you are saying.

I told her that there was a time when someone in our ward told me that they wished I wouldn’t come because our kids were so noisy. What I did instead of quit was I went early every week to find out where they were sitting so I could sit behind them. I told her, I walk up to people that I know don’t like me and tell them I love them and they are great. I told her normally that changes everything.

I told her that I just can’t allow other people to decide whether or not I’m going to worship my savior. I told her that I’m not about to let other people take me away from what I know to be true.

I told them about my great grandfather. The stake president stole two of his horses so he left the church in protest. I told her that as of today over 100 years later that stake president’s family is likely serving God and are productive members of the society as well as faithful members of the church. I told her that on the other hand, the descendants of my great grandfather are mostly miserable drunken lost souls. I told them that it was a huge penalty my great grandfather paid for his pride.

I told them that today that president’s family has no idea about those horses but we still hang on to it as a justification. I said, it wasn’t a reason, it was a test and my family failed it. Satan got control and has been thrashing that family ever since.

I told them that God puts people in my car to receive messages. I told them that the spirit whispers to me the things to say sometimes. Almost always God puts people in my car so that they can hear that he loves them. More than anything he wants them to cling to him and his son rather than the bitterness, anger, hatred, and sin. I told them that when people are in the car, I feel the love of God for them, regardless of where they find themselves in their lives.

I told them about my father becoming active in the church once he got away from home, in the military. I said that God reaches out through other people to grab us and bring us back in if we will come.

I told them that God never leaves us and he watches over us. I shared the story of how God had protected me in my car. I told them about the guy that attacked me and God shocked him like he did Laman and Lemuel.

I testified about the importance of staying close to the spirit. I told them about the importance of the sacrament to me. I said that when I was on my mission in my first area I was overwhelmed. I have shared that story on here before. When I went to church that Sunday, my tank was empty and I didn’t know what to do. I told them that when I took the sacrament my tank and my soul were filled. Then I had the strength to go on.

I said that this was the hardest thing for me during Covid. The fact that I couldn’t take the sacrament was devastating to me. Along with losing my job, my financial security and many friends, the most devastating part was not being able to take the sacrament more than once a month.

I told them that God had commanded us to take the sacrament and there is a reason for that. I said, things don’t go well when you don’t take the sacrament.

At this time I realized I was going down a checklist of things the Lord had put in my mind to talk about so I kept going. I kept saying the things as they came to my heart.

I asked them if I could pray for the daughter. I said, you have no idea how much your father in heaven loves you and wants to bless you. I would love it if you would allow me to pray for you. She teared up and said yes and her Mom was tearing up as well.

Anyone reading this, her name is Sena and she could use your prayers in this cancer battle. I told her that her father in heaven loved her and that his spirit was there in the car. We could all feel the spirit. It started with the song and it hadn’t stopped.

Then I pulled it all together. I said, Heavenly Father put you here today to answer your prayers. He put you here today to tell you how much he loves you, both of you. He put you here today so that you can know that he wants to be there to help.

I asked, has she had a priesthood blessing? The mother lowered her eyes and said, no. The girl said, that’s right I haven’t! I looked at the mom and I said, you take her to church on Sunday and get a blessing from the bishop. This girl needs that priesthood blessing.

At the first of this ride the mother could not have been approached like that but as we drove the spirit worked on her. She became more receptive to suggestions and she embraced that. She said, I’m going to do that. I said, you go to church for you not to please other people.

I said, you go to church to build your relationship with Jesus Christ and your father in heaven. That is the purpose. You build relationships with whoever else might happen to be there as you serve them. If you build those other relationships that’s a bonus but that’s not the purpose. You go to church to fill your tank.

By this time they were both crying 10 times more than they were during the song which I thought was a lot. Then the girl asked , do you know why I’m crying so much? Just last night I was praying that God would send somebody to help me know what to do. I was praying that God would send someone to know how I could do better and get closer to him. God really did put us in your car today. I said, you know I don’t come out here on rides very often. I usually try not to. I almost didn’t come but the spirit insisted.

I felt like I was supposed to run down the list of miracles and challenges we discussed in the car so I did.

I said, the spirit insisted I take this ride because you prayed and God wants to bless you. This is how it happens. You prayed me into the ride.

When we played the song you felt the spirit of God and you felt the spirit of your grandfather in the car. She said, yes I did. How did you know that? I said, the spirit whispered it to my heart. I said, God wanted to tell you that he loved you so he sent me to say it.

I said, God wanted to tell you that you needed to have a relationship with him, regardless of the other things going on in your life or with other people in the ward.

He wants you to go back to church. He wants you to take the sacrament.

I said, God wants you to get a blessing.

I said, God wants you to come back. You’ve been gone way too long so he sent me here today. By this time their eyes were full of tears, the spirit was working in the car and working on the people in the car, everyone of us.

We pulled up in front of their house and the mother said, it’s time for us to go back to church. The daughter said, I’ve never had a prayer answered so specifically and powerfully.

They thanked me and got out of the car.

They went to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for healing but there was a whole lot more healing than that going on. They thanked me and got out of the car. As they were walking the daughter turned around and waved goodbye.

Have you ever gone way west on California Avenue in Salt Lake? I got a notification to pick up a ride at 4400 W. off of California Avenue. That is a long way out there and I felt that I should go because it was a little slow and it was a comfort ride so you make a little extra money.

I drove out there over the bumpy horrible road and finally got to the turn. Once I turned, there was about a quarter of a mile I had to drive until I arrived at the spot where I was to do the pick up. In between me and the pick up was a great big long train. It was just sitting there. Not only was it just sitting there, there were about eight cars waiting for it to move. This indicates that there was no convenient workaround or those people wouldn’t have been sitting there just waiting.

You hate to cancel because they allow very few cancels. I strongly felt that I should go ahead and cancel, lose the extra money, and take the wasted half hour It took me to drive out there. That’s aggravating but I felt that was what I needed to do. I canceled and did a u-turn then started to drive away.

I had only gotten about 200 yards down the road when I got another ride. It was also on California Avenue at about 6800 W. I thought, no way! Against my better judgement I found myself accepting it and heading west. That road was horrible. It was very bumpy and had a bunch of potholes. It resembled a poorly maintained dirt road with the illusion of a being a paved road. I rumbled out to the location and found the man who I was supposed to take waving his phone frantically.

As I approached you could see that he was desperate. He said, I’m so glad you came. I didn’t think anyone was going to come. My car is broken today and five people canceled. At that point I felt better about having accepted the ride. He was a man in his 30’s from Kenya and he lived down in Rose Park.

The fact that the spirited had

whispered to me to take this ride made me start thinking spiritually with regards to this man. He was very well educated and had no accent on his English. I felt sorry for him as we conversed. He just wanted to get home and was angered by the cancellations. I told him that this is why they sent him the best driver, to make up for that!!

I told him that I live down in Utah County and he told me that he took his kids down there last weekend. He said that their mother lives down there. I saw an opportunity here so I took it. I said, “with last weekend being the pride festival, you made a good choice of a weekend to get out of Salt Lake City with your children”. I told him it was a little like escaping Sodom and Gomorrah. He laughed and said, absolutely 100%. I didn’t want them seeing or hearing any of that!

I could tell by the way he reacted to what I said about Sodom and Gomorrah that he had some depth in the scriptures. I said, it’s a shame that we celebrate hedonism and perversion on such a large scale. He said, “that’s it!” “We’re celebrating evil for a whole weekend. I don’t get it, and I didn’t want my children to have any part of it”.

He told me that you’ll never find a rainbow flag hanging from his window. He said he loves the people but he’s not willing to accept the effort to mainstream and normalize their sin. I said, I agree as well. It’s really important that we teach our children right and wrong. They need to know that even though God loves all these people, he does not condone the sins that they are celebrating.

He said, you’re 100% right and it seems like a very lonely time for those of us who believe that. I said, it can be but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why we go to church to find people who believe like we do and can lift us when times are difficult.

He said, I go to church every week and you’re right. I asked him, “what church do you go to”? He said, I go to a nondenominational church down in Orem and occasionally the Mormon church with my kids.

I perked up. I said, that’s awesome that you go to the Mormon church! Are your children members? He said, no. Their grandfather on their mother side was a Mission President but their mother isn’t an active part of the church. They haven’t been baptized. He said, I like to take them because I think that it is part of their heritage.

I asked him what he believes for himself and he said that he didn’t believe in one particular religion. He believed in floating around, checking out all of the different religions.

I said, I’ll bet you’ve had several sets of missionaries come to your house. I derived part of this from the fact that he had gone to church and I can’t imagine him going to church and not attracting attention from a ward mission leader. The other part of this question was the spirit prompting me that I needed to go into this.

He said, yes! I’ve had a few. He said, lately they haven’t been very good. It just seems like the sisters are trying to get through it quick and then they drop you really quick if you’re not ready to be baptized right now. It seems like they’re being run by a checklist.

He said, about two years ago I had a couple of elders that were really good. I asked him, why didn’t you get baptized then. Why didn’t you allow those elders to baptize you? He thought about it and said, I just wasn’t ready.

The spirit prompted me to be straightforward here and ask this question so I did. I said, “you have an issue or a problem that you haven’t felt like there was an answer to. You felt that asking the question in and of itself would be disrespectful”. I said, I feel like you’ve respected the missionaries so much that you haven’t wanted to throw mud at them so you haven’t asked the question that you thought they couldn’t answer. He said, well, that’s exactly it.

He said, I just don’t see why I need a religion. He said, I have the Bible and I can go to a church and feel the spirit of God. He asked, why do I need a religion? I didn’t want to ask that question because it seemed a little disrespectful and I would never disrespect somebody like that.

He said, furthermore, once you establish that you think there’s a religion then you have to answer for the corruption in the religion and those kids don’t have a clue. These are the reasons I’ve never asked the question.

I asked him if it would be OK if I took a crack at that question. I said, look, you don’t need to worry about offending me because you don’t know me. You don’t need to worry about me not having the depth to understand because I’m older than you are and I’ve been around the block.

He said, let’s go! what’s my answer? I told him that the answer lies in several parts. I told him that Jesus Christ organized a church that was perfect but filled with imperfect people. He did this so that the people could become perfected within the parameters of serving God by serving others in the church. I told him that the church of Jesus Christ was a perfect church because it had the perfect authority.

I told him that authority was the key. They had apostles and prophets. They had the priesthood given to them by Jesus Christ, which was the authority and permission to perform the ordinances necessary to return to God.

I told him that performing an ordinance like baptism without the authority is nothing more than a demonstration of our love of God. I said,“that’s cool and that’s good but it’s not enough. We need to do the things that we do under the authority of God.”

I told him that in the New Testament it says there is one faith, one Lord and one baptism. I asked him how many churches that meant there should be and he said one. I asked him how many Lords are there and he said one. I asked him how many baptisms there should be and he said one. I asked him who would be the one to set the example for that baptism and he said Jesus Christ.

I asked him if he thought it might be important to find the church then that has that one baptism and that one faith in Jesus Christ and he said, yes, I suppose so.

I asked him if he knew about the Book of Mormon and he said yes. I asked him if he knew that the Book of Mormon came from the people who lived in America and he said, no. I told him that the people in America had prophets just like the people in Jerusalem and these prophets received revelation from God. They had churches and they did baptisms. I told him that those prophets in America prophesied that Jesus would come.

I told him that Jesus did come after his resurrection. In the Bible, Jesus said, other sheep, I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to go to them so they could hear his voice. I asked him if he thought that Jesus was going other places and he said, it sure sounded like it. I told him that the people in America were some of those other sheep.

I told him that Jesus descended from heaven and the people went up to him. They touched the prints in his prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. They begged him to save them. I told him that even though these people had been baptized in their other churches, the first thing Jesus did as an answered to that plea for salvation was call up 12. He gave them authority (the priesthood) and commanded them to be baptized into his church. He didn’t ridicule their other baptisms but he said that this was the baptism that would bring them salvation. He told them that this was the baptism that they needed to come home to their father in heaven. He invited them to take a step up in decipleship that gave them additional blessings.

I told him that this is what it is all about! It’s about coming home to our father in heaven. I told him that our father in heaven is our father and he loves all us. As I was testifying about these things the spirit became palpable in the car. I could tell that he was feeling it and he was leaning up almost to where his head was on my shoulder. He had unbuckled his seatbelt and moved forward to hear every word I was saying.

Due to the fact that I am an amazing driver I knew I wouldn’t get in an accident😀. I didn’t want to interrupt the flow and tell him to put his seatbelt back on.

I told him that the gift of the Holy Ghost is also important to help us walk with God and have God’s spirit with us all the time. I told him that the Holy Ghost is really important because it testifies of truth and it brings God’s spirit to us. I told him that Jesus gave the gift of the Holy Ghost to those people in America as well as the authority to confer that gift on others.

Jesus then said that he had other sheep that he hadn’t been to yet and that his father had commanded him to go to them. I told my passenger that God sent his son to all of his children, maybe even some of his ancestors. He was blown away.

I told him that his spirit knew God ‘s spirit and when it was in the presence of God his spirit gets excited and it makes him feel good. I looked at him and said, right now you are feeling the spirit of God. How do you feel! He said, I feel engaged. I feel excited and I feel warm. I told him that this was the spirit of God and that is how he always feels when he is in the presence of the spirit of God.

He said, I felt that in other churches too. I told him that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth and those other churches teach truth but what they don’t have is the authority from God to perform that baptism and the other ordinances we need to get home. They don’t have all of the truth. I said, when they do testify of truth, the spirit will be there but they don’t have all of the truth and they don’t have the ability to perform the ordinances that are accepted by God for our salvation.

He said, what about corruption? Men are corrupt. Men in your church are also corrupt. Some of them do bad things. They have this priesthood and do these things, then they perform these ordinances you talk about. He said, it’s not just your church, every church has corruption.

He said, assuming what you say is true about the authority, would an ordinance performed by a person who wasn’t doing the right thing or was corrupt be valid? I perceived by the spirit right away that he had a specific scenario and person in mind. I could also could feel that he wasn’t going to ever divulge that. I was prompted that it was a specific ward leader so I went with that.

I said, in my mind, here is how it works. That person has the authority to perform that ordinance. The authority of God is the permission to act in his name. When we do that, it is up to us to be worthy to perform that ordinance and not be corrupt. We need to be doing the right things. We need to be trying to repent and be better. If we are knowingly, corrupt and still acting in God‘s name with his authority, God will hold us accountable but the ordinance would still be valid because it was done under his authority.

I told him that the church is like a car. I told him it’s a special car design to go to one place and it’s the only car that can make it there. I told him that this is your ward. I told him that God calls people in your ward and gives them authority to drive that car. He gives them the keys. I told him that sometimes they make mistakes and it’s like hitting a pothole or guardrail. I told him flat out some drivers are better than other drivers but the program is designed for that car to carry the people in it to the destination regardless of the ease or smoothness of the trip. That car will get there because it has the authority to run on that road and withstand the potholes and difficulties.

I told him that people that are willfully corrupt and do evil things have to answer for that, regardless of whether or not they are leaders or members of the church. I also told him that they can avail themselves of repentance just like every other person. I told him that no one is condemned just because they’ve had a bad day or a bad situation if they’re willing to look to God and repent.

I told him that the important thing is that they have that authority. I told him that Peter, James and John appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith. They put their hands on his head and they gave him this authority. He passed it down from that time through others and we have it today.

I told him that all priesthood holders can trace their priesthood lineage back to Joseph Smith then Peter, James and John and then to Jesus Christ himself. I told him we keep track of that. I can show him where my priesthood came from and that it came from Jesus Christ.

I told him that if he goes to another church they won’t be able to tell you where they got their priesthood. I told him that they’re just good people trying to do the best they can but they don’t have the authority to perform the ordinances that they need to come home to their father in heaven.

He said, doesn’t that mean that a lot of God’s children won’t make it home or won’t have even an opportunity to come home. I told him that this was the beauty of having the full gospel of Jesus Christ restored by Jesus Christ. I told him that this is why it’s important to have prophets and authority. I told him that God has a plan for every person that ever lived to be able to come home.

I asked him if he knew what we do in temples and he said no. I said, in our temples, we perform baptisms for the people who have died. I said, your great grandfather who died in Kenya probably never heard of our church. He said, I don’t think he heard of any church. I said, would it be fair for God to condemn him just because he hadn’t heard of Jesus Christ? He said, no! That wouldn’t be fair.

I told him that the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ set up the teaching of the gospel to the people who had died without hearing it and made it possible for every single person who ever lived to have a perfect opportunity to accept the gospel under favorable conditions.

I told him that his grandfather had been taught the gospel. Then I told him that we have our part to play in this. We go to the temple and we are baptized for that person and they have an opportunity to accept it or reject it.

I told him that God loves everyone and it wouldn’t be fair to condemn a wonderful person from Kenya because of where they were born or when they were born. He said, that’s awesome. I said, this is part of being in the car, we can take our family with us. I told him that sometimes it’s bumpier than other times and sometimes God’s children fight in the backseat but that car will end up at it’s destination. The people who are in it will be glad they were.

I told him that since I had mentioned his great grandfather he was thinking a lot about other people like his grandfather. He said yes! I said, these other people are relatives right? He said yes. I told him that they depend on him to be saved. I told him that they are counting on him and they’re very interested in the outcome of this ride. I told him they were here to witness this because I know they’re very interested.

I told him that God had put him in my car today to receive this message. He said, I know that’s true. When you said that I felt it. He said, the fact that the other drivers canceled so that you could get the ride is too much of a coincidence to be coincidence.

I told him that there’s no such thing as coincidence and God put him in my car and directed our conversation. I told him that this is why God’s spirits has been here testifying if the truthfulness of the things I’ve said. I asked him again if he could feel the spirit and he said yes.

I said that I perceived by the spirit that he had been looking for a sign from God in all of these churches. He said, yes, and how do you know that. I said, I know that because I had a prompting that God wanted me to say that. That is part of having the gift of the Holy Ghost. God whispers to us and tells us the things that he would have us say.

I told him that with the miracle that happened today (me being the one to pick him up) and the revelatory conversation that we had participated in, along with the spirit we had felt, he can no longer say he’s looking for a sign. Now he’s had that sign. I told him that before he had told God he wanted his sign and now God has given him a sign. I asked him what he was going to do with that?

He asked, how should I move forward? I said, well, first you need to read the Book of Mormon. Do you have a Book of Mormon? He said, somewhere, I’m not sure. I pulled out one of my Book of Mormon‘s prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I asked him to read the questions in the front cover and told him that the corresponding pages are marked for easy access. He told me that he had read in that book before.

I told him that when he reads this book he needs to pray. I asked him if he prayed when he read it before and he said no. He told me that he just read it with the missionaries.

I told him that when he reads he needs to pray. When he prays, he will feel the same feelings he is feeling in his heart right now. I said, “at that time, you will know that God is revealing to you that the things you is reading are true”.

Then I said, “but you don’t need to wait until then to know it’s true because the spirit is telling you right now that these things are true”. I asked him if he knew that. He said yes. I asked him if he knew where his Salt Lake ward met. He said he had no clue. I told him that we could look it up and we did. We got the address and time for meetings. He said he knew exactly where that was.

He said, “it looks like I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of things undone. I feel like what you said is true about my ancestors counting on me. I need to do better”.

I told him that when he goes to church, he’ll find that some people are flawed and they sin just like he does but to remember that the ordinances and the authority of the church are what drive the car. If we stick with the car we will end up at the right destination, which is living with our father in heaven.

I said, your children need to be baptized as well. I told him that he might want to reach out to their mother’s family that were active in the church and ask them to do this with him if he gets along with them. He said, I get along with them really well. I just don’t get along with her at all.

I said, I’m sure they’ve been praying for something like this. Just like you want to save your ancestors. They want to save you. It’s how it works between parents and children. Those grandparents have been praying for these children to be taught the gospel. Their mother refuses to do it but I think God has found in you, the person he can trust to see to it that those children get in that car and make it home. This is an answer to those grandparent’s prayers.

I said, you have a lot to do. He said, this could take a few months for me to get ready. I said, remember you’ve been getting ready already, you’ve been prepared, you’ve felt the spirit and you know what God would have you do. What more can you ask for from this ride! He laughed and said, I guess I need to get busy.

By this time we had been sitting in front of his apartment for about a half an hour. The spirit was burning in the car. He grabbed both of my shoulders then shook my hand and thanked me. I told him to remember to pray tonight and thank God for sending him an invitation to the get in the car so he can go home to his father.

I said, you need to always remember that this day God sent you this ride because that’s the day he gave you a miracle and gave you the sign you were looking for. He said, that’s exactly right and I won’t forget. He got out of the car and went inside.

One day I was driving in Orem. As I’ve mentioned before I don’t drive in Orem very often but I was going to spend the morning there so that Heather and I could have lunch together.

I got a ride to pick up a lady at the bank right by La Briioche Argentina bakery. I had been thinking about that bakery because one of the things I was contemplating for lunch was empanadas and gnocchi. I was sitting there waiting for her to come out of the bank and then she appeared.

She had tattoos on her arms and her neck. She had big hoop earrings and a huge piercing in her nose. She didn’t seem to have much if any light about her and I didn’t think I’d have a lot in common with her.

She got in the car and after the basic pleasantries I asked her if she was from here. She said no she wasn’t. I asked her if she liked it here and she said not really. Usually when they say not really I just kind of leave it alone at that point. This time I felt like I should ask more questions so I did. I said, why don’t you like it here?

Her reaction was funny because it seemed to say, well, of course nobody likes it here. Why would you ask that question? So I asked again, why don’t you like it here? Don’t you like the mountains? Don’t you like the outdoors?

She said, well I do like them. I guess that I am just I’m not used to it enough for me to be able to like it. She said, I grew up in California and I really liked it there and this is just very different.

I said, do you like the people? She said that the people had been very friendly to her and that she liked how friendly everything seemed to be. She said that is one thing that she liked.

I told her that when my kids were in high school one of them really struggled. I asked him every day to make a list of three things that he liked. I asked him to give it to me at the end of the day. She laughed and said that’s crazy. I said he had to spend all day looking for things that he liked so he didn’t have time to worry about what he didn’t like. She said, that’s great. Maybe I should do that here.

Then I got the prompting to say, do you go to church? She said, it’s funny that you should ask that. She said, I haven’t been going to church in quite a while because I haven’t felt it. She said she was Christian but not Christian like the people around here.

She said that just the night before she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help her figure the church thing out. She said that there were a lot of things pulling her in her life and she wanted to have a better relationship with God. She said that she just wasn’t feeling complete and unfulfilled so she quit going to her church.

I asked her, do you want me to tell you a little bit about our church? She said, yes! We were passing by the brand new Orem Temple, heading south towards Spanish Fork. I told her that a lot of the differences between her belief and our church have to do with that building right there.

She said, that’s a beautiful building, tell me more. I told her that I would tell her more but I wanted to talk to her about some other things first and would circle back to that building. She said, OK.

I told her that our church believes very literally that our father in heaven is the father of our spirits and he’s the God of us all. Every person in the world and every person that’s ever lived in the world or will live in the world is a son or daughter of our father in heaven. I told her that everything we believe has to do with our heavenly father trying to bring us back home to live with him in heaven.

As I said this the spirit started filling the car. It was very noticeable due to the fact that when she got in the car you could not see the spirit in her countenance. The spirit was not yet engaged and there was not that feeling in the car. It came in the car with force at that point. I could see that she was perked up and the spirit started to work on her.

I knew that this was what my father wanted me to be doing right now. Against the odds, this person who you wouldn’t think of as being a person seeking their father in heaven certainly was doing that. I told her that he is our father and he gives us blessings and picks us up when we need him, and when we call on his name.

I told her that our father in heaven give us prophets who receive revelation from him. They give it to us so that we can be blessed. She said, oh like Moses? I said, exactly like Moses. God gave him the 10 Commandments and those commandments blessed those people and made it so they could be happy regardless of their circumstances.

I told her that if we obey the commandments, we will always have God’s spirit with us. I could feel the spirit intensifying in the car and I asked her, do you feel that? She said yes! I said how would you explain that? She said, I feel like I’m hungry and I want to eat that up. I feel like you’ve got something to tell me and I want to learn this.

I told her that that thing she was feeling was the spirit of God and the reaction she was having to it is how she always felt when she was in the presence of God or when truth was being taught to her. I told her, this is how you know the things you are being taught are right.

She said, that’s true! I know that what you’re saying is true and I know that I need to listen. I told her that the commandments are very important. A lot of people look at commandments as restrictions but we look at them as blessings. I used the example of a dude who has fathered multiple children out of wedlock with multiple women. I asked her if his life is peaceful and happy or if his life is chaos. She laughed and said, chaos.

I told her that if he had obeyed the commandments, there would’ve been less chaos and more peace and happiness in his life. I told her that we don’t believe in drinking alcohol. I told her that my grandfather drank alcohol and was an alcoholic and he was a slave to that.

I told her that if my grandfather had obeyed that commandment, he would’ve been freed from those chains of slavery and happier in his life. She said, that makes so much sense. I get that. I told her it’s like putting the fence at the top of the cliff rather than the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff to pick up the pieces. She laughed and said, that’s awesome. I love that.

I told her that God is all powerful and all knowing and he loves every single person in the world. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to pay for their sins and their afflictions and their pain and their suffering and their torment and their infirmities. He sent Jesus Christ to do that for everyone, not just the people in Jerusalem.

This woman was of Mexican decent but she didn’t speak any Spanish at all. I talked to her about the Book of Mormon. I told her that God sent his son Jesus Christ to America. I told her that God loved the people in America too and that they had prophets as well. I told her that they waited for Jesus to come.

I told her that he descended from heaven and he asked them to take a step up in discipleship. He asked to be baptized by his authority and the way he taught. He invited every one of them to do that and these were her ancestors. I told her that your ancestors were held in Jesus’ arms. I told her, “your ancestors were blessed by Jesus, and their posterity was blessed as well”. I told her, this means you.

This spirit was palpable in the car and she had a tear in her eye so I asked her, what does it mean to you to know Jesus Christ visited your ancestors. She said, it means everything to me. That’s so beautiful. She said, I’ve never heard anything like that but I’m burning up inside. I know that what you’re saying is true. I told her, the spirit is testifying to you that this is true. She said, I know, there’s no denying it.

I told her that we also received that same invitation from Jesus to accept that same baptism. That’s the baptism we do in our church. I told her that when Jesus came to America, most of the other people that were there had previously been baptized. Jesus asked them to take that step up to a new covenant, to a new understanding, to new levels of blessings.

I told her that this brings us back to that building, the temple. I told her that in that temple, we do really important things. We are married for all time not just until death. I told her, we call this a sealing because the marriage is sealed by the power of God. I told her that because we’re married in that building and our marriage is sealed, t means our children that come into that marriage are also sealed for eternity.

Now she was leaning forward and had a tears in both eyes. She said, do you mean that we can all be together with our families? Is that what that means? I said yes.

I told her that it’s not just her family that’s here with her now. I explained to her that every person who was ever born was also taught the gospel once they died. I pointed out in Peter that it teaches this very thing. Jesus set up the preaching of the gospel to those who would pass without hearing it. She said that’s amazing!

I told her that in the Bible it mentions baptisms for the dead. I told her that the people would go and be baptized for the person who had died that had been taught the gospel as a spirit. I told her that this person then has the opportunity to choose whether or not to accept it. They can chose whether or not to become baptized as a member of the church.

She said that this had always bothered her tremendously and that it didn’t seem fair. It didn’t seem like all of Heavenly Father’s children had the opportunity to hear the gospel. She said it didn’t seem fair that many died without being baptized especially little children. She said there was no way in the world she could believe that a child would be condemned for not being baptized. She said it didn’t seem fair and she didn’t see how that worked since God loves all of his children. She said that this is why she was skeptical of her Christian church.

She said, I like that they get to choose. I told her that God is all about choice and he wants us to choose to come home to him. That’s why he sent his son. That’s why he sent his son to America.

I told her that many people who have passed on are waiting for us to go and be baptized for them so that they can accept that baptism and come home to their father. I told her it’s all about family. It’s all about bringing them together and we are all part of the family of God.

She said, I know this is true!

The spirit was indicating to me that I needed to bear my testimony of Joseph Smith and so I testified of Joseph Smith, of the first vision and of the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon. I testified to her that those engraving were given to Joseph Smith and were interpret by the power of God. I told her that this is the Book of Mormon, the translation that Joseph Smith did of the ancient writings from the prophets in America.

She said, I’ve heard about the Book of Mormon. My baby’s father‘s family are members of your church and they’re very active and they tried to give me a Book of Mormon but I didn’t know what it was so I didn’t take it.

I said, well, now you know. What do you think? She said, I want one. Those are my ancestors. I told her that her baby‘s father‘s family believed very strongly in this. I told her that It was important to them that your family go to the temple so that you all could all be together forever. I looked in her face and she was glowing by this point. She was smiling ear to ear.

This girl who had, at the first of the ride, looked anything but angelic was shining. She said, I have to tell you, last night I prayed that God would help me find truth. I prayed that God would help me find a better way forward and last night I prayed that God would send someone to help me.

I told her about the guy that we baptized a few weeks ago who had done the same thing. He had prayed that God would send someone and God put him in my car. I showed her a picture of me and this man at his baptism. She was happy, with a great big huge smile. She said, I never figured it would be a white rideshare driver. I smiled and said, I guess it doesn’t matter as long as it is a servant of God who testifies of truth. She said 100%!

I asked her, do you believe the things I said today are true? She said yes. She said, next time I’ll accept that Book of Mormon from them. I told her that we can do one better. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of my Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists. I handed it to her and said, this Book of Mormon was prepared for you.

I told her that the book has questions in the front that are answered in the tabs and that she should she read them. I said she should read the whole book too. I told her that as she reads it, she should pray to know of its truth. I said that if she he did she would feel the same thing she was feeling right now in the car.

She said that this was exactly what she would do and that she would love to do it. I told her to take this with her to the next family gathering and show it to them. I told her to talk to them about what she felt in the car today and what we learned. I told her to tell them what she now knew to be true.

She said, we get together every Sunday and I will do exactly that.

I told her that I was sure that Heavenly Father put her in my car. I testified to her that he had prompted me with the things to say. She said, that’s clear because you answered the questions I did not even ask. You answered the questions I’ve always had. You’ve answered the questions about how to me, it seemed so unjust that so many people would die without baptism and not be able to go to heaven. Now I know that I was right, that it is not true. Now I know that everyone gets a chance and my heart is full.

She said, I know God put me in your car and I’m excited to talk to my boyfriend’s family about this.

Just then we pulled up to her house and she said, I will read this book, I will cherish this book and I will always remember what I felt in the car today. I told her that this would bring her home if she will follow that feeling. She smiled, said thank you, put her hand on my shoulder for a couple of seconds and got out of the car.

One day I picked up a young man and his dad. The young man was a student at the University of Utah and his dad was there with him. I was taking them from his apartment to a storage unit. It was the end of the semester, right then there’s a lot of changing going on with regards to apartments and such.

When they got in the car they started speaking Portuguese to each other. I have some very basic and poorly pronounced Portuguese knowledge with regards to speaking but I do understand most of it. I listened to them for a minute, then I said tudo bem, which is how you say how are you in Portuguese.

I learned a lot about Portuguese when I was on my mission in Misiones in Argentina and then again when I was in a Portuguese branch in the MTC where the missionaries were learning Portuguese. The missionaries used to laugh at my Portuguese but I said, don’t laugh at me. I’m learning it from you! It was a good time but I did learn how to bear my testimony and say prayers in Portuguese.

I talked to them about how I had served my mission in Argentina and that I spoke Spanish and I could do OK with a combination of Portuguese Spanish. They laughed and said, half the world speaks Spanish . They asked how well I speak Spanish and I said, I do interpretation. They seemed impressed. They asked me how I kept it up after all this time and I told them that I say my prayers and read the scriptures in Spanish every day. I told them that I’ve done that every day since October 31 of 1981.

They thought that was pretty cool. The boy said, I would like to learn to speak Spanish better. This gave me an idea. I had realized that he wasn’t a member of the church and that he probably didn’t know much about it.

I had been looking for an opening and I decided to take it here. I said, when my son was a student at BYU he took a class that they have on conversion from Portuguese to Spanish and vice versa. It’s a class where they help you do the transition and then you can be fluent both languages.

I said that BYU has a Salt Lake center and I wonder if they teach it there. He said, I am so busy right now. I am not sure I would have time to take more on because of my studies here. Then he said, don’t you have to be a Mormon to go to BYU?

I said, absolutely not. To go to BYU you have to promise to live by the rules and be active in your religion but you don’t have to be a Mormon.

I told them that the rules are that you can’t drink or use drugs. You can’t cheat in your classes, you have to dress appropriately and you can’t have sexual relations outside of marriage. His dad chimed in and said, those are really good things! The kid said, yeah, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I said, what you really ought to do is go to BYU in Provo.

For your information an international student pays a lot of money to go to the University of Utah. It’s like $50,000 a year. That’s what they’ve told me.

Knowing this information I said, you know as a student of BYU tuition is about $12,000 for nonmembers, and about $9000 for members. That’s a huge savings! The kid laughed and said, oh my gosh maybe I need to go there.

I said, there’s one other thing, you have to take a religion class almost the every semester. This is because it’s a church school and it’s funded by the members of the church. Everyone who goes there is expected to learn about the church. His dad said, that would be awesome. I think I would like that for him.

He said, I would love to go down and see BYU and maybe go there if I could get in. He said, do you think they would let me in? I asked him how good his grades have been and he said he had straight A’s at the University of Utah. I said, I don’t work for BYU but I think you could probably get in. He said, I’d love to try.

Then his dad turned to him and said, didn’t your mom tell you that you should consider becoming a Mormon. I almost fell out of the door as I heard him say, “yes she did. I really should go to that church.”

He turned to me and said, do you think they’d let me go to the church? I said yes! He said, what are the rules in the church? I said, kind of the same rules of BYU has. He said, that’s no problem. I’d like to go. How do you get an invitation?

I was blown away. He wanted an invitation so I thought I’d give him one. I talked to him about the church. I said that It’s really important for us to do the things that Jesus wants us to do. I told him we believe in that we receive revelation from God. I told him that Joseph Smith was a young man, not too much younger than he was. He was seeking the truth and couldn’t find it. I told him that Joseph prayed and God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They called him to be the prophet and assigned him to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth.

As I testified of these truths, the spirit filled the car and it filled our hearts. I could tell that both he and his father were moved. I asked him what he felt, and he said, amazing and happy. I told him that what made him feel like that was the spirit of god. I said that the spirit of god testifies of truth and can guide us and let us know the truth when we hear it.

I told him that because of this he knew that these things were true. He said yes. I asked him if he liked that feeling. He said he loved it.

I told him that we have the same church that Jesus organized on the Earth. I told him that after Jesus’s resurrection, he came to America to visit the people. I told him that they had prophets and they had been baptized. When Jesus got there, he invited them to receive his baptism by his authority. He invited them to become part of his kingdom.

I said to him, I guess that would be your invitation. We invite you to come to church and get ready to be baptized! He said, I would like that. His dad said, that would be great! I asked him if it would be OK if I had missionaries come over to teach him. He said yes.

He asked me, do I have to just go to church all by myself or is there someone that could go with me? I told him that this is what the missionaries will do. They will either go with you or they will find someone to go with you.

He said, that’s great! I’m looking forward to it. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a Book of Mormon. I said, do you remember when I told you that we had prophets in America and Jesus came to America.? He said yes. I handed him the Book of Mormon and said, here is your invitation to come to Christ and to church.

I said, just like the Old Testament the New Testament, this is another testament of Jesus Christ. I told him it talks about Jesus coming to America and his invitation for all of us to follow him. He looked at it and asked me, is it OK if I take this? I said, yes! It’s for you.

His dad said, that’s very generous of you. I said this is why we have these books. We want to let people know of their father in heaven’s love for them.

His dad said, your mom will be so pleased! You finally listened to her! They laughed and I chuckled as well. I smiled knowing that our father in heaven was very pleased.

I used the Tools app for members of the church and found out who the missionaries were that were assigned to the place he lived. I called them and they initiated contact with him right away. They said they would follow through.

A few days later I got this message from him after he and his mother attended church and met the missionaries. “Thank you, for introducing me to the church. I guess god really put our paths together for the better”

Yes he did!!

I picked up a guy at the University of Utah hospital who was in a wheelchair. Wheelchairs are dicey because you have to worry about how to fit them in your car or if they will even fit in your car. These rides are kind of a pain and a lot of times they put you in a bad mood. This guy got out of his wheelchair and into the car. I went to pick up his wheelchair and I found it was no lightweight wheelchair. It was 50 pounds! Not that I can’t lift 50 pounds, I can lift 50 pounds easy but when you’re expecting 15 ponds it comes as a shock. I picked it up and put it in the back of the car and we started off.

I noticed that this gentleman had use of his arms and legs, but he had a colostomy bag and seemed he quite weak. I think this is the reason why he had the wheelchair. It seemed like a top line wheelchair and he said he got it from Thailand or something like that.

Anyway, we spent some time talking about his situation. He had been in a coma for almost 18 months. He said that it wasn’t really a coma because he could remember hearing everybody and knew exactly what was going on but he couldn’t respond and they called a coma. One thing was for sure, he couldn’t move anything, he couldn’t open his eyes and he couldn’t speak for that whole time.

During that time his wife decided to divorce him. She got a no-fault divorce and sold everything they owned. She used the money from the sale to purchase a home in Maine and moved there knowing that by doing this, he would be totally out of the picture.

When he came around, he couldn’t remember the 2 years of his life before the hospitalization. He couldn’t remember a lot of things and so he’s learning them bit by bit while he gains strength. This is why he was in the wheelchair and this is why I picked him up at the hospital. I took him to his friend’s apartment because he had no other place to go.

He said that his wife moved to Maine because that way she could keep the kids away from him. She’s in a small town in Maine and she’s getting ready to start a Satanic club for kids. She seems to be a piece of work.

He said she is working full-time to turn those kids against him and in his condition he has no ability to confront or object. This was his situation.

I listened to him tell his story and all I could feel was God saying, he needs to know that I love him. He needs to understand the atonement. I felt rebuked for being in a bad mood and not being more perceptive to the spirit and compassion that should accompany a member of the church. The spirit sternly warned me to “get in the game”. When he got done telling me these things and after I had heard these words in my heart, I started to speak.

I told him, you need to get close to God. If you are close to God, it will change everything and give you an opportunity to have your family.

I had wondered what religion he was and I didn’t think it really mattered at that point. I told him that Heavenly Father is our father and he loves us and we are hardwired to the feeling of his presence in our lives. I told him that we crave that feeling and it makes us feel whole and it makes us feel better.

I asked him what religion he was and he said, kind of non-denominational. I asked him if he believed in God and he said, yes, I do. I told him, God loves you. God wants me to say to you that he loves you and that he’s given his son, Jesus Christ, so that you don’t have to suffer as much. He looked puzzled and said what do you, mean by that?

By this time I was getting promptings of things to say so I started saying them. I said, that same spirit that you’re hardwired to feel and desire and crave is the thing that can bring you together with your children someday.

I said, as you change your life and embrace God and his son, Jesus Christ, that spirit will be around you and in your countenance. When your children come to see you, they will feel that spirit and desire to be in the presence of that spirit. They won’t even know what it is, but they’ll know that they like it and they’ll know that they want to be around it.

They’ll know that they feel good in your presence and therefore they will want to be around you. I said, I feel like they’re probably already pushing away from the lies and evil that their mother is doing. He said, yes they are. They ask me questions all the time about what’s going on with the things she’s doing.

I told him that the spirit had let me know that this was the case. I felt prompted by the spirit to promise him in the name of Jesus Christ, if he would do the things I say, if he will go to the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, talk with the bishop and do the things he says, the spirit will be with him. His children will not be able to deny that.

I told him that this is real and that God loves him and wants to help. I told him that God knows what he’s been through and he has given him help.

I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ was the greatest gift ever given, and the only way we can make it through life in one piece. I told him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be made clean through repentance and then we can have Jesus lift our burdens so that we don’t feel them as much. I asked him if he would like to have Jesus lift his burdens. The spirit was very strong in the car. I asked him if he could feel that and he said yes.

I asked him why he hadn’t let me know that he was a member of the church. I asked him why he said that he was non-denominational. He said that his life had just been really messed up and he had lost some faith. I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the church and told him that the atonement was the way that he could put himself in the position that he needed to be in.

I told him that it seems to me like his wife was making accusations about him that could not possibly have been true because he was in his coma. I told him that I felt like that was weighing heavily on him. He said, that’s right, that’s exactly what is happening. He asked, how did you know? I told him that the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost whispered it to my heart. I said, you remember the Holy Ghost?

He said, yes, I’ve been feeling it in the car. I told him that this message is for him and that he needs to understand that God can lift him through these burdens. God can help him with his family and that the only way he can be happy is if he surrounds himself with the love of God and uses the atonement to heal his soul and his heart.

I told him that in the Book of Mormon, there was a people that were with Alma. I told him that they were captive. He told me he knew the story. I told him that those people called upon God and accessed the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told him that the result was that their burdens were lifted to the point that they could barely feel them. I asked him if that sounded like a blessing he would like to have. He said, yes

I told him that since Covid, I lost my job and things have been really tight but I have relied on the atonement of Jesus Christ. It has made the situation bearable and helped me be happy while I worked this job.

I told him that because I’m happy God has given me ways that I could serve him by testifying.

He said, I really appreciate your testimony because it’s made all the difference for me today. He said, no one has tried to help me. I asked him if he knew where his ward was and he said, yes. I asked him where he needs to be this Sunday. He smiled and said, at church. I asked him if he would promise me and the Lord that this Sunday he would go to church and talk to his bishop.

I told him to lay out the whole thing to the bishop and let him know what’s going on so that the bishop could help. I told him that part of the way the atonement might work in his case is through the bishop and the hands of others the Lord sends to bless his life.

He promised me that he would go. I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said, yes. I asked him how long it had been since he read it and he said, years. In fact, he said he remembers stories from the Book of Mormon but he doesn’t remember reading it for those 2 years that he lost. I told him it’s time to get in the game, t’s time to read that book.

I told him that when he reads that book he will feel the spirit of God, the peace of God and the love of God.

I got out the car and got his wheelchair and got it set up and got him in it. He was ready to go, but I said, in the Book of Mormon, do you remember when they talked about, the fiery serpents that were venomous? He said, yes. I said, Moses lifted up a bronze serpent for everyone to look at. If they they had been bitten and looked at it would be saved, and if not, they would die.

I told him that horrible things happen to people in this life and he knows this better than most. I told him that what is happening is a spiritual battle as well. Satan is there telling everybody to blame God, leave the church and be angry! God is pointing to Jesus, the bronze serpent, and saying look to Jesus. I told him that if we look to Jesus, we will live.

He apologized to me for not saying that he was a member that church in the first place. He said, I failed that test. I could see the pain in his eyes and I said, well, now you know and it’s time to look at the serpent and live. He said, I will never deny it again. He said, I’ve never felt the spirit like this in my life that I can remember. He said, I know for sure that God sent you here today to lift me up and give me hope.

Once again he thanked me for my testimony and promised he would go to church, meet with the bishop, pray and read the Book of Mormon. He said, after all this despair, I see a light and a pathway forward. I should never have doubted and I will never do it again.

Sometimes we are wounded in our hearts, in our souls and in our bodies all at the same time. The only hope we have for a full recovery is the atonement of Jesus Christ. By the way, one thing I noticed was that the wheelchair was lighter when I pulled it out of my car. It’s all about our attitude and whether or not we’re looking to Christ.

One afternoon it was pretty slow and so I was a little bit more open to getting a ride that was outside of downtown. I got a ride up at the University of Utah Hospital going out to Magna. I figured I could do that if I turned off and went directly back into town so I wouldn’t get dragged all over the west side of the valley.

I went and picked up the young man. He worked at the University of Utah Medical Center and he was heading home at the end of his shift. The spirit indicated to me when I saw him I had that better get ready to go. A lot of times when you pull up on a situation where there are 10 to 30 people outside waiting for a ride you either have to call to recognize who they are or just sit there forever untill they recognize who you are.

As I drove up, I knew exactly who I was supposed to pick up. This is how I knew the spirit had chosen him. I knew that we were going to lift this young young man today.

We started to drive and talk a little bit about what he did at the hospital and it was pretty interesting. my mom is a nurse and worked in hospitals until her mission and then again after her first mission. After their second mission she put the nursing thing away, but I guess once a nurse always a nurse.

I talked to this young man about my exposure to medicine through my mom to establish some common ground. He seemed very interested and we chatted for a minute.

I turned to him and said, you know I’ve had some impressions of some things I’d like to talk to you about. Would that be OK? He said, go for it! I said, about God. He said, I love God, that would be awesome.

I asked him if he had lots of people he worked with who were members of our church. He said that he did. This was an interesting question because I had never asked him whether or not he was a member of the church, but I just followed the guidance of what was in my heart and started talking to him as if he were not a member of the church.

I asked him if he had ever wondered what the differences were between his religion and our religion. This is a question I like to use because it allows me to open up and talk about Heavenly Father and his love for everyone and aspects of the gospel that teach us more profoundly about his plan for each and every person to be able to come home.

My first thought was to teach him about the temple. I thought that this was strange, but I dove in. I asked him if he had seen or thought about what went on in the temples around the valley.

He said, yes, I know that they’re beautiful buildings, but I’ve always wondered. It doesn’t seem like they are the main place you go on Sunday for your meetings but they seem very important and they are very beautiful.

I said, in the temple, we find out that God has a plan to save everyone of his children if they will be saved and how he plans to do it. I asked him if he considered how many people in the history of the world had died without hearing about Jesus Christ.

He said, no, I hadn’t but now that you mention it, oh my goodness. I asked him if he believed that every person needed to be baptized to go to heaven. He said yes. He said that his church taught that.

I, at this time, had the impression that he was Catholic and I said, doesn’t your church even teach that if the baby is born and is not baptized that they can’t go to heaven if they die? He said, yes, but nobody really believes that.

I asked, do you want to know why you don’t believe that? He said, yes. I said, you don’t believe it because you believe that Heavenly Father loves you and he loves everyone just the same. It doesn’t matter where they lived or when they lived. I told him that I believed his understanding of God‘s love would preclude him from condemning a baby. I told him that God would’ve had to make a plan for that situation. He said yes, you’re right.

I asked him about somebody who’s mentally challenged. They can’t understand, should that person be condemned because they weren’t baptized? He said, no and no for the same reason. God loves everyone and that person should not be held responsible.

I asked him about the people that were born in India, Africa, and China thousand of years ago. I asked, what about them? Did they ever hear about Jesus Christ? Were they able to accept Jesus Christ? Was there an opportunity for them to be baptized?

He said, no! I asked him if it would be just for them to be condemned. I told him some of them maybe were very very very good people. Would it be just to condemn them? He said no, no it wouldn’t.

I asked him if an all loving God who loved all of his children would allow 90% of them to be condemned without an opportunity for salvation. He said, no. That’s not the God I know.

I asked him if there was a doctrine in his church that taught him about an opportunity for salvation for these and he said no.

I told him that after Jesus died, in the three days before he was resurrected, we are taught in Peter in the Bible that he went to the spirits in prison who had not had the opportunity to hear the gospel. I told him that Jesus went to them and taught them the gospel. He also organized the teaching of the gospel to everyone who dies without having the opportunity to hear the gospel on the Earth.

I told him that every one of God’s children will hear and be taught the gospel whether it happens on the earth or there in the spirit world. He asked me where it said that and I pulled out the scripture and we read it. He said, I’ve read the Bible, especially the New Testament and I’ve never noticed those scriptures.

I said, so now you know that everyone will be taught and know that Jesus is the Christ. He said, yes, I love that.

I asked my first question again, can they go to heaven without being baptized? He thought for a minute and said how are they going to do that.

I told him, that brings us back to the discussion on the temple. In our temples, we do work to save those people and give them the opportunity for exaltation and eternal life with God.

I told him that one of the things we do there is we are baptized for those people. They have the opportunity at that time, having been taught and with knowledge of the divinity of Jesus Christ, to accept or reject that baptism. He said, I don’t know what to say. That’s amazing. He said, literally every person then would be equal and have the same opportunity. I told him that this is correct.

I told him that a loving father would not condemn 90% of his children without giving them an opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not to come home. I told him that a loving father is always about saving his children, providing for his children and bringing them home safely. He said, that’s right, I believe that.

I told him, your father in heaven is a perfect loving father and he will do everything he can to get us home. He has prepared an opportunity for everyone. He said, that is amazing.

I told him that we are married and sealed in those temples. Marriages that are sealed are valid after this life through that marriage in that temple. I told him we have the authority given by Peter to do this. Peter was given the authority to seal things on earth that will be sealed in heaven, and we have that same authority. We use it in those buildings to seal marriages and seal children to their parents.

If a child dies, not only will they live with God, but the parents of that child have the assurance through their sealing in the temple that this child will belong to them and will be with them in heaven. I told him that God is all about families and we are all part of his family.

He said, those are really important buildings. I said, yes they are. I told him that they tie heaven and earth together. It’s where everything comes together. He said, I love that. They tell me I can’t go in. I said, because of how sacred those buildings are, we can only go in after we have become clean through baptism and repentance and are worthy to go. You have to show a recommend after an interview with your religious leaders. This is how we maintain the sanctity of the things that go on in that building. He said, I get that, but I would still like to see one.

I had a prompting right then. It said, “the Taylorsville Temple is still doing their open house”. I knew that had been going on for quite some time and I thought it was over. I’ve driven by there many times and haven’t seen very many cars out there lately. I decided to verify what the spirit and told me and I called my friend Gene.

Gene lives in that area and I put him on speaker. We asked him if the temple open house was still going on. He said, yes! It’s going on for another two weeks. In the backseat, my passenger said, that’s awesome. Do I need a recommend to go? My friend Gene said no. You don’t even need to set up a time because right now they’re being very lax and you can just go whenever.

We said goodbye to Gene and thanked him. My passenger said, I know where that temple is. It’s right off the freeway and it’s beautiful. I would love to go there.

He said, Thursday night is the night I have my church meeting but I think I might grab a couple of my friends and go there instead. He said, I have never contemplated the depth of the question of God‘s love like I have in the car today. I’ve never really seen everyone as children until this conversation.

I asked him what he was feeling, and he said he felt happy. I asked him to describe it to me. He said, I feel happy like I am just beaming. It’s like nothing can touch me. I’m so happy.

I told him this that was the spirit of God testifying the truth of the things that we had discussed. I told him that spirit of God always testifies of truth. I told him that when he felt this he knew that the things he was hearing were true.

I told him that because God loves us. He gives us prophets and they give us commandments. They write down those commandments and so we have the Bible. He agreed and said the prophets are really important.

I felt really impressed by the spirit to be bold right here about Jesus coming to America and so I did. I asked him, if God loves everyone in the world, why wouldn’t he have prophets other than just those in Israel? I asked him, if God loves everyone in the world why wouldn’t he give instruction, commandments and love to everyone else through prophets like he did in Israel?

I asked him why he would ignore everyone else except the people that lived in Israel. He said, that really doesn’t make sense. I told him that God had prophets in America and that they received revelations from him just like the prophets in the Bible. I told him that these prophets taught about and the people believed in Jesus Christ and that he would come to them.

I told him that they were baptized and worshiped the best they knew how. I told him that they were taught to look for the coming of Jesus Christ and they did. I told them that Jesus Christ appeared to them. He descended from heaven and stood on the steps of their temple.

I told him that the Bible says other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to go to them. I told him that these were some of the other sheep. As he stood on the steps of the temple the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. They asked him to save them.

As a direct answer to that plea, he called up 12 and gave them authority to baptize and commanded that every single person be baptized in the way he taught and by that authority that he gave them. Even though they had already been baptized, he wanted to make a new covenant and have them take a step up to a higher level of discipleship. I told him that he blessed the people and their posterity. He blessed their children and he loved them because God loves everyone.

The spirit was filling the car and I could tell he believed everything I said through the confirmation of the spirit. I asked him, what are you feeling now? he said, really happy! I told him that’s the spirit of God confirming to him that this happened.

He said he heard something similar with regards to ancient America and people waiting for the return of a white God but he had no idea that this was Jesus Christ. I told him that there are legends, histories and archaeology the point to this but the important thing is that this points to the fact that God loves everyone. I told him that in America after Jesus taught the gospel and after he blessed the people, said, there were still other sheep he had to go because God sent his son to all of his children. God loves his children.

He said, I’ve never seen the love of God in such a way. I told him that because of the love of God, Jesus offered this new baptism, this new step up. Part of taking those steps up and that new level of discipleship is the temple and what we do there. It’s a very holy place.

He said, that makes sense. I love this, I love how I feel here in this car.

I told him that there was a prophet named Joseph Smith. He said, I’ve heard of Joseph Smith, didn’t he found your church? I said yes. I told him that Joseph Smith had been trying to find truth and that he went and prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore the church on the Earth. He was given the same authority to baptize that Jesus gave to the people in the Book of Mormon. I told him that the coming forth of the book was this restoration. I told him that those records that were kept by the ancient American prophets were given to Joseph Smith by an angel, who had been one of those prophets. He gave them to him and told him to translate them into English. I told him that this young man with a second grade education, translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God.

I could see the spirit working with him as I testified of the Book of Mormon. Testifying of the prophet, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon always brings the spirit.

He said, so that is the Book of Mormon? I said yes. He said, I’ve always wondered what that book was about. I told him that it was about God‘s children and their dealings with him in another part of his vineyard. I told him that God loves all of his children. He said this is amazing.

He said. I’m going to have to go get one of those books because I’d like to read it. He said, I like to read. I’ve even read the Quran, but that didn’t make any sense. He said, this seems to make sense and it feels right.

I told him he didn’t have to buy one. I reached into my glove box and pulled out a copy of the book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and handed it to him. I said, this is the Book of Mormon and he said I can’t take your copy. I said, I’ve got lots of copies. This is your copy and it has the questions of the soul that people ask all the time inside the front cover. The tabs take you to the answers to those questions. He looked at it for a second, then he said this means a lot that you would give this to me.

I told him that it was no accident that he was in my car today. I told him that God put him here so that he could receive this book and learn how to bring his family home.

Right then I had the impression to say, the last few minutes you’ve been thinking about a particular friend of yours who went on a mission. You’ve been thinking about asking him about this.

He said, yes, I have. How did you know? I told him that the Holy Ghost whispered it to me. I told him that he should take this book and go to that friend and tell him about our ride. I told him to tell his friend what he learned, show him that book but most importantly of all he should tell him how he felt right now. Tell him the truth you’ve learned because the spirit has let you know these things are true.

He said that he would see that friend on Sunday and he would do it. He said, I’ve got a full week now, go to the temple on Thursday and talk to my friend on Sunday. We pulled up to his house and he said, I can’t tell you how much this means. I’ve never felt this happy. It’s answered so many of my questions and even questions I didn’t know I had.

He got out of the car and went in the house.

These temple open houses can be a great missionary tool.

The other night I picked up a ride at the Mavrick Center after a concert. It took me a while to get in to the ride after three different police officers gave me four different suggestions on how to get to the spot I needed to get to. Sometimes it’s confusing and quite frustrating.

I pulled up to the curb and this woman was waving at me. She has my car description and license plate number plus a photo so she knows what she’s looking for. I have nothing so I assume that was her.

After she got in she just gave off a vibe of being very alone and unhappy. I’ve developed a sense by the spirit to sometimes recognize people who are members of the church that feel disaffected and a little bit upset. Generally it has to do with the misunderstanding of intentions or doctrine. One thing I know is that the doctrine of the gospel in its impurity should not make anyone that is a good person angry including this woman, yet that’s what the spirit was whispering to me about her.

We started driving and we talked a little bit about the concert for the first couple of minutes but this was a long trip to Herriman. I felt prompted to talk about her family with her even though that’s a big no-no . I started by asking her where she was from and she said, Orem Utah and asked me if i’d ever heard of it. I said, as luck would have it, I live in Orem and I coached football at Orem High School up until a few years back.

She said, I went to Orem High School but I got pregnant my senior year and so I didn’t have a great experience. Then she launched into her family. She said, I have four children from four different men. None of them like me. I said, I’m sure that’s not true. She went on to talk about her 19-year-old daughter who was a competitive cheerleader. She aid she spent thousands of dollars and drove all over the country to support her and she wouldn’t hardly talk to her.

I said, that’s kind of how it goes sometimes with mothers and daughters. It goes on for a few years but if you just continue to show your love she’ll come back to you. She talked about how her kids had all decided they wanted to live with their dad and it was quite depressing for her. I started talking about being happy and loving and then eventually that would bring them to her side.

She looked at me and said, I’m angry at you Mormons. I said why are you angry at us and why are you angry at me. I said that’s definitely going to affect my tip isn’t it and I laughed. She laughed too and she said, well it’s not personal but I just hate the way you all teach that I can never be with my children in the next life. She said, it makes me so angry.

One thing I knew from this discussion at that point was that she believed the church was true or it wouldn’t have had the power to make her so angry. I knew that on some level she knew it was true.

I asked her what she knew about her Heavenly Father, I wanted to find out what her relationship with him was. As I guessed, she didn’t have one per se. She said that she didn’t pray to God. She said that occasionally she prayed and talked to her mother who has passed. Her mother had been her friend and helped her with her children but had passed away several years ago

I told her that it was nice that she felt the presence and love of her mother but she had a father in heaven too. I told her, I knew you were a member of the church when you got in the car. I asked, did you have your records removed? She said, no! I said “still a Mormon then!”

She laughed and said, I guess so. I talked to her about our relationship with our father in heaven and how the spirit of God isn’t something we feel by accident or occasionally now and then. I told her that it’s meant to guide us and be with us and embrace us so that we can live our lives with God’s love.

I told her that the neat thing about the spirit is that when you have the spirit it brings peace to your life and others feel that and they want to be part of that. She said, I felt that since I got in your car. I felt relaxed and like I should talk to you. I said, that’s because I pray to have the spirit with me so that people will feel that way and feel the presence of their father in heaven . She said, mission accomplished.

I asked will you tell me what you feel in the car? She said, happy and peaceful. I said, do you like that feeling? She said, yes, I like being in your car. I told her that if she had the spirit with her, her children would feel that when they were with her and that bit by bit it would smooth out the rough edges of their relationships. It might take years but eventually they would be attracted to that because they would like how it feels.

I told her that everyone likes how that feels . We got so used to being in the presence of our father before we were born. Our spirits crave that recognize that and it’s like a magnet drawing us to him. I could tell that her countenance was changing as I looked in the mirror. She was a little bit emotional and said, how can I’d be sealed and have all my children with me.

One of the things I’ve come to understand about being sealed is that most parents think they’re going to be in heaven with their wife or husband sitting on a throne with their children around them . This is what they think of when they think of their family being sealed together. They don’t consider that they will be sealed to God and their spouse and so will their children. And while they will be family, they won’t be hanging out in the same house necessarily . They will all be serving God and working on their own progression at the different levels where they find themselves. I talked to her about this and asked her if she ever thought about that.

She laughed and said, I guess that’s right, they will be their own people. I asked her, that’s how you want it, right? She said yes. I told her that what she needed was faith in God that if she did what was right that everything would work out and it would be fine and just. I told her that the power of God and the power of Jesus Christ to save his children is incredible and that if she lived like she knew she should, God would work miracles in her behalf. I told her that with regards to them being sealed to her or not, she needed to trust God.

I told her that if she didn’t get them all sealed to her here on the earth, they would still be her children. I told her that if we all do what we need to do we will be there together. She said, that’s good because I don’t want to be in a place where my children can’t be. I told her they would have that opportunity and that if she did the things she was supposed to do that God would help them. I told her that the influence of a righteous mother is more powerful than almost any other influence.

I told her about Elder Holland saying that heaven wouldn’t be heaven if he didn’t have his wife and family with him and that God makes that possible. She said that she believes that is true. I said, see, you agree with an apostle! She laughed and said, I guess I do.

I told her that I felt like the problem she was having was that she put a shield around her heart and she wasn’t letting anyone in. She wasn’t letting God in and when anything would come her shield would smother it out or knock it away. I told her she was doing this intentionally and subconsciously and that it was very powerful. She said, I absolutely have a shield.

I told her to let God in so that he could warm her heart and this would change her countenance and change how others felt around her. I told her that eventually this would win over her children because they crave that love. They crave the love of God and the love of their mother. Again she was very emotional and she asked how do I do that? I said, tonight is a good start. You’ve allowed the spirit to penetrate your shield and touch your heart. She said, and it feels amazing.

Then I said, well, what do you think you need to do, what do you need to change, as you step forward. She asked what I thought she should do. I said, first you need to start with praying to your father in heaven. He is the one we pray to and occasionally you’ll feel the spirit of your mother but talking to her is not praying. We pray to our father in heaven. I said, that doesn’t discount that your mother might be there to help you through the tough times.

I told her that she needs to get right with the Word of Wisdom. This is something we had not discussed but I felt by the spirit that it was an issue even though she wasn’t impaired by any substances at the time. She said OK. I can make those changes

I said you need to go to church every Sunday. She said that’s going to be a tough one. I’ve gone to church and I think I burned my bridges there. I said, the good thing about going to church is that we’re all burning our bridges all the time and we all need to reconstruct the bridges every week. You need to go to church. She said, I don’t want to go to Relief Society. I told her that she should start by going to sacrament meeting, sitting in the back if she wanted and feeling the spirit. She said, OK. I said going to sacrament meeting will fill your tank. I told her as she got closer and closer to God there would be other steps to take but she had to go to God‘s house to take that first step.

I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no. I pulled out one of my Book of Mormon copies prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her I said, here is your Book of Mormon. You need to read it every day. This one will start you out easy because there are tabs and questions that are marked and answered. They will teach you about God, how he is your father and how he has the same concerns for you that you have for your children.

I told her that her Heavenly Father loved her and he wanted her back and that he would help her gather her children. I asked her if she would commit to do the things I had asked and I repeated them;

Pray

Obey the word of wisdom

Go to church

Read the Book of Mormon

I told her that if she does these things that her children will be drawn to her and her example will bring them home. I told her that the gathering is not a rounding up but is a coming together by invitation. God invites us, we invite others and the power of God is the thing that brings us together. Trying to do it otherwise brings frustration and disappointment. This is what she had already experienced and she agreed. She promised that she would do these things.

I asked her what it was that she had felt in the car and she said that now she knew it was the spirit of God and that it had been years since she felt it. She then said, I’ve never felt it this strong. I told her that the spirit of God was there because it testifies of truth and that everything we had discussed was what God wanted her to hear today. He was validating these words. She said that she believed everything.

So if you live in Herriman and you see a lady pop up in the back of your sacrament meeting, run back and say hi and give her a bunch of love . That’s really what she’s looking for. She’s been through a lot but she wants to come home.

I think about the scripture from 3rd Nephi 10: 4-6 in the Book of Mormon where Christ talks about how often he has gathered his children like a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. This work is all about gathering us “chicks.”

One day I got a ride up at Primary Children’s Hospital. The nurse came out with a mother, about a two-year-old daughter, and probably 12 bags of food. These were plastic grocery bags and she filled the whole back of my car with them. We put her daughter in the car and then put the stroller they were using on top of the food. It was all packed really tight.

We started to drive out and I told her that I hoped it have been a good day but you never really can count on that when you pick people up at that place. She smiled and said, I know what you mean. It was pretty good, she’s not 100% better yet but we’re getting there.

The two year-old daughter looked kind of out of it and had fallen asleep before we were out of the parking lot. I think that’s how I must look when I’m tired.

I started to talk to her about her daughter and she said that her daughter was on the spectrum but that she had had pneumonia. She said it was really hard on her for whatever reason.

I could tell she was a good mother and the spirit told me that it was time to talk about church. I started trying to figure out a way to get into that conversation. First we were talking about the colleges in the area and then we were talking about how much college cost.

I said that I went to BYU. She said she had lots of friends from her work when she lived in Seattle that had gone to BYU. That was my in. I told her that for a private school BYU was very affordable. I told her the most private schools are $50,000 to $100,000 a year for tuition. I said that private schools are really expensive.

I said that, however, BYU is very affordable. I told her that members of the church pay around $9000 a year and nonmembers pay around $12,000 a year. She was astounded. She asked how it could be that inexpensive. I told her, we call the tithing scholarship in our house. I told her that each one of my kids had gone to BYU, and that this was the only way they could have afforded that education. The fact that the people in the church pay tithing and the church uses tithing to pay a large portion of what the actual cost is. It turns out to be about 70% to 80%.

She was impressed. She said, even the nonmember rate is much better than most in-state tuition. I said yes. I said, the members of the church really believe in education. I asked her where she went to church and she said that she didn’t really go to church but she was Catholic.

I told her that while she was here and living here in Salt Lake, she should look into our church the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said, I was just thinking about that yesterday. She said, I was thinking that I should do that.

She said, I think the closest one is down on 2100 S. given the fact that she lived just off 13th South I told her that I was sure that she wouldn’t be going that far to go to church. I asked her how well she knew the Catholic doctrine and she said she knew it pretty well. I asked her if she knew what the difference was between the Catholic doctrine and the our and the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said she didn’t.

I asked her if it would be OK if I told her some of the differences. She said she would love that. I started by saying a prayer in my heart to know exactly what this obviously frazzled mother needed to hear. The thought of a loving Heavenly Father came to mind and that worked for me. I love to teach that.

I told her that we believe that our father in heaven is exactly that. He’s not a detached God looking for revenge, but a loving father in heaven. A father, who wants to love us, help us and bring us home. I told her that we lived with him for thousands of years and he knows us and we know him.

As I started talking about my father in heaven, it felt very personal and the spirit filled the car. I could tell she was feeling it and loving it. We had arrived at her house and I could tell we had more time because her daughter was snoring.

I went a little more deeply into it. I said our father in heaven loves us, everyone of us, no matter where we were born, or when we were born. He wants us all to come home. I asked, what kind of a father would he be if he wasn’t trying to get everyone of his children home. She said, I really believe that.

I told, her we believe that because he loved everyone he didn’t just have prophets in Israel. I told her that God blesses his children by giving them commandments through his prophets. She said, so he would tell them what he wanted them to say to the people. I said, yes. God would reveal his word to his prophets, they would tell the people and they wrote them down. That’s why we have the Bible.

I told her there were also prophets in America and they did the same thing. I told her that they wrote the words of God, so that the people could be blessed, so that his children could be blessed and feel his love. She said, that’s beautiful. I said, these prophets in America prophesied of Jesus Christ and that he would come.

I told her that in the Bible, we know that Jesus Christ loved the people, blessed the people and suffered and died for all of us. I told her that we know in the book of Peter in the Bible, that while he was dead, Jesus went to the spirit world and taught the people. He set up the organization for the teaching of the people who had died and would die without having a good opportunity to receive the gospel.

I told her that our Heavenly Father loves all of his children and he wants everyone to be taught. She said, that is so cool.

I told her that after this, Jesus was resurrected on the third day. He taught his disciples and then he said “other sheep I have which are not of this fold”. He said that he was going to go to them. I asked her who she thought he was talking about. She said she didn’t know. I told her he was talking about the people who lived here in America. The people whose prophets had prophesied he would come. I told her that he descended from heaven, bright and brilliant and stood on the steps of the temple. I told her that the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and asked him to save them.

I told her that in response and as an answer to that plea, he gave the authority to baptize and commanded that each one of them be baptized. Even though they had already been baptized previously he wanted everyone of them to be baptized to this new covenant, to this new level that he brought to them.

I told her that this new level of discipleship was really important. I said that in this new level of discipleship we are able to save not only ourselves but those who have passed on. I told her that through the teachings of the Book of Mormon, we understand that those who die before they are able to sin and or those who are unable to understand sin are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Every one of them!!!! I said, that’s different than what you guys believe. Her eyes filled with tears and she said, I have never believed that they would go to hell.

She said, every time I was told that all throughout my life I knew it wasn’t true. I told her that the spirit has always born witness of the truthfulness of the atonement of Jesus Christ to her and that this atonement paid for those children. I told her that the original sin of Adam was paid for by Jesus Christ and that we are only held accountable for our own sins, once we are at the age and understanding to be able to commit them.

The spirit was intense. She was very emotional. I asked her, do you feel that? She said, yes! I said, how does it feel? She said, I can barely contain myself, it’s very powerful. I told her that it was the spirit of God. His spirit was there with us and it was there to testify that the things that I was saying were true.

I pointed out to her that she had felt it earlier in the car as I taught about the gospel and it testified then as well. She said, I don’t think it ever left.

I told her that the spirit helps us know God‘s will. The spirit helped her know, the baptism that Jesus gave, and this new level were of him and he expected that of all of us. She said she agreed. I asked her if she knew that this was true and she said yes. I felt that right then it was really important for me to bear my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith.

I bore my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and about how ama young man with a second grade education translated the Book of Mormon as we have it today from a language he didn’t read, nor did he understand. I told her that he did it by the power of God and that there’s no other power that could’ve made that possible.

I told her that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that under the direction of Jesus Christ, he restored his church. Today we have a prophet and 12 apostles who teach us and bless us. They help us so that we can know how to come home to our father in heaven.

I told her that this new level included salvation for those who had passed on. I asked her if she remembered when Jesus went to set up the preaching of the gospel to those were passed on? She said yes. I asked her, do they need to be baptized? She said yes (in a questioning tone) I said, you’re right, they do need to be baptized unless they were under the age of accountability. I asked her how they could be baptized.

She said she had no idea. I told her that we go to our temples and we do what is called baptism for the dead. I told her we go there and we are baptized for and behalf of the person who has died. That person gets the opportunity to accept the teachings that they have received. I explained it a couple times and a couple of different ways because I didn’t think she was getting it. All of a sudden the light came on and she said I get it, you are baptized, but they are the ones that make the covenant and get the blessing. I said yes.

I told her it’s really important that we bless the people who have passed on, who are our family members. It’s very important that we help them come to Christ just like he invited us to come to him. She said, that so cool!

I said, in our temples we are also sealed, married for all time and all eternity. She said, is that just husbands and wives or is the family sealed to them as well? I said, husbands and wives are sealed. Their children are added to that sealing, and we are sealed for our ancestors, who have passed so that they can all have those blessings in the eternities.

She said, that is amazing. I said, these are some of the differences between our church and your church. I told her that our church has the fullness of the gospel. We have the plan of a loving father, making it possible for every one of his children to come home no matter where they were from or when they lived.

She said she liked that. I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said she didn’t. I reached into my glove box and pulled out one of the Book of Mormons prepared by Secrists. I gave it to her and explained the questions of the soul, and how to find the answers. I told her that this book was the book that was written by those prophets in America that lived here in ancient times.

I told her that if she reads this book she would feel the same feeling that we were feeling right now in the car. Again, I felt the prompting to bear my testimony. I testified of Joseph Smith. I testified of the Book of Mormon and that we have a latter-day prophet and apostles.

I asked her if it would be OK if I helped her find where her church was. She asked me if I was sure it wasn’t on 21st South and I said, I’m sure it’s not. I looked it up and it was only a block and a half away from her house. I asked her if she wanted to drive over there and she said yes. We drove over and she talked about how beautiful it was and how she couldn’t wait to go there.

I asked her if it would be OK if I had missionaries come over and teach her and help her get to church. She said yes but her daughter was just out of the hospital with pneumonia. She thought that she should wait until the following week to go. She didn’t want to expose her daughter to a whole bunch of germs. She asked if that would be OK. I chuckled and said absolutely.

I looked up the missionaries in the members Tools app. They’ve redesigned it and it’s a lot easier to use now. I quickly sent in her referral and was given the names of the missionaries. I called them.

Once I had them on the phone, I explained the situation and I mentioned that she would like to have them come over. I asked if I could give her my phone so that they could set a time. They said yes and I handed her my phone. One thing to note here is that she had not lived here very long so she didn’t have a phone that was operating yet so establishing this contact was important.

They set the appointment for the following week and decided that they would meet in the church house with a member sister.

To wrap it all up, everybody’s excited. She wants to be baptized and wants to go to church. That’s what I call a good ride!