Missionary Experience

Last Sat, Richard and I decided to hike the Y (which is a miracle in itself because Richard swore he wouldn't hike the Y in college). We had a million things to do that day and couldn't decide if we should waste time going hiking or not, but finally decided we needed the break from all the homework and errands. We also left a little bit later than we had planned to but were excited to go hiking. After hiking for a few mins, we stopped at an overlook to look at the beautiful scenery. There was another man standing there and we just smiled at him and didn't think anything of it. All of the sudden he said, "great view isn't it?" We agreed and then he asked us, "So is that the school down there where all those Mormons go?" We smiled and said yes and he said, "you mean, ALL those people down there really believe in that stuff?!". He continued to tell us that he lives next door to a "stage president" (he didn't know it was actually stake president :) ) and that this stage president had told him about how we can one day becomes like gods. This really confused him because that made him think that we were a polytheistic religion and that we didn't believe in the same God as Christianity. In fact, he told us that our God must be less powerful than the "normal" Christian God because that God has always been: He created time and space and doesn't follow rules, unlike our God who was once a man. I was really impressed by the way Richard answered his questions and it gave me a good glimpse into the kind of missionary my husband must have been. At first I was quiet and just let Richard answer all of his questions but after a while I felt like I was really guided by the Spirit to say some things, like when he told us that the polygamists led by Warren Jeffs must be the "real Mormons" because they lived the same way that Brigham Young did. If I had answered alone, I probably would have explained that clearly he knew nothing about us or the FLDS church and should do some more research. However, the Spirit guided me to talk about the importance of a prophet for our times to guide us in how to live today instead of living the way Brigham Young did because he was the prophet for those times. I think he had been taught some things that were unrelated to what he needed to know, and others that were over his head spiritually, but he is a really good guy and sincerely wanted to find the truth. It was such a great discussion and I hope he went away with the assurance that we know without a doubt that this religion is true and that we love it with all of our hearts. It was an amazing experience to talk with him and another perfect way to strengthen my own testimony. Who says you can't have missionary experiences in Provo?!