A Day or Two in the Life

May 27, 1988, Friday – This was quite an eventful day. It was my turn to drive today and our first destination was the home of one of our investigators. Our plan was to show him the video Restoration of the Priesthood; apparently he has been struggling lately. Alas, he was not home, so we went and tracted four streets, after which we went back to the flat to pick up Elders Tippets and Vaughan to go to lunch at Wendy’s. When we got there we just happened to run into the Carmel Ward’s mission leader, Brother King, who picked up the tab for lunch.

We had occasion to drive by the beach and we saw a destroyer and a submarine out in the bay. That was totally awesome. Later in the evening, when the sun had gone down, we were up in the hills and I could see the lights of the ship and sub.

At 6:30 p.m. we had our teaching appointment with Charles, who lives in our apartment complex. We talked for two and a half hours; Charles and his friend Tim had come prepared with a few so-called contradictions between Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We spent the time answering questions, bearing testimony, and promising to study up on the subjects we did not have answers for. I am afraid that we got into a little bashing. I was trying to keep control of the situation but they were anything but cooperative. But I still tried to keep the spirit there.

Among their concerns were the following:

1. The book Doctrines and Salvations states that the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel, yet it has no mention of baptism for the dead or celestial marriage, and neither does the Bible. I was able to point out baptism for the dead is mentioned in First Corinthians 15:29, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” For celestial marriage I mentioned First Corinthians 11:11, “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” Charles said this was taken out context. Besides, there is Matthew 22:30 said Charles, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”
2. Moroni 8:18 says that God is not partial, neither changeable, being an unchangeable being from all eternity to all eternity. Numerous scriptures in the Bible and Book of Mormon point out the same. Yet Joseph Smith in the King Follet Discourse stated that God is an exalted man. Joseph said that we have believed for a long time that God was always God and then said, “I will refute that idea.” Okay, he stumped us on this one, but then Charles did not say that Joseph had said God was an exalted man. Anyway, we admitted our confusion and promised to study up on it.
3. Certain prophecies of Joseph Smith have not come to pass in the time frame prophesied. Joseph apparently made some false statements, refuting or contradicting the Bible or the “Word” as they said. Deuteronomy says that false prophets will come and if they say something that is not in the “Word” the must needs be destroyed. Of course, Joseph Smith was killed.

We did our best in answering their questions. I told them of how I got my testimony and threw in Moroni’s Promise. We tried to tell them it all depended on whether the Book of Mormon was true or not. We had a prayer at the end, and the way we did it was unusual; they wanted all four of us to pray aloud at the same time. The prayers of me and my companion were relatively short, but they used a lot of repetition.

I could have sworn that I heard Tim pray in a different language. Charles and Tim are in the Air Force and are here students at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. That might be why.

We returned to the flat thinking our day was done, but at 10:10 p.m. we got a call from a member. They had a friend at their house who really needed a priesthood blessing. We quickly got dressed and headed over. At the members’ home was Rowan Adams McClure, who had been driving from San Diego to the VA hospital in San Francisco; his records are being sent there from Salt Lake City. While driving he began to experience a pinched nerve, he had almost no strength in his right arm, so he got off the Pacific Coast Highway at Seaside to visit his friends.

Elder Spaugh did the anointing and I did my first sealing and blessing. The man specifically asked me to give the blessing. The spirit only impressed me with what to say, which wasn’t much, he didn’t tell me directly. It was a challenge to figure out how to phrase what I was impressed to say. I blessed him with peace and that he would be well enough to travel in the morning.

With that done we came back to the flat and finally went to bed. Wow, what a day. These days are filled with so many experiences, but they go by so quickly. 

May 28, 1988, Saturday – We went to the library at the stake center to do some research. I read Joseph Smith’s King Follet Discourse and also photocopied it. Here is what we came up with as answers to each of Charles’ and Tim’s concerns:

1. Mormon Doctrine says that what is meant by the fullness of the gospel is what the Nephites had and needed.
2. In the footnotes of Moroni 8:18 we see that God is unchangeable in his perfectness. John 5:19 states that Son can do nothing but what he seeth the Father do. As we read in the King Follet Discourse, Joseph Smith says that the Father is an exalted man. The Father did what Jesus did; He was the Savior of a world or worlds before he became the Eternal Father and created this world.
3. Elder B. H. Roberts said that Joseph Smith reached his height as a teacher in the King Follet Discourse given at the funeral of Brother Follet in April 1844. There was only one thing left for him to do, seal his testimony with his blood, which he did three months later. Such is not the life of a fallen prophet. As for unfulfilled prophecies, Charles mentioned a statement of Joseph Smith that he will dedicate the temple in Independence, Missouri, and said that it cannot be fulfilled because Joseph is dead. Elder Tippets pointed out “He can do it with resurrected hands.”

 

Charles stopped by our apartment tonight and we had another long chat. We presented to him the answers we had come up with in our research. After a little back and forth, thrust and parry, I taught him parts of the first, third and fourth discussions -- I kind of just took over. He interjected once but I then asked if I could continue without interruption. 

I proceeded to teach him the Joseph Smith story, the restoration and apostasy, and the plan of salvation complete with the pre-mortal sphere, the mortal sphere, sin and death, the Atonement of Christ, the spirit world with paradise and prison, baptism for the dead, judgement and the three degrees of glory. I then bore my testimony and expressed my gratitude for the plan of salvation and for my Savior. I explained the sacrifices involved in serving a mission. Throughout it all, Charles was completely silent.

I tried to teach with the spirit and with love and sincerity. The spirit was present and it was strong. I challenged him to read Alma 32 and to pray about the Book of Mormon and about the things we discussed this evening. Then we closed with a prayer; this time only I said it. I didn’t need the distraction of another person praying and I wanted him to see an example of an LDS prayer.

If you don't know the answer to a question or concern, it is perfectly acceptable to tell your investigators that you will do some research.