A religious experience

I just had a most wonderful religious experience that was mostly unexpected. We attended our new ward in Cartagena this morning. We weren't sure we would even have an opportunity to attend church this morning, as we had made a dry run yesterday and were unable to find the building. The same thing happened in Barcelona. When we first go on LDS.org/maps, we are given an address. We go to that address and find no church there. Then we revisit LDS.org, and get a new address. We get there, and it isn't exactly where our GPS says it should be, but it is close. That happened today. When we went to search this morning, we weren't able to find the second address right away. After walking around for a bit, we spotted some people in Sunday dress and decided to follow them. About a block away from where we were, we finally spotted the church.

I need to say that church buildings here are not like you would find at home. So far, we haven't seen any stand-alone chapels. Usually the buildings are in commercial locations that have been adapted. We have seen graffiti on just about every surface imaginable in Europe. At first, we were startled and alarmed by this, but it doesn't seem to have the same affiliation with gangs here that it does in the states, and is mostly artistic expression...at least that's my impression. At any rate, we have seen graffiti not exactly on, but around our church locations..which is weird, right? At least it is unexpected.

One of the young men in suits we followed this morning was a full time missionary from the Avenues area in Salt Lake. He sat behind us in sacrament meeting, and translated for us. He was on the other side of my wife, so I didn't hear much of what he was saying at the time, and Chris would lean over and summarize for me after each testimony.

The bishop started the meeting with an announcement that the building of a new chapel had to be suspended because the members there were not qualified due to the lack of tithing funds being collected. Most of the testimonies that followed were about tithing, and how blessings had flowed because of obedience to the commandment. By itself, testimony meeting could have been a most wonderful experience, but what followed was amazing.

The stake president took the next two hours in a combined meeting that included the youth. He used Powerpoint. He was very animated and earnest in his delivery. He took me back to the basics of my religion.

He began by telling a story about driving from Madrid to Seville. He confessed that he was not a good driver, and often got lost just driving to Murcia, which is about 30 minutes from here...like driving to Provo. So he was nervous about driving from Madrid..which is outside his comfort zone...to Seville, which he had never visited before. He told his friend, and his friend gave him a GPS and showed him how to use it. So he started off, and followed the instructions he was being given. The town of Cordoba was in between Madrid and Seville, so he was following the signs to Cordoba. The GPS would reassure him that he was on the right track, and it would be confirmed by the road signs..Cordoba this way. Then the GPS told him to turn off the highway he was on, and he didn't believe it, so he continued on. The road signs said he was still on the way to Cordoba. Finally, about 30 minutes later, he decided to get gas and pulled off the highway. He asked the station attendant if he was on the right road to Seville. The attendant told him that he needed to turn around and go back the way he had come. He was on the way to Cordoba, but not Seville.

Then he asked everyone where they wanted to go, and reminded them that they were clearly not on the correct path, if where they wanted to go was where he thought they wanted to go. The gospel message was clear, but unstated. We have been given the GPS for where we want to go, in the scriptures. We want to return to our Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom. The scriptures state clearly what is required of us to do that.

He bore a powerful testimony of Joseph Smith. He reminded me how much we owe Joseph Smith for receiving the clarity about where we came from, why we are here, and where we will go depending on our choices. All of this is clearly outlined in our scripture. In that moment, I was reminded about my own testimony of Joseph, and what a friend he has been to me, and to my family. I don't worship Joseph Smith, but I do believe he has done more for humanity save only Jesus Christ than any other person who ever lived. He (Joseph) would be the first to tell you that he had fallen short of perfection in many things. But no one who is honest can claim he was a deceiver.

The stake president's wife bore a short but sweet testimony. She told about being raised as a Catholic, and how she had many questions. She told how the Nuns had explained to her that those who are not baptized go to a place called Limbo. Because she was so sad about the many good people who would end up in Limbo, she fell away from church, but never stopped searching for the truth. She told us that the latest Pope had finally said that Limbo doesn't exist...it's clearly not scriptural.

The stake president then told a story about his being called to be a district president. He said the man who called him started by asking him not to get mad. The stake president said, "Why would I get mad?". The man said, "Because I'm going to ask you to cut your hair." The stake president said, "Whether it is by my mouth, or the mouth of my servants, it is the same...I believe that! How then, could I say no when you ask me something so trivial?" This reminded me of a similar experience I had when a bishop called me to be a ward mission leader...but he said, "Don't get mad...I need to ask you to shave your beard off." I felt the same way. If God wanted me to serve, it was an honor to do it. My beard may have been an expression of myself to the world, but by shaving it off, I was making a new statement and expressing my willingness to be obedient to the God I loved. Whether it was by His mouth or the mouth of his servants...it was the same. I have never had a moment's regret about that choice, and I believe my honest humility has opened my eyes to many wonderful blessings of understanding that I would not have received otherwise.

The stake president then said he was not going to talk about tithing. He was going to talk about FAITH. He recalled the parable of the wealthy young man, and reminded us that tithing is the Mosaic standard. Jesus asked the wealthy young man to give ALL that he had, and that is what he is asking of us. In return, he has promised to give us all that He has. If only we had the FAITH to believe the promise, because if we believed, not one of us would hesitate to give all we had. My testimony is that every time I have tried an experiment on the Word, every time I have followed a commandment, I have received so much more that I sacrificed. May God bless us to exercise our faith that we may actually give our all, and thereby inherit the kingdom of heaven.

My new ward in Cartagena will have a special tithing settlement in the month of May this year, in an effort to help these members get back on the right track and qualify for a new chapel. This will be like the gas station attendant getting the stake president back on track to Seville. But this journey is so much more.