Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello, everyone. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we’re almost done with the Book of Mormon. Our lesson this week is in Moroni 10, the last chapter in-

John Bytheway: 00:16 The last chapter.

Hank Smith: 00:17 … the Book of Mormon. We’ve made it quite a ways. And I have a story for you. It has to do with Moroni 10:4. Most people know Moroni’s promise, right? Something that comes up a lot. Sometimes we say, “Oh, you just need to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and God will tell you if it’s true.” And it seems there’s a lot more to it than that. We look at God’s mercy, ponder God’s mercy, and then Moroni makes this statement. “Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if you will ask with a sincere heart, with real intent”. I have a story for you. It doesn’t turn out as well as you’d hope, but it actually does, I hope, teach this lesson.

  01:01 Way back when I taught seminary at Copper Hills High School, if anybody knows where that is, go Grizzlies, I was there for quite a few years. In this one year, we had a foreign exchange student come in from Denmark. Her name is Bella. And because Bella’s host family, the daughter that was in the host family, about the same age as Bella, she took seminary. So, Bella took seminary. I knew up front, this wasn’t a matter of, “Let’s try to convert this girl.” So, this particular seminary class, of which she was a part of, they adored her John. She spoke in kind of broken English, she was really fun. They said, “Bella, have you ever had an Oreo milkshake?” And she says, “What is that?” Well, we got to get her an Oreo milkshake, right?

John Bytheway: 01:48 Absolutely.

Hank Smith: 01:50 “Have you ever had Sour Patch Kids?” They’re basically giving her diabetes. Everyone bought her a treat every time. Her friend in her host family, she would explain to her, what is a bishop? What is a deacon? So, there was a lot of that going on. And in fact, when the next semester came and her host family, their daughter, when she switched her schedule around, Bella decided to take seminary again. And this time she wasn’t with her friend. The class just loved her. They ended up giving her a set of scriptures with her name on it. Really beautiful experience.

  02:25 And I told them, up front, “Look, this is not about trying to convert Bella, or asking her to be baptized. We can do none of that. She’s 17, she’s going to go home to Denmark. It’s not allowed, and it’s not really okay to do that without her family around.” Towards the end of the year, she came into my office and she said, “Brother Smith, can I ask you a question?” I said, “Sure, Bella, what’s up?” And she said, “I’ve been praying about the Book of Mormon.” And I, of course, said, “Oh, Bella, I don’t know if that’s something that you should even be interested in, or talking or thinking about.” And she said, “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve talked to my mom. She’s okay with me praying about the Book of Mormon.” I said, “Okay, okay, what’s going on?”

  03:06 And she said, “I kneel down to pray and nothing happened.” I said, “Okay, what’s happening?” And she said, “I kneel down, I say, ‘Heavenly Father, is the Book of Mormon true?’ And nothing happened. Am I broken? What’s wrong?” And I said, “Yes, Bella, you are.” No, just kidding, I didn’t say that. We went through Moroni’s promise. We got to this part about “if you shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent”. John, I think she had a sincere heart. I think she really wanted to know. I think she loved these friends that she had made.

John Bytheway: 03:43 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 03:44 Now, this “real intent” is a little bit different. I think it was the Holy Ghost. I hope it was the Holy Ghost. I said, “Bella, if you get your answer that you are after here, what do you intend to do? Do you intend to follow up with everything that comes with that answer?”

John Bytheway: 04:03 That is the question.

Hank Smith: 04:05 It’s a lot. She hadn’t thought of that. She said, “No, like what?” And I said, “You’re going to go home to Denmark, and the nearest chapel is 45 minutes from your house, and you’re going to have to tell your friends you joined this church.” And she loved having coffee with her friends. And I said, “That’s probably something you’re going to have to have a conversation about.” There was just a lot. We kind of listed all the things that are awesome, would be really good for her, but are significant. Those are significant changes. She kind of looked sad and disappointed, and she said, “Brother Smith, I don’t want to do those things, but I do want to know if the Book of Mormon is true.” I think she was sincere. I think it’s merciful that the Lord would not give her that answer at that time, don’t you think?

John Bytheway: 04:54 Yeah, maybe she wasn’t ready for that. And that real intent, that’s something you might have to work up to. “I really intend to follow what I’m told.” Thankfully, there’s stories of so many others who get to that point, “I really intend to do what I’m told.” And sometimes it involves some pretty huge-

Hank Smith: 05:13 Serious, yeah.

John Bytheway: 05:15 … changes in their lives, yeah.

Hank Smith: 05:16 This girl was wonderful, John, just a wonderful sweetheart. I do think she was sincere. We would ask anyone who is going to pray about the Book of Mormon to, I think, think about that question, right, John? Okay, if I get this answer, what’s expected?

John Bytheway: 05:32 What am I going to do? Yeah.

Hank Smith: 05:34 Yeah. Do I intend to follow through on all of that?

John Bytheway: 05:39 With everything that means?

Hank Smith: 05:40 I hope that was a little bit of an insight. Of course, I wished that she would’ve joined the church. That’s still maybe yet to happen.

John Bytheway: 05:49 Yeah, I think He will suit His mercies and maybe even His answers according to our conditions at the time.

Hank Smith: 05:54 Conditions.

John Bytheway: 05:55 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 05:56 Yeah. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast, it’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re with Dr. Anthony Sweat this week, and John, he changes this chapter almost entirely for us.

John Bytheway: 06:08 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 06:09 It’s awesome. Come join us there, and then come back next week, we’ll do another followHIM Favorites.