The Rest of the Story

Ben called the other day... I love that man.

We talked and talked and talked like no time had passed. It has been at least 14 years since we last spoke on the phone. I think we talked for over an hour and a half. We talked about what has happened in our lives. He got married, had a bunch of different jobs and decided he needed religion.

So here is the rest of Ben's story...

Ben married Virginia. Virginia was attended a church on Sunday mornings; Ben would drop her off and go golfing. Eventually Ben decided he would go with Virginia to her church. He liked it - until the mega church they were attending started soliciting donations so they could build a bigger church (he wasn't impressed).

At about the same time, the missionaries would tract into Ben's home. He lives in El Paso so whenever the missionaries would knock on his door, he would always invite them in from the hot Texas heat for some cool air conditioning and water. Ben said he'd take pity on the missionaries because he knew most of them were from his home town (Salt Lake) and because one of his friends (me) served in Texas. I guess this was his way of doing his part to make sure hometown kids wouldn't be miserable in Texas.

Eventually the missionaries built up a friendship with Ben and started teaching him the gospel. His wife wasn't interested - at first. Virginia would listen to the discussions from the kitchen. She eventually moved into the hallway and then moved into the living room to participate in the missionary discussions. Virginia was baptized five years ago.

Ben on the other hand was already a member... wait let that sink in. He was already a member!

One of my very best friends had been baptized and received the aaronic priesthood when he was a young kid and then went completely inactive... so inactive that he didn't let people know he had once been baptized. When I found this out, I almost died. We had had so many religion discussions over the years and he had NEVER told me he had been baptized - we talked about this in great detail. Ben said he always appreciated that I loved him for who he was. To say I was blown away was a great understatement - it took me a great while to not want to kick his butt for never telling me that he was an inactive member.

Any how, Ben had a series of life changing experiences where he knew that God was aware of the details of his life. Ben eventually read the Book of Mormon. He knew it was true. He started going back to church. He quit smoking, drinking beer and coffee and is now an active member of the church who is working on getting to the temple. How awesome is that?

Ben even posted this a few weeks ago:

I know I wasn't an active part in Ben's conversion to the gospel, but I am so grateful for it. He is happy. He is confident in the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives. Ben knows that Heavenly Father loves him. I'm so grateful for this experience and to know that Ben knows what I know about the gospel bringing happiness and peace.

Now Ben says we need to work on Brandon. I can't wait to be involved in that miracle.