“Is this the important Book?”
Josh PetersonA personal study in faithfulness and perseverance
Featured Photo: The Josh Peterson Family. Courtesy of Josh Peterson.
I met Luisa when she joined our team at work last year as a virtual employee based out of Miami, Florida. At her first staff meeting, she introduced herself as a proud Colombian who cherishes her Savior, Jesus Christ. Later that day, she was assigned to work directly with me on a regular basis.
Spanish is Luisa’s first language. She is the only member of her family who speaks English. In one of our early conversations, she thought it would be fun to quiz me on my Spanish. I told her that I don’t know a lot of Spanish, but I added, “The most important Spanish phrase I know is ‘La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días,’” This led to several conversations about Christ’s church, particularly its presence in her hometown of Medellin, Colombia, where her family still lives and she visits often.
One morning, as I was preparing to take my family to the temple, a thought came to me. I needed to have a gift ready for Luisa the following week when she was going to be in town with the team. The specific impression I felt was to give her a Spanish copy of the Book of Mormon. “This will be easy,” I thought to myself, “I can swing by the bookstore on my way home and pick up a copy.” So that was my plan.
After visiting the temple, we went straight to the bookstore only to be greeted by a locked door and a sign that read “Went to FedEx. Will be back at 12:30.” We could not wait for the store to reopen, so my wife Marie and I decided we would take all the kids to walk the temple grounds the next day and return to the bookstore. So that was our plan.
On Saturday after we walked the temple grounds as a family, we made our way back to the bookstore. As I entered, I spotted the Spanish literature and materials section. I was perplexed by empty shelves. There was not one stocked item in Spanish. Even in the distribution section of the store, the English copies were out of stock as well. I was starting to get a little concerned but quickly had a thought that I could just ask the full-time missionaries the next day at church whether they had a copy they could give me. This should be no big deal. I’ve asked the missionaries before; they always have them and are happy to share.
Sunday came. I asked the missionaries. They said they would see if they could get one from the Spanish-speaking elders at a meeting together on Tuesday. I put my faith in those elders but was starting to feel like the window of opportunity to get this gift to Luisa was closing before I had even made progress. Luisa recently had changed jobs and because I had scheduled an ankle surgery on Thursday, Wednesday would be the last day I would see her in person.
I was able to talk myself out of feeling overly urgent about the prospect of not coming through on this errand that I felt the Lord had given me. My backup plan would simply be to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon in English that I already had at home. But even though I would say that was my backup plan, I never felt comfortable with it. My initial impression was that I should get a Spanish copy for her and that is what I should be working to do.
Tuesday came. I was anxious and concerned that maybe the elders would not come through. I was unsettled for most of the day at work as the hours dragged on and I still had no word from the missionaries. That evening, the missionaries called me with the unfortunate news that they were not able to get me the Spanish copy of the Book of Mormon. At that point, I had made up my mind that I would just have to do this in English.
Almost immediately after I had made that decision, I became a different person. At dinner, I lost focus during conversations with Marie and the kids. My mind was pretty foggy and I kept zoning out on this task that I was not accomplishing in the manner laid out to me the previous week. I started thinking about members in the ward with “connections” to our local mission area, those who had served Spanish-speaking missions, or even those who had kids serving Spanish-speaking missions who might be able to part with a copy of the Book of Mormon.
After twenty minutes of being lost in thought at the dinner table and then another thirty during family home evening, I excused myself and prayed about what I should do. The first thought I had was to look up the phone number of the Spanish-speaking missionaries in our area. There they were! I immediately made a call, left a voicemail and then sent a text explaining my predicament. I agonized over more backup plans as I waited for a response. It was getting late, and I was truly running out of time to accomplish what I expected to be a simple task.
The elders responded. They had a copy and were on their way to bring it to me immediately. Instantly, the flood of worry disappeared, my ability to focus returned, and the weight I was feeling lifted. When the elders arrived, they explained to me that there was currently a shortage of copies of the Book of Mormon. They had been instructed to pray about giving away each copy before doing so. The missionaries said, “As soon as we listened to your message, we prayed and asked Heavenly Father if we should give this book to you, knowing that it was going to leave the [boundaries of our] mission. The Lord was clear that we needed to give you this book quickly. This is what the Lord needs.”
It was a humbling moment for me to learn that the Lord was impressing upon the hearts of our missionaries the significance of getting this book into my hands even though they were completely unaware of the full backstory. Not only was I truly grateful for the experience thus far, but I had received a second witness via the missionaries that this task needed to be done the Lord’s way.
Before this moment, I had no reservations about giving Luisa a copy of the Book of Mormon. I felt like I had built enough of a relationship with her to know that she would be grateful for the book and that would, at a minimum, be the end of it. But now? Now it was different. I had a sense in my heart that there was more to this situation than I knew. I was joyful and excited to give her this book and very intrigued to find out how this was going to play out.
The next morning, Luisa and I were two of the first people to arrive at work. The surprise began right away. Since this was her last trip to Texas, she had brought Colombian gifts for everyone on the team. She wanted to give me mine that morning. The Lord knew Luisa was going to do this, and that is why He put it in my mind to gift wrap the Book of Mormon to give as a gift. I have given away many copies of the Book of Mormon and I have never wrapped it up as a gift before. That was the Lord’s idea, not mine. It was not only the perfect way to reciprocate, but the Lord knows Luisa’s heart and knows how to reach her better than I do. She loves giving and receiving gifts. An impromptu “gift exchange” was the perfect way for the Lord to get the Book of Mormon into her hands.
As the moment came and Luisa began to open her gift, another impression came. “Watch and observe first,” was the direction. Luisa pulled the book out and read the cover.
“Is this it? This is it, isn’t it!” She was almost shouting it with excitement. It was at that moment that it occurred to me that I do not ever remember actually telling Luisa about the Book of Mormon. I kept watching and listening. “Josh! Is this the book? Is this the important book?”
Because of her faith, there was always a good “light” about Luisa. But she was beaming so much that the light was very palpable. It was as if her spirit were shouting for joy that she was finally getting access to something for which she yearned. She asked again, “Josh, is this the important book?”
I looked at her and responded, “Well, I mean—I think it’s important. But what do you know about this book? I’ve never heard it called ‘The important book’ before.” She held the book close to her heart and began to explain.
“Josh, when I was in Colombia during Christmas, I was telling my mother about all my friends and coworkers. I told her about you and that the most important Spanish word you know is La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. As soon as I told her the name of your church, she became very excited and energized. She kept saying, ‘Luisa! He has a very important book! I know he has a very important book!’ Ever since I told her about you, Josh, she has been praying constantly that you would get her the important book. When I asked her what it was called, she didn’t know the name, but she knew if she prayed that you would come through for her and God.”
It was a tender moment for both of us as we recognized how the Lord had worked through us and the missionaries to answer the specific prayer of a faithful Colombian daughter of God.
We don’t always get to know the full picture when we are pressed by the Lord to run an errand for him. But I am truly grateful for this tender mercy at this time. The Book of Mormon is a “very important book.” I am grateful for the sincere and faithful prayers of a woman living thousands of miles away, whom I have never met, which led to this little miracle.
Josh Peterson served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Texas Dallas Mission and currently resides with his wife and family in the Prosper 2nd Ward.
