Jesus didn't have a refrigerator

Ever since returning from the mission, I have searched for those missionary moments in my life.  I always said while in the field that I would be one of those members that is always inviting the missionaries over, that I would talk about the gospel with everyone, always have pass-along cards in my back pocket and that every friend I made that wasn't a member would hear the discussions... Apparently, while on a mission, I completely lost touch with reality.  You can't just talk about the gospel with everyone, expect every one to listen... can you?

This summer I made a good friend named Andrew.  He was working in Alaska for the summer and was just as sarcastic as I was.  We made for a hilarious pair, and if you didn't know us, you'd think we hated each other. (Note, he answers my phone calls with some sort of derogatory comment, 'Hey jerk' or 'What up loser') We went hiking one night in July and of course our conversation turned to religion.  I was pretty excited because since living in Utah, I haven't had the opportunity to have many missionary experiences.  I invited him to church, he accepted.  We went to church, the missionaries jumped all over him, and like the ex marine that he is, told them to give him their number and when he wanted to talk, he'd call them.  Gotta love it.

Andrew is the one with the hat

Every since then we have joked about him getting baptized so we could get married. He calls me about once every two weeks and we catch up on life and what is going on.  Since Alaska, he has moved back to D.C. and got a job with the military which has something to do with weapons. (I should know exactly what it is...he has told me thousands of times, but I always just say, 'Ya ya you are selling guns and weapons of mass distruction to Iran, I get it.) Every now and again we will start talking about WHY we couldn't get married or WHY things wouldn't work out with us.  He always poses situations and all other sorts of questions to try and trip me up or just tease me.  A few days ago we had a pretty amazing conversation.

It started out pretty normal, teasing me about how Jesus drank wine and that it couldn't be grape juice because they had no way to keep it from fermenting.  But then it turned to situations like, what if we got married in the temple and then I just go back to being baptist, or why don't we just get sealed after I die. (I realize while typing these that he and it sounds like we are super serious, it really is all in jest, we have never even so much as held hands)  This line of questioning led me to basically teach the first two missionary lessons to him over the phone.  I didn't say anything all that amazing.  We have talked about prophets before, we have talked about baptism before.  I told him about the plan of salvation, how this life is a trial, and how part of it was us choosing to do the right things.  I explained that Christ had always sent prophets, I talked about priesthood authority...it was a good conversation.

At the very end, I knew I wanted to just bare testimony, but I also knew that spewing on for another 10 minutes would be too much, so I simply said, 'Andrew, I want you to know that I know this is true.  Not because I saw an angel or anything amazing like that. I have prayed about it and I continue to pray about it and every time, I feel like it is right.'  He thanked me, said he had a lot to think about and that next time he would let the mormons in when they knocked on his door.  But he made sure to finish by letting me know that Jesus didn't have a refrigerator.