What an interesting Sabbath Day yesterday as I conducted Church services at Salinas Valley State Prison. Interesting in the fact that I spent the morning with two men separated by walls and barbed wire and a long walk from one end of the prison to the other. I met with Derek Anderson at A yard for the first hour. Derek is not a member but has gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He received one a month ago and has been coming to our meetings ever since. He is a black man doing life for a double murder. He is like a spiritual sponge and is just excited to receive the doctrines of the kingdom.

The next hour I visited with Stan Wylie. I have copied an e-mail sent to Ron Vitzian that explains this most wonderful encounter.

Hi Ron,

Once again, I wanted to give you a heartfelt thanks for the letters you send to the inmates. As you recall, I gave you the name of Stan Wylie a few weeks ago. I saw him Sunday and had a wonderful encounter with him partly due to the attention showered upon him within the last week. He received your letter and was truly appreciative for the materials sent. On Saturday, an old LDS friend just dropped by to say hi-someone he had written to over 10 years ago!!!!. Then I show up on Sunday!!

I must tell you of his past so that you can appreciate what all the attention means. Stan was raised in a small 'Mormon' community around Safford and Thatcher Arizona. His mom was LDS but his Dad was not. He never joined, but was surrounded by a community of Saints, so his 'leanings' were toward the church. He 'rodeo'd' and 'cowboy'd' and knew how to do things with his hands including making clothing items from burlap and wheat sacks. He started a sandal making business in the early 60's and by the 70' s had branched into a very successful leather making operation. He always wanted to join the church and have a family, but life came along and he found himself 'too busy' to pursue either option. His life choices took a horrible turn for the worse, and he wound up in Prison in 1983 doing 25 to life. The life part seems to be his 'lot' now as he is locked away in D Yard of Salinas Valley Prison. D yard is the 'hole'. He is allowed out for showers twice a week and to go into the yard for an hour a day, which he declines to do because he receives so much grief from others in the yard and also the 'cops' who are watching him. He has always felt close to the doctrines of the church and has to this point kept himself away from the addictions of prison life, which is part of the reason he receives the yard grief. He is in D yard is for his own protection. Because of the nature of his crime, to be in with the 'main line' inmates would be suicide. Add to the fact that he is in a wheelchair and you can just see that he pretty much has a very very sad life.

As we chatted, it became clear that he is very knowledgeable about Church Doctrine. He had become convinced that he could not repent and that it was 'too late' for him now. His concern was could someone take his name to the temple when he passed over to the other side so that his 'work could be done' . I believe you can now get a sense of why he was so appreciative of the letter and visits. He had attended a few of Art's meetings while he was in B yard of SVP, but he really has not had any visitors, church or otherwise, in a long time. I will say the spirit directed me to assure him that he could be forgiven, and that the Atonement does cover all sins. I shared the Dave Paris Story and others involving younger inmates in prison for life without parole and of their coming to grips with the fact that they could repent and be forgiven through the Atonement of our Savior. The 1 and a half hours spent with him were some of the most enlightening I have had while 'in prison'. At the end of it all, tears were shed and he just said that he had learned things that he never thought would or could happen. I assured him that you would keep writing when you could, and that I would visit with him on a weekly basis from now on. It is a humbling experience to do so because I have to put on a 'flack jacket' and he has to be escorted from his cell to a handicapped holding cage where he is locked in with handcuffs still in place!! Then I pull up a chair close to the cage and we can talk. I have come to a greater realization that the 'business' of Salvation is truly a one on one endeavor. We do it in the Temple, and we do it in 'Prison'.