Gospel topic
Visions & Visitations
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Pompey, New York
Wilford Woodruff
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Mendon, Port Byron, and Middlebury, New York
Heber C. Kimball
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Peter Whitmer home, Fayette, Seneca County, New York
Joseph Smith
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Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner One of the two sisters that saved the printed pages of the Book of Commandments (Doctrine and Covenants). Sealed to Joseph Smith in 1842. She [was] 87 years of age at the time of this talk. Well, my young brethren I can say I never was more surprise in my life than to be called upon to speak to you young men who are called upon to go into the mission field to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth. It is true I have been in the church from the beginning. Just six months after it was organized I joined it. I have been acquainted with all of those who were first members of this church, with all those who saw the plates and handled them; those who even saw the angel Moroni, who came to them. I am well acquainted with every one of them and I have known them from the time that they came to Ohio until their death; and I am the only living witness who was at the first meeting that the prophet held in Kirtland. The Smith family were driven from New York, and a small church had been organized. Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson were members. Well I being anxious, though young, to learn about the plates from those who knew all about it, my mother and I went up to the Smith family the next night after they came to Kirtland. As I went in there were two or three others present. They were all there, the whole Smith family, from the old gentleman and his wife to all his sons and daughters. As we stood there talking to them, Joseph and Martin Harris came in. Said he there are enough here to hold a little meeting. Joseph looked around very solemnly. It was the first time some of them had ever seen him. They got a board and put it across two chairs to make seats. Martin Harris sat on a little box at Joseph's feet. They sang and prayed. Joseph got up and began to speak to us. As he began to speak very solemnly and earnestly all at once his countenance changed and he stood mute. Those who looked at him that day said there was a search light within him, over every part of his body. I never saw anything like it on the whole earth. I could not take my eyes off of him. He got so white that anyone who saw him would have thought he was transparent. I remember I thought I could almost see the bones through the flesh. I have been through many changes since, but that is photographed on my brain. I shall remember it and see in my mind's eye as long as I remain upon the earth. He stood some minutes. He looked over the congregation as if to pierce every heart. He said, “Do you know who has been in your midst this night?” One of the Smith family said, “An angel of the Lord.” Martin Harris said, “I know, it was our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” Joseph put his hand on Martin’s head and answered, “Martin, God revealed that to you. Yes, Brothers and Sisters, the Spirit of God has been in your midst. The Saviour has been here this night and to tell you to remember it. There is a veil over your eyes for you could not endure to look upon him. You must be fed with milk not with strong meat. I want you to remember this as if it were the last thing that escaped my lips. He has given all of you to me and has sealed you up to everything life that where he is there you may be also. And if you are tempted of Satan say 'get thee behind me, Satan.' These words are figured upon my brain; and I never took my eyes off his countenance. Then he knelt down and prayed. I have never heard anything like it before or since.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner
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Kirtland, Ohio
Elder Levi Ward Hancock
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On the 9th, in company with ten elders, I left Independence Landing for Kirtland, we started down the river in canoes, and went the first day as far as Fort Osage where we had an excellent wild turky for supper. Nothing very im[HC 1:202]portant occurred till the third day, when many of the dangers, so common upon the western waters, manifested themselves; and after we had encamped upon the bank of the river, at McIlwaine’s bend, brother [William W.] Phelps, in an open vision, by daylight, saw the Destroyer, in his most horrible power, ride upon the face of the waters. Others heard the noise, but saw not the vision.
Joseph Smith
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Of the Presidency of the Seventy At one of these meetings after the organization of the school, on the 23d of January, 1833, when we were all togather, Joseph having givan instructions, and while engaged in silent prayer, kneeling, with our hands uplifted each one praying in silence, no one whispered above his breath, a personage walked through the room from east to west, and Joseph asked if we saw him. I saw him and suppose the others did, and Joseph answered that is Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother. Afterwards Joseph told us to resume our former position in prayer; which we did. Another person came through; He was surrounded as with a flame of fire. He (Bro. C[oltrin]) experianced a sensation that it might destroy the tabernacle as it was of consuming fire of great brightness. The Prophet Joseph said this was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I saw Him. When asked about the kind of clothing the Father had on, Bro. Coltrin said: I did not discover His clothing for He was surrounded as with a flame of fire, which was so brilliant that I could not discover any thing else but His person. I saw His hands, His legs, his, feet, his eyes, nose, mouth, head and body in the shape and form of a perfect man. He sat in a chair as a man would sit in a chair, but His appearance was so grand and overwhelming that it seemed I should melt down in His presence, and the sensation was so powerful that it thrilled through my whole system and I felt it in the marrow of my bones. The Prophet Joseph said: Brethren now you are prepared to be The Apostles of Jesus Christ, for you have seen both the Father and the Son and know that They exist and that They are two separate Personages. This appearance occured about two or three weeks after the opening of the school. After the Father had passed through, Joseph told us to again take our positions in prayer. We did so, and in a very short time he drew our attention and said to us that Bro. Reynolds Cahoon was about to leave us—and told us to look at him. He (Bro. Cahoon) was on his knees, and his arms were extended, his hands and wrists, head, face and neck down to his shoulders were as a piece of amber—clear and transparent, his blood having apparently left his veins. Upon the attention of the brethren being thus called to Bro. Cahoon, the change seemed to pass away and Joseph said that in a few minutes more Bro. Cahoon would have left us; but he came to himself again. The school room was in the upper room of Whitney's store. School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, 3 Oct. 1883. ______________________________________________ President Frederick G. Williams Second Counselor in First Presidency After which several exertations were given to faithfulness and obedience to the commandments of God and much useful instruction given for the benefit of the saints with a promise that the pure in heart that were present should see a heavenly vision, and after remaining for a short time in secret prayer the promise was verified to many present having the eyes of their understanding<s> opened so as to behold many things afte[r] which the bread and wine was distributed by Bro Joseph after which many of the brethren saw a heavenly vision of the saviour and concourses of angels and many othe[r] thing[s] of which each one has a reccord of what they saw &c—— Minutes, 18 March 1833, 17, josephsmithpapers.org.
Elder Zebedee Coltrin
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Harrison Burgess is show the gold plates by an angel
Elder Harrison Burgess
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Kirtland, Ohio
Brother In-Law of Brigham Young
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Kirtland Temple
Elder Harrison Burgess
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Kirtland Temple
Elder Wilford Woodruff
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Multiple visions and visitations at the Kirtland Temple
Joseph Smith
Thursday 28 Attended school at the usual hours. In the evening met the quorum of High priests in the west room of the upper loft of the Lord’s house, & …
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History, 1838–1856 [Manuscript History of the Church], volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838], 723, josephsmithpapers.org. ______________________________________________ President Heber C. Kimball First Counselor in the First Presidency At the dedication an address was delivered by Elder Rigdon, from Matthew 8th chap., 18th, 19th and 20th verses — more particularly the 20th. He spoke two hours and a half. The tenor of his discourse went to show the toils, sufferings, privations, and hardships the brethren and sisters had to endure while building this house, and compared it with the sufferings of the Saints in the days of the Savior. After the address the voice of the assembly was taken in reference to receiving and upholding the several presidents of the different quorums in their standing. The vote was unanimously in the affirmative in every instance. A hymn was sung, and then we had an interesting address from President Joseph Smith, and closed with a dedication prayer written by the Prophet. During the ceremonies of the dedication, an angel appeared and sat near President Joseph Smith, sen., and Frederick G. Williams, so that they had a fair view of his person. He was a very tall personage, black eyes, white hair, and stoop shouldered ; his garment was whole, extending to near his ankles; on his feet he had sandals. He was sent as a messenger to accept of the dedication. The Priesthood was organized according to the proper order. During the whole of the dedication each quorum was placed in its respective station. Everything was conducted in the best of order, and profound silence maintained. Heber C. Kimball, Life of Heber C. Kimball, comp. Orson F. Whitney [1888], 102-103. ______________________________________________ Truman O. Angell Church Architect (Salt Lake Temple, St. George Temple, etc.) Brother In-Law of Brigham Young The Dedicatory Prayer was offered, Sidney Rigdon being mouth. When about midway during the prayer F. G. Williams being in the upper east stand. (Joseph being in the speaking stand next below), rose and testified that midway during the prayer an Holy Angel came and seated Himself in the stand. When the afternoon meeting assembled Joseph feeling very much elated, arose the first thing and said the personage who had appeared in the morning was the Angel Peter come to accept the dedication. Truman O. Angell autobiography, 1884, 4, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
Joseph Smith
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Kirtland Temple
President Heber C. Kimball
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Joseph Smith has a disturbing vision
Lucy Mack Smith
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Truman O: Angell Church Architect (Salt Lake Temple
Brother In-Law of Brigham Young
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David W. Patten has an encounter with Cain
President Joseph F. Smith
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Kirtland, Ohio
President Heber C. Kimball
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Western Ohio
Wilford Woodruff
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Preston, England
President Heber C. Kimball
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Far West, Missouri
President Heber C. Kimball
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Richmond, Missouri
Elder Parley P. Pratt
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Unknown
Elder Orson Hyde
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London
Elder Wilford Woodruff
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describes the apostle Paul's physical appearance
Joseph Smith
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Nauvoo, Illinois
S. W. Richards
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I will here make a remark concerning my own feelings. After the death of Joseph Smith I saw and conversed with him many times in my dreams in the night season. On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum met me when on the sea going on a mission to England. I had Dan Jones with me. He received his mission from Joseph Smith before his death; and the prophet talked freely to me about the mission I was then going to perform. And he also talked to me with regard to the mission of the Twelve Apostles in the flesh, and he laid before me the work they had to perform; and he also spoke of the reward they would receive after death. And there were many other things he laid before me in his interview on that occasion. And when I awoke many of the things he had told me were taken from me, I could not comprehend them. I have had many interviews with Brother Joseph until the last 15 or 20 years of my life; I have not seen him for that length of time. But during my travels in the southern country last winter I had many interviews with President Young, and with Heber C. Kimball, and Geo. A. Smith, and Jedediah M. Grant, and many others who are dead. They attended our conference, they attended our meetings. And on one occasion, I saw Brother Brigham and Brother Heber ride in carriage ahead of the carriage in which I rode when I was on my way to attend conference; and they were dressed in the most priestly robes. When we arrived at our destination I asked President Young if he would preach to us. He said, “No, I have finished my testimony in the flesh, I shall not talk to this people any more. But (said he) I have come to see you; I have come to watch over you, and to see what the people are doing. Then (said he) I want you to teach the people—and I want you to follow this counsel yourself—that they must labor and so live as to obtain the Holy Spirit, for without this you cannot build up the kingdom; without the spirit of God you are in danger of walking in the dark, and in danger of failing to accomplish your calling as apostles and as elders in the church and kingdom of God. And,” said he, “Brother Joseph taught me this principle.” And I will here say, I have heard him refer to that while he was living. But what I was going to say is this: the thought came to me that Brother Joseph had left the work of watching over this church and kingdom to others, and that he had gone ahead, and that he had left this work to men who have lived and labored with us since he left us. This idea manifested itself to me, that such [p. 318b] men advance in the spirit world. And I believe myself that these men who have died and gone into the spirit world had this mission left with them, that is, a certain portion of them, to watch over the Latter-day Saints. I feel myself as though we are blessed of the Lord, and that we ought to be satisfied. I feel that we should humble ourselves before God, that we should labor to magnify our callings, and honor this priesthood which we received before we came Alma 13:1-9 here while we live out the few days appointed to man in the flesh. Job 7:1 D&C 29:43 And I do hope and pray God that we may magnify our priesthood and calling while we tarry here, so that when we get through our earthly mission and go into the spirit world, we may meet with Brothers Joseph and Brigham and Heber and the rest of the faithful men whom we knew and labored with while in the flesh, as well as Father Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets and apostles who have had their day and their time and their generation, and who have finished their work here below and gone home to glory. Do you not think they are interested about us? I tell you they are. And I desire when I die, and my spirit goes into the spirit world, to meet these men and to go where they are; and I wish to live in that way and manner so as to be worthy of this blessing. And when I say this of myself I wish it to apply to all Israel. It will not pay us to apostatize; neither will it pay us to sin, it costs ten thousand times more than it is worth from beginning to end. Therefore, let us be true and faithful to God. And inasmuch as we have voted today to sustain the presidency of this church and kingdom, let our prayers ascend night and morning into the [p. 319a]ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, in behalf of the men who now stand at our head, and also in behalf of the apostles and in behalf of all the priesthood of God in their place and station. And inasmuch as we do this we will grow, we will advance, the Spirit of God will be poured out upon us [p. 319b] which will reveal unto us the mind and the will of God concerning us. And Zion will continue to increase in power on the earth, and eventually accomplish all for which it is designed, which is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 21:318a-319b. _______________________________________________ President Wilford Woodruff President of the Church Now I will give you a little of my experience in this line. Joseph Smith visited me a great deal after his death, and taught me many important principles. On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum visited me while I was in a storm at sea. I was going on my last mission to preside in England. My companions were Brother Leonard W. Hardy, Milton Holmes, Dan Jones, and another brother, and my wife and two other women. We had béen traveling three days and nights in a heavy gale, and were being driven backwards. Finally I asked my companions to come into the cabin with me, and I told them to pray that the Lord would change the wind. I had no fears of being lost; but I did not like the idea of being driven back to New York, as I wanted to go on my journey. We all offered the same prayer, both men and women; and when we got through we stepped on to the deck and in less than a minute it was as though a man had taken a sword and cut that gale through, and you might have thrown a muslin handkerchief out and it would not have moved it. The night following this Joseph and Hyrum visited me, and the Prophet laid before me a great many things. Among other things he told me to get the Spirit of God; that all of us needed it. He also told me what the twelve apostles would be called to go through on the earth before the coming of the Son of Man, and what the reward of their labors would be; but all that was taken from me for some reason. Nevertheless it was most glorious, although much would be required at our hands. Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw him was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple in heaven. He came to me and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again and I got the privilege of asking him a question. “Now,” said I, “I want to know why you are in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did.” Joseph said: “I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every dispensation that has had the priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when he goes t6 reign on the earth. Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it.” Of course, that was satisfactory, but it was new doctrine to me—DW 53:642-643, October 19, 1896.
President Wilford Woodruff
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Nauvoo, Illinois
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
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I will now leave these items and take up another. I hinted today at the wisdom of the Lord in opening the gold mines, and said he had one object in view, among many others—namely, to try the faith of the Saints. By this his wisdom has been exhibited, and much accomplished by it among those also who are not Saints. Take a view of this community. A portion will not be Saints. This has always been the case when God had a Church on the earth. They are not all sheep that are in the fold, neither are they all Saints who bear the name. I wish you to understand that when the sheep are separated from the goats, they will never again bear the like afflictions they bore while they mingled with the goats, as long as the world stands; no, neither in this world nor any other. Let the sheep and goats be once separated, and the master of that flock of sheep will never afflict them. When there are no goats to annoy the sheep, the latter will mingle with each other and go hand in hand in full fellowship. But when goats are among the sheep, they besmear them with their stink, and they frisk about, and behave so as to actually turn the sheep almost into goats. They will grow short in the hair, look like goats, and stink like them. The master of the flock must therefore do something to preserve the blood of the sheep pure, lest they completely degenerate and altogether become goats. They must be chastened by persecution, to drive out the stinking goats from their midst. The Lord opened the California gold mines to lead them off; and I say to the goats, Go! I am glad of it. “But do you not think the sheep will go too?” Never mind, if they do: they will get well besmeared with the flavor of the goats, run off and wash themselves, and come back again. Though I speak thus, I do not despise the goats; no, not in the least. You will perhaps recollect a dream I had in the spring of 1848, when so many were going to California. It seemed as though the whole community would be carried away with the spirit of gold, which caused much anxiety in my mind and enlightened my understanding. I dreamed I was a little north of the hot springs, with many of my brethren, among some scattered timber. I thought of sending to Captain Brown's, on the Weber River, to get some goats, which I had previously bought of him; but while I was conversing with the brethren, I thought the Prophet Joseph Smith came up to us, and I spoke to him. I thought I would send for my goats which I had purchased from Captain Brown, and brother Joseph started off to the north, and I thought very likely he would purchase the whole of brother Brown's stock; but I felt quite reconciled, if he did. I thought I stood there some time talking with the brethren, when I looked up towards the road on my right, and behold I saw brother Joseph returning, riding on a wagon without any box to it; but it had a bottom of boards, and on these boards there was a tent and other camping implements, &c., as though he had been on a journey of some length. He alighted from the wagon, and came to where we were standing. I looked, and saw, following the wagon, an almost innumerable flock of sheep of all kinds, sizes, colors, and descriptions, from the largest, finest sheep I ever saw, down to the ugly decrepit dwarf. The wool on the large ones, I thought, was as white as snow; then the next smaller ones had also nice fine wool on them, and some were black and white; others had coarse long wool upon them, approximating to hair; and so on, until they became a mixture of goats and sheep. I looked on the strange flock and wondered. While I was looking, I asked Joseph what in the world he was going to do with such a flock of sheep, and said to him, “Why, brother Joseph, you have got the most singular flock of sheep I ever saw: what are you going to do with them?” He looked up and smiled, as he did when he was living, and as though he was in reality with me, and said, “They are all good in their place.” This is the dream. So it is with this people. If you can only find the place for the goats, they answer the end for which they were made. I have always realized that a half-hearted “Mormon” is one of the meanest of human beings, for such are always ready to say, “How do you do, brother Devil?” and, “How do you do, brother Jesus?” or, “Brother Jesus, I want to make you acquainted with brother Devil.” It is no trouble for them to turn unto Baal or unto Jesus; yet, at the same time, the Lord has a use for them. I have often heard men say they were convinced that “Mormonism” was true, and that they would cleave to it; but as for their hearts being converted, it is altogether another thing. Mobs never have done one thing against this people, but they could trace them, and have known all about it; for you will always find that the goats will run and lick salt with the sheep; and the Lord who made them has placed them in the world to serve his own purpose. When by these characters afflictions are brought upon the Saints, and they are bereft of all they possess, it is to make them more attached to the cause of truth, while their persecutors are hurled into oblivion, which is the last of them. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 6:320a-321b. ____________________ President Brigham Young President of the Church Now I am going to tell a dream that I had, which I think is as applicable, to the people today—the 21st day of June, 1874, as when I had it. There were so many going to California, and going this way and that way, and they did not know what they wanted, and said I—“Stay here, we can raise our food here, I know it is a good stock country, a good sheep country, and as good a country for raising silk as there is in the world, and we shall raise some of the best of wheat.” There stands a man—Burr Frost, and there is Truman O. Angell, who were present at the time. Said I, “We can raise all we want here, do not go away, do not be discouraged.” That was when the pioneers came; the next year, it was California, California, California, California. “No,” said I, “stay here.” After much thought and reflection, and a good deal of praying and anxiety as to whether the people would be saved after all our trouble in being driven into the wilderness, I had a dream one night, the second year after we came in here. Captain Brown had gone up to the Weber, and bought a little place belonging to Miles Goodyear. Miles Goodyear had a few goats, and I had a few sheep that I had driven into the Valley, and I wanted to get a few goats to put along with the sheep. I had seen Captain Brown and spoken to him about the goats, and he said I could have them. Just at that time I had this dream, which I will now relate. I thought I had started and gone past the Hot Springs, which is about four miles north of this city. I was going after my goats. When I had gone round the point of the mountain by the Hot Springs, and had got about half a mile on the rise of ground beyond the Spring, whom should I meet but brother Joseph Smith. He had a wagon with no bed on, with bottom boards, and tents and camp equipage piled on. Somebody sat on the wagon driving the team. Behind the team I saw a great flock of sheep. I heard their bleating, and saw some goats among them. I looked at them and thought —“This is curious, brother Joseph has been up to Captain Brown’s and got my goats.” There were men driving the sheep, and some of the sheep I should think were three and a half feet high, with large, fine, beautiful white fleeces, and they looked so lovely and pure; others were of moderate size, and pure and white; and in fact there were sheep of all sizes, with fleeces clean, pure and white. Then I saw some that were dark and spotted, of all colors and sizes and kinds, and their fleeces were dirty, and they looked inferior; some of these were a pretty good size, but not as large as some of the large fine clean sheep, and altogether there was a multitude of them of all sizes and kinds, and goats of all colors, sizes and kinds mixed among them. Joseph stopped the wagon, and the sheep kept rushing up until there was an immense herd. I looked in Joseph’s eye, and laughed, just as I had many a time when he was alive, about some trifling thing or other, and said I—“Joseph, you have got the darndest flock of sheep I ever saw in my life; what are you going to do with them, what on earth are they for?” Joseph looked cunningly out of his eyes, just as he used to at times, and said he—“They are all good in their places.” When I awoke in the morning I did not find any fault with those who wanted to go to California; I said, “If they want to go let them go, and we will do all we can to save them; I have no more fault to find, the sheep and the goats will run together,” but Joseph says, “they are all good in their places.”
President Brigham Young
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Boston, Massachusetts
President Wilford Woodruff
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Americas
President Orson Hyde
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Mosiah Lyman Hancock has a vision or dream of the premortal life
Hancock, Mosiah Lyman
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for he heard it; I will, however, say a few words about it
President Brigham Young
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The last visit of the Prophet Joseph Smith to Wilford Woodruff
President Wilford Woodruff
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St. George Utah Temple
President Wilford Woodruff
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Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico
President Wilford Woodruff
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Of the Seventy (2)
Elder Samuel Roskelley
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Brigham City
Elder Boyd K. Packer
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President of the
Elder Marriner W. Merrill
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LeRoi C: Snow Of the General Board of Y
President Snow
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Unknown
President Russell M. Nelson
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Wilford Woodruff has a vision. No details provided
President Wilford Woodruff
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Salt Lake Temple
Brother LeRoi C. Snow
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Unknown
Elder Rudger Clawson
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Greater authority in the ministry, a broader world-wide field of operation, and the high-level maintenance and upbuilding of God’s kingdom on earth are not the only distinguishing features of an apostle’s calling. In warning and proclaiming repentance to his generation, his unique position is that of a special witness to the Lord Jesus Christ in all the world. For this aspect of his new calling, Melvin J. Ballard was especially well prepared. The Holy Ghost’s witness to the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ had been emphasized and supplemented by a glorious manifestation he had received some two years prior to his call to the apostleship. He related this experience in his remarks to the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve in the Salt Lake Temple on January 7, 1919, at the meeting in which he was ordained an apostle. He said: President Grant and Brethren: With feelings of great timidity, and yet with deep thankfulness and gratitude to the Lord for His favor and your love and confidence, I stand before you to say that nothing in this world has ever given me such pleasure, such happiness, as to work in the ministry of the Master. While I feel myself unworthy to stand here as one of His special witnesses, if I can be worthy it will be the highest ambition of my life to be one of His representatives, one of the special witnesses of the Lord Jesus; and with all my heart and soul — not with ambition but with pleasure, with deep joy — I shall give to this service all there is in me and all that the Lord will make it possible for me to do. I have not aspired, nor coveted a position of this character; but from my childhood I have desired to work in the service of the Lord, and have not waited for place or position to give my services. | am just as willing, today, to labor as an elder, in a branch or ward, as in any other calling, if that is where the Lord wants me; and if He wants me here I am willing to say, as | have often sung, “I'll go where you want me to go,” and I'll be what the Lord wants me to be. I know, as I know that I live, that this is God’s work and that you are His servants. I have no more doubt about it than I have that I exist. I remember one testimony, among the many testimonies which I have received. You will pardon me for referring to it. Two years ago, about this time, I had been on the Fort Peck Reservation for several days with the brethren, solving the problems connected with our work among the Lamanites. Many questions arose that we had to settle. There was no precedent for us to follow, and we just had to go to the Lord and tell Him our troubles, and get inspiration and help from Him. On this occasion I had sought the Lord, under such circumstances, and that night I received a wonderful manifestation and impression which has never left me. I was carried to this place into this room. I saw myself here with you. I was told there was another privilege that was to be mine; and I was led into a room where I was informed I was to meet someone. As I entered the room I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious being I have ever conceived of, and was taken forward to be introduced to Him. As I approached He smiled, called my name, and stretched out His hands toward me. If I live to be a million years old I shall never forget that smile. He put His arms around me and kissed me, as He took me into His bosom, and He blessed me until my whole being was thrilled. As He finished I fell at His feet, and there saw the marks of the nails; and as I kissed them, with deep joy swelling ‘through my whole being, I felt that I was in heaven indeed. The feeling that came to my heart then was: Oh! if I could live worthy, though it would require four-score years, so that in the end when I have finished I could go into His presence and receive the feeling that I then had in His presence, | would give everything that I am and ever hope to be! I know — as I know that I live — that He lives. That is my testimony; and having that kind of feeling and testimony, I accept with humility, and yet with deep thankfulness and gratitude to God, this honor; for I esteem it the highest honor that could be given to a man, to be a special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you will be patient with me, and I shall do my best to come up to all the requirements the Lord will make at my hands. Melvin J. Ballard— Crusader for Righteousness, [1966], 65-66.
Elder Melvin J. Ballard
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Hawaii
President Joseph F. Smith
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Scripture Teaching
Lycurgus A. Wilson
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Orson F. Whitney witnesses Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
Elder Orson F. Whitney
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Ned L: Mangleson One of the most inspirational
President Richards,
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Bern Switzerland Temple
President David O. McKay
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Lorraine Cravens March 29, 1956 Dear President McKay: I know you are a very busy man with the burdens of this great Church upon your shoulders, but I felt you would like to take a few moments to read a beautiful testimony, which seems to me to be one of the most outstanding and significant expressions of faith I have ever encountered. This morning, I received a letter from a beloved friend in San Diego who attended the dedication of the Los Angeles Temple. What she describes there so thrilled me that I felt compelled to send it to you for your consideration and enjoyment. Since it is a personal letter, I am not enclosing the original but have copied for your benefit those paragraphs which pertain directly to the spiritual experience she describes in the Temple. Perhaps, I should preface these extracts from her letter with a brief introduction of my friend so that you can understand and judge her testimony better by a knowledge of her background. She is a pure Samoan woman of noble blood. Her father, Chief Soliai was a High Chief in American Samoa who has been a staunch defender of the gospel in those Islands. I understand you have been in his home at some time and may recall the family. Through a sad chain of circumstances, resulting from a tragic marriage to an American Naval officer, Lorraine (her name in Samoan is Noa-Noa) and her eight children were brought to the United States during the war. Her children during previous years had all been born in Honolulu. Her story, of course, is too involved to relate here, but this much I do feel you should know. Through a faith, which I can only describe as superlative, she has triumphed over some of the most bitter and heart-rending trials a woman can experience in this life. She has been both father and mother to her children, teaching them to meet the problems of life with fasting and prayer and unquestioning acceptance of every experience as part of the plan by which the Heavenly Father schools his children for Eternal Life. Today, she goes regularly to the Temple and has done considerable research and sealing work for her family that had not been done before. She is filling her third consecutive call to Stake Missionary work and she and her companion together have brought many entire families into the church. My acquaintance with Lorraine Cravens dates back many years. (It was only last summer we left San Diego to stay in Alberta awhile). I came to know Lorraine as intimately as I know my own sisters, having shared the Spirit of the Lord with her on many occasions, in the Temple, at Conferences, in Stake and Ward meetings or in mutual prayer as we counselled together over a vexing problem. Knowing the many things which Lorraine has overcome in her life, her intense desire to serve God and atone for past mistakes, and the magnificent, child-like faith which she has developed and sought to instill within her children, it is not hard for me to believe that her spiritual eyes were opened the day of Dedication in the Temple of God. The following are extracts from her letter, just as she wrote it: ‘. . . Well, my dear, I didn’t expect to attend the Dedication, but it was something like my going to the Temple for the first time. Two days before the dedication, after fasting and much praying because as usual there were no finances and our little Chevy was about to give up the ghost, the children and I were invited to go with Louise and Dick. We went up Monday and luckily got in the Assembly Hall where the authorities were presiding. ‘Mildred, there were times I have much desired to see the Savior or some indication of glorious vision, but on this day it seemed just like any other day. We separated when we got to the Temple. After shaking hands with elder Sonne, Mark E. Petersen, and elder Kimball, my thoughts turned to you and I wondered if Russell were present among those thousands. I thought too of some of our converts who were there. ‘Then followed wonderful talks by Clifford Young, Mark E. Petersen and then by President McKay, and the most divine, wonderful music was rendered. Then President McKay commenced the Dedicatory Prayer, and over his head in the background of that great building it seemed like it was opening up all of a sudden, and Mildred, the Hosts of Heaven came to my view in such arrays and whiteness beyond your whole imagination and in the midst of it all was God the Father and Jesus the Christ sitting on a throne of the whitest of white and surrounding golden materials and more white of its purity, and Jesus on the right hand side. I saw among the Holy Hosts of Heaven Moses, Abraham, Adam and all the righteous of old and modern times and a glimpse of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and many, many others, and the light and from where they came was Eternity itself. ‘Even as I am writing this I am crying and my very being is trembling from the wonders of it all — that a mere nobody and a sinner like me should behold such a thing! Even though President McKay said in the beginning of his talk that there were Heavenly Hosts present then and in all sessions Sunday, still it took me completely by surprise and the full impact of the whole vision hit me after we were on our way home. In the Temple I was just weak and sobbed, and I wasn’t alone in tears. To be able to gaze into that realm and to see them both! I vaguely made out Jesus’ countenance but the Father, no. Yet they were both in that Temple and the most wonderful thing was the appearance of approval for President McKay. It was so real, Mildred. His white hair was such a different white from the scene above his head, and he stood there with bowed head, so small, so human in comparison with the Heavenly Beings above him and smiles of approval on their countenances. I shall carry the memory to my grave. Why did it happen to me? I am a weak woman and the things I have done and still do aren’t always in tune with Him …………….. Looking around on all the congregation of saints, there came the full realization of how we are threatened with evil and how small and puny men are and that without His strength we haven’t a chance to survive under the power of the Adversary. How wonderful if we could always be strong to keep His commandments! ‘Bill couldn’t talk for the longest time outside (her 14-year-old-son). He went and stood by President McKay’s car and shook hands with him. When he met me, he said, ‘Oh, Mom! I just shook hands with the Prophet and I’m shaking all over. There was such power from him that I feel so weak and trembling.’ ‘I know others may have seen what I saw, if not I know not why …………After the choir sang during the services, many in the audience and I heard the Heavenly Hosts pick it up. ‘I know God is merciful and forgiving of so many wrongdoings. So far I haven’t told anyone of my experience except you, Jack (her son at Brigham Young University) and Georgia (her missionary companion). She, of course, cried with me and knew in her heart that I indeed was given that manifestation for a reason. Whatever reason He allowed me to behold such a thing, I do not know, save it is for my own good. But it scares me to death almost at the thought of the penalty I will have to pay if I ever deny my testimony of His divinity. It leaves me with awe and a desire to be alone that I might not be subject to the outside world for fear of breaking a law, even to the tiniest one. ‘I do not know how much He will bless me with in the future, for after what I saw I think I have had my share. I even feel like I shouldn’t ask for anymore for He has blessed me far too much according to my standards and faithfulness. I’m just a pebble in His Kingdom and never in my wildest dreams hoped for such a blessing. ‘I know you both rejoice at things in this letter for the spirit of the Gospel is in you, and I thrill at sharing it with you. I just can’t bring myself to talk about it to anyone else. It’s too sacred a thing to me. I still can’t get over it. I tremble and yet am at ease with everything. Great peace has come to me and all sorrow, trouble and heartache has melted away.’ President McKay, I know that your soul rejoices at evidence and expressions of faith within the membership of the Church today and that is why I felt you would particularly appreciate the testimony of this beautiful, humble Samoan sister. Particularly, also, since it concerns an act which you consumated in the Temple of the Lord. You will never know how much of an inspiration you are to the membership of the Church, both adults and little children alike, and how much we all love you and pray constantly for God to sustain and strengthen you in the great and glorious mission which rests upon your shoulders today. With grateful respect for the service you are rendering the Church, I am sincerely, your sister in the Gospel. (signed) Mrs. Mildred T. Handy 233 25th
Clifford Young
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A few weeks ago, President McKay related to the Twelve an interesting experience, and I asked him yesterday if I might repeat it to you this morning. He said it is a great thing to be responsive to the whisperings of the Spirit, and we know that when these whisperings come it is a gift and our privilege to have them. They come when we are relaxed and not under pressure of appointments. The President then took occasion to relate an experience in the life of Bishop John Wells, former member of the Presiding Bishopric. A son of Bishop Wells was killed in Emigration Canyon on a railroad track. Brother John Wells was a great detail man and prepared many of the reports we are following up now. His boy was run over by a freight train. Sister Wells was inconsolable. She mourned during the three days prior to the funeral, received no comfort at the funeral, and was in a rather serious state of mind. One day soon after the funeral services while she was lying on her bed relaxed, still mourning, she says that her son appeared to her and said, “Mother do not mourn, do not cry. I am all right.” He told her that she did not understand how the accident happened and explained that he had given the signal to the engineer to move on, and then made the usual effort to catch the railing on the freight train; but as he attempted to do so his foot caught on a root and he failed to catch the hand rail, and his body fell under the train. It was clearly an accident. Now, listen. He said that as soon as he realized that he was in another environment he tried to see his father, but he couldn't reach him. His father was so busy with the duties in his office he could not respond to his call. Therefore he had come to his mother. He said to her, “You tell father that all is well with me, and I want you not to mourn any more.” Then the President made the statement that the point he had in mind was that when we are relaxed in a private room we are more susceptible to those things; and that so far as he was concerned, his best thoughts come after he gets up in the morning and is relaxed and thinking about the duties of the day; that impressions come more clearly, as if it were to hear a voice. Those impressions are right. If we are worried about something and upset in our feelings, the inspiration does not come. If we so live that our minds are free from worry and our conscience is clear and our feelings are right toward one another, the operation of the Spirit of the Lord upon our spirit is as real as when we pick up the telephone; but when they come, we must be brave enough to take the suggested actions. The Lord will approve it and the Brethren will approve it, and we know it is right. He said, it is a great consolation in this upset world today to know that our Savior is directing this work.
Elder Harold B. Lee
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One autumn night in 1957
President Russell M. Nelson
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Logan Utah Temple
President Henry B. Eyring
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Provo Utah Temple
President Harold B. Lee
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Perhaps the supreme compliment in our relationship with President Brown came in November of 1974, at the time of the dedication of the Washington Temple. President Brown had borne many of the responsibilities relating to the building of such a magnificent temple in our nation’s capital. I suppose some of the decisions that had to be made did not go unchallenged. At any rate, when President Kimball extended an invitation to President Brown to attend the dedication, he indicated that due to his advanced age and feeble condition, he felt he could go only if a doctor went along. Fortunately I got that assignment, which also included an invitation for Dantzel to join us. My responsibility was to be available for whatever President Brown might need. I checked him each night and morning. His son Manley and daughter Mary (Mrs. Ed Firmage) accompanied him as well. On the morning of the temple dedication, President Brown greeted me with the news that he had been visited during the night by President Harold B. Lee (President Lee had died the year before). He described it as a glorious visit, one that meant much to him, for President Lee had been aware of some of the difficulties encountered by President Brown in the decisions that led to the construction of the temple in Washington, D.C. Later that morning, as we took President Brown to breakfast, Sister Harold B. (Freda Joan) Lee approached us. As we exchanged greetings, President Brown said to her, "I had a glorious visit with Harold last night. He is just fine. It was so good to visit with him.” This was such a moving experience for us all. We felt the presence of President Lee’s spirit in the temple through the witness of President Brown. At the dedicatory service, he spoke so eloquently! These events enhanced our great privilege of being in the temple for the dedication, conducted by
President Russell M. Nelson
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The Second Coming of Christ
Elder Henry B. Eyring
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After recovering from three major surgeries which have prevented me from speaking in the past two general conferences, what a joy it is to be able to stand in this beautiful Conference Center today to teach and bear testimony to those who desire to hear the word of the Lord. In the past two years, I have waited upon the Lord for mortal lessons to be taught me through periods of physical pain, mental anguish, and pondering. I learned that constant, intense pain is a great consecrating purifier that humbles us and draws us closer to God’s Spirit. If we listen and obey, we will be guided by His Spirit and do His will in our daily endeavors. There were times when I have asked a few direct questions in my prayers, such as, “What lessons dost Thou want me to learn from these experiences?” As I studied the scriptures during this critical period of my life, the veil was thin and answers were given to me as they were recorded in lives of others who had gone through even more severe trials. “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; “And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high” (D&C 121:7–8). Dark moments of depression were quickly dispelled by the light of the gospel as the Spirit brought peace and comfort with assurances that all would be well. On a few occasions, I told the Lord that I had surely learned the lessons to be taught and that it wouldn’t be necessary for me to endure any more suffering. Such entreaties seemed to be of no avail, for it was made clear to me that this purifying process of testing was to be endured in the Lord’s time and in the Lord’s own way. It is one thing to teach, “Thy will be done” (Matt. 26:42). It is another to live it. I also learned that I would not be left alone to meet these trials and tribulations but that guardian angels would attend me. There were some that were near angels in the form of doctors, nurses, and most of all my sweet companion, Mary. And on occasion, when the Lord so desired, I was to be comforted with visitations of heavenly hosts that brought comfort and eternal reassurances in my time of need.
Elder Rober D. Hales
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Elder Dallin H. Oaks
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Decades after my boyhood experience with the Book of Mormon, I was called as a General Authority Seventy and assigned to speak in general conference. My sisters made sure that my 92-year-old father could watch the conference—and especially my talk. After general conference I went to his home. I asked, “Dad, did you watch conference?” He responded, “Ja.” I asked, “Did you hear me speak?” He responded, “Ja.” With some exasperation, I blurted out, “Well, Dad, what did you think?” He replied, “Oh, it was all right. I was almost proud.” After a long moment he said, “Dale, I have something I need to tell you.” I then realized that while I was fishing for a compliment, my father was preoccupied with something far more important than giving me praise. He continued, “Last night I had a dream. I dreamed I died, and I saw the Savior. He took me in His arms and told me my sins were forgiven. And it felt so good.” That was all my father said out loud. But the look on his face spoke volumes; he knew Jesus Christ. He knew that the babe in Bethlehem, who had “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man,” was his salvation, that the Son of God had grown up and atoned for his sins. And my father knew it long before this dream. The dream was simply a tender mercy—a gift—from a loving Heavenly Father to an old man, who died two months later. Of all the Christmas gifts I ever received, I treasure most the gift of testimony and faith exemplified by my father and mother.
Elder Dale G. Renlund
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Brigham City Utah Temple
President Boyd K. Packer
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In my last conference message
President Russell M. Nelson
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Neil L. Andersen
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of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Another experience began 48 hours after my wife’s burial. At that time, I was rushed to the hospital in an acute medical crisis. I then spent the first four weeks of a six-week stay in and out of intensive care and in and out of consciousness. Virtually all my experience in the hospital during that first period is lost to my memory. What is not lost is my memory of a journey outside the hospital, out to what seemed the edge of eternity. I cannot speak fully of that experience here, but I can say that part of what I received was an admonition to return to my ministry with more urgency, more consecration, more focus on the Savior, more faith in His word. I couldn’t help but feel I was receiving my own personal version of a revelation given to the Twelve nearly 200 years ago: “Thou shalt bear record of my name … [and] send forth my word unto the ends of the earth. … “… Morning by morning; and day after day let thy warning voice go forth; and when the night cometh let not the inhabitants of the earth slumber, because of thy speech. … “Arise[,] … take up your cross, [and] follow me.” My beloved sisters and brothers, since that experience, I have tried to take up my cross more earnestly, with more resolve to find where I can raise an apostolic voice of both warmth and warning in the morning, during the day, and into the night. Jeffrey R. Holland, "Motions of a Hidden Fire," Liahona, May 2024, 7. ______________________________________________ President Jeffrey R. Holland Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles One of President Holland’s messages for youth was that his health challenges of 2023 — he was often unconscious for a full month and nearly passed away — are proof of miracles. “I want the young people to know there are still miracles in this Church,” he said. “The miracle that I represent in the restoration of my life is as real as any miracle in the Old Testament or the New Testament or the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Mormon. Miracles still exist.” "President Holland Urges Dominican Republic Saints to ‘Be Believing’." Newsroom, November 11, 2024. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-holland-urges-dominican-republic-saints-to-be-believing. ______________________________________________ President Jeffrey R. Holland Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Wherever I go and wherever you are, we find people who've had disappointments. We find people who've had heartache. We see things that are broken in our life. It's a little bit like having your great-grandmother's precious piece of china saved on the trip over from England two centuries ago. And suddenly you have an accident in the home. And that little piece of china is broken. Almost it would appear to be irreparable. You couldn't get it back. Well, in the gosepl of Jesus Christ, you get it back. And things are broken regularly. It takes broken clouds to nourish the earth. It takes broken earth to grow grain. It take broken grain to make bread. It takes broken bread to feed us. These are the cycles of life. Like that parable the Saviour taught where he said, unless a man cast away his kernel corn - corn being the translation for wheat - let's say, cast it away in the spring, he won't have that harvest in the fall. And that's the way it is with us. We have to manage this and live with it. And when there's a broken dream or a broken marriage, broken unity with the children in the family, well, there's an answer to that. We can survive that. It's going to grow. If we live the gospel, plant that seed it's going to come back to us at harvest time rich and abundant, and it will be better than it was before. One of the reasons that it works is because we offer a sacrifice that's also broken, and ours is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. If we will be that humble, which is one of the lessons I thought I was being taught in my hospitalization, if we could be more humble, if we could be more like a child, if we could be more receptive to the Spirit of the Lord, we're going to be healed too. We're going to be put back together. Marriages will and families will and financial challenges will. They'll all be improved finally to perfection and that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers. Through the Saviour's atonement, through His sacrifice for us, our sacrifices, little as they are, our sacrifices then take on real meaning, and a broken heart is given back to us. And we will have the stature and the dignity and the faith and the purpose of someone who's better than they knew they were, better than they thought things could be. And that all comes from a little parable about throwing away a kernel of corn. And we reap the benefit of a saving, loving, atoning Jesus Christ who accepts our gift and gives it back. And we're renewed. We're born again. We're whole and complete and powerful as long as we live that gospel principle that brought us there.
President Jeffrey R. Holland
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This is our third time to Tonga. We look for any reason that we can come. It's not always easy to get here, but we never forget our visits here. I pray that something I say to you tonight can strengthen your own faith. I know you have tremendous faith, but we strengthen one another. When you sang that beautiful hymn, that strengthened my faith. I'm going to start with an experience that you have probably heard. It happened many many years ago by an apostle who was the president of the church, the prophet when I was a boy. Do you remember President David O. McKay? He was once asked by the president of the church to travel around the world. It was before we had internet. We didn't even have planes that went around well. And he had an experience not too far from here. He was in the ocean, not too far from here. He said he looked out of the boat. It was beautiful. The sun was setting. Everything was tranquil. And he went to sleep, but he described what he experienced not as a dream. He described it as a vision. Listen to some of his words. "Toward evening, the reflection of the afterglow of a beautiful sunset was most splendid. Pondering still upon this beautiful scene, I lay in my bed at 10:00 that night. I then fell asleep and beheld in vision something infinitely sublime." He saw in the distance a beautiful city. He said it was more beautiful than he had ever seen. The trees, the luscious fruit, the shrubbery, the flowers in perfect bloom. And then he saw going toward this city a large concourse of people. Each one had a long flowing robe. They maybe looked like the choir. And he said his attention instantly focused on the leader. And he said while he could not see the specifics of His face, he knew it was the Savior Jesus Christ leading these people. He said, "I understood that this was His city, the city eternal, and the people who were following Him would abide with Him in peace and happiness forever." And then he had in his mind this question. Who are they? Who are these people? Here's what he said after that. "As if the Savior read my thoughts, He answered by pointing to a semicircle that then appeared above them on which were written in gold these words." Very fascinating that he didn't hear a voice. It didn't come to him that way. The Savior pointed to a semicircle in gold. This what I'm going to tell you now is the part of the story I want you to remember. Here are the words he saw. "These are they who have overcome the world, who have truly been born again." Let me say it one more time. These are they who have overcome the world. These are they who have truly been born again.
Elder Neil L. Anderson
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