and a few other like experiences
(Part seventeen of
a series compiled by Dennis B. Horne)
A few years ago, a returned
missionary who served in one of the Mexican missions shared with me a classic
experience that illustrates the “diligence” principle in the acquisition of
faith and sacred knowledge. I had conducted the stake president’s interview
before his mission and sent his papers to Church headquarters. I remember that
interview with him. He was 6 foot 5 inches tall and 255 pounds. He was one of
the first two young men recruited from my children’s high school to play
football at Brigham Young University. He was a fine young man, clean-cut and
worthy in every way. I remember being impressed with his potential. I could
tell from the answers he gave to the questions I asked that he was honest, but
there was one crack in his armor. I knew that his testimony was based on the
faith of others rather than on his own witness. However, he related the
following story to me during his release interview at the end of his mission.
As his mission began, Elder Stone
worked energetically with his companion. Frequently he was called upon to give
the first lesson. In the lesson it was necessary for him to tell the
investigators about the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph
in the Sacred Grove and then bear witness of its truthfulness. After bearing
testimony a number of times, his conscience began to bother him. Although he
believed the story, he did not know that it actually happened. He had not been
there, nor had he received his own witness. How could he tell others that the
First Vision really happened? As doubts began to multiply and replace his
belief and as the pains of conscience increased, he told his companion that he
could no longer be a missionary. He was going home. He could not serve as a
witness to something he did not know. His companion responded, “Elder Stone,
why don’t you follow the counsel given the investigators? You need to study and
pray more diligently. Put Moroni’s promise to the test. Exercise your faith,
and you will receive an answer. Stay with me for a few more weeks.”
Elder Stone agreed
to stay and put Moroni’s promise to the test. A few weeks passed, the
missionary worked harder, prayed more often, was more attentive in his reading,
but no witness came. Finally, during an interview with the mission president,
Elder Stone expressed his frustrations and indicated his desire to return home.
He could not continue. A wise mission president counseled, “Elder, do not give
up! You have a desire to believe. If you continue faithful in your calling for
a few more weeks, the Lord will answer your prayers. I promise you!”
Elder Stone agreed to return to his
proselyting area for a few more weeks. Again, days and then weeks passed with
no change in his feelings. It was difficult. One morning as they were knocking
on doors, a woman answered and invited them to return when her husband and
children would be home. As they left the small house, Elder Stone said to his
companion, “I’m not giving the lesson!”
His companion responded, “Elder,
I’ll give the first portion of the discussion, but I want you to tell the
Joseph Smith story.”
Finally Elder Stone agreed, even
though that was the part that bothered him. From the time they left the woman’s
house until they returned a day or two later, the missionary used every spare
minute to read and pray. He wanted a witness before entering the home. But when
the appointed hour came, he still had not received a witness. He had read
diligently, he had prayed almost continuously, but there were no special
feelings. How could he bear witness when he did not know?
The father answered the door and
ushered the missionaries inside. There on a dirt floor sat nine children, and
the father and mother took their places behind them. Elder Stone reported that
the size of the home was not much larger than his bedroom in Utah. The humble
circumstances only added to his discomfort. The senior companion began the
lesson, telling the family that there is a God, that we are his children, and
that he loves us. He then explained the mission of the Savior, how God sent his
Son to earth to atone for our sins and to make possible our return to our
heavenly home. He explained the role of prophets and bore witness that God
works through prophets today. He then turned the lesson over to Elder Stone.
My missionary friend began the story
of the 14-year-old Joseph. He told the family about the religious confusion
that existed in Palmyra in the 1820s, how Joseph listened to the various
ministers proclaiming different versions of Christianity. He told them about
Joseph’s experience in reading James 1:5, where James states unequivocally: “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
The missionary related the impact that
the passage had on Joseph—that it struck him with more power than had any other
scripture, and that this caused him to reflect on it again and again. Finally,
Joseph decided to put James to the test. He selected a grove of trees near his
father’s farm and went there on a beautiful spring day to pray. Being alone, he
knelt down and offered up the feelings of his heart. The elder told the family
how a dark power came over Joseph, almost choking the life out of the young
boy. Exerting all of his powers, Joseph continued to pray, and then, suddenly,
a pillar of light descended out of the heavens directly above him. The darkness
was dispelled, and in the midst of the light were two personages. One called
Joseph by name and, pointing to the other, said: “This is My Beloved Son. Hear
Him!” (See JS—H 1:1–17.)
At this point in the story, Elder
Stone said that a warm feeling began to stir his soul—one he had never felt
before. The warmth was deep inside and soon enveloped him. Tears welled up in
his eyes. His throat became full, and he could hardly speak. He was embarrassed
and ducked his head until he could regain his composure. When he looked up, he
noticed tears in the eyes of the parents and the children. They were
experiencing the same feelings and warmth of Spirit that he was feeling. He
finished the lesson with a conviction born of a spiritual witness that Joseph
Smith saw the Father and the Son. Elder Stone’s testimony had shifted from one
of belief to a knowledge of the First Vision. As Elder Stone finished sharing
his experience with me, he said: “President, I know that Joseph saw the Father
and the Son. I did not have a problem in the mission field after that
experience. I have my own witness.”
As I listened to the story’s
conclusion, I thought how efficient God is: he got 12 birds with one Stone! The
parents, the nine children, and a missionary were all touched by the Holy
Ghost, and a desire to believe was transformed into knowledge. More than that,
God is efficient in another way. If a person has a witness of the Father and
Son’s visit to young Joseph, he or she has a foundation for believing and
accepting other gospel principles.
The beginning of this dispensation
was initiated by one of the greatest events in the course of human history—the
appearance of the Father and Son to the boy Joseph Smith. To illustrate the
majesty of the event in the Sacred Grove, can you think of another time when
both the Father and the Son appeared on this earth? The scriptures tell of
occasions when the Father’s voice was heard from the heavens declaring His Only
Begotten Son: e.g., at the Savior’s baptism (Matthew 3:17), on the Mount of
Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and to the Nephites in the land Bountiful (3
Nephi 11:3–7). But the Garden of Eden may be the only other place where both
openly manifested Themselves on this earth.
The next day following that great [Cumorah]
pageant those same missionaries held their missionary conference on a beautiful
Sabbath morning in the Sacred Grove. They had held two sessions there Friday
and Saturday. Since their pageant was produced at night, they had their days
for their conferences.
Saturday afternoon was devoted
entirely to testimony bearing. Sunday morning's meeting was programmed;
speakers were called upon to speak; but in the afternoon it was not programmed,
and the meeting started at one o'clock in the afternoon, with the idea that it
would perhaps close by four o'clock, and we would thus get an extra hour of
testimony bearing.
I wish everyone could have been in
that Sacred Grove that beautiful afternoon as those elders, without wasting a
minute's time or a second's time, came forward and stood by the microphone.
There was no pulpit to stand by, so they stood there by the loud-speaker and
gave their testimonies, one by one. Those three hours passed all too quickly.
Four o'clock came, and as the missionaries had expressed the desire to bear
their testimony in the Sacred Grove, they were not all through, and it was
decided to continue the meeting until five o'clock, but at five o'clock they
were not through and it continued till six o'clock. At six o'clock they were
not through, and we continued the meeting until seven o'clock—until every
missionary there had had an opportunity to bear his or her testimony. I think
eighty-nine of them that afternoon bore their testimonies.
You could not have doubted that
testimony if you had heard those young men and women. Some of them had been in
the mission field only a month, and, oh, how they thanked the Lord for the
privilege of that mission. . . .
At seven o'clock at night the sun
went down—the shadows fell, and it seemed as if God in heaven had looked down
and pronounced a silent benediction on the heads of all who were assembled in
the Sacred Grove that day. Yes, it was as if those servants of the Lord had
been able to lift up the corner of the veil and had a little glimpse into the
eternities to come.
May God bless the missionaries all
over the earth. May our homes and all of us partake of the spirit that they are
privileged to enjoy, and I know and you know why they are privileged to enjoy
that spirit. It is because they live so close to the Lord.
I know that the Spirit of the Lord
was there in the grove that day. I know that sacred spot was the place to which
the Prophet Joseph went as a boy and knelt down and prayed to the Lord, and
there the Father and Son appeared to him.
Elder Glen L. Rudd bears testimony as a young elder on his
first mission:
In 1939,
after I had been in New Zealand about five months, I received a new companion
who had just arrived from northern Utah. One day we traveled with the mission
president [Matthew Cowley] to a city about 200 miles away. Afterwards we began
hitch-hiking back. After a rough day, we found ourselves in a strange, small
resort town with no place to sleep and nothing to eat. By 8 p.m. we finally
gave up and decided to sleep in a shelter in a park.
As we
crossed the street, the same man who had given us our last ride saw us and
stopped. He took us to his home and fed us. Then he invited some neighbors over
so that we could have a meeting. He also said we could sleep in a new house he
was helping to build.
This man
began the meeting by telling us that he had been a minister for twenty-five
years in the Church of the Brethren. He claimed to be well versed in the
teachings of the Bible and also familiar with many other churches. He had a
full wall of books; and while looking at them, I noticed a Book of Mormon. He
commented that he had read it a couple of times.
Our host
outlined the meeting: I was to talk first and explain Mormonism; then he would
take equal time to reply. I was then to have ten minutes to summarize, and he
would take the final ten minutes. No one was to interrupt us while we spoke,
and we were to be kind and courteous. We agreed that we would not argue or
debate—just explain and teach. (My new companion was scared and begged not to
be called on.)
We followed
the plan. I began with the Articles of Faith and briefly explained each one. He
then attacked what I had said in a masterful and methodical way. He was well
versed and really knew the Bible. In my next ten minutes I tried to correct his
misunderstanding, but he ruined my “fine presentation” in his final ten
minutes.
The meeting
concluded with everyone sure that this man had proven Mormonism to be anything
but the true religion of Jesus Christ. At that moment, it seemed that I had
suffered a crushing defeat. My five months in the mission field, pitted against
his twenty-five years as a minister, did not give me the confidence I needed on
that occasion.
Before
anyone left, I got up and asked for just five minutes more. My minister friend
did not want to let me have it, but his wife said that she thought it would be
all right. The minister consented to let me have my final say, feeling certain
that nothing I could say would overshadow his splendid work in disproving
Mormonism. A wonderful thought had come into my mind. I realized that I really
had twenty years experience as a Latter-day Saints, though only five months of
it as a missionary.
With a
sincere prayer I arose and told the story of the first vision of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. I related it simply and carefully. I talked of the visit of
Moroni and the coming forth of the plates and the Book of Mormon, a copy of
which he had, and had claimed to have read. I told of the martyrdom of the
Prophet and Hyrum Smith. And then from the very depths of my heart bore my
testimony of the divinity of all these things.
When I
finished, the whole spirit of the meeting had changed. It was a wonderful
feeling, and the Spirit of the Lord was present to sustain the testimony I
had almost forgotten to bear.
The good
minister arose and, in a sweet way, closed the meeting. His concluding comment
was: “You didn’t do very well explaining the articles of your faith; but I
would give all I own if I could stand and testify, as you have done, that I
know that what I teach is the truth.” He admitted to all present that he really
did not know the truth, and expressed his hope that he would someday bear such
a testimony. There is no valid defense against a sincere testimony.
(Glen Rudd personal history 37-39)
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