A Visit From the Prophet

President Ballard, President Nelson and his daughter, Sister Irion

May 9^th, 2018

Wednesday, May 09, 2018, we were called to the temple to a special missionary meeting this morning.  There was a bit of mystic about it because no details were announced except that we should wear our Sunday clothes, be there at 10:45 and meet in the assembly room.  When we went into the assembly room the first two rows were reserved for a lot of visitors.  We were beginning to suspect that President Nelson was going to speak to us.  His daughter, Gloria, is our temple matron.  We were in our seats a little bit early and Sister Blood played a beautiful prelude.  The spirit was so strong I could hardly breathe.  10:45 came and went and nothing happened.  We continued to wait and ponder the significance of that beautiful room with its four levels of pulpits on each end of the room.  I was imagining what it was like to be in the Kirkland temple the day of the dedication when all the visitations occurred.  It would have been a similar scene.  Finally, all the guests filed in to fill in the front two rows and as we stood President Irion entered with President Nelson and President M. Russell Ballard.  We sang a short hymn and the brother who gave the opening prayer did it with more power than I have heard before.  The thing that stood out to me was his asking that we might all be sanctified and purified in our preparations for the Second Coming.  I watched Pres. Nelson during the opening prayer and during Elder Ballard’s talk.  He felt every word of the prayer.  Sometimes he had somewhat of a smile on his face.  Other times he seemed to be feeling some anguish at the thoughts that were passing through his mind at the time.

After a few remarks from President Irion, President Ballard spoke about being the great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith.  He spoke about Hyrum reaching down from his horse to lift up his 5-year-old son, Joseph F. Smith and give him a kiss goodbye as he began his journey to Carthage.  He spoke of the statute in the front of the temple representing Joseph and Hyrum on their ride to Carthage and their death.  These two brothers shared a love for each other that is to be emulated.  He told of young Joseph F. viewing his father and uncle in the Mansion House and the searing memory that this event created in his mind.  He spoke about Joseph F.’s mother dying when he was only 13.  (It is interesting to note that Joseph F. Smith was the one sent on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, now called Hawaii, when he was 16.  There he had a dream of getting clean and dressing in white cloths and going to a building where he met his uncle Joseph and his father Hyrum.)  Joseph F. was close to the spirit and was interested in the next life resulting in his vision about the spirit world recorded in section 138.  President Ballard spoke of imagining the great reunion with Joseph F. and his mother and father on the other side of the veil.  President Ballard also payed tribute to President Nelson and how grateful he feels to be his companion today.

Then President Nelson spoke about how nice it was to be with people who are consecrated to the work of the Lord.  He referred us as “dedicated disciples of Christ.”  How marvelous it is to have so many temples to accomplish the work of giving all of God’s children their ordinances.  He was especially happy that the Nauvoo temple could be rebuilt.  He pointed to the place where he sat at the dedication.  It was on the right side, in the boxes, the second bench, 18 years ago while President Gordon B Hinckley offered the dedication prayer.  He told us about Brother Joseph starting with just a few members and how the Church has flourished.  In President Nelson’s life time he has watched the church grow.  When he was born there were only 600,000 members.  Today each area Seventy president has more members to look after than did President Heber J Grant in 1925.  In 1925 there were zero members in South America where now there are over 3,000,000.  There are now 159 temples to help provide the ordinances to prepare the members by sanctification for the second coming of the Savior.  He mentions that three weeks ago while President Ballard was rededicating the Houston Temple, he and his wife were in Hong Kong at a devotional with 4,000 members.  He spoke of having thousands of members in the Republic of China with no missionaries.  Young people leave China to attend schools all over the world and then join the church before they return to their homeland. 

He spoke about Joseph Smith writing the 128^th section of the Doctrine and Covenants while he was in hiding from his enemies.  This section is about the importance of temple work.  He testified to the reality of receiving revelation.  He said, “that his wife, Wendy can attest to the frequency of the calls that come at night, and I don’t mean phone calls”. He thanked us for being temple missionaries.  “The Lord will bless you and your posterity for your service.  They will be blessed and strengthened. In closing he gave us an apostolic blessing.  It was far reaching to us and our posterity.  He blessed us to have peace and plenty as we serve as missionaries. He promised that our children and descendants will be blessed. He blessed us with the health necessary to fulfill our duties, the wealth and means to accomplish that which the Lord asks of us. The healing of illnesses and injuries will be based on the will of the Lord.

It was a powerful meeting with a powerful spirit in a powerful setting.  We had no idea when we accepted our mission call that we would have such an experience as this.  It is a meeting that we will not forget.  We sat on the second row about 20 feet from President Nelson.  What a kind and gracious man he is.  His health seems good and he seems ageless.  He is a bit shorter than he seems on TV.  He has a great smile and radiates love to everyone.

Then the closing prayer was given and we all stood and sang one verse of “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet” as he and Sister Nelson moved to the door. After that we all filed out so humbled and somewhat weakened by the experience we had just been a part of. That room is so welcoming to the Spirit and the outpouring was great!  When we finally found our way to the outside we could see that President Nelson, Elder Ballard, Sis Irion and several others in their party had moved down by the statue so Elder Ballard and President Nelson could have their picture taken by it. We stood on the steps and watch ed for a few minutes taking our own pictures of the scene that was unfolding before us.  Then as they returned to the road closer to us they all waved and sent their love flying through the air. After they took pictures in front of the statue and then went to the grave sites of Joseph, Emma and Hyrum for more pictures.  This is a practically holy place for President Ballard because of his great-great-grandfather, Hyrum.

Aren’t missions wonderful!