#54 September 14 – 20, 2020, 3 Nephi 11

3 Nephi chapter 11

The chapter of all chapters!

If the book of Third Nephi is the book of all books in the Book of Mormon, the zenith or high-water mark for the whole Book, then this chapter (along with chapter 17) is the chapter of all chapters! This account of the appearance of Christ to a multitude of 2500 people and their intimate interactions with Him is as good as scripture gets. Oh, how we wish we could have been there! The people who experience the events described in this chapter will never fall away, neither will any of their children nor their grandchildren. 

A different format this week

As I explained at the beginning of the last blog post/email, this week’s post is divided into two parts. This second part of this week’s post is a first-person narrative of the events of chapter 11. The experience described in 3 Nephi 11 is so powerful that I’d like to try to write about it in the first person, as if I had been there. I hope this isn’t too presumptive and that none will be offended or bored. I need to make some assumptions, create some fictional characters and start with some backstory to describe the powerful experience of chapter 11, but I’ll do my best to stay with what we know to be true. It has been a powerful experience for me to try to imagine what it was like to be there when Christ came to those who survived the great destruction at the time of His death and then to try to capture those feelings in writing for you. I hope it will be anywhere near as meaningful for you to read this as it was for me to write it. This is as close as I’m going to get in this life to having been there. 

The Day of all Days

Greetings! My name is Amulek. I was born in the year that the sign was given of the birth of Christ, the sign prophesied by the great Lamanite prophet Samuel, that there would be a day, a night and a day without darkness. I am in the thirty fourth year of my life and it is the thirty and fourth year since the sign was given. I want to write about the day of all days, the day that Christ appeared to us at the temple in Bountiful while the feelings are still fresh in my heart. But let me go back first and tell you a little of my story.

My parents were living in Zarahemla at the time I was born. There was a date set by the unbelievers, the wicked people in Zarahemla (most of them members of the secret band of Gadianton robbers), based on Samuel’s prophecy from the wall of Zarahemla that the sign of Christ’s birth would be seen in five years. The wicked unbelievers determined that those who believed in Samuel’s prophecy and were looking for the sign of Christ’s birth should be put to death if the sign was not seen by the date they set. Because my parents believed in the words of Samuel, they were afraid for their lives. My mother was expecting me at that time. I was going to be their first child but they were afraid that I would never be born if she and my father were executed for believing. After I got older, they told me how they, along with the other believers, prayed and fasted and prayed for weeks that the sign would be given. But every night, when the sun went down, it got dark. Even some of the believers began to wonder, but my parents were firm in their faith and trusted in the Lord, even if it would cost them their lives and the life of their unborn baby. 

Finally, the last day came before the fatal deadline when all the believers would be killed if the sign wasn’t seen. Our great prophet and leader, Nephi, son of Helaman, had departed out of the land. No one knew where he had gone. Some wondered if he had been translated like we assumed happened to the great prophet Alma. Nephi was a wonderful spiritual leader, a true man of God. The people missed him so very much. His younger brother, Lehi, a man of similar spiritual stature, had already died. So Nephi, the son of Nephi, was trusted by his father before he departed with the records and became our prophet and spiritual leader. He was only 22 years old at the time. But he was a man of God like his father and grandfathers before him. 

On the day before the executions were set to occur, Nephi went to the Lord and prayed all day and into the evening nearly until sundown, just like the story of Enos, one of my heroes of the ancient prophets. Finally, after several hours of pleading with God, a miracle happened. He heard a voice from heaven. It was the voice of Jesus Christ who told him that the sign would be given that night and that He would come into the world the next day. Miracle of miracles, it happened! That night the sun went down but it didn’t get dark at all. My parents said it was so amazing! They stayed up all night and quietly celebrated with the other believers! They were so grateful! When it finally got dark the next night, there was a new star, a brilliant star unlike anything they’d ever seen, in the night sky. Samuel prophesied the appearance of that star, as well. 

I was born about 3 months later in the summer of the year the sign was given. My mother thought it was extra special that her baby was just about the same age as Jesus, the baby who was born when the sign was given far away in the land of our forefathers. She said that she also felt close to Jesus’s mother Mary because they both had babies about the same age. (Our prophets told us many years ago that His name would be Jesus and His mother’s name would be Mary.) My parents gave me the name of my great grandfather, Amulek, who was a close friend and missionary companion of the great prophet Alma, who was our first chief judge and such an amazing missionary and leader. That Amulek was a man of great faith! Most of his family were killed in the wicked city of Ammonihah when the humble people who believed him and Alma were burned by the wicked people. Amulek had to watch his wife and all but one of his children die in the fire. But my grandfather, just a teenager at the time, was clever and a very fast runner. He escaped from Ammonihah before they could throw him into the flames with the rest of his family. He had to hide from the wicked people for several days but eventually made his way to Zarahemla. Alma and Amulek were put into prison and kept there without food or water for several days. My grandfather wondered if he would ever see his father again, but one day the prison walls collapsed on the wicked people who were tormenting Alma and Amulek. Alma and his father were saved and came out alive. My grandfather no longer had to hide, but he stayed in Zarahemla where he was soon reunited with his father at the home of Alma. Amulek was so sad that his wife and other children had been killed. But he was so grateful that one son survived. So am I, or I wouldn’t be here to tell you this story.

Our family, the descendants of my grandfather, has lived in Zarahemla since then, at least, until recently. For a few years after the sign was given, the year Jesus and I were born, many people believed in the prophet Nephi and tried to be good. But before long, they began to forget the sign. I remember as a little boy wondering how they could forget such an amazing sign, but they did. They asked questions like, “Why wasn’t He born here in this part of the world so we can see Him?” “How do we really know there is such a person as Jesus Christ growing up in another part of the world?” “How do we know that He will come visit us someday?” They were angry with our prophet Nephi and said that he and the other church leaders were just trying to fool them into believing in something that didn’t ever happen. 

Things got pretty bad for all of us because of the Gadianton robbers. They are the worst! They are wicked and don’t believe anything good! They live in the mountains and don’t want to work for their food. All they want to do is to come down out of the mountains and steal from the people who do work. They are wicked, hateful people. What is sad is that so many people who once believed in the prophets left to become robbers with them. I could never understand why they would leave. I guess they believed the lies of the robbers and wanted to have a life like theirs. 

When I was in my early twenties and had just gotten married, we had to gather all our food and animals into the land between Zarahemla and Bountiful for safety. We gathered enough food and supplies to live for seven years. We knew the robbers couldn’t last that long without being able to steal our crops and animals. We had some great leaders – Lachoneus and Gidgiddoni – men of God, like our prophet Nephi. (The son of Lachoneus, also named Lachoneus, and I were good friends. Even though his father was the chief judge and ruler, he went to school in Zarahemla at the same school I attended. My father was a merchant and worked really hard to earn enough money for me to attend a good school.) Well, we outlasted the robbers and they were eventually all defeated. We were so happy! Everyone knew that it was the Lord who saved us. For a few years, I thought people would stay righteous and wait for Christ to come, like Samuel promised He would. But just like before, people began to forget what the Lord had done for us in saving us from the robbers and many became wicked again. It didn’t take very long. Actually, they didn’t just forget. They knew what was right but they turned their backs on Nephi, the church and those of us who believed and willfully decided that they didn’t want to believe any more. Before long, they joined those who were persecuting those of us who believed and were as bad or worse than they were. 

By the time I was about 30 years old, our country fell apart. There were hardly any people who believed in Christ, that He was really alive in the land where our fathers came from over 600 years ago and that He would one day visit us in our land. Nephi continued to preach. He had many revelations and even had angels visit him often, but the people wouldn’t listen to his words. His brother, Timothy, was killed by an angry mob who stoned him for preaching about Christ. But Nephi raised him from the dead. The government was falling apart and everybody was dividing into tribes. It was a terrible time!

By that time, my wife Sariah (named for her ancestor, the wife of Lehi, the great matriarch of all of the righteous Nephite people) and I had been blessed with four children, a daughter, two sons and then another daughter. We gave them names of women and men of faith, hoping they would grow up to be like those for whom they were named. We named our first daughter Rachel, after the wife of the great patriarch Jacob who became known as Israel and was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Then we had two sons. We named them after two of our heroes who are less known by our people. We named our first son Sam, after the third son of the great patriarch Lehi and his wife Sariah, the next older brother of Nephi, who was loyal to his younger brother all his days.  And we named our second son, Joseph, after the youngest son of Lehi and Sariah. Finally, we had another daughter and named her Abish, after a Lamanitish girl who was the brave servant of the queen of king Lamoni and who had such great faith.

When I was thirty years old, our amazing leader Lachoneus, who had served us pretty much all my life stepped down as chief judge and governor of the land. His son, Lachoneus, my good friend and brother in Christ, became the chief judge and leader of our government. Tragically, in the first year of his service, he was killed by the wicked Gadianton robbers, who had infiltrated the government and wanted to overthrow it. I was devastated! Lachoneus was such a good man and such a good friend! He and I were about the same age and had known each other all our lives. He had a wife and children, just like I do. I felt so bad for them. Sariah and I knew that we couldn’t stay in Zarahemla any longer. Samuel had prophesied that Zarahemla would be destroyed by fire if the people cast out the prophets and killed the righteous saints. It was happening before our eyes. The prophet Nephi was no longer safe in the city. None of us who believed in the prophecies of Christ were safe. Sariah and I took our family and escaped with only what we could carry with us. We made our way toward the land and city of Bountiful. We knew there was a temple in Bountiful, so many of the righteous were gathering there. There was also a temple in Zarahemla but it was no longer a holy place. It had been desecrated by the wicked people. The righteous priests could no longer serve there. We knew that it provided no protection from the destruction that had been prophesied by Samuel.

We’ve made a life for ourselves in the land Bountiful living outside the city. Fortunately, the robbers are not strong in this area and the more righteous people are gathering here from all over the land. We started to see more and more signs and knew that the time must be coming for the sign of the death of Christ. We wished we could be in the land of Jerusalem where He was teaching and living with the people. We could only trust that He would visit us after He completed His mission there. 

Samuel had prophesied that there would be three days of darkness as a sign of Christ’s death. We didn’t know when that would happen, but the signs suggested that it might not be far off. The prophet Nephi told us that there would be great destruction before Christ would come to our land and that we should be prepared. It sounded awfully frightening. Sariah and I were afraid for our family but we trusted that God would protect us and that we would survive if we remained faithful to our covenants. Nephi joined us in the area near Bountiful. He was getting older now. How we loved our prophet! He had baptized our daughter Rachel at the temple in Zarahemla when she turned eight years old. As I write, she is 12 years old. She is becoming a lovely young woman, like her mother. Sam is 10 and Joseph is 8. They are growing to be fine young men. They were both baptized at the temple in Bountiful when they turned 8 years old by another friend of our family, Jonas. He is the son of Nephi’s brother Timothy, the one who was raised from the dead. Jonas and I knew each other in Zarahemla and have been good friends all our lives. Abish is only 5, so she hasn’t been baptized yet. She is especially precious! Ever since coming to Bountiful, as a family, we have waited, watched and prayed. That’s what the other righteous people who have gathered here are doing. Nephi kept reassuring us that it would not be long until the sign of Christ’s death would be seen and that, after that, He would visit us. Knowing that Christ and I were the same age, I began to wonder how long He would live and when we would see Him. I hoped and prayed it would be in my lifetime. 

It was spring, the beginning of the thirty and fourth year. It was the time of the Spring Equinox so it was time for the Passover celebration. Even though Christ had come far away in the land of our forefathers, we still observed the holy days of the Law of Moses. Some people thought we didn’t need to keep the Law of Moses after the sign was given of Christ’s birth, but Nephi told us that the Law would not be fulfilled until Christ died. The whole reason for the Law was looking forward to His sacrifice and death and to keep us focused on Him. We were looking forward to celebrating Passover at the time of the first full moon after the equinox, as our people have done for centuries, when everything changed. 

On the fourth day of the month, early in the morning before we were even awake, there was a powerful storm and the earth began to shake. The walls of our house began to move. Then came lightning, thunder, whirlwinds and tornados. Many homes and other buildings caught fire. Fortunately, our house didn’t catch fire like some around ours did. People were screaming and running for safety, but there was nowhere to go. The destruction was everywhere. Sariah and I pulled our children out of bed and we ran together into a cave near our home where we had previously stored some food and water for just such an occasion. As we ran, our house collapsed behind us. It’s hard to know what happened after that. The shaking, the lightning, the whirlwinds and the terror continued for about three hours. Some thought it was longer than that, but the best we could tell was that it was about three hours. Then came silence and darkness. It was a penetrating darkness. It didn’t matter if we were in the cave or outside, we couldn’t see anything. I’ve never been in darkness like that before or since. I could feel the darkness like a vapor that surrounded and penetrated us and blocked out all the light. We tried to light a fire, but nothing would burn in that vapor of darkness. We couldn’t even see the fires from the burning homes and buildings outside our cave. There was absolutely no light! Gratefully, we had our children with us or we would not have been able to find them. People were screaming and crying for their loved ones and trying to find them. We called to some of them and they came and joined us in our cave. We couldn’t see them but recognized them by their voices. We were happy to share our food and water with them. There was no light from the sun which must have been up by then. Everything was black! All we could do was to huddle together, holding hands so no one would get lost, and pray. 

I don’t know how long we stayed in the darkness like that. There was no way to know, but it must have been hours. The cries of the people around us gradually died down. I was so grateful that our children were with us. What if we had lost them in the darkness? They were so brave. Even little Abish, who was cuddled close to her mother, was brave and reminded us that our prophet Nephi said we would be blessed for believing. We knew that we had already been blessed. We were alive and we were together!

As we huddled together in the darkness and spoke softly to each other, we heard a voice. There was no question that it was a voice from heaven. Everyone heard it. At first, the message of the voice was frightening, talking about all the cities that had been destroyed. The voice told us that Zarahemla had been destroyed by fire. We thought of people we knew who lived there who had turned their backs on the prophet and the church and wondered if they had been able to escape or if they were killed in the fires. We were so grateful we had followed the warning of the prophet Samuel, that we had left Zarahemla and moved to the land Bountiful!

Then the voice began to speak to those of us who had been saved because we were more righteous than those who were killed. I’ve never thought of myself as being very righteous. I make lots of mistakes and want to be a better person but always fall short. But we’ve always loved God and tried our best to follow the counsel and warnings of His prophets. The voice promised that, if we would repent of our sins and come to Him, He would heal us. That was comforting and sounded wonderful! I began to realize who it was that was speaking to us. Then He told us who He was. I remember His words, words which penetrated my soul as I sat huddled there in the darkness with my family. I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. My heart leaped inside of me! I was filled with warmth and peace, even though in the darkness. Jesus is real and He is speaking to us in our part of the world! He must be speaking to us from the world of spirits because the signs of His death were all around us. 

I can’t remember everything He said. I didn’t need to. But I remember the feeling. I knew that we had been saved from death and that He would continue to protect us. Everyone in our family, even the children, felt His love pierce our hearts through the darkness. We would be ok. Life is good! 

After the Savior stopped speaking, there was silence again. We needed some time to let what He had said sink in and to get control of our emotions. We could tell that the people around us had also stopped crying and felt comforted. We were still in thick darkness but we felt warmth and light in our hearts. It was amazing what hearing His voice did for us. All of our family felt it, even the children. It was so powerful! I’m sure that everyone who survived and heard His voice felt like we did. 

After several hours, He spoke again. This time, His voice was even more tender and gentle. He spoke about how a hen gathers her chicks around her, just like Sariah gathers our children around her when they are sick or frightened. She was doing it even as He spoke. He tenderly told us that He had tried many times to gather us, that He was even now trying to gather us and would continue to do so in the future. I knew that we would be alright. Our house may be reduced to rubble, but He would gather us and take care of us. As we sat in the darkness, our hearts were at peace. 

The darkness lasted for three days and three nights. When the darkness finally dissolved into light it was Sunday morning. We knew it was a special day. Our mourning was turned into joy, and our lamentations into praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Under the law of Moses, our sabbath was on the 7^th day of the week, Saturday. But now we will worship the Lord on the 1^st day of the week, the day the darkness lifted and the light returned. Sunday will always be His day. We realized that we had missed Passover altogether, but it was alright. Nephi later told us that we didn’t need to celebrate Passover any longer. Christ had fulfilled the Law. Our worship was now to be centered in Him. 

The next few weeks are sort of a blur. We saw all the changes that had happened. We gradually learned that many cities had been burned, including our capital city of Zarahemla. And we learned that other cities had been submerged under water and some were buried by mountains of earth that came down upon them. The whole face of the land was changed. Miraculously, the temple in Bountiful was spared and still stood. The city around it had only a little damage, much less than the other cities in our land. People began to try to put their lives back together again. Our family lived in the cave near our home while my sons and I rebuilt our home. Rachel was a lot of help as well. Soon we had rebuilt part of our house and Sariah made it homey and cheerful. We learned that Nephi, his brother Timothy and his son Jonas and their families had also survived. Miraculously, none of our friends who were believers and who were doing their best to follow Nephi were killed. With so much destruction and so many lives lost, it was truly a miracle! People from all over the land began to gather toward Bountiful. The temple there became the center place of our worship. The government had been destroyed before the great destruction occurred, so the church leaders took charge under Nephi’s direction and organized those who survived to look after each other. We had all lost nearly everything so no one was rich or poor. We shared everything with each other. No one felt the need to be selfish or thought that they were any better than anyone else. Despite all that we had lost, it was a wonderful time. I’ve never felt that kind of unity among the believers. There were good people who weren’t among the believers but they hadn’t stoned the prophets or those who believed. Many of them survived as well. We all worked together to begin to rebuild our lives. With the wicked people gone, the contention was also gone. The feeling was amazing! I’ve never experienced anything like it. The closest to this feeling I remember was when we all gathered in the center of the land to stand against the Gadianton robbers. We were completely united and we truly loved each other. 

Even though we knew that we no longer needed to follow the Law of Moses, we still wanted to hold on to some of the holy days that were part of our tradition. We had missed Passover because it occurred during the three days of darkness that followed the great destruction. So we began to look forward to the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of 50 days. This feast occurs each year seven weeks (a week of weeks) and one day (49 + 1 = 50 days) after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first day of Passover. Nephi said we should gather at the temple to celebrate this holy day on the Sunday seven weeks or the fiftieth day after the darkness ended and the light returned. We began to make preparations for that special day and looked forward to seeing many of our friends at the temple. We hoped that Nephi would be there and have words of counsel and comfort for us.

Finally the holy day came. Life was starting to feel a little like normal. As a family, we packed some food for the day and went into the city Bountiful and to the temple arriving there quite early in the morning. It was a beautiful spring morning. There were already many people on the plaza around the temple. People came from all around Bountiful and gathered as families at the temple mount. We were greeting old friends and marveling about all the changes that had occurred during the three hours of destruction before the darkness enveloped our land just seven weeks ago. Everyone was talking about Jesus Christ. We knew that the destruction and the darkness were signs of His death. We had all heard His voice speak to us while we sat in the darkness during those terrible three days. But we had heard nothing since. Our prophets have assured us that He will come to our land when He finishes His ministry in the land of our forefathers. But we didn’t know when that would occur. 

We were conversing and marveling with each other when something happened that changed our lives forever. We heard a sound, a voice, as if it came out of heaven. But we couldn’t understand the voice. We adults were looking around to see if anyone could understand. Everyone had the same puzzled look on their faces. Everyone, that is, except the children. When I looked at our five-year-old daughter, Abish, she was looking upward toward heaven. She had an angelic expression of her face and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was pointing to the sky but I couldn’t see anything. Again we heard the voice. Then our other children looked upward as well. Sariah and I couldn’t understand the words, but we knew it was a voice. This time I could tell that Rachel, Sam and Joseph understood the voice and could see something that we couldn’t see. They had the same angelic look on their faces as their younger sister. The tears began to stream down their cheeks, as well, even the boys, but they weren’t embarrassed to be crying. As I looked around, I realized that all the children were seeing something or someone that the adults weren’t seeing. 

Then a third time the voice came. This time Sariah and I, holding hands, looked upward where our children were looking and opened our ears to hear. What we heard was not like anything I’ve ever heard before or since. It was a small, soft voice, not loud or harsh, but it pierced my heart to the very center. We began to shake, but I wasn’t afraid. Sariah and I held tightly to each other as the tears began to flow down our cheeks as well. We kept looking upward toward the voice. Then we understood what it had said three times. Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him. It was the voice of our Father in Heaven! I’ve prayed to Him all my life, but I’ve never heard His voice. Sometimes in quiet moments, I’ve felt of His love but now I was bathed in it. We couldn’t see Him but we knew He was there. He is real! And He is so gentle and loving! I wanted my life to end right then and there so I could go be with Him. Nothing in the world mattered. I wanted to take my family home to Him and be in His presence for eternity. 

While we were looking into heaven toward the voice, all of us now understanding what had been said three times, we saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of [us]. Every eye was upon Him. He stood on one of the steps of the temple where we could all see Him. Even the babies and youngest children looked at Him with knowing looks on their faces. No one dared speak. No one wanted to speak. We didn’t know who it was. I think the children knew but none of the adult dared even open their mouths. Some of us hoped it might be Jesus, but didn’t believe that it could be true. We told ourselves it must be an angel. We knew that Nephi, our prophet, saw angels often. This man in white robes must be an angel. Maybe it was one of our prophets who had come to tell us when to expect that Jesus Christ would visit us. But the voice of the Father had said, Behold my Beloved Son. Could this be His Son? Could this be our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Himself? We hardly dared hope. 

And then He stretched out His hand and spoke. 

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

I can’t describe the feelings in my heart as He spoke those words. Instantly, I was a new person and would never be the same old person again. There was nothing to do but to fall to my knees. I was speechless but filled with a joy I had never before known. I was hardly aware of anything or anyone around me. It was just me, Amulek, one humble Nephite, and Jesus Christ, who had just descended from heaven. I became aware that everyone had fallen to their knees. I could only hope that everyone was feeling what I was feeling. But I didn’t want to take my eyes off of Him even for a moment to look around. He captured my heart and soul. 

When He spoke again, it was so gentle, so soft, so tender. He invited us to Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

I couldn’t believe that He wanted to see each of us, to have each one of us come to Him and touch His hands or feet or side. At first no one moved. No one dared. But the children led the way. They pulled their parents and older siblings by the hand and soon we were all moving toward Jesus, gathering around Him waiting our turn to approach Him one-by-one as a family. No one was in a rush. No one pushed or stepped in front of anyone else. Everyone would get their turn. It took about three hours, all the rest of the morning, for us all to see Him personally. But no one was in a hurry or impatient. Nothing in the world was more important than what was happening that morning at the temple in Bountiful.

We waited our turn as a family hardly believing that we would have the privilege of coming into His personal presence. We must have waited over two hours since we were toward the back of the crowd. I estimated there had to be over two thousand people there including all the children. When it was finally our turn, I didn’t feel worthy and held back a little, but Abish took my hand and said, “Come on, Daddy. It’s ok. He’s really nice!” We gathered around the Savior as a family, all six of us. He spoke gently to us, calling each of us by name beginning with the children. As they tenderly touched the marks in His hands and wrists and in His feet, He told them how much He loved them and how thankful He was that they had believed in Him so they could be there that day. He gently embraced each of them and kissed our daughters tenderly on their foreheads. Sariah was overcome with emotion and was kneeling at His feet. Her tears fell on the wounds in His feet, which she gently caressed and wiped with her long hair. He bent down and with His gentle but firm hands on her shoulders raised her up. He spoke her name and thanked her for loving Him and for her unfailing faith. Then He turned to me and opened both His arms for me to come to Him. The tears streamed down my face. He was weeping too. He wrapped me in His arms and embraced me warmly. He spoke my name and thanked me for believing in Him and for leading my family in righteousness. Then He took my right hand and guided it inside His robe where I could feel the wound of the sword in His left side near His heart. As I did, he whispered, “I did it for you because I love you.” I couldn’t say anything. I was overcome with emotion and filled with love. Life will never be the same again. I will never be the same again.

Each one of us,  the whole multitude did see with [our] eyes and did feel with [our] hands, and [do] know of a surety and [do] bear record, that it [is] he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come. We will always know. We will always believe. No one who is here with us today will ever doubt or fall away. And no one who hears us tell the story of what happened here today with Jesus will ever doubt or fall away. 

When each of us, every man, woman and child, old and young, had all gone forth and had witnessed for [ourselves], we spontaneously shouted Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! There was nothing more to say. And [we] did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him. 

Much more happened on this day of all days. Jesus taught us about baptism and told us not to contend with each other. He called Nephi to Him and gave him power to baptize. Even though Nephi was our prophet and has led our people for over 30 years, he didn’t act like he was anyone special. He stayed back in the crowd. But when Jesus called him by name and had him come forward, Nephi bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet. I had the feeling that Nephi already knew Him well and that they loved each other dearly. 

Jesus called eleven others to join with Nephi. I recognized Timothy, Nephi’s brother, and my good friend, Jonas, his son, who were among them. I didn’t hear everything that Jesus said to the Twelve He chose, but I saw Him put His hands on each of their heads and offer a brief prayer. 

Jesus stayed with us all that day and came back on the next two days. Each day was wonderful. Maybe I’ll have a chance to write about some of what happened on those days, especially about how Jesus taught us about the sacrament and about the experience with our children, Jesus and the angels. 

But I’ve written enough for now. I just wanted to capture for my grandchildren and posterity my feelings on this most special day of all days. I will always know that Jesus is our Savior and is the resurrected living Son of God. I will always have the love that I felt from Him in His embrace in my heart. And I will always know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who sent His Son. What else could possibly matter? 

Lord bless you all!

Thanks for reading!

Richard

Sorry. I can't make the end notes post using a this format.