I was just thirteen. My family flew out to Nauvoo Illinois to participate in the Nauvoo Pageant. I loved learning the songs, making new friends, staying up late playing signs, and visiting various church historical sights. We would spend only two weeks there. One week learning the pageant and one week performing it. I have never sweat so much in my whole life!
One of the Sundays we were there, there was what they called a Sunday Sociable. It's now called "Our Story Goes On," but it was just the first year they did it so it was still being developed. It forever has a special place in my heart and I go to see it whenever I can. It was basically a medley of well-known broadway show-tunes put to a script about life and love and the pursuit of happiness, to put it simply. A few church songs were also added or written to be included in the program. I remember loving the songs and the uplifting messages but there was one that, as cliche as it sounds, changed my life. The man who played Joseph Smith, Dallyn Bayles - a man who I knew well from Savior of the World and who I already greatly admired - got up to sing. It was a song being sung as if by Joseph Smith himself. It was Joseph telling his story. "As a boy alone in a quiet grove, I knelt in earnest prayer..." He sang the words,
"For I saw Him and I heard His voice. And the answers that He gave me made my heart rejoice. So now I testify. I'll tell the world until my dying day. I have seen Him - the truth, the light, the way."
Immediately upon hearing him sing, "I saw Him and I heard His voice," I was completely overcome - head to toe - with a feeling I had never felt before. It wasn't a line upon line, precept upon precept acquiring of knowledge. It was all there. Right then. I knew it was true. I knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who saw my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. He saw them! I was able to see Dallyn as Joseph Smith and hear his story as if it was him telling me. Instead it was the Holy Spirit confirming to me that what I had been singing and dancing about for those two weeks was real. I could taste it. I couldn't control the tears. I wept during the whole song. It was one of those moments that I have previously talked about, where the ground shook. At least it seemed to. I ran up to my dorm room and cried and cried - my awkward little body didn't know how to handle this new feeling! I felt like I was going to burst! I wrote in my journal, and this is directly from it, "Christ is real and I feel so close to Him now than I ever have before. Joseph Smith is real and I love him so much. When I see him, I will thank him and hug him." I grew such a strong, deep love and appreciation for the prophet of the restoration that day. Most importantly, I recognized that if he was real, the Book of Mormon was true and I had an older brother and redeemer who loved me. I felt what Joseph Smith said himself about being completely unable to deny the truth he knew.
At the time I didn't know how unbelievably crucial this experience would be to my entire testimony, but I can honestly say that it was one of the most important moments and the beginning of my true conversion. Everything changed after that. Ever since then, I have never had a doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and saw God the Father and His Son. Not a doubt. It is instilled in my heart forever. I think about Nauvoo and that moment often. I can still smell it in certain hairsprays or lotions, the songs still get stuck in my head, and I thrill whenever someone tells me they are going to see or be in it...but nothing is as much a part of me as that bit of truth I learned that day. Not much younger than he was when he was introduced to this gospel, it became real to me that day and has been ever since.
How grateful I am for the miracle moments we are blessed with. Moments when the Lord teaches us the most important things we can possibly learn. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He translated the Book of Mormon. He saw and heard Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They live and it does, indeed, "make my heart rejoice."
This is beautiful Hannah! I was sitting next to you during that Sunday Sociable and when you started to cry - weep, I knew something significant was happening. I put my arms around you and let you cry. You weren't able to tell us what you were thinking or feeling so we had to be patient. When you finally did tell us you were still teary. I encouraged you to tell Dallyn but you were nervous. You did tell and thank him a day or two later and I know you were embarrassed but it meant the world to him. If that was the only thing that happened in Nauvoo it was soooo worth it. But it wasn't--- we had 2 weeks of amazing spiritual experiences. I love you and your testimony. mom
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