A Nighttime Visit from a Spirit: An
Uplifting Story from President Packer
by Boyd K. Packer | Oct. 18, 2019
Think
Mormon
President Packer's book, The Holy Temple, is
a classic of Latter-day Saint literature that has become one of the most
comprehensive and definitive works written about temples. In fact, much of the
material found in the Church's temple preparation pamphlet comes from this
inspired book.
In this book, he shares a story from one of his
ancestors that shows that not all ghost stories are scary. Some are deeply
sacred and profound.
At the rededication of the Logan Temple in 1979 I recounted an
incident in the life of my wife's grandfather, which I include here.
The Logan Temple is sacred to our family, for there my wife and I
were married, and my wife's grandfather responded to the call and helped to
construct that temple.
C. O. Law, the superintendent of construction for that temple,
wrote on February 25, 1884: "This letter certifies that Brother Julius
Smith of Brigham City has worked faithfully and honorably on the Logan Temple
for nearly two years, and as the temple nears completion, his branch of the
labor being terminated, he is now honorably released and we sincerely trust
that Brother Smith may become a participant in the blessings of the House of
the Lord which he has assisted to erect."
Brother Smith with his wife, Josephina, lived on a few acres of
ground in Brigham City. There they raised fourteen children, my wife's father
being the youngest. When the call came for workers to assist in the building of
the temple, he responded.
Each Monday morning, he left his family in the care of his wife
and hiked up through Flat Bottom Canyon, down Dry Canyon to the south end of
Cache Valley, and on to Logan. After his week's work on Saturday, he walked
home to spend Sunday with his family. . . .
The hope "that Brother Smith would participate in the
blessings of the House of the Lord which he had assisted to erect" was
amply fulfilled. He went there often.
As a young man he had lived among the Indians. In later years when
Indian bands would visit Brigham City, one of the Indians would go to the home
of Brother Smith. His visits were not welcomed by the rest of the family, for
he would peer in every window intently until he determined that Brother Smith
was home. And only then would he knock at the door.
One night, some years after the completion of the temple, Brother
Smith was reading his newspaper. He heard a noise at the window, and he saw his
Indian friend peering in with an unusually sad expression. He went to the door
and found no one there, and the snow beneath the window had not been disturbed.
This incident bothered him greatly, and during the following week
he tried to locate and get some information about this Indian friend. He
learned that he had died.
In due time, he recorded, "Today I have taken care of his
work in the temple." That very evening he was looking through the mail and
again heard a sound at the window. When he looked up, he saw his Indian friend,
this time smiling. He counted that a very sacred experience, and in the record
of a great amount of work done by this faithful grandfather in this temple is
found the name Be-a-go-tia.
I have wondered over the years about the meaning of the scripture
recorded three times in the Book of Mormon, that "the course of the Lord
is one eternal round." (1 Nephi 10:19, Alma 7:20, Alma 37:12.)
I can see one meaning as it relates to our work for the dead.
Genealogical work, the essential preparation for temple work, puts us to
seeking through the records for those who have lived in the past. We look back
to the past to find them. We perform temple ordinance work for them and then we
look forward to the future to meet them. Something sacred is consummated when
we have safely recorded, in the list of ordinances completed, the names of
those who lived in our past and who yet live in our future. This ordinance work
is crucial to us and to the Church.
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