President Spencer W. Kimball's Vision of His Father

"I have had few dreams which had meaning. Of the thousands through the years, most have passed out of mind with the dawn, but this was different. I stood in the room with other people around me, then I saw him. Father was a handsome person, tall, with dark piercing eyes and a commanding appearance. And there he was, not as a vague apparition, but so real and so like himself. I called out "Oh! Father, Father, it is so good to see you." 

He had a radiant smile such as he had had in life. It warmed me. I was pulsating with gladness. I could not understand why others could not see him, he was so clear and distinct and pleasing. "Oh, my beloved father!" Then he seemed to be moving away. He had been only an arm's length from me. He faded out of the picture and was gone. I awakened and lay reliving the dream or vision again and again. I did not want it to pass from my memory. I went to my desk and wrote it in my journal and went back to bed, lying quietly in the darkness musing, reliving the hallowed experience. 

"So vivid it was that I felt sure it had some meaning. I am not sure for what purpose it was given to me. Many times in years gone by I have wondered if either my father or mother would some day come to me; I knew they must be proud of the position given me and the honor which had come to them. And, so, I have been grateful through the year [since the dream] for that sweet moment. If it did nothing more for me than to more completely connect mortality with the life beyond, it served a good purpose.

"As I have contemplated these months the exquisite joy which came to me in a reunion with my earthly father, I came to anticipate with infinitely greater happiness the possible meeting of my Lord and Savior and our Eternal Father. And there began to bear in upon me the feeling expressed in the song I have sung so many times, "O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" Somehow after this, the future, whatever it was, did not look so bleak and nebulous. There settled down over me a comfort and a peace which, except in a few weak moments, has never left me."

 (57-04)  (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 43.)

Orson F. Whitney's Vision of the Savior

This is one of the most remarkable visions of the Savior's atonement for us.  Given to Orson F. Whitney while on his mission in Pennsylvania:

"Then came a marvelous manifestation, and admonition from a higher source, one impossible to ignore. It was a dream, or a vision in a dream, as I lay upon my bed in the little town of Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I seemed to be in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior's agony. I saw Him as plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James and John, as they came through a little wicket gate at my right. Leaving the three Apostles there, after telling them to kneel and pray, the Son of God passed over to the other side, where He also knelt and prayed. It was the same prayer with which all Bible readers are familiar: "Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

"As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept, out of pure sympathy. My whole heart went out to Him; I loved Him with all my soul, and longed to be with Him as I longed for nothing else.

"Presently He arose and walked to where those Apostles were kneeling-- fast asleep! He shook them gently, awoke them, and in a tone of tender reproach, untinctured by the least show of anger or impatience, asked them plaintively if they could not watch with Him one hour. There He was, with the awful weight of the world's sins upon His shoulders, with the pangs of every man, woman and child shooting through His sensitive soul-- and they could not watch with Him one poor hour!

Returning to His place, He offered up the same prayer as before; then went back and again found them sleeping. Again He awoke them, readmonished them, and once more returned and prayed. Three times this occurred, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance-- face, form and movements. He was of noble stature and majestic mien-- not at all the weak, effeminate being that some painters have portrayed; but the very God that He was and is, as meek and humble as a little child.

"All at once the circumstances seemed to change, the scene remaining just the same. Instead of before, it was after the crucifixion, and the Savior, with the three Apostles, now stood together in a group at my left. They were about to depart and ascend into Heaven. I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.

"I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped, raised me up, and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real. I felt the very warmth of His body, as He held me in His arms and said in the tenderest tones: "No, my son, these have finished their work; they can go with me; but you must stay and finish yours." Still I clung to Him. Gazing up into His face-- for He was taller than I-- I besought Him fervently: "Well, promise me that I may come to you at the last." Smiling sweetly, He said, "That will depend entirely upon yourself." 

"I awoke with a sob in my throat, and it was morning.

... I saw the moral clearly. I have never thought of being an Apostle, nor of holding any other office in the Church, and it did not occur to me then. Yet I knew that these sleeping Apostles meant me. I was asleep at my post -- as any man is who, having been divinely appointed to do one thing, does another.

But from that hour, all was changed. I never was the same man again. I continued to write, but not to the neglect of the Lord's work. I held that first and foremost; all else was secondary."

Orson F. Whitney, "Through Memories Halls", 1930, p. 82 Quoted in Bryant Hinckley, _The Faith of our Pioneer Fathers_, 211-213

Melvin J. Ballard's Vision of the Savior

[Elder Melvin J. Ballard was once strengthened during a time of need by a remarkable vision:]

"When I was doing missionary work with some of our brethren, laboring among the Indians, seeking the Lord for light to decide certain matters pertaining to our work there, and receiving a witness from Him that we were doing things according to His will, I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night, in that sacred building, the Temple.

"After a season of prayer and rejoicing, I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of those rooms, to meet a glorious Personage, and as I entered the door, I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes ever have beheld, or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, he arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and he smiled as he softly spoke my name.

"If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me in his arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world.

"The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, His affection, and His blessings was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt!"

(Bryant S. Hinckley, _Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, p. 156) 

(Compiled and written by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, dkenison@xmission.com)