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JON - There are many books out that talk about people who have died and came back, then wrote about what they had seen and done while on the other side. Has there been any stories such as these that have been written with and accepted by the LDS Church? If so, can you relate some to me and who spoke of it.
JOEL - There have been some who have reported having had such experiences; some even coming from General Authorities of the Church. If you can get a hold of the book "Life Everlasting" by Duane Crowther, you will find some in there. Another book called "The Message" by an LDS member, Lance Richardson tells of his expereince of dying and coming back to relate his experience. Also check out the book "Return from Tomorrow" by George G. Ritchie.
These things apparently do happen to a few people for reasons only God Himself knows. It is a very personal experience that only those who have come back from the dead can understand. Occurencess that you might say are "accepted by the church" are first of all of course those that are found in the scriptures; miracles that were performed by both Jesus and His Apostles, bringing people back from death (John 11, 2 Kings 4: 32-37, Mark 5:41, Luke 7: 12-15, Acts 9:40, Acts 20:7-12)
If Jesus and His Apostles could do it then it should be possible for us to do it today also through faith and the priesthood. When asked if the "Mormons" could raise the dead, the Prophet Joseph Smith replied, "No, but God can raise the dead, through man as an instrument" (TPJS, p. 120).
According to Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
"The miracle of raising someone from the dead is so exceptional and so sacred that those who have been privileged to see it should never speak of it publicly unless the Spirit specifically induces them to do so." (Ensign 2001)
He then goes on to relate two such incidences from LDS published literature. If they are published in LDS literature then they must be accepted by the Church.
Elder Cowley told of an interesting experience while serving a Mission in New Zealand. He said:
"I was called to a home in a little village in New Zealand one day. There the Relief Society sisters were preparing the body of one of our Saints. They had placed his body in front of the Big House, as they call it, the house where the people came to wail and weep and mourn over the dead, when in rushed the dead man's brother.
He said, "Administer to him."
And the young natives said, "Why, you shouldn't do that; he's dead."
"You do it!"
This same old man that I had with me when his niece was so ill was there. The younger native got down on his knees, and he anointed the dead man. Then this great old sage got down and blessed him and commanded him to rise. You should have seen the Relief Society sisters scatter. He sat up and he said, "Send for the elders; I don't feel very well."…Well, we told him he had just been administered to, and he said: "Oh, that was it." He said, "I was dead. I could feel life coming back into me just like a blanket unrolling." Now, he outlived the brother that came in and told us to administer to him. (Devotional address at B.Y.U., February 18, 1953.)
Another experience is related in the book "Tongan Saints". It happened while Elder ‘Iohani Wolfgramm and his wife were serving a mission in their native Tonga, presiding over a branch on an outlying island. Their three-year-old daughter was accidentally run over by a loaded taxi. Four of the occupants of the taxi sorrowfully carried her lifeless body to her parents. “Her head was crushed and her face was terribly disfigured.” The sorrowing helpers offered to take the little girl’s body to the hospital so the doctors could repair her severely damaged head and face for the funeral. I now quote the words of her father, Elder Wolfgramm: “I told them I did not want them to take her but that I would ask God what I should do and, if it was possible, to give her life back.”
The helpers took the little girl’s body into the chapel. Elder Wolfgramm continued: “I asked them to hold her while I gave her a priesthood blessing. By then the curious people of the village were flocking in to see our stricken little daughter. As I was about to proceed with the administration, I felt tongue-tied. Struggling to speak, I got the distinct impression that I should not continue with the ordinance. It was as if a voice were speaking to me saying: ‘This is not the right time, for the place is full of mockers and unbelievers. Wait for a more private moment.’
“My speech returned at that moment and I addressed the group: ‘The Lord has restrained me from blessing this little girl, because there are unbelievers among you who doubt this sacred ordinance. Please help me by leaving so I can bless my child.’”
The people left without taking offense. The grieving parents carried the little girl to their home, put her body on her own bed, and covered her with a sheet. Three hours passed, and her body began to show the effects of death. The mother pleaded with the father to bless her, but he insisted that he still felt restrained. Finally, the impression came that he should now proceed. I return to his words:
“All present in the home at that moment were people with faith in priesthood blessings. The feeling of what I should do and say was so strong within me that I knew Tisina would recover completely after the blessing. Thus, I anointed her head and blessed her in the name of Jesus Christ to be well and normal. I blessed her head and all her wounds to heal perfectly, thanking God for his goodness to me in allowing me to hold his priesthood and bring life back to my daughter. I asked him to open the doors of Paradise, so I could tell her to come back and receive her body again and live. The Lord then spoke to my heart and said, ‘She will return to you tomorrow. You will be reunited then.’”
The parents spent an anxious night beside the body of the little girl, who appeared to be lifeless. Then, suddenly, the little girl awoke, alive and well. Her father’s account concludes: “I grabbed her and examined her, her head and face. They were perfectly normal. All her wounds were healed; and from that day to this, she has experienced no complications from the accident. Her life was the miraculous gift from Heavenly Father during our missionary labors in Fo’ui.”
The above stories don't talk about what the dead person experienced while separated from their body, but there is one such incident reported in the Church magazine, Improvement Era, 1929 of a young woman who died and returned to tell what she experienced. If it was reported in an official publication of the Church, it must have been accepted by the Church:
"Raised from the Dead" (Improvement Era, 1929)
BY LEROI C. SNOW, OF THE GENERAL BOARD OF Y. M. M. I. A.
INTRODUCTION: These are the people who participated most prominently in the following remarkable experience, now published for the first time:
LORENZO SNOW was the fifth president of the Church.
ELLA JENSEN, now Mrs. Henry Wight, living in Juniper, Idaho. She is fifty-eight years of age, the mother of eight children, six of whom are now living, and has six grandchildren.
JACOB and ALTHEA JENSEN, Ella's parents, and her Uncle HANS JENSEN, all of Brigham City, Utah, and all now dead.
RUDGER CLAWSON, of Salt Lake City and president of the Council of Twelve.
LEAH REES, now Mrs. Wilford Reeder, of Brigham City.
MRS. HATTIE CRITCHLOW JENSEN, of Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, now on a visit to Palestine.
ALPHONZO H. SNOW, of Salt Lake City, father of little ALPHIE, who died at six years of age.
THIS story, true in every particular, shows the fulfillment of a prophecy made upon the head of Lorenzo Snow when he was a young man, twenty-two years of age. At that time he received a patriarchal blessing, under the hands of the Prophet's father, Joseph Smith, Sen. This blessing was given in the Kirtland Temple. Among other things were these promises:
"Thou shalt become a mighty man. Thy faith shall increase and grow stronger until it shall become like Peter's—thou shalt restore the sick; the diseased shall send to thee their aprons and handkerchiefs and by thy touch their owners shall be made whole. The dead shall rise and come forth at thy bidding."
For several long weeks Ella Jensen had lingered, almost between life and death, with scarlet fever. In order to relieve the tired parents from their weary hours of loving care, kind neighbors took turns in staying at the Jensen home over night to help look after the sick girl.
Among these thoughtful friends was Leah Rees (now Mrs. Wilford Reeder of Brigham City). She occasionally played the little, old-fashioned harmonium and sang for Ella's entertainment. This particular evening the sick girl became very much worse. Leah had come about eight o'clock to remain until about eight the next morning. Ella was so weak that she could hardly speak above a whisper.
"Ella asked me to sing and play for her," Leah says, "but, goodness, I was so worried about her condition, I felt more like crying. I sat down at the organ and began to play and sing but broke down and had to quit."
After Ella had gone to sleep, Leah lay down on a couch in the room, and also dropped off to sleep.
MAKES PREPARATIONS TO DIE
LEAH continues with her own story: "About three or four o'clock in the morning I was suddenly awakened by Ella calling me. I hurried to her bed. She was all excited and asked me to get the comb, brush and scissors, explaining that she wanted to brush her hair and trim her finger nails and get all ready, 'for,' she said, 'they are coming to get me at ten o'clock in the morning.'
"I asked who was coming to get her. 'Uncle Hans Jensen,' she replied, 'and the messengers. I am going to die and they are coming at ten o'clock to get me and take me away.' I tried to quiet her, saying that she would feel better in the morning if she would try to sleep. 'No,' she said, 'I am not going to sleep any more, but spend all the time getting ready.' She insisted that I get the comb, hair-brush and scissors, which I did, but she was so weak that she could not use them.
"As I was brushing her hair, she asked me to call her parents. I explained that they were tired and asleep and that it would be better not to disturb them. 'Yes,' Ella replied, 'you must call them. I want to tell them now.'
"The parents were called and as they entered the room the daughter told them that her Uncle Hans, who was dead, had suddenly appeared in the room, while she was awake, with her eyes open, and told her that messengers would be there at ten o'clock to conduct her into the spirit world. The father and mother feared that the girl was delirious and tried to get her to be quiet and go to sleep. She knew their thoughts and said: 'I know what I am talking about. No, I am not going to sleep any more. I know I am going to die and that they are coming to get me.'
At about eight o'clock Leah left the house, realizing that the sick girl was gradually sinking. The father and mother remained at the bedside. Relatives and friends who had heard of Ella's sudden relapse came to see her.
PRONOUNCED DEAD
TOWARDS ten o'clock, Uncle Jake, the father, who was holding his daughter's hand, felt the pulse become very weak. A few moments later he turned to his wife saying: "Althea, she is dead, her pulse has stopped." The heart-broken parents wept and grieved at the loss of their beautiful daughter.
Jacob Jensen, Ella's father, and uncle of the writer of this article, was familiarly known to the people of Brigham City as "Uncle Jake."
Here are his own words to me:
"Ella had been sick for several weeks. She awoke one morning with the idea that she was about to die, and told us that her Uncle Hans had appeared in her room and said he was coming for her that morning. We kind of put her off and told her we thought she must have been dreaming and not to pay much attention to it, to go to sleep and she would feel better in the morning; but she said: 'No, I know I am going, because he told me he would be here for me at ten o'clock in the morning.'
"She wanted to see all the folks and bid them good-bye. All who were near came in, all but Grandma Jensen. She was in town and I sent for her. She arrived just when the others of us had said good-bye. Ella put her arms around her grandmother's neck and kissed her good-bye. It was not more than a minute after that when her pulse stopped and she passed away. I was holding her hand and felt her pulse stop.
"We talked the matter over and wondered what we should do. I told my wife that I would go to town, more than a mile from home, and see President Snow, tell him about her death and have him arrange for the funeral.
"I went out to the barn, hitched up, and drove to the tabernacle where your father, President Lorenzo Snow, whom we all loved so much, was in meeting. I went into the vestry, behind the main hall, wrote a note and had it sent to your father, who was speaking to the congregation. When the note was placed upon the pulpit, President Snow stopped his talking, read the note and then explained to the Saints that it was a call to visit some people who were in deep sorrow and asked to be excused.
"President Snow came into the vestry and after I told him what had happened he meditated a moment or two and then said: 'I will go down with you.' Just as we were about to leave, President Snow stopped me, saying: 'Wait a moment, I wish you would go into the meeting and get Brother Clawson, I want him to go also.' President Clawson was then president of the Box Elder stake." (President Rudger Clawson is now president of the Council of Twelve and lives in Salt Lake City.)
PRIESTHOOD OF GOD STEPS IN
I WENT in and got him and took them both down to my home, about a mile and a half south of Brigham City. We went into the house. My wife and children were there. After standing at Ella's bedside for a minute or two, President Snow asked if we had any consecrated oil in the house. I was greatly surprised, but told him yes and got it for him. He handed the bottle of oil to Brother Clawson and asked him to anoint Ella. Your father was then mouth in confirming the anointing.
"During the administration I was particularly impressed with some of the words which he used and can well remember them now. He said: 'Dear Ella, I command you, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to come back and live, your mission is not ended. You shall yet live to perform a great mission.'
"He said she should yet live to rear a large family and be a comfort to her parents and friends. I well remember these words."
President Rudger Clawson relates his experiences and after telling of Brother Jensen's coming to the meeting house toward the close of the morning session and being invited by President Snow to go along, says:
"As we entered the home we met Sister Jensen, who was very much agitated and alarmed. We came to Ella's bedside and were impressed by the thought that her spirit had passed out of the body and gone beyond.
A CALL HEARD BEYOND THE VEIL
TURNING to me President Snow said: 'Brother Clawson, will you anoint her,' which I did. We then laid our hands upon her head and the anointing was confirmed by President Snow, who blessed her and among other things, used this very extraordinary expression, in a commanding tone of voice, 'Come back, Ella, come back. Your work upon the earth is not yet completed, come back.' Shortly afterward we left the home."
Uncle Jake, Ella's father, continues his account: "After President Snow had finished the blessing, he turned to my wife and me and said; 'Now do not mourn or grieve any more. It will be all right. Brother Clawson and I are busy and must go, we cannot stay, but you just be patient and wait, and do not mourn, because it will be all right.' "
As already stated, it was ten o'clock in the morning when Ella died. It was towards noon when Jacob Jensen reported to President Snow at the tabernacle service, and not long after twelve o'clock, noon, when President Snow and President Clawson left the home after the administration.
Uncle Jake says that he and his wife remained at the bedside. The news of the death spread about the city. Friends continued to call at the home, express their sympathy to the sorrowing parents and leave. Continuing in Uncle Jake's words:
"Ella remained in this condition for more than an hour after President Snow administered to her, or more than three hours in all after she died. We were sitting there watching by the bedside, her mother and myself, when all at once she opened her eyes. She looked about the room, saw us sitting there, but still looked for someone else, and the first thing she said was: 'Where is he? Where is he?' We asked, 'Who? Where is who?' 'Why, Brother Snow,' she replied. 'He called me back.'
UNWILLING TO COME BACK
WE EXPLAINED that Brother Snow and Brother Clawson were very busy and could not remain, that they had gone. Ella dropped her head back on the pillow, saying: 'Why did he call me back? I was so happy and did not want to come back.' "
Then Ella Jensen began to relate her marvelous experiences, marvelous both as to the incidents themselves, and as to the great number of them that occurred in the short space of between three and four hours.
Hattie Critchlow (now Aunt Hattie Jensen, who is visiting Europe and the Holy Land as a birthday present from her lawyer sons in Los Angeles) was a young lady at the time of this story. She and a group of girl friends were on the street in Brigham City when word came to them of Ella's death. Ella was one of their associates. They decided immediately to go to the home to express their sympathy and to offer their help to the bereaved parents.
As they reached the home they saw a lot of people in the house, but instead of expressions of sorrow and grief, they saw surprise and happiness in their faces. They entered the house and were astonished to hear Ella's voice. They had arrived just after Ella had returned to life and had begun the wondrous story of her visit to the eternal world.
Regarding the more than three hours that Ella spent in the spirit world she says:
"I could see people from the other world and hear the most delightful music and singing that I ever heard. This singing lasted for six hours, during which time I was preparing to leave this earth, and I could hear it all through the house. At ten o'clock my spirit left my body. It took me some time to make up my mind to go, as I could hear and see the folks crying and mourning over me. It was very hard for me to leave them, but as soon as I had a glimpse of the other world I was anxious to go and all care and worry left me.
"I entered a large hall. It was so long that I could not see the end of it. It was filled with people. As I went through the throng, the first person I recognized was my grandpa, H. P. Jensen, who was sitting in one end of the room, writing. He looked up, seemed surprised to see me and said: 'Why! There is my grand-daughter, Ella.' He was very much pleased, greeted me and, as he continued with his writing, I passed on through the room and met a great many of my relatives and friends. It was like going along the crowded street of a large city where you meet many people, only a very few of whom you recognize.
"The next one I knew was Uncle Hans Jensen with his wife, Mary Ellen. They had two small children with them. On inquiring who they were, he told me one was his own and the other was Uncle Will's little girl. Some seemed to be in family groups. As there were only a few whom I could recognize and who knew me, I kept moving on.
"Some inquired about their friends and relatives on the earth. Among the number was my cousin. He asked me how the folks were getting along and said it grieved him to hear that some of the boys were using tobacco, liquor and many things that were injurious to them.
"This proved to me that the people in the other world know to a great extent what happens here on the earth.
"The people were all dressed in white or cream, excepting Uncle Hans Jensen, who had on his dark clothes and long rubber boots, the things he wore when he was drowned in the Snake River in Idaho.
"Everybody appeared to be perfectly happy. I was having a very pleasant visit with each one that I knew. Finally I reached the end of that long room. I opened a door and went into another room filled with children. They were all arranged in perfect order, the smallest ones first, then larger ones, according to age and size, the largest ones in the back rows all around the room. They seemed to be convened in a sort of Primary or Sunday School presided over by Aunt Eliza R. Snow. There were hundreds of small children.
HEARS THE COMMAND TO RETURN
IT WAS while I was standing listening to the children sing 'Gladly Meeting, Kindly Greeting' that I heard your father, President Lorenzo Snow, call me. He said: 'Sister Ella, you must come back, as your mission is not yet finished here on earth.' So I just spoke to Aunt Eliza R. Snow and told her I must go back.
"Returning through the large room, I told the people I was going back to earth, but they seemed to want me to stay with them. I obeyed the call, though it was very much against my desire, as such perfect peace and happiness prevailed there, no suffering, no sorrow. I was so taken up with all I saw and heard, I did hate to leave that beautiful place.
"This has always been a source of comfort to me. I learned by this experience that we should not grieve too much for our departed loved ones and especially at the time they leave us. I think we should be just as calm and quiet as possible. Because, as I was leaving, the only regret I had was that the folks were grieving so much for me. But I soon forgot all about this world in my delight with the other.
"For more than three hours my spirit was gone from my body. As I returned I could see my body lying on the bed and the folks gathered about in the room. I hesitated for a moment, then thought, 'Yes, I will go back for a little while.' I told the folks I wanted to stay only a short time to comfort them."
THE PAIN OF COMING BACK
ELLA'S oldest sister, Meda, now Mrs. Ernest E. Cheney of Brigham City, says that Ella frequently told of the terrible suffering which she experienced when the spirit again entered the body. There was practically no pain on leaving the body in death but the intense pain was almost unbearable in coming back to life. Not only this, but for months, and even years afterward, she experienced new aches and pains and physical disorders that she had never known before.
"About the first thing she told us, after being brought back to life," says Uncle Jake, the father, "was that she met Grandpa Jensen. He was sitting by a desk writing in a book, making out some records. He got up and welcomed Ella, calling her by name and then she said: 'I went down the large room, where I met a number of my relatives and friends.'
"I know there were some whom she had never seen in life. She described to me just how they looked and told me their names. Among these were aunts and second cousins long since dead. There is no question that they were the ones whom we had laid away before she was born.
"Then she told us about going into a large room where many children were assembled. They were singing under the direction of Sister Eliza R. Snow. She did not mention that any parents were there. While listening to their beautiful music she heard the voice calling her to come back, and telling her that her mission was not ended.
"After she opened her eyes and told us these things she wanted to get up, but it was two or three days before we would let her try to move around.
CONVERSES WITH FRIENDS AND RELATIVES
THE next day Aunt Harriet Wight, who lost two daughters, Phoebe and Betsy, came into the room to visit Ella and asked how she felt. Ella said she was feeling all right now. Aunt Harriet broke down and cried, and Ella then said: 'Why, Aunt Harriet, what are you crying for. You need not cry for your girls who have gone. I saw and talked with them, and they are very happy where they are.' Aunt Harriet was very much affected.
"Many relatives and others visited Ella and she told them the same things that I have related to you, and told them much more, about meeting their relatives and friends over there, how happy they were and that they asked about their loved ones here.
"My daughter is still living, is perfectly well and strong and has reared a large family."
Leah Rees, who stayed with Ella the night before this remarkable visit to the world of departed spirits, came the following evening. Let us listen to her own words:
"When I came again to stay with Ella the next night she told me all about where she had been. She mentioned having seen my father and several others of my people who had passed away, as well as her own Grandpa Jensen. Everyone appeared busy and very happy."
MEETS A LITTLE FRIEND BUT A FEW HOURS DEAD
ALPHONZO H. SNOW, now living in Salt Lake City, the writer's brother, relates his experience as follows:
"My wife, Minnie, and I heard of Ella Jensen's death and restoration to life and called at her home to see her. As we entered the room she said: 'Oh! Come here, Alphonzo and Minnie, I have something to tell you. After my return to earth I told my parents of some of the remarkable experiences which I had while in the spirit world. But there was one experience that seemed very strange, and I could not understand it.
" 'You know your little son, Alphie, has been in my Sunday School class in the First ward. I have always loved him very much. While I was in Aunt Eliza R. Snow's class of children in the spirit world, I recognized many children. But all of them had died excepting one, and this was little Alphie. I could not understand how he should be among them and still be living. When I told this to mother, she said: 'Yes, Ella, little Alphie is dead, too. He died early this morning while you were so very sick. We knew you loved him and that it would be a shock to you, so we did not tell you about his death.'
"It was very consoling, indeed, to hear Ella tell of seeing our dear little boy and that he was very happy. She said it was not right for us to grieve and mourn so much for him and that he would be happier if we would not do so."
Perhaps President Rudger Clawson, who assisted President Snow in the administration, received the most complete account from Ella. This is what he says:
"Sister Ella Jensen, in relating to me her very remarkable experience, said that during all the morning of our visit, and going back into the night, the veil between this world and the other seemed to be growing thinner and thinner. She heard singing all through the house from the unseen world and seemed herself to be about to step into the spirit world. And this is what actually happened, for her spirit left her body and went into the beyond.
WORK TO DO ON THE OTHER SIDE
A GUIDE was there to meet her and by him she was conducted into a very large building where there were many people, all of whom appeared to be extremely busy, no evidence of idleness whatever. Hans Peter Jensen, her grandfather, was one of the first persons she met. He seemed pleased to see and bid her welcome, out let her understand that he was very busy and could not give her much of his time.
"After a brief chat with her grandfather she passed on through the building, glancing at the people as she walked along. Finally her eye rested upon the familiar face of Hans Jensen, her uncle. When she saw him, what to her and others had been an enigma, was now clearly explained.
"Sometime before this advent into the spirit world her Uncle Hans, who lived in Brigham City, counseled with me as president of the stake as to the propriety of moving into the Snake River country, Idaho, to engage in salmon fishing. His idea was that if he was successful he could ship salmon from the north to Brigham City at a good profit and thus benefit himself financially. He needed the help that such a business would bring him.
"I said if it was his wish to engage in that business it was all right with the stake presidency and a matter entirely for him to decide for himself.
"Later he left for the north and at once turned his attention to salmon fishing. One morning he went from the home where he was staying, clothed in a jumper and overalls, with gum boots, to fish; but he never returned. His oldest brother, Jacob Jensen, came to me greatly alarmed, said that no word had been received from Hans for some time and nobody seemed to know where he was. He was greatly excited about it and feared that his brother had been drowned in the Snake River.
"Jacob organized a posse of men and at once instituted a search covering a period of some two or three weeks, at the Snake River, but their efforts were fruitless. No trace could be found of Hans and he was never again heard from until his niece, Ella Jensen, met him in the spirit world. She said that he was dressed in a jumper and overalls with gum boots. The mystery was solved.
"There seemed to be no doubt thereafter that Hans Jensen was drowned in the Snake River. It is said that when the dead manifest themselves to the living they usually appear as they were last seen on earth so that the living will recognize them. If that be true it accounts for the strange habit that her uncle was wearing."
Lorenzo Jensen, of Salt Lake City, now agent for the Beneficial Life Insurance Company, tells the following interesting incident:
"The night that Hans Jensen disappeared, his mother, Grandma Jensen, awakened her youngest son, Willard, by calling in her Danish accent: 'Vill, Vill, you get right up and open the door and let Hans come in the house.' Willard came to his mother's bedside saying: 'Why, mother, Hans cannot be here, he is up in Idaho fishing, you know.'
" 'Yes, but I know he is here, I heard him calling me. I have not been asleep. I know he is outside and wants to come in.'
"Willard went to the door, opened it, walked entirely around the house, returned to his mother and said he was sure that Hans was not there. The mother replied: 'Then Hans is dead, because I know that he came to me and called me.' A few days later word came telling of Hans' disappearance."
COMMANDED TO COME BACK
PRESIDENT CLAWSON continues: "Ella passed on down through the building and met many others, some of whom we shall speak of later. Finally she came into a very large room that was completely filled with small children, all dressed in white, with Eliza R. Snow Smith presiding. She sat and listened to the Sunday School songs which they sang, being songs which are now sung in Sunday Schools among us, and she was perfectly contented and happy. It was a heavenly place, she said. She felt that she never wanted to leave it.
"While sitting there a very strange thing happened. She heard a voice coming to her in commanding tones, apparently from a long distance, which said: 'Come back, Ella, come back! come back! Your work on earth is not yet completed.'
"She had no desire to come back and felt determined not to leave the beautiful place. But this voice was so authoritative in manner that it seemed to draw, yes actually did draw, her spirit out of that room. She was compelled to follow it, and so she turned her face earthward on the return journey. She kept going and going, apparently a long distance until, all at once, she found herself in the room at home, where her body was lying.
"Then she realized that her spirit must again enter the body which was lying there, to all intents and purposes, a lifeless one. Her spirit entered and the next moment her eyes opened and her lips moved. Then it was her parents realized that she was no longer dead. They spoke to her and she to them.
PROVES THAT SHE WAS RATIONAL
SHE began to tell them of her wonderful experience in the other world, what she had done and seen. Her father whispered to the mother: 'Do you hear what she is saying? Why, the girl is certainly delirious. She is out of her mind.' Ella looked up and said: 'Father, you think then that I am out of my mind, do you? I will very soon prove to you that I am perfectly rational.'
"She turned to her mother: 'While in this large building in the spirit world, I met a woman who greeted me and said she was Aunt Mary and told me that she died while I was a baby.' The mother asked: 'Can you describe her?' The answer was: 'Yes, she was a tall woman with black hair and dark eyes and thin features.' 'Yes,' the mother answered, 'surely you have described your Aunt Mary.'
" 'I also met another woman there, who said she was my Aunt Sarah and had died just before I was born.' 'Will you describe her?' the mother asked. 'Yes, she was rather short and somewhat fleshy, with round features, light hair and blue eyes.' 'Why, yes, Ella, that is your Aunt Sarah. You have described her perfectly.' Ella turned to her father saying: 'Do you now think that I am out of my mind?' 'No,' he answered, 'you have had a very wonderful experience.'
"It may well be thought that Ella Jensen's work on earth was not yet completed, as indicated by President Snow, for she afterwards became president of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association in Brigham City. Afterwards she married and became a mother in Israel, and surely a woman can do no greater work in the world than to become a mother of men."
Ella Jensen was born August 3, 1871. The experience related in this article occurred March 3, 1891, in her twentieth year. She married Henry Wight, March 20, 1895. They are now living in Juniper, Idaho. Of their eight children six are living and they have six grandchildren.
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