Sometimes the distance between the living and the spirits who have already passed on is very close. At times, events occur which emphasize the importance of efforts to redeem the dead.
Brother J. Hatten Carpenter served as the recorder in the Manti Temple (located in Manti, Utah) in the early 1900s. Another man (whom Br. Carpenter referred to as 'Brother C') related the following experience to Br. Carpenter.
One day as this 'Brother C' was watching baptisms for the dead being performed in the font of the Manti Temple, he saw the spirits of deceased people waiting their turns. "as the Recorder called out the name of a person to be baptized ..., the [brother] noticed a pleasant smile come over the face of the spirit whose name had been called, and he would leave the group of fellow spirits and pass over to the side of the Recorder. There he would watch his own baptism performed by a proxy, and then with a joyful countenance would pass away [to] make room for the next favored personage who was to enjoy the same privilege."
As time passed, the brother noticed sad expressions on the faces of some spirits. He then noticed that the baptisms for the dead were completed for that day's temple session. The spirits with the sad countenances had not yet received their baptismal ordinances and were disappointed in having to wait until another time.
While these occurrences do not happen for all of us, sharing such experiences with others helps build faith in family history and temple work.
(adapted from the Primary 5 manual, Lesson 34; initially published in The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, 11 Jul 1920, p. 119.)
