Fishers, the Spirit of Elias & Miracles You'd Never Believe Are Chance | LDS

Are the "coincidences" of receiving ancestors' names really coincidences — or something the odds say is nearly impossible? In this episode of Thinning of the Veil, host Tia Smith shares a striking collection of listener thinning-of-the-veil miracles and the "astronomically impossible" math behind them. For Latter-day Saints (LDS), it's a witness that with God, all things are possible.

Tia frames the pattern with Luke 1 — Zacharias and Elizabeth, faithful covenant Israel, well past childbearing age, visited in the temple by the angel Gabriel with the impossible promise of a son, John, who would go "in the spirit and power of Elias" to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. She teaches that we, too, are forerunners in the spirit of Elias, preparing for the Savior's coming — and that the same kind of impossible miracles should follow us. Then she shares listener testimonies: Mark, a computer scientist who prayed for a name, received "Ellis Clayton Claymore," found the death certificate for Ellis Redman Claymore days later (a ninth cousin), and ran the numbers — matching 10 of 13 unknown relatives' names, he calculated, is rarer than picking one specific grain of sand on Earth, or one specific star in the universe, billions of times over. Others share names received in dreams and upon waking, a husband and wife each getting half a name that combined into one ancestor, and researchers untangling century-old mixed-up records so a family could finally be sealed.

Tia closes with President Nelson's New Year invitation to attend the temple often and to make the gathering of Israel a resolution — testifying that miracles, angelic ministrations, and revelation should follow those who labor as forerunners for the Savior's return.

Q: Are these family-history "coincidences" really chance? (LDS)
A: A computer scientist listener calculated that matching 10 of 13 unknown ancestors' names is so improbable it "borders on nearly impossible" — like choosing one specific star in the universe, then repeating it a trillion times. Tia testifies it's the influence of the Holy Ghost, not chance.

Q: What is the "spirit of Elias"?
A: Drawing on Luke 1 and Joseph Smith, Tia teaches that Elias means a forerunner who prepares the way for something greater — and that, like John the Baptist, we labor in the spirit of Elias to turn hearts and prepare for the Savior's coming.

Q: How do people receive names of ancestors to help?
A: Listeners describe praying to know who is ready, then receiving names upon waking, in dreams, or as impressions — sometimes a husband and wife each getting part of a name — then finding the person in FamilySearch and completing their temple work.

With God, all things are possible — even miracles the odds call impossible.

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CITATIONS:

MATTHEW 19:26, LUKE 1:5-21

Doctrine & Covenants 27:7

Institute, Old Testament Student Manual Kings-Malachi

"Miracles", Topics and Questions

Doctrine and Covenants 11:12-14

Shayne M. Bowen “Miracles, Angels, and Priesthood Power”, Apr. 2024: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/31bowen?lang=eng

2 Nephi 32:5

Orson Pratt, August 28, 1859 JD 7:86

Ronald A Rasband, “Behold! I am a God of Miracles”, Apr. 2021: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/52rasband?lang=eng

Russell M. Nelson, Facebook, January 1, 2025: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19r6R6gpeg/

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Thinning of the Val podcast. I'm your host, Tia Smith, and we have made it to another episode. First of all, we want to thank Colette for her efforts in sharing her thinning of the Vell experiences. They were truly remarkable in so many ways, but I believe each one of us have the possibility of thinning of the veil experiences in our own lives if we will do, as Colette testified, what the Lord has commanded us to do, that we will walk forward in faith, not knowing beforehand the things that we should do in the salvation and in the gathering of Israel. So I hope that you were able to sort through it. That's the great thing about technology, is that you can go back and listen and ponder and uh sort through whose stories kind of little bit by little bit because there was so much there. So thank you again, Colette, for your wonderful experiences. Uh and I also want to reach out and let my friends in California who are watching know that we are aware of you, that we're praying for you, especially for angels to be with you to carry you through these very, very uh trying times. Know that there are so many people who love you and are thinking about you, and the Lord, most especially, is going to provide miracles in your life in one form or another. So keep the faith, my friends, and hopefully these things will be made right sooner rather than later. But if not, uh hold on to your faith in Jesus Christ and know that he is aware of you and that he loved you. I I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. So I just want you to know that I've been praying for you. I'm sure that I mean there's tons of us playing for praying for you, hoping that things will subside and that you can return to some sense of normalcy very, very, very soon. Today we wanted, I wanted to talk about as through the whole month of January, how these doctrines still apply to us in these days, how they are doctrinally sound. But today, most importantly, I wanted you to understand how really miraculous these thinning of the bell experiences are. We have Colette going to uh different countries, which is truly, truly miraculous. But then our own thinning of the bell experiences have their own, I guess, math when you are looking at the astronomically impossible ways that we are receiving revelation and how miraculous they really are. Because I think they I think sometimes we take them for granted and we don't understand God's power in our lives and how much of a miracle it is. So today, through different listeners, new friends that I didn't know before, some of them I did, some of them I didn't, but they've reached out to me via email or Instagram, Facebook, texting, uh, commenting on YouTube. Um they're kind of all different in their own ways, but they're all in and of themselves astronomically impossible. All right, I wanted to start uh with a scripture from Matthew chapter 19, verse 26. And it is describing these miracles that we have been experiencing. It says, but Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Do we truly believe, my friends, that with God, especially in this gathering of Israel, that all things, all miracles, everything that we can even conceive and are experiencing are possible because of God. Now, I always like to look at in this the pattern in the scriptures, and um that gives us a little bit of an idea of how it worked back then and how we should be thinking about it in our own lives. All right, in Luke chapter one, there is uh a story about a man named Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. And this was another situation in our scriptural account that was an astronomically impossible miracle that happened. And I want you to pay attention to the elements of this story because the elements relate not only to them but us to us in our day, to also have astronomically impossible uh miracles happen to us. So we're gonna start in verse five. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abea, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. So they were covenant Israel. Six, and they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless, and they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. So part of the elements that we should be paying attention to are they were of the house of Israel, and they were walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord uh throughout their days. Now, then the story describes the situation that Zacharias and Elizabeth are in. They have no children, and they are well stricken in years. I don't know exactly what age that means, uh, but it just means past childbearing age for sure. Verse 9, and it came, and according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. So that's another thing, another element that we need to pay attention to, is that Zacharias was called to the priest's office to officiate in the temple, and in the temple is where an angel appeared unto him. Verse 12 And when Zacharias saw him, so this isn't just hearing or feeling, this is an actual visitation from a messenger. He was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. So Zacharias and his wife, I'm sure, were praying for a miracle. They wanted posterity, and so far in their lives, they were not able to have this. And the angel saying, I'm coming to let you know that your prayer is being heard, and that your wife will bear a son, and you should call his name John. Verse 14 follows, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. So now we're getting a description of John is that he's going to be great in the sight of the Lord, and he's uh going not to drink those strong drinks or wine, and that also one of his characteristics is that he's going to be filled with the Holy Ghost even inside his mother's womb. 16, and and listen to this very, very carefully, because remember, we're supposed to uh look at the scriptures and see how it applies to us in our day. Verse 16, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. So part of the calling of this great son of God is to turn the children of Israel to their God. Okay, does this sound familiar in our day? Verse 17, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So part of, and I don't think that we really think about John in this way very much. We just think, oh, you know, it was the baptismal covenant and he was a forerunner, and we talk about all those things, but we don't talk about this part of his mission. He will go in the spirit of and power of Elias, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Whose calling is that as well? Elijah? Sure, yes, 100%. Joseph Smith, yes. What about you and I? Are we invited to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord? So says our prophet President Russell M. Nelson. We are the ones called to prepare for the second coming of our Lord. So you can see the similarities in describing this miracle child that's coming through a thinning of the vowel experience and the description of who he is, and we can compare it to what we've been called to and asked to do in our day. Verse 18. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. So not only is he sent to speak, speak to him, but also to show. So there's two elements of this thinning of the experience. And now this next part, I don't blame Zacharias at all. I can understand his disbelief in this miracle happening. Verse 20, and behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed. And this is the reason why. Because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. How many words have been given to us that are going that are prophesied will happen? And where is our belief level in that ability, in these astronomically impossible uh work, in this work of the gathering of Israel, where every single person must be given the opportunity to make those covenants with God. Well, nothing's remember, nothing's too impossible for God. And so let's learn from Zacharias and his response when we have our own thinning of the veil experiences, that we will believe the words that we are being given. Verse 21 and the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. So I feel this is so interesting because this thinning of the veil experience, which is an astronomically impossible prophecy, to this very dedicated temple worker and his wife, who were of the tribe of Israel, one of the tribes. So let's just examine a little bit more of that. Okay, section 27, revelation given to Joseph Smith a prophet at Harmony, Pennsylvania, August 1830. Now, this is talking about the same situation where Zach it's mentioning Zacharias and John. Now, this part of the introduction says he was met by a heavenly messenger and received this revelation. So you already see the similarities between the two. You have Zacharias being sent a heavenly messenger, and now you have Joseph Smith being sent another heavenly messenger to testify of the same exact things. In verse 7 of section 27, it says, And also John, John, the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias, he, Elias, visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias. What is the spirit of Elias? Remember, the prophecy was that he would be filled with the Holy Ghost from his womb in uh when Gabriel came to Zacharias, and now and to Joseph Smith, this messenger is saying, This uh son named John will be filled with the spirit of Elias, and that's important, especially for us in our days. And for this reason, one of the messengers of one of the messengers sent to prepare the way of the Lord at his first coming was John the Baptist, and this is taken from the Institute Manual Old Testament Student Manual, Kings through Malachi. One of the messengers sent to prepare the way of the Lord at his first coming was John the Baptist. John's mission was performed in the spirit and power of the priesthood of Elias. Okay, our mission is also to be performed in the spirit and power of the priesthood of Elias. It then follows. Elias is a name for a forerunner, one who goes before or prepares the way for someone or something greater. So Elias in the meaning of the word means a forerunner and also one who goes before to prepare the way for someone or something greater. Are we forerunners, brothers and sisters? Are we called to prepare the way for something greater? We are in real time right now, well, we should be, preparing for the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are a forerunner to that. We are supposed to be performing the work in the power and priesthood of Elias. It follows, in that sense, the Aaronic priesthood is the priesthood of Elias because it prepares and qualifies individuals for greater blessings. Joseph Smith explained, the spirit of Elias is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God, which is the priesthood of Elias or the priesthood that Aaron was ordained unto. And when God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called the doctrine of Elias, even from the early ages of the world. So are we in preparation for a greater work? Therefore, we are walking forward in our capacities with the power and spirit of Elias in our lives, the same way as John, in preparation for our ancestors to also receive the greater blessings, the Melchizedek priesthood and the powers that go with that. So we, if we take it seriously, are forerunners just like John the Baptist, and in that miracle, there were several thinning of the veil experiences because the work needed to be done that were astronomically impossible. It is the same in our day. We are also called to do an astronomically impossible work. So therefore, if we walk through this work with the spirit and power of Elias going with us as we prepare for the second coming of the Lord, then our expectation should be that there will be thinning of the veil experiences from angelic messengers, from the Holy Ghost, and from other various means in whatever fashion the Lord sees fit to prepare for our Savior coming. That should be the expectation. And that is what is actually happening in a lot of people's lives. And that's what this podcast is about today is taking these people who did not necessarily understand or believe in the beginning that this could happen to them, but they move forward in faith, which was the action part of that. And the Lord gave them thinning of the veil experiences. In Miracles, Topics, and Questions, this is there's a very cool question that was asked. And I want us to think about this as we read through these experiences today. If God is unchangeable and bestowed visions, blessings, and revelations upon his children anciently, what does this mean for you? Visions and blessings and revelations were bestowed upon his children anciently. So what does this mean for you and our and for me and our lives? Because God is does not change, he his patterns are the same, and he is he is capable and willing to help those of us in this work to experience visions, blessings, and revelations. So I want you to understand every time you read one of these thinning of the Vale experiences, we are supposed to be asking, how does this apply to me? What does this mean for me? And you will be surprised at the way the Lord answers that pondering question that you have. I have a friend named Mark Hongren, and he's a new friend, and he's very, very smart. He's a computer scientist scientist and he's good at math, and that is not my forte. But uh he just happened to come across the podcast, and we'll go through that um in just a second. But the cool thing about his story is that because he is gifted with numbers, he was able to put into perspective in in math terms how astronomically impossible these thinning of the veil experiences are. And what that helps to do is to help us understand and put them in its place. Instead of like, oh, this randomly happened to me, or uh this is a weird experience. No, it's actually God working miracles in your life at a level that you never thought possible. So I'm gonna read from his own words. I've always been fascinated with the idea of not only thinning the veil, but parting it. I randomly saw a thumbnail for your YouTube channel and decided to watch it randomly. I love, love, love that uh the spirit of revelation is moving people to find this podcast. I think it is just truly remarkable. He follows, I watched every single episode I could. One of the best advice, one of your best advice was to write down the day and time of revelation. I had already been writing revelation down in my bullet journal, but it hadn't occurred to me that a timestamp might be important. I watched as you explained, quote, the formula, and I had never connected family history work as the crucial element. Before this, I had rarely even logged into Family Search. I had no idea what I was doing. I watched as you taught me about name verification. I did my best and I started contributing. I got to the episodes where you said to pray for a name, so I took the plunge. On the night of September 19th, 2024, I prayed for a name. I told God I fully offered myself to him and would do anything he asked of me. Upon waking the next morning, the September 20th, 2024, at 7 a.m., I received a powerful impression. Ellis Clayton Claymore. In my journal, I wrote, Thought of name upon waking. No idea if it is legitimate or just watching just watching too much Tia Smith. I watch a lot. I watch too much of Tia Smith, I can tell you that. He says, I hope it is legit. I tried finding the name in Family Search, but nothing. I kept praying for names and I'd get a few, but I couldn't find them. On October 1st, 2024, around 3 p.m., somehow I logged into Family Search. I didn't recall if I received a push notification or a prompting, but I logged in. The first item in my timeline was a death certificate for Ellis Redmond Claymore. My jaw hit the floor, and then my doubts crept in. Family Search probably gets millions of documents every day. There's no way you're related. I clicked the button, ninth cousin, three times removed. My reaction was, what is going on? And believe me, I have had that same I would I've been incredulous about what was happening to me. And so he follows, but I had a little doubt. What about the Clayton part? His middle name is Redmond. My wonderful wife figured it out. What color is clay? Red. I went shortly after and did his temple work. I kept asking for names, but then I got worried. Was I some Hiram Page receiving false revelation from a stone? I went to my bishop, asked him for a few minutes, and laid out the whole story. To summarize, I was like, Am I possessed? Am I deceived? His response, no. Thank you for. Sharing that story, keep going and bless that bishop. He was encouraging him to continue to gather Israel and in the process of that validating his thinning of the veil experiences. That is a very, very good bishop. Mark then writes, At this point I had received 13 names. I'm a man of faith, I do believe, but I'm also a computer scientist. So I did the next logical thing and asked Chat GPT to run the numbers. I remember my discrete math courses in college and about combinations, permutations, and choose K. I asked the following prompt. Let's say I wanted to be a dishonest man, a charlatan, and pretend to have magic powers. I'll pretend that through magic I've never met any of these people, nor have I ever heard of them. I'm receiving names of people I don't know. Below is an example of how it breaks down. I then listed all 13 names and all their relationships to me, following up with what are the odds I could just make this up, pulling names out of a hat and have these kinds of connections, having zero foreknowledge of my family tree other than my own immediate family. So that was a prompt that he put in there. I then narrowed it down to say they had to be born after the 1700s, pruning the search space, and also the odds of getting 70% correct, 10 out of 13 names. The response that gave me the most confidence was in short, both probabilities are incredibly small, so small that they border on being nearly impossible. If this were to happen in real life, it would suggest some sort of extraordinary influence or knowledge beyond chance. And now I have a beautiful gift. Surely God's power is an extraordinary influence that gives us all knowledge, not just some, all knowledge. And part of that is knowing who needs help on the other side of the veil. And this is what it breaks down into. And I had to Google how to say this so I didn't sound like an idiot when I was explaining the results that he got from Chat GPT. Um, so I'm gonna write exactly what he uh I'm gonna read to you exactly what he wrote to me. To give you a better sense of just how astronomically low these probabilities are, remember the prob the probability of matching 10 out of 13 names that you just think of, and they just happen to be related to you. And then you add needing work on top of that. That's a whole nother level. But he says, let's compare them to some large-scale examples. For common names, which is John Smith, for instance, there's a one in one thousand chance probability. So that equation is 2.85 times 10 to the negative 28th power, which is one with 28 zeros. To put that into perspective, there are estimated to be 10 to the 81th power atoms in the observable universe. This probability is many orders of magnitude smaller than even the number of atoms in the universe. Or there are roughly 7.5 times 10 to the 18th power grains of sand on all the beaches on earth. Now, listen to this. The probability of randomly matching 10 out of 13 common names to your relatives is like picking one specific grain of sand out of all the grains on earth, then doing that again billions of times in a row. Do we understand, brothers and sisters, the astronomically impossible miracles that the Lord is moving upon us in these latter days? He then puts in chat GPT for rare names. That is 2.86 times 10 to the negative 38th power, which is a 1 in 10,000 chance. And yet this is happening to all sorts of people all around the globe. The probability is 2.86 times 10 to the negative 38th power, which is one with 38 zeros behind it. And then he says, to give you a related analogy, which the analogies are what I understand better than the numbers, this is a number greater than the total number of stars in the universe, which is estimated to be around 10 to 24th power stars. The chance of randomly matching 10 out of 13 rare names is more unlikely than choosing one specific star out of the entire universe and then repeating that process a trillion times over. So when you get a name and you're related and they need their work done, and that happens to you over and over again, that is like you picking a star out in the sky and identifying that particular star a trillion times over, the same exact one. Astronomically impossible. And then this very short statement that I just read. In short, both probabilities are incredibly small, so small that they border on being nearly impossible. If this were to happen in real life, it would suggest some sort of extraordinary influence or knowledge beyond chance. It is the influence of the Holy Ghost, the spirit of Elias resting upon us in our turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. The same exact astronomically impossible odds that Zacharias and Elizabeth would be pregnant with a special son of God. We then can bring into our day and understand what's happening to us as forerunners to the same work, but only for the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. I was just blown away by these numbers. In Doctrine Covenants 11, verses 12 through 14 it says, And now verily, verily I say unto thee, put your trust in that spirit which leadeth to do good, yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously, and this is my spirit. Verily, verily I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy, and then shall you know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness in faith, believing in me, that you shall receive. The Spirit will enlighten our minds if our desire is to gather Israel, if our desire is to prepare, if our desire is to turn the hearts, then we can be filled with all knowledge on what we need to do to more effectively do that. Now I have a friend named Sarah, and she's one of my YSA kids, and I've shared her experience before. The cool thing about Soraya is that she does not hesitate to testify of these things to her family and friends. Her testimony has influenced her family members and friends to also have these thinning of the veil experiences. That's the power of sharing the testimony. One of those people that she shared her testimony with was her father. And the cool thing about her father is that we went to the same high school together, and it was fun to make that connection. He posted on a face uh on my Facebook page and testified of these things. And so he graciously allowed me to share it with you all. And his name is Alan R. Harrison. This is an amazing podcast to learn about how to have the faith to thin the veil. After listening to Tia Smith and Tarrett in episode number seven, as well as hearing my daughter Soraya have an experience where a name was given to them to do temple work for, I knelt down to pray and asked who was ready on the other side of the veil to be baptized and have their temple work done. I had the same name, then Samuel Green came to my mind. I looked him up in family search and found that he was married to my twelfth cousin two times removed. I was able to research and find his wife was attached to the wrong parents. I then researched and found the family she was to be a part of. I was then able to do the temple work for Samuel Green, his wife, and members of her family. It was a wonderful feeling to seal this family by covenants for eternity. After this, I have had a second experience in having a name come to my mind as I prayed to know who was ready to have their temple work done. It was amazing and almost didn't seem real, and was amazed that this really was happening to me, but it did twice. I testify we can have inspiration and guidance to do God's work. I would invite and encourage you to listen to this podcast and believe in all caps you can thin the veil also. Thank you, Tia, Tara, and Soraya, for your faith and sharing. It is truly a remarkable experience when one testifies of you, one testifies to you that you can have these thinning of the veil experiences. And then you take that step of faith in praying and in intercessory prayer on behalf of those on the other side of the veil. And it's truly remarkable when those answers come. And they may come in different ways for different people, but that they will come is the promise and the prophecy. Then I reached out to Soraya after to just make sure that I could share this story with her family. I mean, share the story of her father to just get permission. And she sent me this text back. Also, Tia, I've been so excited to share this with you. I shared my experience about praying to receive names and showed my aunts and uncles how to look up a name on Family Search when it came to my when it came to mind. So she is literally testifying to everyone about this. And this is the power behind what Soraya did. My Aunt Janae sent this text to our family group chat this last week, just three hours after I sent my experience to everyone by text. So the turnaround time was not very long. This is what my Aunt Janae shared. Dustin is her husband. Quote, I tried this praying and asking to receive the name of someone who needs help and got the name Isabel. I found I couldn't successfully search just a first name, though, so I left it kind of confused. I just told Dustin about it, and he said he only got a last name. So we put them together and looked it up. Found a lady and her husband with both needed work done. How cool is that that a husband and wife can get separate revelation from each other that when combined provided the inspiration that they needed to locate these family members that needed their work done. So if you can't figure it out for a little while, it's okay. Talk about it, pray about it, ponder about it, and the Lord will help you move through it and be to be successful in all different ways. Soraya then says, So wonderful to be a part of this work. I'm having so many incredible experiences, not only with those on the other side of the veil, but also those on this side of the veil as I share my experiences and encourage them to seek experiences for themselves. Just want you to know how grateful I am for you and the work you're doing. Have a wonderful Christmas to you. That was such a cool um text to get. I can't think of a better uh Christmas present um than to give people on the other side of the veil covenants with their Savior Jesus Christ. Literally, there's nothing better than that. Shane M. Bowen in Miracles, Angels, and Priesthood Power, just one of my favorite talks, if you haven't, uh if you couldn't tell by now, uh said this: Many today say that miracles no longer exist, that angels are fictional, and that the heavens are closed. I testify, remember? So there's this testifying, Sarai is testifying, uh, Elder Bowen is now testifying. He says, I testify that miracles and ministrations are continually occurring in our lives. If it's not right now, it's one of two things. We aren't asking for that, or we don't have ice to see that it's happening when it is happening. Often as a direct result of priesthood power. So that is why you would be given miracles and ministrations, is because it is a direct result of priesthood power. What do we give our ancestors priesthood power? What do we gain in return? Priesthood power. President Russell M. Nelson has taught us to seek and expect miracles. Do we do that? Remember though, a miracle by definition is that things are going on in your life that you need help with. So all of these experiences that we have that we're like, I can't do this anymore, I can't deal with this anymore, or I need a miracle, be grateful because you're in a place where you need a miracle. So if you need a miracle, seek a miracle. He follows, I testify that because of the priesthood has been restored, the power and authority of God are upon the earth. Through callings and counsels, men and women, young and old, can participate in priesthood work. It is a work of miracles attended by angels. It is the work of heaven, and it blesses all God's children. If you desire the blessings of the priesthood, including miracles and the ministry of angels, I invite you to walk the path of covenants God has made available to each of us. So the elements that were the same in uh Elizabeth and Zacharias's uh angelic ministration are the same things that have been promised to us. And it is through priesthood power as we do the work of heaven. Now, this is a friend that I actually knew before, and she sent this text, and you're gonna see why she knows me. Hi, Tia. I'm loving your podcast, and I'm so impressed with how you're navigating all the technical aspects involved. She knows me. She's like, it's a miracle you're able to navigate all of that technology. No, she didn't say that, but I do understand. It's it's it's truly been a miracle for me. That's one of the miracles that God has given me is the ability to to attempt to navigate these things. She follows, your faith is inspiring. I have a story from today I thought you'd enjoy. I woke up with the name Samuel E. Lawrence running through my head. Names that have came to me previously came in stages. This time the complete name was very distinct from get-go, with the knowledge the middle initial E was significant. So I searched and first result was married to my distant cousin. It showed all his temple work was done except sealing to spouse. I knew that was iffy because it showed he'd previously been sealed to another woman he'd been married to the same time period. After working through the sources, I discovered there were two Samuel Lawrences, both born late 1800s in Illinois, both with parents named William and Sarah. For the past decade, their info on Family Search has been intertwined. Samuel Lawrence has had his temple work done for nearly 100 years, but Samuel E. Lawrence has had no work done. After verifying there there was no other individual in Family Search matching his info, I was able to add him and get all the sources and relationships correctly divided between the two Samuels and sorted out intertwined parents' records as well. I found Samuel E's correct father existed in Family Search with temple work done, but his mother was not. Samuel E and his mother now have their own identity and are ready to have all their temple work done. I've sorted out mixed up records several times before I would before as I would stumble upon them. But I never knew how long it would be before it would be meaningful to the person on the other side of the veil. It's amazing to do it for someone I know is ready and eager, and I feel privileged to have been chosen to be the one to sort it out and make these blessings available to him and his family. Turns out I'm not just related through his marriage into my mother's side of the family. Once connected to his correct father, I discovered he's also genetically related to me through my dad's side. I'm all for endowing my family with increased power to help me with my challenges. Thanks for all you do to help me grow into this process. And then she sent me a second message. This afternoon, the name Daniel H. Wells came to mind. Turns out he's a distant cousin of mine. I discovered he had twin siblings who died within a week of their birth back in 1842, but were not on family search. So not only is Jessica getting names, but she's taking it to the next level and understanding maybe some information that needs to be missing, looking for missing family members around that name. So she's taking it to not just push the ordinances ready button and take it to the temple. She's actually doing the further sacrificial work of trying to find all members of that family. She follows, they are now in and ready for me to seal them to their parents. I thought of you. Every mother needs that eternal connection to infant twins they didn't get to raise in this life. Okay, now I'll stop spamming your text messages, but want you to know you continue to make a difference because of your influence. These this mother knows she'll be she'll finally be getting sealed to her twins soon. I really think that um my twins who are on the other side of the veil are helping me, and that's how we're staying connected, is that we are finding those lost children and those lost sets of twins. Um because obviously that's close to both of our hearts, and that's how we stay close to each other. So again, every time there's a set of twins found or lost children, it just speaks to my soul. In 2 Nephi chapter 32, verse 5, it says, For for behold, again I say unto you that if you will enter in by the way and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what you should do. So again, it's another reminder that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our mind, whether we've known it before or not. He can show us how to locate family members, he can give us the names of ancestors. Uh it is the spirit of Elias, which is part of the Holy Ghost's characteristics. There's this quote from Orson Pratt that we learned about a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to read it to you again. Do you suppose that the prophet Elijah would be sent from heaven with this great and important mission to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, and then leave them in entire ignorance with regard to their genealogies? If Elijah the prophet is to be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, you may be assured that we shall learn something about the genealogy of those fathers. So not only is Elijah, who had the spirit of Elias, he was an Elias, right? He was a forerunner, not only is part of his mission uh giving us the keys, the prost the priesthood keys and priesthood authority to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, but he also, that spirit is going to help us locate the genealogies, whether it's through revelatory experiences or whether it's, hey, I need you to go to Wales and look in this certain cemetery. You know, all of those things are ways that the spirit of Elijah is going to prompt us because he's not going to leave us just sitting with priesthood keys and authorities without the ability to find. All right, this is from another friend at the Bentley Homestead. She sent me this on a YouTube comment. Um, and so it was pretty cool. I went ahead and implemented this. So she was um referring to the particular episode she was watching. I watched this on November 26th, and that afternoon I put a piece of paper and pen by my bed. Then I thought to myself, why am I waiting until this evening to ask for for names of family members? So I sat down at my computer and said a prayer and asked the Lord to give me a name of my ancestors who have accepted the gospel and wish for their temple ordinances to be done. I instantly got a name, Elsie Linder. She is my grandma's favorite aunt. I then pulled her up on my family tree, and sh is too young to do her work, but her older siblings and their spouses need their temple work done. I have reserved their temple work and I'm in the process of getting ready to take those names to the temple. It gets even better. I retired that evening, said a prayer before bed, asking the same thing, and about four AM in the morning I woke up after her dream. In the dream, and weirdly enough, my brother-in-law's family came to me in the dream. We then were greeted by a lady whose name was Barbara Langford. I woke up from the dream around 4 a.m. and wrote that name down. The next day, November 27th, I searched him through my family tree and found the last name Langford. I searched through all the names and found only one, Barbara Langford. I viewed her with a descendants view option on family search and found tons of family members who needed all their ceilings done. All their other work had been done except for their ceilings. I then reserved the names and forwarded them on to my sister-in-law since it is a since it is in fact her family, not mine. Then to my surprise, when she called me to ask me how they're related to Barbara Langford, I pulled her up in the tree, and in fact, she is related to me as well. I clicked on the show my relationship, and instead of linking it linking me through my brother-in-law, it linked me through my own tree. We are not from the same parts of America at all, so this surprise this surprised me. The spirit witnessed to me, and I got this instant experience and was able to exercise faith. And now I have a testimony of what you and your students have all learned to do. I didn't even know before these videos that you could ask for names, so thank you for this knowledge. It has leveled up me up in my genealogy. So what a cool experience that she had a dream, but she didn't think that it was any relation to her. And yet to find out later that it was related to her, a lot of these situations, as you're working through it, you may not think in the beginning that you're related. And as you work further and add more people into the tree, you will realize that you are actually related. And it's so cool to find that out. Now, again, remember how astronomically impossible these thinning of the veil experiences are for all of us. This is from another friend named Dee Dee Morgan. I prayed for a thinning of the veil experience, but then I remembered what you taught. I added in my prayer, if there is someone who urgently wants or needs their work done, can you please send them to me? And so and so they can tell me who they are. Immediately the name Susan Kraft came into my mind. I sort of chuckled because I have a friend named Susan Kraft. I thought that must be my mind rushing to add Kraft to Susan because it's so familiar to me. I asked if there was a different Susan, if I had the last name wrong. I felt the answer was no. The name Susan Kraft came to me again. I saw her name written in my mind when I heard no, it's spelled with a K. I began searching in the Family Tree app for Susan Kraft with a K. That first the first that came up was related to me but needed permission to do her work. I kept searching, same thing for the next relative. I continued and then found Susan Kraft with a K, related to my husband who needed all her work done. Her husband only had his baptism and confirmation done. Her mom had all her work complete, but not her father, and all the ceilings needed done too. I exclaimed, This is so cool. I then asked, Did I find the right Susan Kraft? I felt a powerful joy. I'm so excited. Thank you so much. It's such a privilege to be part of God's work and glory. I've since had a sickened experience. I was given the name Jonathan Jones. I have Jones in my family, so no surprise, but the one I found was related to my husband. All his work was done, but I felt impressed to check his parents. Neither of them had their work done, and his dad's name is also Jonathan Jones. This is a cool pattern that hopefully you've also noticed is that these friends did not receive just one thinning of the veil experience. It was almost like, and I've said this over and over again, it's like a fly to a light or a bug to a light. When some when they understand that someone understands how to receive revelation on their behalf on the other side of the veil, you will get flocked to. So one experience will turn into two experiences, will turn into three experiences, and each thinning of the veil builds upon another. Your faith is growing in testimony. And that is how we eventually get as the brother of Jared, to we cannot be kept from within the veil because our faith is sufficient that we um the veil has to be parted for us. But it's these building blocks in understanding, especially in the gathering of Israel. Ronald A. Razbend Rasband said, Many of you have witnessed miracles more than you realize. They may seem small in comparison to Jesus raising the dead, but the magnitude does not distinguish a miracle, only that it came from God. Some suggest that miracles are simply coincidences or sheer luck, but the prophet Nephi condemned those who would put down the power and miracles of God and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning that they may get gain. Miracles are wrought by divine power by him who is, now listen to this next part, mighty to save. Miracles are brought by divine power because he is mighty to save. Miracles are extensions of God's eternal plan. Miracles are a lifeline from heaven to earth. Miracles should be following us in our working out of saving our ancestors by influencing them and giving them the covenants that are part of the eternal plan because they are a lifeline from heaven to earth. And we it is symbolic on one level, it is also physical on one level, and it is um all-encompassing when we're talking about a lifeline from heaven to earth. It's not only helping them receive the power, but it's a lifeline in the sense that you are giving them the ability to qualify for eternal life with their Heavenly Father and their Savior Jesus Christ. So miracles are not only for us, but they're also for those on the other side. Because they're a lifeline from heaven to earth and they are extensions of God's eternal plan. I'm going to share just a little bit of a couple of experiences I had over uh the holidays. It was December 25th at 7.17 a.m., that which was Christmas Day, and I woke up and I had these names in my mind. It was uh Keller Adele, so I just switched them. Um when you're working with names and sometimes they don't make sense, you'll be prompted to maybe move the last name to the front or the front name to the last, but the Lord will give you what you need to know to make that a successful interaction. So I have I got Adele Keller, and then close after that I got Aaron Tapscott and Justin Fields and the 1900s. Now, Jean Adele, Jean Keller or Jean Adele Keller is my tenth cousin. So I didn't get the Jean part, but I got the Adele Keller, and I'm related to her through my father's side. So I went and looked her up, and her parents need their work done and their ceiling done. I thought, oh, this is such a cool Christmas present, right? So then I followed um and looked up Aaron Tapscott. Now I found Lord Erin Tapscott. Remember, the elements were there, and the Lord just helped me to understand who he was talking about. He is the husband of my ninth cousin once removed, and that was again on my father's side, which was which is pretty normal for me. Um, I do have obviously from my other sides, but I think because my dad is on the other side, I'm getting sent names frequently from his side to be able to help to do. So that's a pretty cool another interaction to stay close to my dad, just like I do with my my children, my twins. I'm able to stay close to my dad through this work. Um, and he his parents needed their ceiling done, so I reserved that. Now, Justin Fields took me a while, um, but I was able to find him about a week later, and sure enough, I'm related and he needs his work done. Um, and then I had another experience on New Year's Day, and it was about the same exact time. It was 8:54 in the morning, so this was exact week uh a week later. Time frame very, very similar. I received Carolyn Reeder and Diane Thurston. And again, look them up and they were related and they needed work done. And remember the astronomically impossible. Within a week's period of time, I received five names. And that is, I don't think uncommon. I think people are having more and more of these, uh, these thinning of the bell experiences. But each one of these we need to recognize and understand that it's like pull pointing a star out in the sky and saying, okay, that's my relative, or picking up a sand on the sea and saying, Okay, that I'm related to that one. So I hope that you can understand the work that you're involved in as a forerunner to turning the hearts of the children to their fathers, that angelic ministrations follow the res the giving of those messages, and miracles follow those who are called to the work. For we have the spirit of Elias as we do the gathering of Israel. In the start of this year, and and I think this maybe we're I'm gonna end with this, where the prophet has invited us, it's a new year, we always think about new year's resolutions. He has invited us in our preparation for the gathering of Israel, uh, a resolution that might be beneficial to us. He said this, and this was on his social media accounts January 1st, 2025, of this year. May I extend an invitation to you as you consider what your resolutions will be this year? I invite you to come to the temple as often as your circumstances allow. In the house of the Lord, we focus on Jesus Christ. We learn of him and his gospel, we make covenants which bind us to him and to our heavenly Father. Through these temple experiences and others, we are strengthened to achieve our new year's resolutions. Is it too bold to ask that we make one of our resolutions, the gathering of Israel? And as we make that our resolution and also make it an a re a resolution to attend the temple as often as our circumstances allow, we will find strength through the experiences that we are receiving in the temple and other experiences. So, right there, we should be uh knowing that experiences are going to follow those of us who are making covenants and extending covenants to our ancestors on the other side of the belt. That should be the expectation. Through these temple experiences and others, we are strengthened to achieve our New Year's resolutions. God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are hastening their work. And through a living prophet, they are inviting us to resolve to do better in our gathering of Israel. We are to move forward in the spirit of Elijah in testimony and in preparation for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I cannot think of a a a better way to participate in preparation through than through the gathering of Israel. Miracles, angelic ministrations, uh temple experiences, uh revelations of all kinds should be following us in these latter days as forerunners. I am so grateful to the Savior for allowing me to be on the earth at this time with access to so many technologies that allow us to move this work forward at an accelerated pace. I can't even imagine what the prophets saw in fulfilling these prophecies. They probably couldn't describe them, but they they died without sight, and yet here we are, and our sights are literally filled with temples dotting the earth. Literally, we're looking at that and we're saying, okay, maybe we should take the prophet's invitation to gather Israel because the Savior is coming. I hope that our resolve, your and mine, we resolve to do better, to search more, to seek more, to work within the Lord, to ponder these things, and like Sariah did, testify of these things to others. For there is power in that, and the ripple effect will go beyond this veil into the world of spirits and will echo in their testimonies, and they will be so grateful because their prayers are being answered by their descendants here on earth. Thank you for joining me today, my friends. It has um just been a super cool month filled with a lot of experiences of the testifying of these things. Next week we're going to be talking about finishing our discussion up for the month of January, where we're going to be talking about Jeremiah and the and the prophecy of the gathering of Israel in the latter days and the blessings that come from that. Uh, and we're gonna be looking at it through an Old Testament prophecy, Jeremiah 16, and through the lens of a current prophet. So it's just gonna be fun. It's gonna be all sorts of uh fun little tidbits. So hope you have a great week. Stay safe, my friends, and may we all get to the temple. We'll see ya. Bye.