Posted by When growing up as a young boy, it was not common for the young children or even teenagers to have their own copy of the Book of Mormon or even for the adults to bring their personal copies of the scriptures to church meetings. And of course, there was no library in the old hall where we had church, so you could not check out a set so we just had to rely on the teacher.
From the eighth grade to our senior year, we attended seminary classes where a course in the Book of Mormon was taught, but again, most students did not have their own copy of the book. But even with all that, I had no question about the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, where it came from, or whether it was true or not. Even though I did not have a personal spiritual witness that it was true, I believed it for what it was presented to be.
Before entering the mission field at the age of 21, I received my own personal copy of the Book of Mormon, a beautiful embossed volume presented to me by my fiancé and future wife, Suzanne. I carried it with me as I taught the gospel of Jesus Christ in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Manitoba, Canada. Even though the majority of our discussions relied on verses from the New Testament, we still testified of the First Vision, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I had no trouble talking about the book, but again, I had had no unique personal spiritual witness of its spiritual origin.
It was some years later, after returning from the mission field, getting married, graduating from college and moving to Texas, that I had a most remarkable and moving experience with that special book. One afternoon as I was laying on one of the boys bunk beds reading from those powerful chapters in the last part of 2ndNephi, I had a burning feeling come over me, the richness and magnitude of which made me want to jump up and tell someone about what had just happened and how I was feeling. I did not tell anyone however, but only about a week later while attending a high council meeting in Odessa, I had a second, almost identical witness of the same thing, one which came from one of the other brethren that was present. While engaged in sharing our thoughts on a number of topics, one of the high councilors related an experience he had recently experienced in his life. He said that, “while laying on the bed reading in those last few chapters of 2ndNephi, he had a very spiritual experience, one which was so moving that he wanted to jump up and share it with someone.” I could hardly believe my ears for neither one of us had talked about our experiences prior to that meeting. To this day I can still see in my mind’s eye that brother setting at that table and sharing that testimony.
Then to add additional strength to my testimony, I even received what was a third almost identical witness as I listened to a brother in the St. George Temple tell of a time when as a boy he lay on the bed reading those same chapters with his father, who was a general authority, and of the powerful feeling that came over him. Again, I had not discussed with him the similar experiences I has witnessed, but there it was, three almost identical witnesses. Do I know the Book of Mormon is true, yes I know it is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he saw the Father and the Son.
Book of Mormon Testimonies 