| REUNITED FROM
THE PRE-EXISTENCE It was October 17, 1999, and I was beginning to feel the wear and tare that usually comes near the end of a mission. My companion at the time was Sister Oh, originally from Korea. We rarely worked together though, due to the fact that she had to take a lot of Korean tours. So, rather than work alone, I would find other sisters to work with. A sister I liked to take tours with was Sister McLaren, so I went and found her. We gave a few tours together and then after one really hard tour with Anti-Mormons on it, we decided to go inside and take a break. We began talking about different things we had been struggling with, and both came to the conclusion that maybe we needed to ask for priesthood blessings. We found one of the senior missionaries Elder Jenson and he gave us each a blessing. We were told not to be discouraged, that there were special people that we needed to meet. He said that they would come to Temple Square very soon and as long as we were in tune with the spirit and followed the promptings of where to go and who to talk to that we would find them. They were people that we knew in the pre-existence and we would recognize them. Well, a week later, Sister McLaren and I were together again. My companion had a Korean motor coach to go on, so I asked Sister McLaren to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast with me. After it was over, we went out to the flagpole where I was assigned to take a tour from. There were a lot sisters standing around and not too many guests, so we finally decided to leave. We both felt prompted to go to the south gate, so off we went. We didn’t really know what to expect when we got there, we just knew we needed to be there. There were a lot of people going in and out of the gate but no one really stood out to us. Some members started talking to us, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man and woman walk in. I immediately felt they were the ones we needed to talk to, so we said good-bye to the people we were talking to and went over and approached the two of them. They were looking at the map of Temple Square and had their backs to us, but as soon as they turned around and said hello it was like deja-vu. As we shook their hands and introduced ourselves to them it was as if we had known them for years. We found out that they were co-workers from San Francisco and were in Salt Lake on business. They were both Catholic and were on their way to Mass when they had the feeling to stop in and check out Temple Square really fast. They only had about fifteen minutes, so we took them to the south visitor’s center and briefly told them about the Book of Mormon. As we talked and testified to them the spirit was so strong. I felt the most amazing peace and felt so comfortable talking to them. The man (Dave) filled out a guest card and requested a copy of the Book of Mormon. Then they were off. After the tour, Sister McLaren and I went into a back room to pray for Dave and his co-worker Cathy. As we knelt down and were about to pray I turned to Sister McLaren and said, “I think we knew Dave in the pre-existence.” She looked at me and with tears in her eyes told me that she had thought that too. As we prayed for Dave, we felt the most amazing peace and the spirit was so strong. We knew without a doubt that Dave was one of the people we were supposed to meet. We had known him from the pre-existence and were now meeting up with him here on earth. It was an incredible experience. At the end of my mission, my mission president told me in my going home blessing that hundreds had joined the church because of my service on Temple Square, and that thousands were in the process. Little did I know that Dave was one of these. A few months after returning home I contacted Dave to find out what had happened to him. We began communicating quite often, and he began meeting with the missionaries in his area. I challenged him to read and pray and do the things the missionaries asked him to do. Almost 10 months later he decided to be baptized. My roommate at the time, and I drove to California and attended his baptism. It was amazing! Later he visited Utah and I was able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead with him. It was wonderful to see him grow and progress in the gospel. I am so grateful that the Lord gave me this opportunity to meet up with a friend from the pre-existence and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. By Caraleen Overson (Sister C. Peterson) SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE If you served on Temple Square as a missionary or went through as a visitor in the past, share your experience with us. It does not matter how long ago this happened or how long is your story. We want to keep it in our archives so we can use it as a research for future book to show others that God truly guides us whenever we let him. These experiences are not coincidences, they are a proof of God's love for all of us. Simply leave a comment here or send an email to: templesquareworld@gmail.com *We prefer no to single-source stories. Please provide a reference for a secondary source whenever posible. However we understand the nature of such experiences and we will consider all submitted stories. Names of the sources will not be mentioned in any of the published stories. **By emailing a story or a picture to us you are giving as a permission to use it on this website or a future book royalty free. |