Evening.html

An Evening of Spiritual Growth
Taught by a Mysterious Young Man

by Grandma Storyteller

It is with difficulty that I write this experience. It is almost impossible to put into words. I can't explain what I saw in words. What I saw and experienced can only be that, experienced.

In February of 1954 I attended a church women's meeting in the home of Louise T. At this meeting I brought home a pair of pillowcases to embroider for the fall church bazaar. It was a project for raising money for the church.

The date of the Harvest Dinner and bazaar arrived. When my husband arrived home from work I asked him if I could have five dollars to pay for the pillowcases I had not done. With three little ones to care for, summer canning, etc. I had not even started on them. We didn't have money for extras. I felt we couldn't afford the price for dinner.

My husband wasn't a member of the church but attended with me since we had been married in 1949. He agreed to pay tithing. We were working on paying the first tithing account off.

After we as a family had eaten, we drove to the church. It was located on the corner of Rainier and Lucille Street in Seattle.

We went upstairs where the dinner and sale was. I asked for Louise. I was told she was downstairs. I went downstairs, she and the pastor were in the kitchen. Louise was drying glasses that the pastor was washing. I told her why I was there, to pay for the pillowcases that I'd not done. They were selling for $2.50 finished. I told her I wanted to give the whole five dollars. I took the dishtowel from her so she could take the money upstairs.

I was drying glasses as fast as I could, but was falling behind. I thought, "Where is all the help, why weren't others helping?" I prayed that God would send someone. I looked up and saw a young man about eight feet from the kitchen. Our eyes met. He said, "Can I help?" I glanced to the clean towels on top of the refrigerator and the pastor said, "Yes, we could use the help." I knew something was different when I first looked into his eyes. I wondered if he was Christ? Was he one of the three Nephites? Was he a young man on drugs getting away from the police? Did he think he could hide in the church? Better yet, to be working with the people so he wouldn't be detected? All these thoughts were going through my mind.

In my conversation I was using the word "yeah". He repeated it, it sounded so rude and uneducated.

We were drying the glasses until there was no more room on the counter. I said, "We need someone to put them away." He very quietly said he would and proceeded to do so. I thought, "I didn't know where they went. How did he know?" For some reason I wondered if he had eaten. I thought, "I can't ask him, I wasn't dinner chairman. I couldn't, or didn't even know if food was left, it wasn't my place to ask."

I was still pondering who he was when he was transfigured (this is where I can't explain). All I can say is he was taller in height, his countenance was different, I thought he must be one of the Nephites. And then, I saw him even taller in stature and the love and compassion in his face. I especially noticed the color of his eyes. I thought, "They are the color of the ocean water, blue, blue-green, brown, changing". I thought, "You are the Christ." His smile! I thought, "I'm not worthy to stand here in your presence", and dropped my eyes. When I looked up again he appeared as the young man and the experience was removed from my mind.

A little later he was transfigured again. I have never seen such sorrow on anyone's face. Our eyes met again and telepathically I heard his voice, "Oh, you little children, when will you ever grow up?" And as before he was the young man again, the experience was removed from my mind.

Some people were coming downstairs. The woman who was the dinner chairman was one of them. She asked the young man if he had eaten. I think he said, "Yes". Then he started the process of people being introduced to each other. The pastor washing dishes was introduced, he said, "Yes I can do other things besides preaching." I thought, "If only you knew who you were addressing, you wouldn't have answered that way!"

I stepped back on his toes accidentally and said, "Oh, excuse me." Then I realized I didn't step on solid shoes (I can't explain this).

When the people in the room were introduced I was wondering who he was. He finally said, "Tom Miller", but evaded telling where he lived.

My husband came down to find me and to leave. I told him I wanted to stay a little longer (I didn't want to leave). I told him I'd help in the kitchen a little longer. He took the children out to the car that was in a parking lot across the street.

I was going to keep my eyes on this young man. We were working in the kitchen when I realized he was no longer there. I walked out of the kitchen to see if I could find where he had gone. I looked around the room and then to the back of the room next to the kitchen where the water fountain was located. I saw him and it was like he said, "You were going to watch me."

I was back in the kitchen drying dishes when my husband came back into the church. Others were telling me to leave. I still didn't want to. I took our three-year-old son and sat him on a stool in the kitchen. My husband had the two girls, ages four and two, in a side room. I heard crying so decided I should leave.

I looked up and saw the young man standing by the wall to the room where my husband was. I was surprised, how did he get there? A voice in my mind said, "Introduce Raymond to him." I thought, "I'm not the one assigned to welcome people, I shouldn't be doing their job." The voice repeated, "Introduce Raymond to him." When I started to, my son came running to me and broke the opportunity. We left without my husband meeting him.

I couldn't sleep that night. During the night the events came back to my mind as they had happened. A prayer had been answered to my satisfaction, of how Jesus escaped through the mob of people the day he read from the book of the Prophet Esaias in the synagogue on the Sabbath Day in Nazareth. He told them, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:16-30). I was going to keep my eyes on the young man. I was distracted. I was one. I feel that is what happened to that mob. (Luke 4:30) But he passed through the midst of them and went his way. Another part of that experience, I couldn't say "yeah" for years. It was "yes". Later years I slipped back into saying "yeah".

When we went to church the next day I asked different ones if they knew the young man. They all said, "No, they had never seen him before."

Because of the experience of seeing him transfigured I have been able to understand the Godhead, God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. The scriptures tell us if we see Christ, we have seen the Father.

The experience has never left me. I cannot forget the sorrow on his face or the words, "Oh, you little children, when will you ever grow up?" Not acting on the first request to introduce my husband to him, it was over a year and a half more before my husband joined the church. I wonder if it would have been sooner if I'd acted on that request immediately. When the Holy Spirit speaks to me, now years later, I have learned to obey even if I don't understand, and not worry what people think of me.

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