Lorenzo Snow’s conversion came two or three weeks after his baptism.  He relates his experience with the Holy Ghost in Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, pages 59-62.  He says, “It was a complete baptism—a tangible immersion in the heavenly principle or element, the Holy Ghost.”  This remarkable and noteworthy experience (one of my favorite stories) was preceded by his wandering “around through the fields under the oppressive influence of a gloomy, disconsolate spirit, while an indescribable cloud of darkness seemed to envelop me.”  He was in the habit of praying at that hour, and did so.  That’s when he had the experience that changed his life.

Lyle Defrees taught our priesthood lesson yesterday.  After relating President Snow’s experience, he asked if anyone would like to share his own similar experiences.  The resulting stories need to be recorded.

Farel Baxter, at age 18 or 19, had grown up answering in the positive when asked if he planned to serve a mission.  As the time drew near, however, the questions changed from “if” he was going to serve, to “when” he was going to serve.  He found himself unsure, and wanting to avoid the questions and the questioners.

One Sunday he told his father that he wasn’t going to church that day, and asked to borrow the pickup.  His father handed him the keys, plus $5.00 for gas.  “This was when gas cost $.26 per gallon, so $5.00 was a lot of money,” he said.

Farel went to one of his “pondering rocks.”  He did that for several Sundays.  “It wasn’t until the fourth Sunday that it dawned upon me to pray about my problem,” he said.  When he did so, it was like someone hit him in the back of the head:  “You need to serve a mission.”  He went to sacrament meeting that afternoon, found the bishop, and said, “I’m ready to serve my mission.”

“Was your father inspired to let you have the pickup?” Lyle asked.

“I think so.  I remember going by my parents’ room.  My mother was crying.  I heard Dad say, ‘Just be patient.  He’ll be okay.’  I realized they were worrying about me!”

Randy Newman next told of his youth.  He was riding bulls in rodeos, and hanging out with young men who rodeo-ed, smoked, drank and swore.  No one asked him when he was going to serve a mission, because no one expected him to.  He was working as a mechanic in Las Vegas, removing and installing transmissions.  One day he became upset with his employer, and quit his job.  He returned the next day, picked up his tools and paycheck, and then drove around.  He found his car stopping in front of the bishop’s house.  He went in, had a long interview with the bishop, and told him he wanted to serve a mission.

“I think I was inspired to quit my job,” Randy said.  “If I hadn’t quit my job, I’d probably still be working as a mechanic in Las Vegas.  I wouldn’t have served a mission, I wouldn’t have a testimony, and I wouldn’t have met my wife.  The first months of my mission were really hard.  I’d have probably come home, but I didn’t want to embarrass my parents.  I gained a testimony through the Holy Ghost, and that’s made all the difference.”

James Kerns then related this story:  “I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy.  I’d been a member of the Church for almost one year, and was attending the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.  Before joining the Church I went through a long period of severe depression.  After joining the Church I’d spent that year being supremely happy.

“One day the bishop called me in for an interview, and said that they’d like to give me the Melchizedek Priesthood, and ordain me an elder.  The stake president interviewed me on Friday, and said that I’d be sustained in stake conference on Sunday.

“I left that interview, and the old depression that I’d formerly had settled over me.  I felt panicky.  Something was wrong.  I couldn’t accept the Melchizedek Priesthood if I was feeling that way.

“I began a fast, and on Saturday took a long hike up on the hill.  I didn’t want to see anyone, or to be around anybody.  That evening there was a baptism scheduled for one of my friends who I had helped teach.  I didn’t want to go, but made myself do it since he was my friend.

“The speaker at the baptism mentioned that when Jesus went into the Garden, and while He was upon the cross, the Spirit had been taken from Him.  He had to face the ordeal all alone.  ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ He prayed.

“When the speaker said that, it hit me what I’d been experiencing.  For the previous 24 hours the Spirit had been taken from me to show me the difference between what I had, and the way things would be without the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  When I realized that, the Holy Ghost came back, and I’ve lived happily ever after.”

Lyle Defrees then told his story.  He grew up as an inactive member of the Church.  His in-laws were very disappointed that their daughter was not marrying a Protestant, but didn’t say much about it.  Lyle and Margaret were married by her uncle who was a professor of divinity in Eugene.  The uncle then began sending anti-Mormon books and literature.  There were three books.  Margaret wouldn’t look at them.  Lyle read two, and knew that they weren’t true.  Life went on until their daughter, Nancy, won a presidential scholarship, and went to BYU.  She announced that she was going to be baptized.  Margaret told her that she’d be baptized with her.  Margaret and all three children were baptized.

A year later it came time to go to the temple in Idaho Falls to be sealed.  The day before they were to go, Margaret became very depressed and gloomy.  (Gloom preceded all of these experiences).  Lyle went out and did his chores.  When he returned, he found Margaret highly animated.  She told him that she had determined to pray (another common element in all of these stories).  She needed to know if going to the temple was the right thing to do.

Margaret said that as she prayed, a burning sensation began in her feet, and traveled clear up through her body.  She knew that going to the temple was the right thing to do.