There is an incident in which President Lorenzo Snow raised a young girl from the dead.  She gave a vivid account of her visit in the spirit world—including a meeting with her grandfather, who was so busy working on records that he had little time for her.

In the early days of Brigham City a stake conference was being held.  President Lorenzo Snow, of the Box Elder Stake, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was speaking in the meeting.  Behind him on the stand was Elder Rudger Clawson.  A note was delivered to the meeting and handed to President Snow at the pulpit.  He read the note.  It asked that he announce the funeral services for Ella Jensen, who had passed away that morning.

Instead of making the announcement, President Snow announced to the audience that there was trouble in the community and he and Brother Clawson would be excused from the meeting for a time.

They went by buggy the several miles to the Jensen home.  There they found the grieving parents and the body of the nineteen-year-old girl washed and laid out for burial.

President Snow told the parents not to be troubled, and these two Brethren blessed the girl.  They stood around for some time, but nothing happened; and then they left.

Some time after they had gone, the girl stirred and opened her eyes and said, "Where is he?  Where is he?"

"Where is who?" the parents asked.

"Where is President Snow?  He called me back."

She then left a detailed account of her experiences in the spirit world, including a meeting with her grandfather, whom she confronted with great joy.  He, in turn, greeted her with polite affection, but was very busy and excused himself because of the weight of responsibility he was carrying.

A detailed account of this miraculous experience, including the testimonies of President Snow and Elder Clawson, was published in the Improvement Era in two issues (32 [September, October 1929]:881-86, 972-80.)

Brother Widtsoe reaffirmed that "those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work [genealogical work] receive help from the other side.  Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life." ("Genealogical Activities in Europe," page 104.)

Of course, you cannot force spiritual things.  The Lord said that such things as these come in His own time and in His own way and according to His own will; and if we will live as we should and endeavor to keep His commandments, what ought to happen to us can happen to us.

President Wilford Woodruff left this testimony of help from beyond the veil:

"Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time and then stopped.  The last time I saw him was in heaven.  He came and spoke to me.  He said he could not stop to talk to me because he was in a hurry.  The next man I met was Father Smith; he couldn't talk to me because he was in a hurry.  I met a half a dozen brethren who held high positions on earth, and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry.  I was much astonished.

"By and by I saw the Prophet again, and I got the privilege to ask him a question.  'Now,' said I, ' I want to know why you are in a hurry?  I have been in a hurry all my life, but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the Kingdom of Heaven, if I ever did.'

"Joseph said, 'I will tell you, Brother Woodruff, every dispensation that has had the priesthood on earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom, has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when he goes to reign on earth.  Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work.  We have not.  We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it.'

"Of course, that was satisfactory with me, but it was new doctrine to me."  (Discourse delivered at Weber Stake Conference, Ogden, 19 October 1896; as published in Deseret News Weekly, vol. 53, no. 21.)

On one occasion when Elder Harold B. Lee spoke to the seminary and institute teachers, he was stressing to us the reality of spiritual communication and of the help and guidance we may receive from beyond the veil.  But, he warned, we must be attuned in order to receive it.

Here is an excerpt from his address:

"A few weeks ago, President McKay related to the Twelve an interesting experience, and I asked him yesterday if I might repeat it to you this morning.

"He said it is a great thing to be responsive to the whisperings of the Spirit, and we know that when these whisperings come it is a gift and our privilege to have them.  They come when we are relaxed and not under pressure of appointments.  The President then took occasion to relate an experience in the life of Bishop John Wells, former member of the Presiding Bishopric.

"A son of Bishop Wells was killed in Emigration Canyon on a railroad track.  Brother John Wells was a great detail man and prepared many of the reports we are following up now.  His boy was run over by a freight train.  Sister Wells was inconsolable.  She mourned during the three days prior to the funeral, received no comfort at the funeral, and was in a rather serious state of mind.

"One day soon after the funeral services while she was lying on her bed relaxed, still mourning, she says that her son appeared to her and said, ' Mother do not mourn, do not cry.  I am all right.'  He told her that she did not understand how the accident happened and explained that he had given the signal to the engineer to move on, and then made the usual effort to catch the railing on the freight train; but as he attempted to do so his foot caught on a root and he failed to catch the hand rail, and his body fell under the train.  It was clearly an accident.

"Now, listen.  He said that as soon as he realized that he was in another environment he tried to see his father, but he couldn't reach him.  His father was so busy with the duties in his office he could not respond to his call.  Therefore he had come to his mother.  He said to her, 'You tell father that all is well with me, and I want you not to mourn any more.'

Then the President made the statement that the point he had in mind was that when we are relaxed in a private room we are more susceptible to those things; and that so far as he was concerned, his best thoughts come after he gets up in the morning and is relaxed and thinking about the duties of the day; that impressions are right.  If we are worried about something and upset in our feelings, the inspiration does not come.  If we so live that our minds are free from worry and our conscience is clear and our feelings are right toward one another, the operation of the Spirit of the Lord upon our spirit is as real as when we pick up the telephone; but when they come, we must be brave enough to take the suggested actions.  The Lord will approve it and the Brethren will approve it, and we know it is right.  He said, it is a great consolation in this upset world today to know that our Savior is directing this work.  Then the President concluded:  'I value that testimony.'  If you forget all else I have said, you remember that lesson and that admonition."

(Address to seminary and institute faculty, Brigham Young University, 6 July 1956.)

—The Holy Temple, Boyd K. Packer, Bookcraft, 1980, pgs. 251-255 .