Letter to My Mission President - Book of Mormon & Gift of Tongues

Sister and President Barreto and me (Tom Hartley)
At a chapel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

As background, I served as a proselyting missionary (unpaid, voluntary) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from July 2003 to July 2005 in the Brazil Rio de Janeiro Mission. My mission president (leader of the missionaries), Reinaldo Barreto, was also ending his own mission in July 2005. Some time before July 2005, President Barreto had asked us missionaries to email him the most spiritual experiences we had on our mission. I had time to write only two experiences. I wrote those which came to mind first. Below is the English translation of my letter to my mission president. I made some edits to my original letter so a general audience can understand it better.

"President Barreto-

1)

The most spiritual experience I had while on the mission was in my first area as a new missionary.  I remember marking the three parts in the Book of Mormon -- Introduction, Testimony of the Witnesses/Joseph Smith, 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 --  for people to read to know if what we taught was true and asking myself, “Can a person really know The Book of Mormon is true by reading only these three parts?” 

 I decided to do the same thing and re-do the Book of Mormon promise [praying to God in faith and sincerity asking if the Book of Mormon is true].  I also wanted a greater certainty that I was preaching the truth to people so I could preach from the heart and not because I was trained to bear testimony.

So, one day when I woke up, I decided to do the Book of Mormon promise. I kneeled in my bed and started to pray.  I remained there praying, asking and waiting for some answer -- but nothing came. I prayed more, but nothing happened. I continued praying, but I couldn’t feel anything special.  After getting tired of being on my knees for so long, I gave up.  I soon discovered I had prayed for one hour. Even though I did not receive an answer to my prayer, I did not get discouraged. I thought God would respond another day or by some other means.

The next day, my companion Elder Robison and I decided to study together in the morning regarding a woman [Camila] that had attended church for a long time but would not get baptized. She was fulfilling all of the commitments the missionaries asked of her, except she simply would not commit to be baptized. The morning study time would be dedicated solely to her. My companion said we should write down her questions and doubts on paper and also ideas we had to help her. We would do all of this in the spirit of prayer, and also write the inspirations we felt from the spirit of God on the paper as well. Ultimately, we were seeking revelation from God on what to do for Camila.

We did that, and I started to ponder about Camila. I happened to open to a scripture in Moroni 7, and a particular verse caught my attention strongly. The scripture reads “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” I began to ponder about this, and I then happened to turn to 1 Nephi 11:1. This scripture stated Nephi wanted to know the dream of his father and that he was caught away in the spirit.

At that exact moment, the same thing happened to me. The spirit of God grew more and more in my being, as if it were light expanding, as if I was “caught away in the spirit” like Nephi. The spirit of God grew more and more until pure and perfect knowledge was placed inside my heart and mind, testifying of Jesus Christ. It was testified to me that Jesus is the Savior, our great King, that he lives and that he is great. The spirit became so strong I began to cry. During this time, I also felt that my body was in some form washed or changed. I felt a physical change in my body. I felt new, clean, forgiven, etc.

It was also testified to me by the spirit of God that all of the prophets are true, that they really received revelations about Jesus Christ and His gospel (prophets from the Bible, the Book of Mormon and modern-day prophets of the church).  I received a revelation so powerful that I felt overwhelmed and astonished, just like Joseph Smith described when he said he could not sleep after being visited by the angel Moroni for the first time.

The funny thing was my companion looked at me perplexed. He didn’t know why I was crying, and asked me if everything was all right. Crying, I responded in the affirmative and I testified to him what the Lord revealed to me. I found out this was not a revelation to help with Camila, but rather it was for me personally. I believe this was the answer to my prayer on the previous day.

That day, when we went to proselytize, I could not focus on the work. My mind reflected repeatedly on the information I received. I kept thinking about this the entire day. I simply could not think about anything else except the testimony I received.

Because of this experience, I am absolutely certain that Christ lives, that His gospel is true, that there is a resurrection, that the prophets are true, and that The Book of Mormon really is another testament of Christ.

Since that experience, everything changed for me. I know I received a testimony from the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ. I can say like Peter from the Bible, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.”

I imagine if I deny what God revealed to me, I cannot receive forgiveness for this at the last day. I never had a spiritual experience in my life, like this, until now [the mission].

2)

Many times in the mission field, while I was learning the Portuguese language, my mind was illuminated by the spirit of God and my understanding increased. There were times I could understand everything the people were saying or I could say everything I wanted to say, but the next day this ability would disappear.

These “roller coasters,” we’ll say, of learning the language, happened many times. However, I know with certainty the Lord helped me learn a new language many times above my natural ability. After seven months in the mission field, I learned to be fluent in the language.  When I say fluent, I mean I could express myself how I wanted, and the people could understand me as well. Besides this, I could understand everything the people spoke to me so long as I was familiar with the words.

Even today [as the letter was being written in 2005], I do not speak perfectly and I still have an accent. In spite of this, the gift of tongues was a reality to me. The spirit of God helped me learn Portuguese more quickly.

[Elder Thomas Spencer Hartley]"

My Brother Taylor - Book of Mormon Miracle

This story has been updated with more details: https://thesmallplatesoftom.blogspot.com/2018/07/my-brother-taylor-pass-asteroids-please.html

 

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My older brother Taylor Hartley described an incident in his life that can be summed up as a Book of Mormon miracle. In 1993 when he was nearly 15 years old, he had a bike accident and suffered a serious head injury. One of the negative effects of the injury was that he lost the ability to read. Below are my brother's own words about the experience and how the Book of Mormon played a key role:

BOOK OF MORMON MIRACLE

My sister Angela and brother Taylor
July 28, 1993

"When I was almost 15 years old on July 27, 1993, I was riding my bicycle to the store to find a present for my little brother Brent’s birthday.  I had to ride on a sidewalk next to a highway.  It had a steep part where you could catch a lot of speed. 

Well, my memory stops at the top of the hill.  Apparently, I had been going really fast when at the bottom of the hill, I suddenly planted my face into the concrete, requiring 42 stitches on my chin and over my eye by an emergency room plastic surgeon.  The worst part of the accident was the concussion I suffered.  It dropped my mental age to that of about a six year old, making me mildly retarded.  I suffered amnesia for a time.  The abilities to speak, access words, and process information, among other things, were noticeably impaired. 

It took me two and a half years before I felt I was totally recovered.  One of the most interesting consequences of the mental injury was my inability to read.  I discovered I could no longer read when my mom brought me children’s books.  She did this to keep me occupied while I rested at home to recover from the accident.

I could see the words, but my mind was incapable of processing them.  It was like looking at Chinese characters—you can see them, but it’s impossible to understand them.  So, my comprehension of written words was absolutely zero.  The brain damage was severe.

On one of the nights, my dad approached me and said that some of the Church leaders, called area authorities, had challenged the members to read all of The Book of Mormon before their large meetings, called Stake Conferences.  Dad asked me if I’d do it.  In my child-like mental innocence, I told him I’d try.  My mom was mad at him for asking me because he knew as well as she did that I had lost the ability to read. 

I went to my room, kneeled down and prayed.  I can’t remember what I prayed for, but I know it was very simple.  I do remember, however, thinking to myself, “If this is the Word of God, then I’ll be able to read it.  If it’s not, then it’ll be like the other books my mom gave me.”  When I opened to the beginning, I looked down and read: “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents….”  I was reading!  There was no delay in my comprehension of the words either.  Part of me was astonished while the other part of me wasn’t. 

When I woke up the next day, I was so excited about my recovery that I picked up the books my mom had given me, looked at their words, and then looked some more.  I still couldn’t understand them.  So, for a time, the only book I could read was The Book of Mormon.  I ended up reading all 531 pages in a month’s time, faster than I had ever read it or any other book before.  As a result of this miracle and from what I read in The Book of Mormon, I know with absolute knowledge that its words are the words of God.  They are the words of Christ.

Even though this miracle speaks for itself, I want to give you some independent witnesses that help verify its reality.  A year before the accident happened, I was given a Patriarchal Blessing by a patriarch in our area (a patriarch’s calling is to give inspired blessings from the Lord to individuals, which are written down and serve to help them through their life).  In that prophetic blessing, he told me, “Follow the counsel and direction of those who are placed in leadership positions over you in the Church. I bless you that your mind and intellect will be quickened so that you will comprehend and understand those things that you read and study. That your testimony and knowledge of the Gospel will be greatly strengthened.” 

Those consecutive lines outline chronologically and precisely what happened: the area authority Church leaders had given “counsel and direction” for all of us to read The Book of Mormon.  When I tried it with the brain damage I had, my mind and intellect were literally “quickened” so that I could “comprehend and understand” those things that I “read.”  As a result of this quickening, my testimony and knowledge of Christ’s “Gospel” had truly been “greatly strengthened.” 

The last prophetic words I want to quote from as an independent witness to the reality of the miracle that happened to me are in Isaiah 29:18.  After prophesying about the coming forth of The Book of Mormon in our days, the prophet said, “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.”  Because of the brain damage I suffered, my eyes were blind because of mental obscurity and the written words’ meanings were nothing but darkness to me.  For all intents and purposes, I was blind to reading.  But, when I read the Book of Mormon, my eyes actually did “see out of obscurity,” just as Isaiah prophesied would occur because of the Book."

<End of Taylor's words>

I want to share my witness that what my brother wrote above is true. I was nine years old at the time of this accident, and I remember reading children's books to him in our backyard while Taylor did not have the ability to read. Taylor has since had a full recovery for many years, and if  you were to meet him today you would never have guessed he had brain damage in his youth. The Book of Mormon truly is a marvelous work and a wonder.

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My Own Personal Witness regarding the divinity of the Book of Mormon:

http://thesmallplatesoftom.blogspot.com/2014/12/letter-to-my-mission-president-book-of.html

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You can access Taylor Hartley's Mormon.org profile at the following link:

http://www.mormon.org/me/DHCS/TaylorCHartley

Taylor's Book of Mormon miracle experience is also published in the February 1999 issue of the New Era magazine, but does not have as much detail. Regardless, it is still a powerful article of the experience. Here is the link to the magazine article:

https://www.lds.org/new-era/1999/02/my-crash-course-in-reading?lang=eng

* Additional point of clarification: Taylor's words above indicated his "mental age" dropped to 6, but the New Era magazine article stated Taylor's mental age dropped to 12. Both accounts are accurate because the time element is different. For example, essentially right after Taylor hit his head, our Mom indicated Taylor spoke and acted like a 6 year old. However, about a week later, a speech pathologist tested Taylor and the results were his "mental age" had improved to approximately 12 years old (he was nearly 15 at the time). Regardless, Taylor still did not have the ability to read even after the achieving a "mental age" of 12 years. This is noted in the New Era magazine article.