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Video Transcript:
This is the story of Ella Jensen — a Latter-day Saint girl who died and came back again with quite the story to tell. As a short disclaimer: Stories like these can understandably be hard to believe. I myself was skeptical at first. But to be completely honest, the sources are a lot better and more abundant than I was expecting. All of this to say: The sources are linked in the description. You can come to your own conclusions — but I’m a believer.
On the night of March 2nd, 1891, Leah Rees played the harmonium as she watched over 19-year-old Ella Jenson, who had been bedridden with scarlet fever for some time at her home in Brigham City, Utah. Leah later reported that,
“About three or four o’clock in the morning, I was suddenly awakened by Ella calling me. I hurried to her bed. She was all excited and asked me to get the comb, brush, and scissors, explaining that she wanted to brush her hair and trim her fingernails and get all ready, ‘for,’ she said, ‘they are coming to get me at ten o’clock in the morning.’ I asked who was coming to get her. ‘Uncle Hans Jensen,’ she replied, ‘and the messengers. I am going to die, and they are coming at ten o’clock to get me and take me away.’”
The time came. Ella said goodbye to her loved ones. Her father, Jacob, said, “I was holding her hand and felt her pulse stop.”
Ella’s spirit left her body, and she witnessed her family mourning her death. She later said, “It was very hard for me to leave them, but as soon as I had a glimpse of the other world, I was anxious to go, and all care and worry left me.”
Ella entered what she described as a large hall filled with people, many of whom she recognized. She said, “Some inquired about their friends and relatives on the earth. Among the number was my cousin. He asked me how the folks were getting along and said it grieved him to hear that some of the boys were using tobacco, liquor, and many things that were injurious to them.” She also spoke briefly with her grandfather, H. P. Jensen, who died some 8 years earlier. She said, “The people were all dressed in white or cream, excepting Uncle Hans Jensen, who had on his dark clothes and long rubber boots….” Before his death, Hans had moved to Idaho to be a salmon fisherman. One day, he just never came home. Finding him dressed as he was on the other side of the veil confirmed the family’s assumption that he had, in fact, accidentally drowned in the Snake River.
At the end of the crowded hall, Ella discovered a room occupied by a vast children’s choir directed by Eliza R. Snow, who had died about 4 years earlier. All of the children she recognized she knew to be dead, except a young boy named Alphie Snow, whose Sunday School class Ella taught back in Brigham City. He seemed out of place. But suddenly, while listening to the children sing “Gladly Meeting, Kindly Greeting, Ella heard a distant but commanding voice say: “Sister Ella, you must come back, as your mission is not yet finished here on earth.”
“Returning through the large room, I told the people I was going back to earth, but they seemed to want me to stay with them. I obeyed the call, though it was very much against my desire, as such perfect peace and happiness prevailed there, no suffering, no sorrow.”
Ella eventually found herself in her home, looking at her own body lying lifeless on the bed — her family gathered around. About three hours after her death, Ella’s spirit reunited with her body, and she opened her eyes.
Her father, Jacob, said “She looked around the room and saw us sitting there, but still looked for someone else, and the first thing she said was: ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ We asked, ‘Who? Where is who?’ ‘Why, Brother [Lorenzo] Snow … He called me back.’”.
Let’s rewind a bit. After Ella died, a nurse washed Ella’s body, preparatory for her funeral, while Jacob hitched up his wagon and made his way toward the Brigham City Tabernacle. He was looking for his brother-in-law and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Lorenzo Snow, who would be involved in the funeral services. Jacob found him speaking to a congregation in the Tabernacle. Lorenzo excused himself from the pulpit, got updated on the situation, and, along with stake president Rudger Clawson, set out with Jacob back toward the house.
According to Jacob, “Both of them stood over [Ella’s] bed for a minute or two, and finally [Lorenzo Snow] asked if we had any consecrated oil in the house. I was greatly surprised, told him yes and got it for him.” Jacob reports that in the blessing, Lorenzo said, “Dear Ella, I command you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to come back and live; your mission is not yet ended.”
Immediately after the blessing, nothing happened. Lorenzo reassured the family, saying, “Now do not mourn or grieve anymore. It will be all right … you just be patient and wait….” About an hour later, long after Lorenzo and Rudger had left, Ella opened her eyes.
She told her family about all of the people she’d seen on the other side. At first, her father thought she was delirious, but he was soon convinced. Ella’s sister, Meda, said, “I know there were some [people] whom she had never seen in life. She described to me just how they looked and told me their names. Among these were aunts and second cousins long since dead. There is no question that they were the ones whom we had laid away before she was born.”
Not long after her experience, Ella was visited by Alphonso and Minnie Snow, the parents of little Alphie Snow, who Ella saw on the other side. She explained to the parents that “She was very much surprised that he should be there, and said she could not understand it because Alphie was still living.” They replied, “Oh, no … Alphie died while you were so very sick, but we did not want to tell you because … we knew it would make it so much worse for you.” Alphonso added, “It was very consoling indeed to hear Ella tell of seeing our dear little boy and telling us that he seemed very happy.”
Ella went on to get married and have 8 children. She died for the last time in 1957, at 86 years old. Ella’s cousin, Dorothy, later wrote, “The impact of Ella Jensen’s story lies not so much in the miracle of her return to mortal life as in the testimony of an eye witness to the kind of existence which lies ahead for all of us. Ella’s personal experience reassures us that we need not fear the next stage of our progression. The spirit world is but a more perfect extension of life as we know it — the spirit world is the place where loved ones meet.”