We went into the chapel for the speaker and were so spiritually fed. We listened to a beautiful song song by Amy (Tuttle) Bell about the Prophet Joseph Smith. Her clear voice is really calming to listen to. It was a great introduction to the speaker.
Michael Kennedy is a direct descendent of Joseph Smith. In fact, he is the first member of the Smith family to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood since the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. His story is fascinating. I am sure I will not be able to do it justice here because the spirit was so strong, but it is a great testiment to the hand of the Lord in all things. He is now the president of the Joseph Smith, Jr. family organization and has been given the calling from the church leaders to gather the Smith family together once again.
He lived in Nevada and had a high school assignment to research an ancestor who participated in the history of America. His father told him that his 3rd-great grandfather "discovered Utah" and his name was Joseph Smith. Michael thought that should be a good report, so he studied him. His dad brought out a box full of artifacts of the family that he had received from a special aunt. In the box were pictures of Lucy, Emma, a journal, and several other things. He took these items from the box and put them out on the coffee table when a knock came at the door. There were two young men in white shirts with the same first name, "Elder." His father invited them in and they were quite shocked when they recognized the pictures on the table. Bro. Kennedy said he thinks he got the first six discussions in about 20 minutes. The missionaries were returning for several weeks but young Michael kept skipping out on the lessons. Finally his father told him he couldn't do so any more and he listened to the messages. At the same time, across town, the missionaries found another family to teach, one with a young girl. These two people eneded up being the only two baptisms from the elders in that small town. They later married each other. Michael found out later that the missionaries were only assigned to that town for a few weeks as an experiment. What an experiment!
Michael decided he could get baptized, leave to go to college at his father's alma mater, and never hear anything about the church again. So that is what he did. He had been ordained a deacon before leaving to go to college. His girlfriend went to some little college in Rexburg, Idaho.
Michael's father happened to call his aunt, who lived in Independence, and told her that his son was baptized into the LDS church. She told him that she was just visiting with a leader of the LDS church who had been searching out the Smith family and they were interested in finding any descendent of Joseph Smith and she would pass the word along that her nephew had been baptized. The visitor, Buddy Youngreen, was traveling from his home in California to Utah and called on Michael to travel to Salt Lake with him. He was at this time going to school where he thought he would not be noticed as a Mormon. But he was on the road between California and Salt Lake City. Brother Youngreen agreed to pick him up in the city where he was going to school, Cedar City.
They arrived in Salt Lake and had a meeting with President Packer, who introduced him to Bruce R. McConkie. They asked him what he knew about Joseph Smith and he replied that he understood that Joseph Smith had "discovered Utah." They weren't very impressed. During his schooling he still communicated with his girlfriend in Idaho, who said she would marry him but he had to be a returned missionary. He decided to talk with his bishop about that. His bishop said that since he had only been a member for 3 months he would have to think about that, but that he wanted Michael to be open to any inspiration the bishop received. Later, the bishop called him back into his office and said that he was not to go on a mission at that time, but that his mission would affect many people later in his life. So he told his girlfriend, who said that was fine, but she would not get married outside the temple. He went back to the bishop and said he needed to go to the temple. The bishop asked him what priesthood he held and he said he was a deacon. The bishop said he would fix that...Later he told his girlfriend he would probably be able to perform the marriage himself because he was going to become a priest! The bishop had told him that normally a convert had to be a member for a year before he could go to the temple, but he would talk to the authorities about it. Again, he was given permission to be married in the temple after being a member for less than a year. He received the Melchizedek Priesthood and told that he was to gather the Smith family together again.
He said his aunt had submitted names for family members to have their temple work completed, but the names came back with a stamp that said the work could not be done at that time, the time was not right for them. Then he taught us something that I had never realized before and it really hit me as truth. When we die as members of the church, we still have the ability to repent on the other side. We can repent and continue on learning and growing. Those people who are not members of the church lose the ability to repent until they accept the gospel. And since baptism is an earthly ordinance, they cannot repent and continue their growth until that baptism is done. And it is only after the baptism is done that they can have influence on their families here on earth. So, as Bro. Kennedy was trying to get members of the Smith family to listen to the church, to gather together, he was not having much success. He then was granted permission to have the temple work done for them. Before they were not able to have influence over their families here on earth, but the time was now right for them. The family is beginning to come back to the church again. He testified that people on the other side of the veil are waiting for their baptisms to be done so they can influence other families here on earth.
He also spoke about the "ill feelings" members of the church believed existed between Emma and Brigham Young. He said all the research shows that it is not true and that there have been many mis-understandings blown out of context. He said so many interesting things about how documents have been found to dispell these rumors. Here is an interesting article that he shared with us about the Brigham Young Family
He rolled out a long 17 foot chart of the family genealogy of Joseph and Emma Smith. He told about how their descendents are dwindling and how low in numbers they are. There are only a few branches with descendents left. It is interesting to see just where they are and how few there are.
The spirit was so strong when he spoke about Emma and her trials. He is the director of the movie Emma Smith: Her Story. He knows that she and Joseph are waiting for their family to gather again. He told how family genes can be traced back through 25 generations, plenty of generations to trace back the Smith family genes. The family members have taken DNA tests and can show that all of Joseph's descendents have come from Emma's lineage, not from other wives. Descendents of people who have claimed to be wives of Joseph's have also taken these DNA tests and no other people have been found to be descendents from Joseph Smith, Jr.
Bro. Kennedy has such a great, humble spirit. It was so touching to hear the many miracles that have happened in order for Joseph's family to return to the gospel. If anyone gets the change to listen to him, I would highly recommend it. It was the perfect end to a very nice day.
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