A Heavenly Manifestation given to Heber Q. Hale, President of the Boise Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as related by him at the Genealogical Conference held in the auditorium of the Bishops Building, Salt Lake City, Utah on October 1920, requested by the Presidency of the Church of 1920.

"It is with a very humble and grateful spirit that I attempt to relate on this occasion, by request, a personal experience which is very sacred to me.  I must of necessity be brief.  Furthermore there were certain things made known to me which I don't feel at liberty to relate here.  Let me say by way of preface that between the hours of 12.00 and 7.30 on the night of January 20, 1920, while alone in a room at the home of W. R. Rawson in Carey, Idaho, this glorious manifestation was vouchsafed to me.  I was not conscious of anything that transpired during the hours mentioned except what was experienced in this manifestation. I did not turn over in bed nor was I disturbed by any sound which indeed is unusual for me.  Whether it be called a dream, an apparition, a vision, or a pilgrimage of my spirit into the world of spirits, I know not.  I care not.  I know that I actually saw and experienced the things related in this heavenly manifestation, and they are as real to me as any experience of my life.  For me, at least, this is sufficient.

Of all the doctrines and practices of the church, the principle of vicarious work for the dead has been the most difficult for me to comprehend and whole heartedly accept.  I consider this vision as the Lord's answer to the prayer of my soul on this and certain other questions.

I passed but a short distance from my body through a film into the world of spirits.  This was my experience after going to sleep.  I seemed to realize that I had passed through the change called death and I so referred to it in my conversation with the immortal beings with whom I immediately came in contact.  I readily observed their displeasure at our use of the word death and the fear which we attach to it.  They use there another word in reference to the transition from mortality to immortality which word I do not recall, and I can only approach its meaning and the impression which was left upon my mind, by calling it the new birth.

My first visual impression was the nearness of the world of spirits to the world of mortality.  The vastness of this heavenly sphere was bewildering to the eyes of the spirit-novice.  Many enjoyed unrestricted vision and unimpeded action, while many others were visibly restricted as to both vision and action.  The vegetation and landscape were beautiful beyond description, not all green as here, but gold with varying shades of pink, orange, and lavender as the rainbow, and sweet calmness pervaded everything.  The people I met there I did not think of as spirits, but as men and women, self thinking and self acting individuals, going about important business in a most orderly manner.

There was perfect order there and everybody had something to do and seemed to be about their business.  That the inhabitants of the spirit world are classified according to their lives of purity and their subservience to the Father's will was subsequently made apparent.  Particularly was it observed that the wicked and unrepentant are confined to a certain district by themselves, the confines of which are as definitely determined and impassable as the line marking the division of the physical from the spirit world.  A mere film but impassible until the person himself was changed.  The world of spirits is the temporary abode of all spirits pending the resurrection from the dead and the judgment.  There was much activity within the different spheres, and appointed ministers of salvation were seen coming from the higher to the lower spheres in pursuit of their missionary appointments.

I had a very pronounced desire to meet certain of my kinsfolk and friends but I was at once impressed with the fact that I had entered a tremendously great and extensive world, even greater than our earth and more numerously inhabited.  I could only be in one place at once, could do only one thing at a time, could only look in one direction at a time and accordingly it would require many, many years to search out and converse with all those I had known and all those whom I desired to meet unless they were especially summoned to receive me.  All men and women are appointed to special and regular service under a well organized plan of action directed principally towards preaching the gospel to the unconverted, teaching those who seek for knowledge, and establishing family relationships, and gathering genealogies for the use and benefit of mortal survivors of their respective families, that the work of baptism and the sealing of ordinances may be vicariously performed for the departed in the Temples of God on the earth.

The authorized representatives of families in the world of spirits have access to our temple records and are kept fully advised of the work done therein, but the vicarious work done there does not become automatically effective.  The recipients must first believe, repent and accept baptism and confirmation, then certain consummating ordinances are performed effectualising these saving principles in the lives of these regenerated beings.  And so the great work is going on...  They are doing work there which we cannot do here, and we a work here that they cannot do there for the salvation of all God's children who will be saved.

I was surprised to find that there were no babies in arms there.  I met the infant son of Orson W. Rawlings, my first counselor.  I immediately recognized him as the baby who died a few years ago, and yet he seemed to have the intelligence, and in certain respects, the appearance of an adult, and was engaged in matters pertaining to his family and its genealogy.  My mind was quite contented upon the point that mothers will again receive into their arms their children who died in infancy and will be fully satisfied by the fact that entrance into the world of spirits is not an inhibition to growth but the greatest opportunity for development.  Babies are adult spirits in the infant bodies.