Mary
Elizabeth Rollins
In my mind, I
imagine you of the rising generation watching or listening to this conference
session somewhere in the world. I’d like to share a true story with you, a
story that can be both an example and a lesson. It can show you how to get
closer to the Lord and access greater power to resist temptation.
This is a
story of a young girl, living in New York, who before age three lost her father
when his boat sank on a large lake. She, her mother, older brother, and younger
sister moved to a new city in another state to live with her aunt and uncle.
Sometime after the family arrived, missionaries and members of a newly
organized religion came to their town with the glorious news of the Restoration
of the gospel. They told a remarkable story of an angel delivering an ancient
record to a young man named Joseph Smith, a record he had translated by the
power of God. Two of the visitors, Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer, had
actually seen the engraved metal pages of the ancient record with their own
eyes, and Whitmer witnessed he had held the golden plates in his own hands.
This record had been recently published, and Brother Whitmer brought the book
with him. The name of the book, of course, was the Book of Mormon.
When
12-year-old Mary heard the missionaries speak about the book, she had a special
feeling in her heart. Even though the Book of Mormon was thick with many pages,
Mary yearned to read it. When Brother Whitmer departed, he gave one precious
copy of the book to Brother Isaac Morley, who was a friend of Mary’s uncle and
a local leader in the new church.
Mary later
recorded: “I went to [Brother Morley’s] house … and asked to see the Book; [he]
put it in my hand, [and] as I looked at it, I felt such a desire to read it,
that I could not refrain from asking him to let me take it home and read it. …
He said … he had hardly had time to read a chapter in it himself, and but few
of the brethren had even seen it, but I plead so earnestly for it, he finally
said, ‘child, if you will bring this book home before breakfast tomorrow
morning, you may take it.’”
Mary ran home
and was so captured by the book that she stayed up nearly all night reading it.
The next morning, when she returned the book, Brother Morley said, “I guess you
did not read much in it” and “I don’t believe you can tell me one word of it.”
Mary stood up straight and repeated from memory the first verse of the Book of
Mormon. She then told him the story of the prophet Nephi. Mary later wrote, “He
gazed at me in surprise, and said, ‘child, take this book home and finish it, I
can wait.’”
A short time
later, Mary finished reading the book and was the first person in her town to
read the entire book. She knew it was true and that it came from Heavenly
Father. As she looked to the book, she looked to the Lord.
One month later
a special visitor came to her house. Here is what Mary wrote about her
memorable encounter that day: “When [Joseph Smith] saw me he looked at me so
earnestly. … After a moment or two he … gave me a great blessing … and made me
a present of the book, and said he would give Brother Morley another [copy]. …
We all felt that he was a man of God, for he spoke with power, and as one
having authority.”
This young
girl, Mary Elizabeth Rollins, saw many other miracles in her life and always
kept her testimony of the Book of Mormon.1 This story has special meaning to me
because she is my fourth-great-aunt. Through Mary’s example, along with other
experiences in my life, I have learned that one is never too young to seek and
receive a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. (Elder Gary E. Stevenson, “Look
to the Book, Look to the Lord”, General Conference Oct 2016)
