Out of the mouth of two or more witnesses

You know how you can have goals of things you want to get done that day, or things you want to get done this week, or maybe even this year? I have a bunch of goals with unspecified completion dates that just sort of lurk around in my subconscious. For over two years I've had a goal to locate an old friend and send these pictures to him. I finally checked it off my list this week.

In January of 2006, Randy and I went to the Holy Land. We spent one day in Haifa, which is a beautiful city.

One of the women who was traveling with us told us that two Mormon missionaries were buried in the Haifa cemetery. One of them was an ancestor of hers. Because this same man was the ancestor of our friend, we became interested in this story.


John A. Clark was born in 1871. As a young man, he was called to serve as a missionary in Palestine. His parents were anxious about his serving so far away and begged him not to go. But John believed that the Lord had a "purpose" in sending him to Palestine, and was determined to go. He even offered to relinquish all claim on the family property if they would support him in his desire to serve. While serving in Haifa he contracted small pox and died. Because of the nature of smallpox, his family was not able to have the body returned home. John was quickly buried in Haifa and all of his personal effects were destroyed. His parents were bitterly disappointed. What possible "purpose" could the Lord have had in a life cut so short.

Almost 90 years later, the church began the process of purchasing land and obtaining permission for the building of the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. There was great resistance. The Jewish people asked why our church should be allowed to have a building there when it had never been a presence in the Holy Land. They did not want us there. Then it was discovered that two Mormon missionaries were buried in a cemetery in Haifa, which proved that the church had established a foothold in the Holy Land many years before and had had a presence in Palestine for almost 90 years.

The scriptures tell us that the Lord establishes the truth by witnesses. These two missionaries served as witnesses for truth, making it possible for our church to establish a learning center in Jerusalem, which has blessed not only the lives of thousands of BYU students, faculty and members of the church who have been able to visit the Center, but thousands of Palestinians who have visited the Jerusalem Center for lectures and concerts, including the extremely well-received Tabernacle Choir. Randy and I felt so touched by this experience. We know that we are among the thousands whose lives have been blessed by the Jerusalem Center. Two of our own children had the privilege of studying at the Center. We were able to attend sacrament meeting there, which we consider one of the choicest experiences of our time in the Holy Land. We are grateful for the life of Elder John A. Clark.