Ella Jensen's Near-Death Vision of the Spirit World

Ella Jensen, a young girl from Brigham City, fell severely ill with scarlet fever on March 1, 1891. On the morning of March 9, she believed she was dying. She reported seeing deceased relatives from the other world and hearing beautiful singing. Her spirit left her body, and she observed relatives holding Sunday school, with Eliza R. Snow presiding. She saw many departed friends and had a conversation with a cousin who expressed grief over the behavior of boys on earth. She was told by the spirit of Apostle Lorenzo Snow that she had to return because she had work yet to do on earth.

Before her passing, Ella told her nurse, Leah Rees, that she had been instructed by messengers and her Uncle Hans Jensen that they were coming for her at ten o'clock. Her father, Jacob Jensen, confirmed he felt her pulse stop at that time. Upon her return, Ella described seeing her Uncle Hans Jensen in the spirit world dressed in the dark clothes and long rubber boots he wore when he drowned in the Snake River, which helped the family confirm his fate. She also encountered little Alphie Snow in the spirit world, whom she knew as a student in her Sunday School class; his parents, Alphonso and Minnie Snow, later revealed to her that he had died the same morning Ella was ill, a fact they had hidden from her to prevent distress. Lorenzo Snow and Rudger Clawson traveled to the Jensen home after receiving news of her passing; Jacob Jensen recorded that during the administration, Lorenzo Snow commanded her to return, stating her mission was not yet ended.