Joseph T. Bentley: Faith-Promoting Experiences in the Revolutions of Mexico (early 1900s)
Published August 25, 2026 at 7:40 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
Joseph Taylor Bentley (1906-1993) served as the tenth general superintendent of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of the Church. As a boy he attended grade school in the Latter-day Saint colonies in Mexico, and as a young lad he had many exciting and faith-promoting experiences during the Mexican revolutions—experiences that tried and then confirmed the faith of the colonist Saints. He carried the lessons of those formative years into a lifetime of service to the youth of the Church. His life is a faith-promoting witness that the Lord preserves and teaches His Saints even in the midst of revolution and upheaval, and that the faith kindled in a boy among the colonias can bless a whole generation of young men.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in Friend, April 2010, 'A Real Miracle'):
When I was a boy in Mexico, the revolution was going on. One day my mother told us to go to the cellar. We stayed there for a long time. We were hungry and scared. We prayed to Heavenly Father to keep us safe. He answered our prayers. We were safe.
In Their Own Words
“I grew up in Colonia Juárez—one of the Mormon colonies in Northern Mexico. Each morning I had to milk two cows, feed the pigs and chickens, and gather and clean the eggs. On Saturdays I worked in the orchard with my father. My father owned about 20 to 30 cattle. One day, when I was about 10 years old, I was riding a horse to help my father round up some of the cattle. The horse I was riding was a young, spirited animal. As we were riding along, the horse suddenly got spooked. I don’t know what scared him, but he started to run. I tried to pull on the reins to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. He started bucking and kicking. I was thrown from the saddle, but my foot got caught in the stirrup. The horse kept running, dragging me along the ground. I was terrified. I thought, 'This is it. I’m going to die.' I prayed with all my heart, 'Heavenly Father, please help me!' The longer this went on, the more scared the horse became. He kept bucking and kicking and jumping. I was sure I was going to die. Finally, my shoelace broke. My pants and shirt were ripped to shreds, but I didn’t have a scratch on me. I wasn’t hurt at all. My dad always called it a real miracle. This experience strengthened my testimony.”
— Joseph T. Bentley, 'A Real Miracle'
Sources & References
'Joseph T. Bentley,' Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_T._Bentley); Historical General Conferences, 'Joseph T. Bentley' (https://historicalgeneralconferences.weebly.com/joseph-t-bentley.html). Full first-person account: Friend, April 2010 https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-april-2010/2010-04-15-a-real-miracle-eng.pdf Complete account: Friend, April 2010, 'A Real Miracle' https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-april-2010/2010-04-15-a-real-miracle-eng.pdf
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