This trip took place from March 18 to March 24, 2025.
It was a very interesting trip. And I will tell you the whole thing here from my memory of a month ago. I have had to process everything as it is all stretching who I am. Originally, I was asked to be part of the Zion Media media crew. I accepted and purchased my ticket. They were going to reimburse me. But at the last minute, Zion Media dropped out. Chief Midegah had posted for a short time a video criticizing President Nelson, the prophet and leader of my church. He took down the video, but it was out. And it is not the first time. Shane Baldwin of Zion media consulted with his Stake President of whom he is close friends and Zion Media cut ties with Chief Midegah. There were rumors going around that the church leadership was honing on all the friends of Chief Midegah ready to excommunicate them. However, I had already received a spiritual witness that I was supposed to go. Chief Midegah started asking me if I was still coming and he asked me with sincerity to please come. I went. And I am glad that I did.
What I experienced there was a week of spiritual strength, signs in the heavens, a call for unity for all people to just embrace each other with love. I saw two believers in the Peacemaker and believers in the Book of Mormon be raised in status to Chief. I saw the Book of Mormon, renamed “The Nephite Record”, placed on the alter and proclaimed a true record. And the Mayan leadership returned with a promise to translate and provide their records to us of the peacemaker visiting them many years ago. On the last day, a woman I had met my first night there turned to me and say, “I did not know a person could feel such joy”!!!
What I saw was Zion – sprouting as a seed. Zion – a people of one heart, one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.
I wish I could write more about Zion here. I am hearing different quotes from Joseph Smith. But I don’t have them at my fingertips. Brigham Young taught – and I am told that Joseph Smith also taught that when Zion is around, there will be all religions present. All religions teaching of Jesus will be welcomed in. And I have been told that all were directed to never criticize the teachings and beliefs of each other. I am waiting to find these quotes. So don’t quote this paragraph here. It is a topic I need to take up. And soon, I will do so.
On the first day of ceremony, we were taken to a large circle. Inside the circle was a very prestigious, beautiful and large tree. We were all smudged upon entry to the circle. We all participated in a ceremony, completely unaware of what would happen. We turned all to the four directions. Then we faced into the tree. And we all offered a prayer to God. And the tree was to serve as a medium.
OHHHHH What????? I had to take some time to reconcile this, and now I am completely on board. The tree is not some pagan teaching. It is the tree of life. And the tree of life is a representation of the Peacemaker. And when I pray in my LDS philosophy, I pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. And Jesus is the mediator with the Father. No one goes to the Father except it be through Jesus Christ. And the tree is a representation of Christ. And the prayer goes to the Father through the Tree of Christ.
All ceremonies took place around the tree. I did not attend every ceremony. There were times I was helping transporting people in my car rental. I am glad we had the rental. It allowed me to get to know several people in a good way. And it was very helpful in completing the missions of the trip.
One one day, Rabbi Schulman presented his thoughts of unity. I fortunately recorded it on my phone. That presentation is found at the bottom of this page. On another day, a Mayan priest talked about what they use to do in the temples anciently. There was also a lot of drumming and singing at various times.
The pinnacle event was when Chief Midegah presented the Book of Mormon on the alter. The spirit was really strong during the presentation. It was so strong that I fell down to my knees for a time while he spoke. Then all of a sudden someone said there is a rainbow in the sky. I looked up and saw it. Then I turned my phone over to attempt a picture. There was now aiming. I just pointed the camera up and you can see the rainbow in the image below.
After the trip, I went to see my Stake President to make certain that I was not losing any status in the church. I told him about the trip. I told him about the controversies of Chief Midegah being frustrated at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and why he is not pleased with them and about some of his calls for repentance. The reality is that when it comes to the calls to repentance, I do not believe he is in the wrong. But there are always two sides to the story. No tit for tat needed. We really need reconciliation. Continued drama of his frustrations with the church are not necessary. He has asked his name to be removed from the records of the church. He also quotes the Articles of Faith where Joseph Smith taught the importance of letting people worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. My stake president said some very interesting things to me. He addressed my concern of losing my temple recommend. He assured me that this was not the case. He told me that there are people who will reach individuals that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will never reach. We should support these efforts.
Currently, I serve as the temple and family history leader in my ward. I attend the temple about 2-3 times per month. I have one other person who usually goes with me. I love the temple. The spirit is always there. I love my church as it has given me a place to serve and grow close to the Lord. I believe I have received the baptism of Fire and of the Holy Ghost by serving the Lord in this church. I recommend everyone to join my church. At the same time, I recognize that God loves all who serve him. And it is very possible that there are other churches whose membership body is more righteous than the members found in my own faith. So my focus now is purely on bringing people to Jesus.
The Atonement is an action verb of the word “One”. If we are to establish Zion, we must be all be one.
