A Stake Patriarch's Testimony: Praying for Names & Finding Family in Italy | LDS

Send us Fan MailCan you really pray for the names of ancestors who need their temple work — and receive them? In this episode of Thinning of the Veil, host Tia Smith sits down with her friend Andy White, a convert to the Church and a stake patriarch, who shares 40 years of tender, sometimes astonishing experiences with revelation, family history, and the thinning of the veil. For Latter-day Saints (LDS), his witness is a reminder that this work is deeply personal on both sides.Andy shares how a stranger's daily "Smile, God loves you" led a shy philosophy major away from atheism and into the gospel — and how that same love now drives his search for family. He tells of a contrarian great-grandfather whose headstone faced the opposite direction of every other in the cemetery (Andy knew it was his before he read the name), a trip to a small town near Rome where a dismissive Italian clerk's heart changed within two hours and unlocked records two years' worth of requests couldn't, and the tender reality of doing temple work for people you've come to know spirit to spirit. He also shares how, after taking Tia's invitation to pray for names, two came to him in the night — including one, Melissa Matthew, he'd never encountered in decades of research — and how he found her and completed her family's ordinances.Woven throughout is Andy's testimony of his daughter Georganne, who passed to the other side of the veil and whom he feels laboring alongside him — a relationship that has deepened, not ended. As a patriarch, he shares four threads he sees in nearly every blessing he gives: how deeply God loves each of us, that this generation was reserved for the gathering, the need for a personal relationship with the Savior, and how much awaits those who give their lives to God.Q: Can you pray for the names of people who need their temple work done? (LDS)A: Andy shares that after praying and keeping paper by his bed, two names came to him in the night — one he found was the son of a couple he'd just discovered, and another, Melissa Matthew, he'd never seen in 40 years of research but was able to find and seal to her family.Q: How do we come to "know" our ancestors through family history?A: Andy testifies that the more time you spend searching for someone, the more you come to know their personality spirit to spirit — as with a great-grandfather whose contrary nature he sensed long before finding the headstone that, unlike all the others, faced the opposite way.Q: What does a stake patriarch see about the gathering of Israel?A: Andy shares that nearly every blessing he gives testifies of God's individual love, that this generation was reserved for the gathering on both sides of the veil, the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the great things that await those who give their lives to God.Revelation isn't reserved for prophets — it's for anyone who seeks to know who needs help on the other side of the veil.▶️ WATCH & LISTEN🎬 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thinningoftheveil🌐 Website: https://www.thinningoftheveil.com🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinning-of-the-veil/id1753511394🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jWCfMHkZXwnSwy2b98J4M🎵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a0a45561-d4c2-46d3-af8d-a1e967a21a25📖 BOOKPatterns of Revelation — Spiritual Foundations for Hearing God's Voice: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW36MG9B📱 CONNECTInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinning.of.the.veilFacebook Group (Gathering of the Gatherers): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1429562078443774Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thinningoftheveil💛 SUPPORT THE SHOWVenmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/thinningoftheveilPayPal: https://paypal.me/thinningoftheveil✉️ Have you had a thinning of the veil experience? Email [email protected] — your testimony may be exactly what someone needs to hear.#ThinningOfTheVeil #FamilyHistory #Revelation #Temple #LDS #LatterDaySaints #GatheringOfIsrael #Patriarch #SpiritWorld #ComeFollowMeSupport the show