Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Sister Crawford's Dream

I found myself headed to an indoor stadium with a ticket in my hand. I had a few friends with me who I don't recognize now, but in the dream, I knew them. We each had a special ticket to get into this stadium. I understood that this was a lucky ticket that many people wished they could have received, so I felt lucky to be one of the few to receive it. As we entered the stadium, I found that it was a small, round room. The size and shape remind me now of the old tabernacle before the new conference center was built. Not many people fit in there, which further highlighted to me the realization that I was very lucky to be invited to this event. I estimated that maybe a few hundred people were there. 

The room was red. The carpet was red, the chairs were red, the walls were red, and even the screen was red. Everything was red. I noticed the president in front of the screen at the bottom of the stadium. He was talking casually to people. My friends and I sat down and I noticed that the chair was very comfortable. I didn't know what this event was going to be. I thought [to go] in that I had tickets to a football game, but this was clearly not a football game. I had no idea where I was,  I only knew I was lucky and rare to be invited, but I felt very out of place. I thought maybe a mistake had been made in inviting me. Then I heard a voice tell me "It wasn't a mistake. You were called here." Then all of a sudden, I was asked to come forward and answer some questions. Everyone around me thought I was so lucky. Now, I wasn't just lucky to be picked to attend whatever this event was, but I was even luckier to be selected to do some kind of pre-show trivia challenge. It was bizarre. The questions were all worldly, having to do with things I just didn't know anything about. The voice came back to my mind and said, "If you don't know what to say, then don't speak." So I kept my mouth shut and just smiled. It was awkward at first, but then someone else was chosen in my place and I was off the hook. But before I could go back to my seat, I was escorted out of the building by a man with silvery-white hair in a suit. He had a very calming, humble, but authoritative presence. I knew he was someone important, and I felt very comfortable and safe with him. He told me he needed to consult with me about a gathering that would be held after the event ended. I asked him why he thought I should consult with him - I didn't even really feel I belonged here, and I had nothing valuable to offer. He just smiled at me and brushed off my concerns. He showed me a vision of the near future. In the vision, I noticed that outside, the weather was to become very bad. [The] wind would knock people off their feet, make buildings sway and even cause the ground to shake. As the vision ended,  I started to see it become a reality as the wind started to pick up and the sky started to turn darker. We walked towards a building that looked like a small, modest, but lovely temple. He told me, "This is what I had in mind. After the event, we can gather the people inside here." I replied, "With the weather becoming this way, I almost wonder if it's safe for them to even go outside to come here." He just looked at me again with that unaffected smile. I then said, "This truly is a beautiful place to gather, and it's really not that far from the event. If they all stay together, I know they'll get here safely." The man was very delighted at this and said that it was settled. Suddenly, I found myself away from that temple-like building and back on the outside grounds of the stadium. The man showed me another vision where I saw myself playing with my two children. I felt so much love for them, and a deep desire to protect and nurture them. I know I saw things I can't remember, and he must have said things I can't remember because I felt myself become emotional. The man then started to walk away. I looked at the sky and started to see a thick, dark cloud building. I don't know if I was still being shown a vision by the man, who was now gone, but it seemed very real and I no longer saw my kids. Nobody outside seemed to notice this dark cloud forming except for some stranger in the distance who was running my direction and towards the front doors of the stadium. He shouted that this dark cloud of smoke, or whatever it was, would consume and destroy us. I believed him, and as this cloud of smoke became bigger and quickly moved closer towards me, I followed behind that stranger and we ran into the building, and down many halls to get back inside the stadium. We got inside just in time. I could hear screaming and panic outside as the doors were sealed shut behind me. I was now back inside the red stadium with only a portion of the people who had originally been there. Less than half the invited group was there. I looked around me and saw people weeping bitterly for their loved ones who were outside. We all assumed that whatever that thick cloud of smoke was outside had destroyed everyone, and only we survived. Thinking of my family, especially my husband and two little kids, I started to weep too. I wept bitterly. It was true anguish that felt very real. The horrifying sadness on the faces of the people in the room with me was the most surreal part of the dream, and I felt their sadness myself. But then a voice was heard at the stage, that a few children had been rescued from outside just in time. A little boy was there who, from a distance, looked just like my 3-year-old son. I stood up and he noticed me and ran to me. As he approached me, I noticed that he still looked very much like my son, but different. He looked a little older. I asked him his name and he said, "Oliver." I hugged him in relief but asked why he looked older. He said he was five years old now, which made me wonder how much time had passed between when I left the stadium with the silver-haired man and when I had come back after escaping the storm. What was the cause of this 2-year jump in time? Had I been with the silver-haired man that long? I didn't understand, but I held him close to me, determined to never let go of him as the people in the room became anxious. The walls of the stadium became transparent so we could see through them to the halls, which we saw become overtaken by the dark smoke. I feared for a moment that the smoke would enter the stadium, too, but a voice told me the smoke could not enter where we were, and I believed the voice. But people around us were becoming hysterical, shoving each other and stealing bottles of water from each other. I cried out desperately, begging people to have faith and trust in each other, but no one heard me. I held my little boy close to me and then woke up.