Russell M. Nelson wrote:One autumn night in 1957, Dantzel awakened me with a very special announcement. She said, ‘‘During the night I had a remarkable vision. It was more than just a dream. I saw a little baby boy. He was a very special, handsome child. He had a round face and lots of hair; he looked just like you! I had a wonderful visit with him.”
I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to this announcement at the time, even though our sixth child was on its way. I began to pay more attention to it, however, as repeatedly over the next few years she indicated she had received a visit from this same little boy. In fact, it became so much a part of our life that after one of these visions she would simply say, “I saw him again. He’s such a sweet and special young boy.”
Over the years from that first manifestation, we greeted Emily, Laurie, Rosalie, and Marjorie into our family, each one bringing her own special spirit. Yet, Dantzel had the firm conviction that our family was not completed. Therefore, in her forty-sixth year, not enjoying the best of health, she willingly and selflessly embarked on her tenth pregnancy. We had a beautiful family of nine daughters. We had been married over twenty-six years. She knew the statistics were not favorable for a multiparous person such as she, in her forty-sixth year, to have another baby. None of that dissuaded her, for her faith was strong.
On January 22, 1972, I was in Sun Valley, Idaho, speaking at a meeting of the Idaho Heart Association. I was given a very lovely room in the Sun Valley Lodge—a fire in the fireplace and all that went with it. All alone in that room, I retired for the evening. In the middle of the night I was awakened with a very real experience. I cannot remember who gave the message—that is of no importance. But I do remember as surely as I live that it was announced to me that this time Dantzel’s pregnancy was with a son, he who had been appearing to her through the years. Furthermore, it was impressed upon my mind that his name should be Russell Marion Nelson, Jr.
The following morning I called Dantzel long distance and told her of the experience. She was moved by it, for she knew that with each of the nine children prior to this, the discussion of an alternative name, should it have been a boy, had never included Russell Marion Nelson, Jr. We had a bit of prejudice against having a young man called “Junior.” But we knew this had been an experience that deserved considerable attention and so we planned accordingly.
Source: Russell M. Nelson's Autobiography
From Heart to Heart, Chapter 35, pp. 261-262
https://archive.org/details/from-heart- ... -m.-nelson
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