I haven't seen this string in a while but I wanted to comment on my and my family's experience when we went to see Testaments last week. Granted it was the day before my son went into the MTC making us a little more sensitive but even with that based on the strings here I had a unique experience.

I'm going to give away a little of the plot so stand warned.

We went into the theater as a family with my aunt and her family. My wife and I had discussed and read the strings here and wondered what was the problem. We had not discussed this with my children or other family members. my prayer as the film started and during the film was that I would understand the message and decide for myself if it was a good film and that the Spirit would touch all of us.

Making a film like this is unique in that you want to touch those who are sensitive. Anything can be picked apart if you go with that intent. I am not a film or book critic. Many of you may criticize me for that since I am uneducated in that field. I know what I like and that is all. I liked this film and felt it was worthy of replacing Legacy. Every time I asked in my heart during the film why would someone find fault in a certain part an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me to the point of tears. I felt consistently touched by the Spirit. I also noticed when it was over that all of my family and my aunt's family had tears in their eyes.

Here was what I saw. The film centered on the people in the Americas and the individual testimonies of some of the members and the teachers or what could have been construed as one of the prophets at that time. He was fictional as were all of the characters except Jesus. It began with a young boy seeing the new star presumably on the night after the day and night and day which was as one day. The sign had been given of the birth of the Savior. It then jumped to that young man as a father bearing his testimony that he knew the Savior had been born because he had seen the sign of His birth and would manifest himself to them one day. He had to deal with a son who had not gained a testimony as well as those who were not believers. The timeline wasn't perfect especially when it came to the murder of the Governor but that was okay.

One of the scenes that really touched me was when the young woman who the son was in love with gained her testimony of the living Savior while she was reading the sacred records. The only way to describe that scene was she had a vision of the Savior teaching in the Old World and thus gained a powerful testimony. One of the others (of many) was when the son gained his testimony as he was a captive to what could be construed to be the Gadianton band and the rescue by the father who lost his sight in an accident while rescuing his son during the great earthquake and storm at the time of the Savior's crucifixion.

The bottom line to myself and my family was by going with the correct Spirit and with a prayer in our hearts we saw this totally different than had been expected. The feelings in my heart were real and powerful. But I went wanting to see a message and could not comment on the art because the message was so strong and clear. I'm not saying that what was said here was wrong but my experience was definitely much different. All my wife told me was: "I don't agree with what they said about this movie." I have to agree with her.

Jerry Tyner