The following comes from my handwritten journal regarding the birth of my 2nd son, David Christian. Some of the wording is awkward, it was before computers and I was writing in pen with no option for corrections. The writing was impromptu and a lot was left out because I was reluctant to write overly much. I have skipped the introduction and gone straight to the text:
“It was Saturday night in late January of 1971 directly after a General Priesthood meeting held in the Auburn Stake Center in Auburn, Washington. Maureen and I, John and Lana Mackey, (the folks that baptized us), and David and Peggy Wilson, had all gone to dinner together at the Red Lotus restaurant in Auburn. Maureen was pregnant with our fourth child and was highly uncomfortable, she expected to deliver in five to six weeks.
As the evening wore on the conversation turned to babies and Maureen chided me into sharing a “vision” I had about this particular pregnancy. Perhaps two or three weeks earlier while catnapping in the middle of the day I had a dream surrounding this child as yet unborn.
I was upstairs in our home at 26212 68th Ave East in Graham, Washington. It was unusually sunny for a Saturday afternoon in January as I lay down briefly in the first bedroom on the left at the top of the stairs. Dozing off I dreamt that Maureen would check into the hospital at exactly 2:30 PM in Good Samaritan hospital on the 6th of April to birth our child. I somehow knew that our child would be a boy and that his birth would occur between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM and that his name would be David Christian Neal. A special day in church history as it is the day the church was founded as well as the birthdate of Jesus.
I further dreamed that this boy would rise to positions of leadership and that he would be a blessing to many…. After relating this experience to our friends I took a lot of ribbing. Particularly from my wife who was not at all interested in carrying a child a full extra month beyond her due date as she was already quite miserable and was planning for an early delivery. The kidding continued and I finally announced that I really did believe what I had said. Brothers’ Mackey and Wilson suggested that if the baby were a boy actually born on the 6th of April they should be happy to take me to dinner at the Cliff House Restaurant. – The most expensive place in Tacoma – However, were I wrong they felt I should correspondingly provide them with dinner.
Of course David Christian was born on April 6th at 7:25 in the evening. The especially amazing thing is the admittance form reads 2:30 PM exactly as the time Maureen entered the hospital. An interesting detail. Maureen and I had previous to my dream/vision agreed to name the child, were it a boy “Mathew James” a name I had selected before Michael Aaron was born. When Mike was born Maureen advised me that “this isn’t Mathew James,” so now I advised Maureen that neither was this son.
David Wilson did take me to the Cliff House with John Mackey sending me an official telegram congratulating me on being a Prophet. (A nice touch) ….”
I have keyed the above from an old journal, but I still vividly remember many other details not included in my initial handwritten story. David’s arrival was long before anyone was able to determine the sex of a child prior to birth. There were no pre-scheduled deliveries by date or time. Simply to speak out confidently about the sex of a child, much less the exact time and date of his birth was no small matter. I still remember seeing the clock on the wall in my dream, the same clock I was to see three months later when checking Maureen into the hospital. The time was registering exactly 2:30, it was both inspiring and unsettling – I absolutely knew that something very powerful was going on but could never get a grip on just what it meant. Early on I was to speculate on the significance of my premonitions of David’s birth, however many years ago I stopped trying to make reason of it. What I do know is that it happened and that it has effected me to some extent for my entire life since.
The strong and powerful feelings I felt about the impending birth of this child were unique and left no doubt in my mind that something very significant was going on. Even today as I think back upon the entire experience so briefly told above, I am in awe.
Terry L Neal
PS Maureen having read the above corrects my handwritten journal to say that although I had hoped to name our first son Matthew James, Maureen was set on naming our first son David Aaron. When our first son arrived she told me “this son is not David.” Evidently she had already discounted Matthew James as the name for our son.