Nauvoo Carthage

 I learned that the night before the martyrdom, Joseph, Hyrum, and the six friends who had come with them to keep them company, sat in the debtors cell and spoke of the things of God. One man there said that Joseph and Hyrum were filled with joy that their race was almost complete and that they would soon commune with God. That was the first time I had heard that. All other accounts focus on Joseph’s fear of death at the hands of the mob and his gut-wrenching sadness at saying goodbye to his family for the last time in this mortal life. I think it’s entirely possible that all those accounts are true. Could you not feel all those things? It lifted my spirits to know that Joseph and Hyrum felt joy, too, in the midst of all those other emotions. It feels right that they should.