Marvelous Work and a Wonder® Testimonials

Hello. My name is Jean Crystal Stephensen. I grew up in Brigham City, Utah in a big Mormon family. My whole world was the church. I grew up believing I needed a religion and that I needed to be a member of the LDS church to be accepted. I believed that was the only way to make sure our family could be together forever: you paid your tithing so you could get sealed in the temple, and that was the promise. That was the plan.

I followed the plan. I married young and we had seven beautiful children. My husband was a hard-working man and a good provider. We built the life we were supposed to build. But after my last baby, something in me shifted. I didn’t want to go to church anymore, so I stopped going. This put a great strain on our marriage. We divorced after 18 years of marriage.

I learned to surrender my will to my ex-husband. We had joint custody, but I decided I wasn’t going to fight him. He wanted religion and I did not. But I knew better than to battle him in court and put the kids through that. Even though it must have looked like I abandoned them, I knew in my heart how much I loved them. I tried to see them as much as I could, but between trying to make a living and just surviving… it was overwhelming. In a lot of ways, I just shut down.

I knew I couldn’t share the new things I was learning—in the books of the MWAW and just in life in general—with my kids. I knew their dad would have fought me on it. So I made a choice: I backed away and let him raise them in the Mormon faith.

I did share The Humanity Party^® with one of my children. She wanted to hear about it. There was a time I asked each one of them if they’d be interested in knowing what I had found, what had made me so happy. Each one of them said no. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do, and it caused a separation from some of my children. They just don’t want to talk about it at all, and that’s been hard.

All those things I used to believe? I don’t believe in religion anymore. It was my whole foundation. I didn’t have a foundation in myself—it was in religion, in God, in family, in country. I was miserable because I was believing in everyone and everything outside of myself. I no longer have that. Now I see it’s simple: love yourself, and love everyone the same.

Sometimes I don’t think, and I do things to hurt other people. I’m not proud of it, but I know when I’m hurting someone else, I’m only really hurting myself.

Back in 2010, I was living in my mom’s basement, taking care of her in her final years. I was still trying to see my kids as much as possible. A good friend contacted me and told me there were some books online that I should look at. She said to see if there was one I wanted to read.

Now, I’m not a reader. I never liked school. I was always in resource classes where they helped you learn on your level. I was always behind and never at the grade that I was supposed to be in for my age. My crazy brain jumbles up letters and numbers. When I would try to read in school, I had a hard time. I barely graduated. Reading was never something important to me.

I think I tried to read the Book of Mormon in seminary, but I didn’t understand it. So when my friend told me that The Sealed Portion had been translated, I didn’t even know what it was. But I downloaded all the free books online of the Marvelous Work and a Wonder^®. It was kind of strange—why did I suddenly want to read these books when I usually don’t read?

The first book I read was Human Reality—Who We Are and Why We Exist! Then I read the 666 book. Then I read the Temple book (Sacred, not Secret). Then it was time for The Sealed Portion. That was a big book to get through! My friend got me a physical copy, and I started reading it alongside the Book of Mormon.

While I was reading all these books, it just kept coming to me: “It’s simple. It’s so simple.” The simple truth of loving oneself and loving others. I was putting it all together when I remembered a song my mom taught us in Primary: “As I have loved you, love one another.”

I am so grateful for the time I had reading these books at my mom’s house, helping and serving her before she left this life. Sometimes you think you know how your life’s going to turn out, but you never really do. Helping my mom gave me the opportunity to find this work, and I will forever be grateful for that time when life slowed down and I could be taught truth.

As time went on, another book came out: the Joseph Smith book. It was so powerful. I love that book. I read it and re-read it. Every time I do, it seems like I get a little bit more information about that time, learning about what they went through. It helps me in my life today, knowing there’s always two sides to every story.

I had a few relationships I just didn’t want to give up. Because I chose to hold on to those toxic relationships, things got really hard. I got so low I wanted to leave this world. But I kept being reminded to read the 666 book. So I did. It opened my eyes again about pride—how I wanted to do everything my way, all on my own I realized I needed to ask for help from my friends and family. Mentally and emotionally, I just couldn’t do it alone anymore.

The week after I read the 666 book and got my feet planted back on the ground, two good friends from this work come to me and help me fix my car. On the very same day, my brother showed up to visit. It was a reminder for me that I wasn’t alone.

Time went on, and I still wouldn’t give up that toxic relationship. I moved and I held onto it. I was homeless, and I held onto it. Once again, my friends invited me to live and work with them. But I still held onto that relationship. It wasn’t until I came back to Utah and had to face it that I finally let it go. And letting go set me free.

This all happened because I kept believing in and reading the different books of the Marvelous Work and a Wonder^®. Like Ida Smith used to say, “Read the damn books,” again and again. She was always such a sweet lady. I did get to meet her before she died. And I’ve met so many nice people in this work.

From 2010 to now, 2025, so many books have come out: Pentateuch Illuminated, The True History of Religion, A New American Scripture, Suicide and the Eternal Nature of the Soul. And I know of two more coming: One People, One World, One Government and The Dream of Mortal Life. I look forward to reading these books that are coming.

I challenge anyone to read these books. Go to the website. Look and see if any of them resonate with you, because that’s what I did. And my life will forever be changed because of it.

I hope every day to be kinder, to show more love for myself and for everyone around me.

I leave my email and phone number, and welcome anyone to contact me.

Have a great day. 😊💗

Jean Stephensen

385-578-7073

jean70crystal@gmail.com