Early each morning, the boy reads the Book of Mormon and then prays to know that it is true. He did not understand much of 2 Nephi. He sort of understood Mosiah. He really liked Alma and the war chapters because he loves Top Gun and Patton and Iron Eagle, and he thinks he wants to be a war hero.
Now, he is in 3 Nephi 11, and this he understands. Light has broken three days of darkness, and the people are hearing a voice that at first they cannot understand. As he reads, he feels warmth in his chest beginning to radiate. The people finally hear the voice’s words on the third time, and when he reads, “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him!” he feels strangely happy all over his body. Then Jesus descends and says, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.”
Now, he stops because he cannot see the page anymore. He is by himself and everything is perfectly still. Then the thought comes to him, “And now you know. What you feel is real, and no matter what happens in your life, you can never deny that this happened and that you got your answer.”
He does not know that this is the first chapter missionaries are taught to give to investigators. He does not know that the Church continually calls out this chapter, makes films and art about it, and references it in pamphlets and in talks. He knows only that he is ten years old, that he was reading, that he understood, and that he knew.
The Living and the Dead, by Gordon Laws 