Young missionary preached with 'honest, straightforward, God-like simplicity'
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When Wilford Woodruff was a boy, he would ask his Sunday School teachers why there were no apostles and prophets anymore. The answer - "Apostles and prophets are all done away with, because they're no longer needed" - failed to satisfy him.
"Under these circumstances," wrote Andrew Jenson, assistant Church historian in 1901, "Wilford Woodruff could only turn to the Lord in prayer for guidance and find comfort in reading and believing the prophecies and doctrines of the Holy Bible." (LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, p. 20.)In 1832, Wilford felt strongly inspired to go to Rhode Island, but disregarded the impression, as he had already arranged to move to Richland, N.Y., with his brother, Azmon. A year after settling down to farming and milling, two Mormon elders came to their area, preaching the restored gospel, and Wilford and Azmon immediately received a testimony and asked for baptism.
Wilford later learned that at the time he received the impression to visit Rhode Island, elders had been preaching there, and had he heeded the inspiration, he would have had the opportunity to receive the gospel a year earlier.
Having a desire to preach the gospel himself, Wilford first served as a missionary in 1834, achieving legendary status as one of the Church's most effective missionaries.
"The ministry of Elder Woodruff was not attended with the eloquence of speech, nor the well-skilled argument which attend the labors of some men, but there was an earnestness in his talk and movement, and an honest straight-forward, God-like simplicity in his plain statement of truth, accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit, which carried early conviction to the hearts of all who were honestly seeking after truth," wrote Jenson.
During one eight-month period in Great Britain, Wilford Woodruff brought into the Church some 1,800 people, including a congregation of 600 United Brethren.
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
Articles on this page may be used in conjunction with the gospel doctrine course of study.
Information compiled by Elayne Wells and Kellene Ricks.
Sources: LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, by Andrew Jenson; Profiles of the Presidents, by Emerson R. West.
