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What was the setting of Wilford Woodruff's first sermon to "a large number of people" after he was baptized?
Here's answer to week's question
After he was baptized in 1833, Wilford Woodruff preached the gospel only to small groups or in one-on-one conversations until he went to the Southern States as a missionary. "Penniless, dirty and footsore," he arrived in Memphis, Tenn., on March 27, 1835.
He went to the best inn in Memphis and asked the owner, Josiah Jackson, for lodging and food for the night. With suspicions aroused by the traveler's shabby appearance, Mr. Jackson inquired about his business. Elder Woodruff told him he was a preacher of the gospel. Doubting the truth of the statement, Mr. Jackson decided to make a sport of him and offered to put him up for the night if he would preach.
A large crowd assembled to witness the expected humiliation of the newcomer. After praying for the Spirit of the Lord to "show me in the hearts of the people," Elder Woodruff spoke about an hour and a half. He later said it was one of the best sermons of his life.
Source: Wilford Woodruff - Wondrous Worker, Prophet of God by Francis M. Gibbons, pp. 18-19.
