One wintry day in Oklahoma, a faithful Latter-day Saint family, the Wilford Orson Scott family, recalled seeing a lone figure walking down the cold, snowy path. It was a missionary who had walked for miles hoping to find a place for the night. But the Scott home was quarantined with smallpox. The elder called for the family members who were well enough to meet him at the gate. There, they sang a hymn, had a prayer, and the elder trudged on through the snow for another six miles before finding shelter for the night.

Often much is made of missionary successes. But missionary efforts of the past have also included long toil, great sacrifice and little success. Such efforts are a profile of the dedication of these heroic missionaries. And few areas are as representative of this dedication amidst difficulty as the work in Oklahoma and Arkansas the last decades of the 19th century.

In 1885, one of two new missionaries was Andrew Kimball, later to be father of President Spencer W. Kimball. "The mosquitos from the swamps set the elders wild." (Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 15-16.) "Their legs were bitten raw by chiggers, fleas and ticks. By August, Andrew had malaria." He would be beset with chills, fever and headache at noon, suffer until 2 p.m., then after a profuse sweat, the fever would leave him. Ill, the two companions received letters of release. Elder Kimball's companion returned to Salt Lake City, but Elder Kimball declined his release. "I have the priesthood," he said. "I will get well and prefer to stay."

"He stayed another year and a half, walking long miles, sometimes in wet clothes, wading swamps, sleeping in the woods, missing many good meals, sweating, cramped and chilled, day after day."

After his release, Elder Kimball was called as mission president. He saw branches started, and the first meetinghouses built. But perhaps his greatest accomplishment was his love for missionary work, which was instilled into his son, who continued with his father's dedication. — from "History of the Church ... in Eastern Oklahoma," by Lynetta K. Bingham, Bonnie Lee Blamires, Clara Laster and Lenet Read, 1980