The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that elders would be sent on the first missions to England from Far West on April 26th, 1839 (see D&C 118). This actually happened after the saints were exterminated from Missouri and settled in Nauvoo. However, Brigham Young, one of the missionaries, was determined to begin his mission from Far West, to fulfill the Prophet's prophecy. Anti-Mormon sentiment was extremely high and mob members swore that it would not happen. A saint named Theodore Turley rebutted and said it would. It did indeed happen, starting at midnight, on the morning of April 26th. The meeting lasted until daybreak and then the missionaries were off to England. Turley was so excited that he immediately left the meeting and went to the house of a former member (who had actually baptized Turley). The wife answered the door and went to tell her husband of Turley's arrival. Upon hearing who was at the door, the man said, "What day is it?" Surely the Lord caused enemies of the saints to forget the day!
The elders were very successful; a census taken in the early years of Utah showed that 1 in 5 households were either descendents from or a direct result of the first missions to England.
A final thing about Far West is that it has been revealed that it is the place were Cain slew Abel.
No comments:
Post a Comment