[MUSIC PLAYING] Wilford Woodruff, prophet of the Lord and man of action. Though a deeply spiritual man, Wilford Woodruff was not only down on his knees in prayer, but up on his feet in the service of the Lord, accomplishing his tasks with uncommon physical energy, stamina, and strength. Much of his stamina may have come from his hearty Connecticut forebears. In this home, lived his grandfather, who it was said, did more work than any other man in Hartford County. His father, a farmer who had owned a sawmill, a flour mill, and herds of cattle, became poor himself by giving to the poor and had to labor 18 hours a day. As a boy, Wilford's super abundance of energy combined with a knack for accidents, resulted in so many close calls that a recitation of them all takes a whole chapter in his biography. Here's a sampling. Starting at the age of three, he fell into a cauldron of scalding water, then he was kicked by an ox, and just missed being gored by a surly bull. He was nearly smothered by a falling load of hay, barely escaped drowning one time, nearly froze to death another, and was bitten by a mad dog in the last stages of hydrophobia. By the age of 20, he had broken nearly every bone in his body and had narrowly escaped death many times. He attributed his lifelong misfortunes to a destructive power that sought to thwart his mission in life and his escapes from death to the watchcare of a merciful Providence. Young Wilford was a student of the scriptures and was seriously investigating religion by the age of 14, when he had begun to earn his own way. He says of his youthful searchings: "I had given myself up to the reading of the scriptures and to earnest prayer before God day and night. I had pleaded with the Lord many hours in the forest, among the rocks, and in the fields, and in the mill, often at midnight, for light and truth." The Lord answered the boy's prayer by showing him the way to the truth. Wilford first learned of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 26 through a newspaper article ridiculing the Church. Nevertheless, he was impressed and wanted to meet these Mormons. His opportunity came a year later, when he learned the two elders of the Church were to hold a meeting in the town schoolhouse. Wilford raced to the schoolhouse without waiting for his dinner, praying on the way that he might know if the missionaries were servants of God. That witness was forcefully given to him, and two days later, on the last day of the year 1833, he was baptized. He later described that December day: "The snow was about three feet deep. The day was cold, and the water was mixed with ice and snow. Yet, I did not feel the cold." Four months later, he met the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland for the first time. Wilford Woodruff became one of the great missionaries of the latter days and was instrumental in bringing over 2,000 people into the Church. What was responsible for his phenomenal success? Surely one factor was his inspired conviction and fervent testimony, and perhaps, it was partly sheer endurance. Immediately after being ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, he fulfilled a mission to the Southern States and trudged miles through alligator-infested swamps, through rain and darkness, without so much as a piece of bread to soothe the stomach. He faced wolves, angry apostates, and mobs fearlessly. He seems also to have possessed a flair for the dramatic and a good sense of timing. One night he arrived at an inn, mud-covered and exhausted from slogging through 10 miles of Tennessee swamps. Identifying himself as a preacher, he asked for dinner and a room. The landlord simply laughed in disbelief, but seeing an opportunity for a little amusement, he agreed to the bed and board, if such an unkempt traveler could indeed preach a sermon to a few of the local residents. Brother Woodruff needed a little amusement himself and decided to play along. He begged to be spared the preaching, but the more he pleaded, the more enthusiastic became the landlord. After dinner, the landlord had rounded up the Memphis elites, who in their fine silks and broadcloths came to the tavern prepared for a comedy act from the mud-caked youth. Then Wilford Woodruff arose and preached for an hour and a half, one of his best sermons. Certainly, the Spirit of the Lord was with him in his preaching. He wrote, "I made a covenant years ago that whatever the Lord impressed me to say, I would preach." On his first mission to England, his preaching was so powerful under the inspiration of the Lord that in this home, which belonged then to John Benbow of Hertfordshire, he converted a whole congregation of United Brethren who had been praying for light and truth, a constable who came to arrest him, and two spies sent by the Church of England, baptizing all together 600 people in this pool located on the same property. In between missions, he found time to marry Phoebe Carter, after a whirlwind courtship of two months. Both were 30 years of age at the time. His journal entry on the day of his marriage records the event on a page properly embellished for the occasion. On the following page, he composed a poem--one of many expressions of affection and respect for his beloved Phoebe. At 32, Wilford was called to be an Apostle of the Lord. Fifty years would elapse before he would be sustained as prophet, seer, and revelator to the Church. What was Elder Woodruff like in the years that he was becoming the man who would be prophet to the Church? He was a quick-spoken man with unbounded nervous energy. He says of himself: "I have been in a hurry all my life." Acquaintances describe him as of medium height, somewhat heavy set, and of a robust nature. They praised his industry and strengthen. Says one: "I've seen him load a thrashing machine with bundles from a stack, when three ordinary men complained of the task." He simply could not be idle. If not thrashing, then hoeing, pitching bundles of hay, or pruning fruit trees. His unhesitating approach to life is illustrated in an incident that occurred as the Mormons were crossing the plains. Indians had driven off many animals belonging to the Saints, including a horse and a mule belonging to Brother Woodruff. He joined in their successful recovery, describing the chase in his journal: "I put a saddle and bridle on a broken-down horse for want of a better one, and gave chase. While going up a ravine, an avalanche of some 30 Indians rushed down upon me and hedged me in. Within a few feet of me, a large Indian drew a gun. I presented a six shooter at his breast and gave a yell, which I had no sooner done, than he gave a whoop and ran up the hill. And the other Indians followed." He was an ardent hunter, who rarely came home empty-handed during the pioneer journey. He went trout fishing near Fort Bridger using, for the first time, some artificial flies he had brought from Liverpool. He bragged about catching 12 fish with his artificial flies, more than the rest of the camp of Israel put together using live bait. Years later, he fished the streams near Fish Lake in southern Utah after a stake conference was held there. Avid fishermen will understand the comments in his journal, closing a day of missionary activity, years before in England: "Ordained about 30, confirmed some, healed many who were sick, shook hands with about 400 Saints, walked two miles and ended with about four hours chimney-corner preaching. I then lay down to rest and dreamed of catching fish." As can be seen from that list of activities, Wilford Woodruff was a man with a meticulous eye for detail. He loved to make lists and count things. He had even counted the number of bricks going into his home in Nauvoo. This characteristic is best illustrated by a look at a page from his journal, recapping that year's activities: "I attended the solemn assembly and met 20 times with the quorum of the Seventies. I traveled Upper Canada, and six of the United States, and visited three islands of the sea, making a distance in all of 2,350 miles. I held 108 meetings. I baptized 21 persons--three were sea captains and three were kinsfolk." Elder Woodruff's careful record keeping led to one of his most important achievements--his contribution to Church historical records. To Wilford Woodruff we owe many details of written Church history, including sermons and sayings of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others. He had learned a little Pittman shorthand, which he used from time to time, but mostly he relied on an accurate memory. He considered his ability to remember the Prophet Joseph's sermons a gift from God. Later in his life, he was appointed Church historian, a position he held for over 30 years. This position was only one of many. Throughout his life, he gained experience in many diverse positions--as business manager for Times and Seasons, member of the territorial legislature, president of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, director of ZCMI.

Besides his other contributions, Elder Woodruff devoted much of his life to temple work. In 1877, he was appointed as the first president of the St. George Temple. Here he experienced some important manifestations: "The spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I called upon Brother McAllister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence and 50 other eminent men, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others." He experienced many other heavenly manifestations: "I have had the administration of angels in my day and time, though I never prayed for an angel. Joseph Smith visited me a great deal after his death and taught me many important principles. Among other things, he told me to get the spirit of God, that all of us needed it. Last winter I had many interviews with President Young and with Heber C. Kimball and George A. Smith and Jedediah M. Grant and many others who are dead." Elder Woodruff needed all the inspiration and instruction he could get because dark days were upon the Church. Non-Mormons violently opposed to plural marriage passed laws which sent many leaders of the Church to prison or into self-imposed exile. Brother Woodruff chose to go into exile in Arizona. Characteristically unable to waste time even in exile, Elder Woodruff spent a period preaching the gospel to the Indians. In November 1885, his beloved wife Phoebe died. Wilford, greatly grieved, returned to Salt Lake City but was forced to conceal himself in the Church Historian's Office to watch her funeral procession. Miraculously, he was not apprehended by officers of the law. At one time he was attending a meeting of the brethren, when deputy marshals surrounded the building. Brother Woodruff, seeing them from the Historian's Office, offered a silent prayer that the deputies would be blinded to him. He and his companions then walked from the building, passed the 20 marshals without their seeing him, and escaped. In 1887, President John Taylor died. Wilford Woodruff watched the funeral procession from the same spot where he had witnessed that of his wife two years previously. President Woodruff, now leader of the Church by virtue of his position as President of the Council of the Twelve, accepted the position humbly: "It is a position I never looked for, but I pray God to give me grace equal to my day." Though subject to arrest, President Woodruff came to the Tabernacle during the semiannual general conference of that year. He entered during the afternoon session to a thunder of applause from his people. After speaking briefly, he left early to avoid arrest. During these precarious years, the President led the Church while in exile. Arrests for plural marriage continued. The Church was losing property through unfair taxation and confiscation. The Saints were torn between obeying a law of God or a law of the land. President Woodruff appealed to the Lord and finally presented the answer to the Saints in the form of the Manifesto, an official declaration that the Church would submit to the laws of the land in not permitting the practice of plural marriage. In October conference of 1890, the Saints unanimously adopted the Manifesto as a revelation from God. To those pained by the declaration, the prophet explained: "The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. All temple ordinances would be stopped, confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. But I want to say this. I should have let all the temples go out of our hands. I should have gone to prison myself and let every other man go there, had not the God in heaven commanded me to do what I did do. I went before the Lord and I wrote what the Lord told me to write." President Woodruff's earthly assignment was nearly at its end, but he lived to witness the completion of the Salt Lake Temple, which had been 40 years in construction, and to dedicate that sacred structure. Three years later, he saw the granting of statehood to the territory of Utah. For this event, awaited by the Saints for 45 years, business houses were draped in bunting, and a huge flag made in the local clothing factory covered the ceiling of the Tabernacle. The health of President Woodruff had been failing for several years. Finally, in San Francisco, he died at the age of 91. He requested that no one wear black as a sign of mourning and that on the head of his grave, a marble slab be placed, stating that he died in the faith and in the fellowship of the Saints. He was the first Church President to preserve his audible testimony. And this one, borne near the end of his life, witnesses to his unwavering faith and his loyalty to the Prophet Joseph. Although the recording is primitive, still it is possible to feel his deliberate strength: "I bear my testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, ordained of God to lay the foundation of His Church and Kingdom in the last dispensation and fulness of times. ... "The Prophet Joseph laid down his life for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, and he will be crowned as a martyr in the presence of God and the Lamb. In all his testimony to us the power of God was visibly manifest in the Prophet Joseph. "This is my testimony, spoken by myself into a talking machine on this the nineteenth day of March, 1897, in the ninety-first year of my age. Wilford Woodruff." [MUSIC PLAYING]