Wilford Woodruff Journal 1: The Night He Was Baptized, the Spirit Bore Witness So Powerfully He Rose to His Feet to Testify

On December 29, 1833, two missionaries — Elders Zera Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney — knocked on the door of Wilford Woodruff's brother Azmon in Richland, New York. Twenty-six-year-old Wilford was boarding with his brother. The elders invited them to a meeting at the local schoolhouse that evening.

Wilford went. He had been searching for years for a church that had the spiritual gifts he read of in the New Testament — prophecy, healing, tongues, revelation. He recorded what happened:

'Elder Pulsipher opened with prayer. He knelt down and asked the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ for what he wanted. His manner of prayer and the influence which went with it impressed me greatly. The spirit of the Lord rested upon me and bore witness that he was a servant of God. After singing, he preached to the people for an hour and a half. The Spirit of God rested mightily upon him and he bore a strong testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon and of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I believed all that he said. The spirit bore witness of its truth. Elder Cheney then arose and added his testimony.

Liberty was then given by the elders to anyone in the congregation to arise and speak for or against what they had heard, as they might choose. Almost instantly I found myself upon my feet. The spirit of the Lord urged me to bear testimony to the truth of the message delivered by these elders. I exhorted my neighbors and friends not to oppose these men; for they were the true servants of God. They had preached to us that night the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.'

Two days later — December 31, 1833 — Wilford and three others were baptized in water mixed with ice and snow. He had finally found what he had been searching for. Two months later he wrote to his father: he had found 'the everlasting gospel.'

Wilford Woodruff would go on to serve as the fourth President of the Church, to record 7,000 manuscript pages of journals spanning 1833–1898, and to be one of the most spiritually gifted figures in LDS history. It all began with this one meeting, this one burning witness from the Spirit on a winter's night in New York.