The Conversion of Albert Brown

In 1833, Zera Pulsipher, an early Latter-day Saint missionary, was threshing grain in his barn when he heard the voice of the Lord commanding him to go to the north. Obedient to this divine prompting, Pulsipher called upon a neighbor, Brother Cheney, and the two traveled sixty miles on foot through deep snow in February. The first place they felt spiritually impressed to stop was the home of Albert Brown and his brother.

When Albert Brown arrived, he found his house and dooryard filled with people listening to the missionaries. He noted that the gospel sermon he heard was exactly what he had been seeking since his boyhood. Albert invited the missionaries to stay at his home and borrowed a copy of the Book of Mormon from them. He stayed up the entire night reading the sacred record. By morning, the Holy Ghost had witnessed the truth of the book to him so powerfully that he approached Zera Pulsipher and requested immediate baptism, stating, 'I had a testimony for myself that those principles were true.'

Albert and his brother became the first individuals in their county to be baptized. Albert Brown remained faithful throughout his life, serving as a member of Zion's Camp, migrating west with the pioneers, and eventually being ordained a patriarch by Wilford Woodruff in 1897. This account stands as a testament to the Lord's detailed guidance in missionary work and the converting power of the Book of Mormon, showing how an earnest seeker of truth was divinely led to the restored gospel.