Arthur Farnsworth's Miraculous Conversion through the Inspiration of a Hymn
Published October 20, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Contributed by
Young Woman's Journal Research
Arthur Farnsworth, a lawyer (also described as a scholar) who was investigating the doctrines of the Church, recounted that while hunting near the settlement of C— on Christmas Eve, he heard singing from a house. Looking through the window, he saw Mina Nordgren singing a hymn while two elderly people listened. The song and the scene filled him with wonder and inspired his conviction of the truth of the Gospel; he described the experience as the moment he knew the truth, and it eventually led him to leave his home and reconcile his faith with his life path.
In Their Own Words
““T was hunting that afternoon and was rather late returning. As I ‘crossed the fields I was attracted by someone’s singing. Iooked around me and discovered a light almost hidden among the trees. I drew near and listened, such a song, Mina! It filled me with wonder, it was so different from anything I had ever heard before. I felt that I must see the singer, so I crept to the window and looked in, such a scene! those two white-haired old people and you playing and singing for them. He rose and took her hand,— “Mina, when I saw you then I felt that the angels had forgotten one of their number on earth and I longed to go in and hear you sing as you sang for those old people, but reverence so filled my soul, that I dared not, so I turned‘away. I never forgot that scene, it was my conversion, Mina. From that day forth, though I knew it not, I was a Mormon. — The Young Woman's Journal 25:3”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 25 no. 3 (March 1914). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/17344 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 25 no. 3 (March 1914). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/17344 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high)
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