Elder Joseph F. Hintze and Elder T. A. Nelson's Miraculous Success in South Africa
Published October 15, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
Elder Joseph F. Hintze and Elder T. A. Nelson, while laboring in South Africa, traveled among farmers and diamond diggers along the Vaal River. During their trip, they held meetings in packed houses, including one in a schoolhouse where the audience consisted entirely of Dutch-speaking people who could not understand English. With the assistance of a school teacher who interpreted for them, they experienced a breakthrough that left the people desirous to hear more of their teachings. The incident resulted in the distribution of numerous books and tracts.
In Their Own Words
“Elder T. A. Nelson and myself have just returned from a trip among the farmers and diamond diggers along the Vaal River. We held two good meetings, one at Warrenton and the other in a country schoolhouse. The houses were packed and the people expressed themselves as being well pleased with our views of the first principles of the gospel. At the latter meeting the people were all Dutch and could not understand English, but we were favored with the assistance of a school teacher, who interpreted what we said. Our message to them was somewhat of an awakening, and when we left they were all desirous of meeting us again to hear more about our teachings. We sold them four Books of Mormon and a hundred and twenty-five small books, and gave away forty books and several hundred tracts. This kind of success fills our hearts with joy and makes us feel that the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.”
— Joseph F. Hintze, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), Vol. 73, No. 38 (1911). https://archive.org/details/millennialstar7338eng (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 73, No. 38 (1911), p. 606 https://archive.org/details/millennialstar7338eng Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 73, No. 38 (1911), p. 606 https://archive.org/details/millennialstar7338eng
Filed under
Related Miracles
Similar miracle types and stories from the 1910s.
Miracle of the Week
One remarkable, documented account in your inbox every Monday, drawn from the full archive.