Wilford Woodruff's Vision of Thousands of Lamanites Entering the Temple
Published August 26, 2026 at 6:26 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
During the Salt Lake Temple dedication discourses in April 1893, President Wilford Woodruff alluded to a vision he had received in which he saw "thousands of the Lamanites [Native Americans] enter the temple by the door in the west end of the [Temple] previously unknown to him." In the vision, these Lamanite worshippers took charge of the temple and performed ordinance work with remarkable efficiency, doing as much ordinance work in an hour as the other brethren could do in a day. Woodruff referenced this vision repeatedly during the dedication sessions, understanding it as a prophetic glimpse of the future fulfillment of Book of Mormon promises, when the remnants of the Book of Mormon peoples would come to the Lord's house in great numbers.
In Their Own Words
“During the April 1893 dedication services, Wilford Woodruff repeatedly alluded to a vision in which there appeared to him "thousands of the Lamanites [Native Americans] enter[ing] the temple by the door in the west end of the [Temple] previously unknown to him. They took charge of the temple and could do as much ordinance work in an hour as the other brethren could do in a day."”
— Wilford Woodruff, describing his vision during the Salt Lake Temple dedication discourses, April 1893; recorded by two Latter-day Saints in attendance at the services — Jesse Nathaniel Smith, a Seventy and stake president serving in the First Council of the Seventy, in his journal under date of 8 April 1893, and Joseph West Smith in his journal under 12 April 1893 (as quoted in Brian H. Stuy, "Come Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 31, no. 3)
Sources & References
Brian H. Stuy, "Come Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord": The Salt Lake Temple Dedication, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 31, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 115-140. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/come-let-us-go-up-to-the-mountain-of-the-lord-the-salt-lake-temple-dedication/ ; Jesse Nathurnal Smith Journal, 8 Apr. 1893; Joseph West Smith Journal, 12 Apr. 1893, as quoted in Brian H. Stuy, 'Come Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord,' Dialogue 31, no. 3 (Fall 1998): https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/come-let-us-go-up-to-the-mountain-of-the-lord-the-salt-lake-temple-dedication/
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