Gospel Art Picture Kit
President of the Church, 1889–1898
When Wilford Woodruff heard the testimonies of two missionaries on 29 December 1833, he was quick to recognize the truth and was baptized just two days later. Because of his humility and willingness to serve, he was called “Wilford the Faithful” (see Preston Nibley, The Presidents of the Church [1974], 101).
He wrote this advice about family harmony to his 19-year-old daughter: “We are expecting to live together forever after death. I think we all as parents and children ought to take all the pains we can to make each other happy as long as we live that we may have nothing to regret” (quoted in Dean C. Jessee, “Wilford Woodruff,” in The Presidents of the Church, ed. Leonard J. Arrington [1986], 137).
To the young people he taught: “I feel to exhort and counsel you, my young friends, to listen to the voice of God and obey it while young, as Samuel did, that you may be great, good, and useful, and the beloved of the Lord and your parents. … Your eternal destiny for time and eternity, will in a great measure depend upon the foundation which you lay in the days of your youth” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, sel. G. Homer Durham [1946], 265–66).
Summary
Wilford Woodruff, fourth President of the Church, quickly recognized the truth of the gospel and was baptized two days after hearing the message. He entered the Great Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young on 24 July 1847. He taught the young people “to listen to the voice of God and obey it.” He said to them, “Your eternal destiny for time and eternity, will in a great measure depend upon the foundation which you lay in the days of your youth.”
Artist, H. E. Peterson
© 1997 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA
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