Without Purse or Script

I love how the Lord takes care of those who are on a service errand preaching of God.  In this case, Brother Wilford Woodruff was sent on a mission without purse or script, preaching the word of the Lord.  In every instance of his mission, no harm came upon him.  He did, however, suffer through the tempests and storms, the unfriendliness of others, lots of wading through mud, travelling sometimes over 50 miles a day by foot to get to where the Lord wanted him to go without the sustenance of food.

To preface this story, he was protected from certain death by the hand of the Lord.

On the 16th of November I preached at Brother Camp’s and baptized three. On the day following, it being Sunday, I preached again at Brother Clapp’s and baptized five. 

At the close of the meeting I mounted my horse to ride to Clark’s River, in company with Seth Utley, four other brethren and two sisters. The distance was twenty miles.

We came to a stream, which was so swollen by rains, that we could not cross without swimming our horses. To swim would not be safe for the females, so we went up the stream to find a ford. In the attempt we were overtaken by a severe storm of wind and rain, and lost our way in the darkness, and wandered through creeks and mud. But the Lord does not forsake His Saints in any of their troubles. While we were in the woods suffering under the blast of the storm, groping like the blind for the wall, a bright light suddenly shone around us and revealed to us our dangerous situation on the edge of a gulf. The light continued with us until we found the road; we then went on our way rejoicing, though the darkness returned and the rain continued.

We reached Brother Henry Thomas’ in safety about nine o’clock at night, having been five hours in the storm and forded streams many times. None of us felt to complain, but were thankful to God for His preserving care.

This story came from the Wilford Woodruff papers 1882 biography.