As the Book of Mormon is very concerned with the history of the Native Americans, Mormons have always been interested in spreading the Gospel to them.  Apostle Francis Marion Lyman went on a number of missions to the American Indian tribes throughout Utah, some of which were partly focused on making certain these tribes had fertile land to work with, beyond teaching the Gospel as revealed through Joseph Smith.

In May 1883, Apostle Lyman acted as a Mormon missionary to the Utes in the Uintah Basin.  He took a small party with him and, initially, the journey went very badly.  The wagons broke down, some of both wagons and supplies had to be temporarily abandoned, and although the party was able to reach Current Creek, they had to wait for the retrieval of some of those supplies before proceeding.

While they waited, Apostle Lyman went out with his gun.  He felt an impulse to climb a nearby mountain and did so.  At the top of the mountain was a table-size, table-style stone, which he sat on.

Apostle Lyman had no specific plan as to how he ought to undertake this mission given him by the Mormon Church.  President Taylor, the Mormon prophet at the time, had told him “that he was personally entitled to a knowledge of the work, and the spirit of his mission.”  There were a number of potential difficulties up ahead – and the primary one of these was the agents.  Should Apostle Lyman preach to the Indians without their permission or speak to the agents first?  To ask permission of the agents might be to be refused, in which case he couldn’t even begin preaching.  This had happened to other Mormon missionaries.

Apostle Lyman lifted these thoughts and worries to the Lord in prayer, mentioning further “that the agents at Uintah and Ouray were bitterly opposed to the Mormons and their doctrines” but the mission needed to be successful.  He asked “that God might guide me aright, and soften the hearts of the agents with favor towards us and our cause.”

As he prayed, the wind, which had formerly been nonexistent, started up.  During the course of his prayer, it strengthened.  By the end of his prayer, he was hardly able to remain on the rock.  When he finished in full, the wind dropped away, and he returned to camp, convinced that the Lord would have him visit the agents and then preach to the Indians – that this was right. 

The mission was delayed further, however – Apostle Lyman became desperately ill and feared he was about to die.  But one of the other brethren was able to administer to him through the priesthood.  He recovered and the mission proceeded.

If the journey to the Uintah basis was difficult, the mission itself went remarkably well.  Both the Ute Indians and the agents acted very favorably and kindly toward the missionaries.  And among these missionaries were Utes, who were also and already Mormon, and bore “powerful and fearless testimonies.” 

The Utes of the Uintah basin “were largely converted and baptized, and both chiefs and laymen rejoiced in the word of God.” 

– This story is taken and paraphrased from Preston Nibley’s Missionary Experiences, published in 1942 by Deseret Book.  The original source of this story comes from an early Improvement Era’s retelling of Apostle Lyman’s experience.  You may want to check out the book and read the complete story.