It was 1840.  Wilford Woodruff still had plenty of missionary work to do among the receptive townspeople of Hanley, England when he received an impression from the Lord that he should go south and preach to the people there.

He took coach south and walked a ways beyond that before he came to a wealthy farmer’s mansion in the county of Herefordshire.  No Mormon missionary had visited this county before.

Wilford visited the wealthy farmer, John Benbow, and told him of his purpose on a Mormon mission, “sent to him by the commandment of God as a messenger of salvation, to preach the gospel of life unto him and his household, and the inhabitants of the land.”  He was received by Mr. Benbow and his wife “with glad hearts and thanksgiving” and they talked together at some length.  The couple was very enthusiastic about the “tidings” of the restored, complete gospel of God “revealed through the mouth of His Prophet, Joseph Smith.”

They also told Wilford Woodruff about “a company of men and women-over six hundred in number-who had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodist, and taken the name of United Brethren.”  The United Brethren “were searching for light and truth, but had gone as far as they could, and were continually calling upon the Lord to open the way before them, and send them light and knowledge that they might know the true way to be saved.”

Wilford Woodruff saw that here was a people who had prepared themselves for the coming of the gospel and “rejoiced.”  The field was ripe for harvest – the United Brethren were ready for Mormon missionaries to bring them the truth.

The large hall in Mr. Benbow’s mansion “was licensed for preaching,” so Mr. Benbow “sent word through the neighborhood that an American missionary would preach at his house that evening.”

Two sermons on two days and Wilford Woodruff “baptized six persons, including Mr. John Benbow and his wife, and four preachers of the United Brethren.”

The day after that was spent partly in preparing a pool of water for baptizing.  Wilford would eventually baptize “six hundred in that pool of water.”

A few meetings later and at the beginning of another Wilford was approached by a constable, who “had been sent by the rector of the parish with a warrant to arrest” Wilford for “preaching to the people.”  Wilford assured the constable that he had a license and asked him to take a seat – wait until after the meeting.

The meeting proved powerful.  Wilford reported, “I preached the first principles of the everlasting gospel for an hour and a quarter. The power of God rested upon me, the Spirit filled the house, and the people were convinced.”

Seven were baptized after the meeting, including the constable.

This constable “went to the rector and told him if he wanted Mr. Woodruff taken up for preaching the gospel, he must go himself and serve the writ, for he had heard him preach the only true gospel sermon he had ever listened to in his life.”

The rector “sent two clerks of the Church of England as spies” to the meetings.  Both were baptized into the Mormon Church.  The rector did not send anyone else.

Rather, “the ministers and rectors of the South of England called a convention and sent a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to request parliament to pass a law prohibiting the ‘Mormons’ from preaching in the British dominion.”  The petition did not pass, as it did not adhere to England’s laws of religious toleration.  The “archbishop and council” noted “to the petitioners that if they had the worth of souls at heart as much as they had the ground where hares, foxes and hounds ran, they would not lose so many of their flock.”

In eight months, Wilford Woodruff baptized, “through the blessing of God, over eighteen hundred souls during eight months, including all of the six-hundred United Brethren, except one person; also including some two hundred preachers of the various denominations.” 

Brother Benbow, one of the first converts, would fund the first publication of the Book of Mormon in England in the same year.

– This story is taken and paraphrased from Preston Nibley’s Missionary Experiences, published in 1942 by Deseret Book.  Wilford Woodruff is the author.  You may want to check out the book and read the complete story in Wilford’s own words.