Lorenzo Snow

Pre-story- the hymn We Ever Pray for Thee was written for Wilford Woodruff's  90th birthday celebration.

Wilford Woodruff was the prophet who was finally able to dedicate the Salt Lake temple. He had a dream many years before but it was hard to believe it could come true; eventually, like a year before he died, it did.

In the movie about John, the stonecutter who walked to Salt Lake City every week, most of it on one wooden leg - he did that for more than 20 years. It was more than 20 miles each way and it was a miracle that he was able to do that. He was 77 when he climbed to the top of the temple to engrave in the stone.

Lorenzo Snow was born in Ohio. He was 9 years younger than Joseph Smith. Both of their grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War. Lorenzo dreamed of being a soldier from his childhood. His older sisters, Eliza R, and Leonore doted on him and adored him. When he was still small, Eliza R. sewed him a soldier uniform that he wore all the time and loved! He called it his freedom suit. He always wanted to be a soldier!

His family was Baptist.

In those days, there weren't many hotels or restaurants for travelers so it was common for travelers to stop at any random house along the road and ask for food or lodging. One person who stopped at the Snow home, was Joseph Smith. They had heard of him and were interested to see him in person and hear him so they could form opinions about what people had said. One of the older sisters stared at him intently until she finally decided he had a kind face and found no evil in him.

The whole family joined except Lorenzo. He was about to leave for college at Overland, which was a Presbyterian college  (It was very rare in those days for anyone to go to college) because he wanted to be a military officer. He was 17 and about to reach his life goal. A few days after Joseph Smith's visit, Lorenzo left for college. On the way he met a fellow traveler, David Patton who was returning from his mission in Canada. David urged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

After a year in college, he was becoming increasingly frustrated with religions. The more he studied, the less satisfied he was, and one day he went to Kirtland because Eliza had invited him. While there, she invited Lorenzo to a "blessing meeting".  In those days the Church patriarch (who at this time was Joseph Smith Sr.) would have a bunch of people come to a meeting and he would give patriarchal blessings to each one and all the others could listen. It was always a very spiritual experience and people loved to attend. Afterwards they would serve refreshments.

Lorenzo was very impressed with Joseph Smith Sr. He said he was like Abraham of old. JS Sr., told Lorenzo to study and pray and talk to the leaders of the church. He prophesied to Lorenzo that he would be baptized.

 

A few weeks later Lorenzo went to the woods to pray, following Joseph Smith's example. He heard a sound, like the rushing of winds, and felt the Spirit very strong and knew the Church was true..

Months later he went to JS Sr. for a patriarchal blessing. He was promised faith equal to the brother of Jared and that he would be able to raise the dead.

Lorenzo was about 5'6" and 140 lbs. After his baptism he asked if he could serve a mission; he served 6 missions in all. 

On his 1st mission, he had a dream. He saw 2 men beating him in a school house. The next day 2 men went up to him and invited him to a meeting. They told him they had a whole room full of people he could preach to who were anxious to hear him. He remembered the dream and declined. They got very angry and yelled at him. He found out later there was a mob waiting for him at the "meeting". 

When he finished that mission, he walked home; he didn't have money to go home any other way, so he walked 500 miles from Kentucky to Ohio in the winter. He had little food and little lodging, so by the time he got to Ohio, he stopped at the first house of a relative he came to. He had lost so much weight and looked so bad that the relative didn't recognize him and tried to turn him away.

He gave up his life-long dream of becoming a military officer and decided to become a school teacher. That was a hard decision to give up that goal

One day as he was pondering the scriptures, the thought came to him, "As man is, God once was, and as God is now, man may become." He later told Joseph Smith about it, who said, "You have received personal revelation. Write it down." We should always write down impressions that come to us when we are pondering or studying scriptures. Otherwise God may become angry with us and withhold future revelations.

On another mission in England, he presented a special copy of the Book of Mormon to the Queen of England and other dignitaries.

When the Nauvoo Legion was organized, Lorenzo was made captain, so he got to be a soldier after all. His men were so well trained and organized, that Joseph Smith was made aware and commended him for it.

His best friends were his sisters, Eliza and Leonore. 

At 40, he still had never married. Joseph Smith took him aside and spoke to him about Polygamy. Not all men practiced polygamy - it was only by invitation from the prophet. He was hesitant, but after Joseph Smith died, he decided he needed to follow the counsel. In 1845 he married and was sealed to 4 others on the same day. Eliza met his wives and gave her approval, saying they were women of great faith.

Two years later the saints left Nauvoo - in the winter and he was made captain of 10 families. When they stopped at the way station, Lorenzo got very ill and ran a very high fever. They wrapped him in a sheet, and took him to the (very cold) river and baptized him for health. (This was common practice back then) He was healed immediately and was never sick again.

In Utah, in 1848, he was called to be an apostle, the same day as Erastus Snow, who was a distant cousin.

He served a mission in Hawaii where he drown. He was in the water an hour before he was discovered and the missionaries who found him did mouth to mouth resuscitation, which hadn't even been invented yet - they were inspired to do it.. He returned home and eventually had 9 wives and 43 children. 

In 1887 the government issued the Edmunds-Tucker Act - an act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and the LDS Church regarding polygamy. 

This act threatened all the property of anyone practicing polygamy - the government could seize all their property - churches, homes, temples, etc. It also meant that they could not vote. Many leaders were imprisoned. The prison had two sides - one for the polygamists and one for violent criminals. The side for criminals was a terrible place to be, vile, negative, hateful and the guards hated to work on that side. On the side was the polygamists. The prisoners were productive, reading, painting, and preaching. Lorenzo Snow was there 11 months.

Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto in 1890, recorded in D&C official Declaration #1.

Not sure when, but the government finally pardoned all men who had been practicing polygamy. It was now illegal to take new wives, but with the pardon, they did not have to abandon the families they were supporting. Lorenzo Snow had 9 wives and 50 children who became an army of missionaries.

He was called to take his family and build up Box Elder County, which is now Brigham City. There were already some families there, and as soon as he got there, they began to build up and clean up.

In 1868 Eliza became the General Relief Society president.

As a general authority, Lorenzo traveled to stake conferences as a visiting authority. At one conference, during the conference, he found out that a sister had died who he knew. He left the conference and when he arrived where she was, she had been dead 3 hours. He anointed her with oil and called her back, then he went back to the conference. She woke up an hour later and asked where Lorenzo was. She lived to 86 and had 8 children. Her name was Ella. She spoke of the spirit world experience and how she loved it there and didn't want to leave. She said whenever she saw someone there who she knew, they would ask about people in this world and how they were doing. Everyone wanted updates on loved ones. She saw Lorenzo's sister, Eliza, and later told Lorenzo about her.

Lorenzo was called to be the first president of the Salt Lake City temple until Wilford Woodruff's death, then he became president of the Church. Later he took his granddaughter to the temple and as they were walking down the hall, he told her to stop. He said that that was in that very spot where the Lord appeared to him when Woodruff died and told him how to reorganize the presidency and to not wait to do it like that had done before. 

We need to share spiritual experiences with our children and grandchildren and make sure they know our testimony.

The Church was in serious debt by then because of being run out of cities and having to leave their property and possessions. That's why Lorenzo received the revelation about tithing. He went from Salt Lake City to St George and stopped at every little settlement and taught the importance of tithing. Up to then, they thought tithing was optional; that it was for if you had extra $$ but not a commandment. If you were too poor you didn't have to pay or could just pay what you could afford. Tithing became the main theme of his presidency. He taught that you should always pay a little more, to be sure you were being honest with the Lord.

He died in 1901 at 87 years old. One of his daughters lived to 1976.

James 5:10 tells us to use the prophets as examples of suffering affliction and patience. That's why it's good to study their lives.