“Voices of the Restoration: Early Converts,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025 (2025)
“Early Converts,” Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: 2025
Voices of the Restoration
Early Converts
Even before the Church was organized in April 1830, the Lord declared, “The field is white already to harvest” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:4). This statement proved true in the months that followed, as many seekers of truth were led by the Spirit of God to find the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Many of these early converts were instrumental in laying the foundation of the Restoration, and their stories of conversion are valuable to us today. The faith they showed is the same faith we need to become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Abigail Calkins Leonard
When Abigail Calkins Leonard was in her mid-thirties, she wanted to be forgiven of her sins. She occasionally read the Bible, and people from Christian churches visited her home, but she was confused about what made one church different from another. “One morning,” she said, “I took my Bible and went to the woods, when I fell upon my knees.” She prayed fervently to the Lord. “Immediately a vision passed before my eyes,” she said, “and the different sects passed one after another by me, and a voice called to me, saying: ‘These are built up for gain.’ Then, beyond, I could see a great light, and a voice from above called out: ‘I shall raise up a people, whom I shall delight to own and bless.’” A short while later, Abigail heard about the Book of Mormon. Even though she didn’t yet have a copy, she sought to “know the truth of this book, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost,” and she “immediately felt its presence.” When she finally was able to read the Book of Mormon, she was “ready to receive it.” She and her husband, Lyman, were baptized in 1831.1
Thomas B. Marsh
When Thomas B. Marsh was a young adult, he studied the Bible and joined a Christian church. But he was unsatisfied, finally withdrawing from all churches. “I had a measure of the spirit of prophecy,” he said, “and told [a religious leader] that I expected a new church would arise, which would have the truth in its purity.” Not long after this, Thomas had a spiritual prompting to leave his home in Boston, Massachusetts, and travel west. After spending three months in western New York without finding what he was looking for, he started for home. On the way, a woman asked Thomas if he had heard about “the Golden Book found by a youth named Joseph Smith.” Captivated by this thought, Thomas immediately traveled to Palmyra and met Martin Harris at the printing shop, just as the first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon were coming off the press. Thomas was allowed to take a copy of those 16 pages, and he brought them home to his wife, Elizabeth. “She was well pleased” with the book, he recalled, “believing it to be the work of God.” Thomas and Elizabeth later moved to New York with their children and were baptized.2 (For more information about Thomas B. Marsh, see Doctrine and Covenants 31.)
Parley and Thankful Pratt
Like Thomas Marsh, Parley and Thankful Pratt responded to spiritual stirrings to leave their prosperous farm in Ohio with the intent to preach the gospel as they understood it from the Bible. As Parley told his brother, “The spirit of these things had wrought so powerfully on my mind of late that I could not rest.”3 When they reached eastern New York, Parley had a prompting to stay awhile in the area. Thankful, they decided, would continue on without him. “I have a work to do in this region of country,” Parley told her, “and what it is, or how long it will take to perform it, I know not; but I will come when it is performed.”4 It was there that Parley first heard of the Book of Mormon. “I felt a strange interest in the book,” he said.5 He requested a copy and read through the night. By morning, he knew the book was true, valuing it “more than all the riches of the world.”6 Within a few days Parley was baptized. He then returned to Thankful, who was also baptized. (For more information about Parley P. Pratt, see Doctrine and Covenants 32.)
Parley P. Pratt Reads the Book of Mormon, by Jeffrey Hein
Sidney and Phebe Rigdon
On his way from New York to a mission in Missouri, Parley Pratt and his fellow laborers stopped in Mentor, Ohio, at the home of Sidney and Phebe Rigdon—old friends Parley knew from his days in Ohio. Sidney was a Christian minister, and Parley was once a member of his congregation and considered him a spiritual mentor. Parley eagerly told his friends about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of Jesus Christ’s gospel. Sidney himself had been searching for a restoration of the true Church that he found described in the New Testament, though he was skeptical about the Book of Mormon at first. “But I will read your book,” he told his friend Parley, “and will endeavor to ascertain, whether it be a revelation from God or not.”7 After two weeks of study and prayer, both he and Phebe were convinced the book was true. But Sidney also knew that joining the Church would be a major sacrifice for his family. He would obviously lose his job as a minister, along with his social status in the community. As he and Phebe discussed this possibility, Phebe declared, “I have counted the cost, and … it is my desire to do the will of God, come life or come death.”8