Zerah's Mission Experiences

I first became acquainted with Zerah when I read Wilford Woodruff's autobiography.  He tells of how he was first introduced to the Gospel through two missionaries, one of them being Zerah Pulsipher.  Your kids and grandkids have seen the Church's video portrayal of Wilford's conversion but probably never knew it was the story of their own ancestor they were watching as Zerah's name is not mentioned.  The video is shown in Seminary during the Doctrine and Covenants year of study.

In Zerah's own history he merely states that "I had the privilege of baptizing Wilford Woodruff on the thirty-first of December 1833 at Richland, New York."
For those of you who have been in New York in December you can imagine how cold it must have been for these two men to go down into the waters of baptism, probably a small creek in the neighborhood.  Such great faith and  commitment.

To continue Zerah's story:  "At length there came one or two elders there (they are still in Onendaga County, New York) with enthusiastic spirits which led the church into diversions which caused me a journey of 325 miles to get counsel to settle the difficulty.  I remained in that part preaching in regions around and had the privilege of baptizing many into the kindgom till the spring of 1835, in which I gathered up the remnants of that church and went to Kirtland, Ohio.  There I assisted in the building of the Temple.  In the winter of 1836 I received my first endowment in that house, with about 300 Elders."  And it is here in Kirtland that the Pulsipher family first meets the William Burgess, Sr. family. These two families lives will be intertwined for the rest of their lives.

Both the Pulsipher and Burgess men helped to build not only the Kirtland Temple, but also the Salt Lake Temple, and the St. George Temple.

"I labored to support my family, and in the fall of 1837 I went to Canada on a mission, raised a branch of twenty-nine members.  I returned January 29, 1838, to Kirtland.  I was ordained to the Council of First Presidency of Seventies.  (See Doctrine and Covenants 124:138  How many of you knew that your ancestor is mentioned by name in this great book?)  I took a mission south of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers, preached considerably, and established a branch with some persecution.  One day I stopped my carriage at the hitching post before a large house where I saw a number of women looking out the window.  They were entire strangers too, as I had never seen them before.  One woman met me at the door, called me brother, and said she had seen a vision where she saw a Mormon Elder drive up to the yard.  She observed the horse and carriage and person, and as soon as she saw me she knew I was the one.  We called a meeting and I preached there that night."

Our family will be sending out the first missionary of Don and Bonnie Higginson's great grandchildren in just a few weeks.  Hopefully Zerah's mission experiences can be a strength and an example to all of those in the family who will yet serve the Lord in redeeming His kingdom.