Wilford Woodruff and the Joy of Keeping Covenants

By Kristy Wheelwright Taylor

Our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, tells us often that faithful members of this Church are “covenant Israel,” “children of the covenant,” and on the “covenant path.” We read about this path in Isaiah as we learn of the children of Israel making covenants with the Lord—not just making covenants, but rejoicing in those covenants. In Isaiah 61:8, the Lord tells us, “I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” Then in verses 10 and 11, Isaiah answers, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation . . . so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” 

Dr. Kerry Muhlestein, professor of ancient scripture at BYU, writes in his book Learning to Love Isaiah that these chapters of scripture describe ...

Peter Fagg and Louise Manning, onsite at Benbow Pond, tell the story of

Wilford Woodruff's missionary success in 1840.

About seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, the prophet Isaiah received a revelation from the Lord. “Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?” These eloquent words are as much a rebuke as they are an appeal: an appeal to trust God’s ability to redeem and deliver beyond the bounds of human understanding. Isaiah further spoke of...

Volunteer Spotlight: Mark Pollmann

By Madelyn Barzee

Mark Pollmann, one of our most dedicated volunteers, started as our CTO but quickly stepped forward to serve as interim President. He spent countless volunteer hours mentoring our Leadership Team, advising our Editorial Team, launching our “Decoding a Prophet” project, and helping us transition from spreadsheet-based organization to a database system. With the recent hiring of our full-time president, we are extremely grateful that Mark will continue to accelerate our progress by persevering as our CTO.

Mark graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in ​...

2023 Conference:

Building Latter-day Faith

Join us in March 2023 for the first ever Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation Conference on Building Latter-day Faith! This conference will be packed full of insights from inspired speakers and presenters. The schedule and more information can be found through the link below.

The Conference will include an arts contest for student and pre-professional artists. Applicants who submit works inspired by the teachings and life of Wilford Woodruff will be eligible to win up to $1,000! For more information follow the link below. 

Wilford Woodruff's Witness: The Development of Temple Doctrine

Enhanced Edition, eBook, and Audiobook 

Available Soon at Deseret Book

Jennifer Mackley, co-founder and Executive Director of the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation, recently announced that the upcoming enhanced edition of Wilford Woodruff’s Witness: The Development of Temple Doctrine will be available as an ebook and an audiobook, in both English and Spanish. This edition includes new research and links to primary sources now accessible at wilfordwoodruffpapers.org. Proceeds will support the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project.

Call for Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers! All volunteers work from their home computers and set their own pace and schedule.

• Content Team: For those interested in finding faith-promoting and inspirational quotes from Wilford Woodruff's writings, the Content Team is a great fit. You'll read through Wilford Woodruff's digitized journals, letters, and discourses to find and tag quotes based on a topic list provided.
• Editorial Team: If you like the challenge of transcribing 1800s handwriting, the Editorial Team is right for you. Volunteers will view images of Wilford Woodruff's documents and transcribe the writing.
• Marketing and PR Team: If you enjoy using social media; if you have experience with graphic design, websites, press releases, or video production; or if you just love telling people about exciting things, we could use you.

If you're interested or would like to learn more, email us at contact@wilfordwoodruffpapers.org or get more information through the link below.

"I recently transcribed a discourse from 1897, in which Wilford Woodruff was preaching to the Saints about temple work. He spoke on the powerful experience he had when Joseph Smith revealed that the Lord gave them a way to redeem the dead. When he heard..."