the Latter Day Saints And thought if
I would stay over another day He would
be baptized I immediately consented to do
so for I felt willing to make any sacrifice in
my power to accomplish so desireable An object
And be enabled to carry such glad tidings to
his worthy Daughter Phebe who had made the
request at his hands in fact I was so over wheled
with joy at the thought that my eyes sent forth
A fountain of tears of Joy And gladness I spent
A vary plesent evening with him I knew it would
require much faith And perseverance for him
to go foreward in that ordinance in his old age
in the midst of cold weather with the ground
covered with snow And the water with Ice
I read And Prayed with them And retired to
there front chamber A spent the night alon for
the last time in that House probably in this life I
bowed my knees & offered up my Prayer to God for
Father Carter & all the family esspecially for my
Dear wife And children with whom I had spent
many A sweet hour beneath that roof And who
are truly worthy O How I want to see them
My Prayer to God is that they may be preserved
from sickness And death. I had many peculier
meditations upon my bed during the night
I thought of the whole family esspecially the sacrifizes that Phebe And myself had made to-
gether I felt more anxious than ever that we
might spend an eternity together with the
posterity which God had given us, But I fell
asleep And when I awoke the sun was shining
in my Room. The Morning came And disappoint-
ment came with it for I found on enquiry that
Father Carter had made up his mind not to be
Baptized this time As the other page will show He
firmly believed in the book of Mormon And in our
faith but could not get an evidence that it was
his duty to be baptized at this time I laboured
hard to take away his objections but his mind was
made up And I saw it could not be changed
the Latter Day Saints And thought if
I would stay over another day He would
be baptized I immediately consented to do
so for I felt willing to make any sacrifice in
my power to accomplish so desireable An object
And be enabled to carry such glad tidings to
his worthy Daughter Phebe who had made the
request at his hands in fact I was so over wheled
with joy at the thought that my eyes sent forth
A fountain of tears of Joy And gladness I spent
A vary plesent evening with him I knew it would
require much faith And perseverance for him
to go foreward in that ordinance in his old age
in the midst of cold weather with the ground
covered with snow And the water with Ice
I read And Prayed with them And retired to
there front chamber A spent the night alon for
the last time in that House probably in this life I
bowed my knees & offered up my Prayer to God for
Father Carter & all the family esspecially for my
Dear wife And children with whom I had spent
many A sweet hour beneath that roof And who
are truly worthy O How I want to see them
My Prayer to God is that they may be preserved
from sickness And death. I had many peculier
meditations upon my bed during the night
I thought of the whole family esspecially the
sacrifizes that Phebe And myself had made together I felt more anxious than ever that we
might spend an eternity together with the
posterity which God had given us, But I fell
asleep And when I awoke the sun was shining
in my Room. The Morning came And disappointment came with it for I found on enquiry that
Father Carter had made up his mind not to be
Baptized this time As the other page will show He
firmly believed in the book of Mormon And in our
faith but could not get an evidence that it was
his duty to be baptized at this time I laboured
hard to take away his objections but his mind was
made up And I saw it could not be changed
"Journal (January 1, 1845 – December 31, 1846)," March 17, 1846, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed May 5, 2024, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/VOl5