England - Day 7 (Audenshaw, Stockport, Downham, Chatburn, and on to Chorley-Preston)

The view over Mottram as we were leaving the little village.

You know you're in a small town when you see signs like these:

The beautiful village of Downham

We walked all over the villages of Downham and Chatburn today.  From the book I cited in one of the last few posts (Men With A Mission):

Few experiences, however, surpassed those of Elder Kimball in March in the villages of Downham and Chatburn, some sixteen miles upriver from Preston.  When earlier he had expressed his desire to visit them, some of the brethren from nearby branches tried to dissuade him.  For thirty years, he was told, various ministers had attempted without success to establish churches in those towns, but they were wicked places and the people were hardened against the gospel.  Nevertheless, Kimball said, he wanted to go, for “it was my busines,” ‘to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’"

Accompanied by Joseph Fielding, Heber went first to Downham where, in a scene just the opposite of what he had been led to expect, he preached in a large barn and then baptized several people.  As he prepared to leave Downham for an evening appointment in Clitheroe, a very pressing invitation reached him from Chatburn [Dad and I ate some delicious homemade ice cream in Chatburn, and I had a fabulous homemade lamb, mint, and apple pot pie J].  So urgent was the plea that he finally sent Fielding to Clitheroe alone and walked to Chatburn.  Someone had already obtained a large barn for him to preach in and there, surrounded by villagers, he proceeded to speak about the condition of the world, the blessings of embracing the truth, and the resurrection.  “My remarks were accompanied by the spirit of the Lord and were received with joy,” he noted.  The so-called “obdurate” were “melted down into tenderness and love, and such a feeling was produced as I never saw before.”  As he concluded he felt someone pulling at his coat, and as he turned he heard Mrs. Elizabeth Partington earnestly asking, “ ‘Please, sir, will you baptize me,’ ‘And me,’ ‘And me,’ exclaimed more than a dozen voices.”  It took him until after midnight to baptize and confirm some twenty-five new converts.

“These towns seemed to be affected from one end to the other,” Kimball later recalled.  “Parents called their children together, spoke to them of the subjects which I had preached, and warned them against swearing and all other evil practices. . . .Such a scene I presume was never witnessed in this place before—the hearts of the people appeared to be broken.”  As Kimball and Fielding began to leave the two towns, doors were crowded and villagers lined the streets, weeping as they said their farewells.  The whole experience was an overwhelming spiritual highlight for the apostle from America, and it moved him to tears.  His feelings can best be described in his own words:

While contemplating this scene we were induced to take off our hats, for we felt as if the place was holy ground—the Spirit of the Lord rested down upon us, and I was constrained to bless that whole region of country, we were followed by a great number, a considerable distance from the villages who could hardly separate themselves from us.  My heart was like unto theirs, and I thought my head was a fountain of tears, for I wept for several miles after I bid them adieu.

Fielding, too, was moved.  “There is a wonderful Work in Downham and Chatburn,” he wrote.  “It appears as though the whole of the Inhabitants were turning to the Lord from 10 to 90 years old. . . .They are full of Love.”

With only a short time remaining before their return to America, word spread that the apostles would be leaving, and great numbers flocked to hear them.  They also went from house to house in Preston, calling upon people to repent and baptizing as many as twenty in a day.  The faith of the Saints was rewarded when the apostles were able to heal many of their sick.

On April 2 Elders Kimball and Fielding walked to Chatburn and Downham for a last farewell.  As soon as they were seen in Chatburn, the people left their work and flocked to the streets to greet them.  Children followed them from place to place, singing.  “Some of them said that if they could but touch us they seem better.  They evidently believe that there is Virtue in Brother Kimball’s Cloake,” wrote Fielding.  “Such gratitude, I never witnessed before,” concluded Heber.  Just before leaving England, he sent a warm letter to the Saints of these two remarkable villages, giving them tender pastoral advice and expressing his heartfelt gratitude for their many kindnesses.

Yes, my head is white. :)

Parish Church of St. Laurence in Chorley (where the Preston Temple is), England

Alexander (my great, great - I don't know how many greats - Grandpa) Neibaur and his wife, Ellen, were married here.

A few details about Alexander:

Graduated from University of Berlin as surgeon and dentist (by age 20!).

Encountered missionaries Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Hyde, and

Joseph Fielding; read Book of Mormon in three days and requested baptism.

First male Jew baptized into the Church (1838 in Preston, England).

Taught Prophet Joseph Smith some German and Hebrew.

Wrote one of few firsthand journal accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision.

Set up dental practice in Brigham Young’s front room in Nauvoo.

Crossed plains in Brigham Young’s 1848 company.

First dentist in Utah (made set of false teeth for Brigham Young, who was 55).

Also phosphorus match maker, poet, hymn composer, linguist (spoke 7 languages).

We ate dinner tonight at a restaurant/pub just down the road from the Preston temple.  The sign when you walk in says, "Pick a table, choose from the menu, and order at the bar."  We picked one of the few empty tables and this is what we found hanging on the wall above our table.