by Michelle Pack
The “Asking Big Questions” series is made in cooperation with the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project.
Wilford and Phebe Woodruff’s first child, Sarah Emma, was born on July 14, 1838. Just over a year later, Wilford left his family to serve a mission in England. In his journal on July 14, 1840, he wrote, “Sarah Emma is two years old this day. May the Lord preserve my wife and children from sickness and death until my return. O Lord, I commit them into thy hands. Feed, clothe, and comfort them, and thine shall be the glory.” Wilford had a strong testimony of the power of covenants to unite his family for eternity. In a letter to Phebe on July 16, 1840, he said:
