John Perkins

Have you been on familysearch.org?

It's so cool!  I found my great great great grandfather's (on my great grannie Blair's side) story of his conversion.

John Perkins

The only account we have of his trip back to England was taken from his diary. He bore his testimony in a meeting in San Bernardino, California and this is the story as taken from his diary.

 “Thursday, 4 December 1859. “Brethren and Sisters it is with pleasure that I arise in your midst tonight and it is the first time I have had an opportunity since I have been amongst you. I feel that it is not only a pleasure but a duty to bear testimony to the truth of the work in which we are mutually engaged. I mean the Everlasting Gospel. I have always been taught by those who have been placed over us in Australia to consider it a duty and not only a duty but also a privilege to be enabled to speak in these meetings. When in Australia, I used to feel myself condemned if I let an opportunity slip by without bearing my testimony to the truths of the Everlasting Gospel. “Brethren and Sisters in the Gospel, I know that we are engaged in the work of the Lord, and I hope and trust that I shall have the faith and prayers of my brethren and sisters in the Gospel, for I feel that I am a weak and frail being, perhaps one of the weakest among you, yet I thank my Heavenly Father that I have been enabled to see and embrace the Truth. “It is somewhat singular the way I came into the Church, at least it appears so to me. I went from Australia to England to see my mother, my brothers and sisters, as I had not heard from them for a long time, in fact not for some years previous. When in England I could not rest there. What was the core of it, I cannot say, but I felt that it was no home for me. Consequently I went back to Australia. It appears strange to me at this time that almost the last words my mother said to me were, “My dear son, whatever you do, never become a Latter-day Saint, I hear there are some of them in Australia.” I asked her for her reason [and] her answer was “Why! Your cousin Ann and her husband and family were Latter-day Saints, and they were down with the Typhus fever, and a lot of their Elders got around them and smothered them with oil, and would not let any medical aid near them, so they died for want of medical attention and medicines.” I did not make any answer to it, as I could not refute it one way or the other. “I left England soon after to go to Australia again. I wanted to go to Melbourne, but I could not get a ship that was going to sail under a month or six weeks, and I could not rest in England. I did not feel at home there although surrounded by every comfort. So I took the first ship that offered which happened to be bound for Sydney. I must not [have] been but two or three weeks there before I was as it were, thrown into the society of Latter-day Saints. “Hulloa! Mother!” Thought I. “Here I am, thrown right into the nest of them, what shall I do now?” “Well, I began to read the books, to hear the preaching, and as soon as I felt convinced that Mormonism was the truth, that the Lord had again condescended to speak from the heaven to the children of men, that He had again restored the Gospel, I felt it a duty incumbent on me to join it. I accordingly was baptized. I had not been in Sydney two months before I was baptized. Brethren and sisters I know that I am in the Church and Kingdom of God, and I testify tonight before you that it is what is called Mormonism. We then, as Saints, out to be pure and holy. We ought to let our prayers ascend continually to the Throne of God, for one of the Seven administering Spirits that goeth in and out before the Throne of the Almighty (He that attends at the Altar of Incense) presents the prayers of the Saints. The apostle John says that the Incesnse which he offers is the prayers of the Saints. There is also a poet that says, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Saint upon his knees.” There is a reformation commenced in this place. Then let us all, my Brethren and Sisters, join heart and hand in it, and by the blessing of God, we shall soon be able to accomplish it. There is one thing that is very prevalent here. We are apt to notice each other’s faults and forget our own, but if we were all to do as we in Australia were often told to do by the Elders, it would be all the better for us, viz. to keep two bags, one before for ourselves and the other behind for our neighbors. We would be so taken up with the enormity of our own faults that we should have no time to look at those of our neighbor. We should undergo a rigid daily self-examination. The Prophet of the Lord has said, “Man, know thyself” and unless we do know ourselves, how are we to conquer ourselves? Why! The greatest conquest that Man can have, is to conquer himself, for what is Man, and what are the honors and dignities that Man is to arrive at and enjoy, provided he is faithful to his calling? Why! To the honor and dignity of a God. What says the Psalmist? “I have said, Ye are gods… but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” The Savior also says, “Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are Gods?” Then, how pure and holy ought the saints to be. If you want to know some of the blessings and honors of the saints, read the last Psalm but one, you will there find it. “Brethren and sisters I know that we are engaged in the work of the Lord and that I have embraced the truth, as a witness of which I am now here amongst you and it rejoices my heart to have an opportunity to bear my testimony to that effect. I have come here because it is a commandment to gather out from among the nations and come to Zion, where we can serve Him according to His holy will, which the saints cannot do abroad in the world. Besides what says the Psalmist in the 87th Psalm? Why! “The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” Yes my Brethren and Sisters, it is to be counted an honor even by the Lord Himself to the man that shall be born in Zion. Then let us go on in that way and manner that shall be well pleasing and acceptable in the sight of the Lord, that we may be enabled to get the Spirit of the Lord and also to keep it. Brethren and Sisters, I hope that you will pray for me and be assured that I will do the same for you, and that we may all be enabled to stand faithful in the Kingdom of God, and that God may help us all is my sincere and humble prayer in the name of Lord. Amen.”