Excerpt from - The Autobiography of Anders Persson Lofgren -

Translated by Carl-Erik Johansson, a Swedish translator from the LDS Church Genealogical Department in the late 1940's. The original autobiography is in the possession of the Utah State Historical Society, along with the English translation. This excerpt, and added subtitles comes from A Simple Faith: Anders Persson Lofgren, Swedish Son - Mormon Immigrant, compiled by Benjamin E. Lofgren, pgs. 32 - 35, published by Anders Lofgren Family Organization, Salt Lake City, Utah 1996.

Introduction to Mormonism

On November 19, 1857 we were again blessed with a child, a daughter, christened Selia. Here I want to tell an incident that happened between me and the nurse. It was about Mormonism. At this time there was much talked in our neighborhood about the Mormons who walked around preaching repentance to the people and baptism for the redemption of sins. She said that they were false prophets, etc. I had a different opinion about them. I said that there could not be any falsehood in people repenting of their sins.

I brought out my Bible and she showed that there would be false Christs etc. and I showed her the interpretation of "Nebkadnesar's" dream. I showed her that infant baptism could not be right etc. When I went out to take care of the animals she told my wife to be careful with me and to withstand me with all her power, otherwise I would become a Mormon within 2 years.

My wife who was so sick did not care for anything else than to have the pains relieved and the child born, and the nurse did everything in that respect to help her and the child. Time passed and they talked about the Mormons and I felt desire to see and hear one of them, but it took a year and a half before I got the opportunity. Kjersti forgot everything the nurse had told her about watching out for me and the Mormons.

In the spring of 1859 there came a Mormon to our house who was a son of a widow who lived in the same house as we did in a room by herself. He came to see his mother and at this occasion he came into our home and wanted to sell some tracts and books etc. A strange feeling came over me even though I knew the man before he joined the Mormons. He took out some books he wanted to sell and I at once excused me saying I had no money. I cannot explain the strange feeling in any other way than it must have been the influence of a devil or evil spirit, that wanted to keep me from hearing the truth when he entered our home. We did not buy any tracts and when he left he gave us a "Skandinaviens Stjerne (Star)." When he left and the strange feelings I had had left I took the Star and read it which was very difficult for me as it was printed in Danish and I did not read that language. But I did my best and I understood that there was nothing evil in it and soon the same feelings returned as I had when I was talking to the midwife or nurse. I am going a little too fast in my story about Mormonism. One day it happened (before this Mormon had been in our house) that Parnila (the sister of Kjersti) visited us. If there was anything on the tongue to talk about it was Mormonism. Parnila was as "hard" an enemy against the Mormons as the midwife. The Bible was always my arms in the battle with them and they had to flee. Parnila did not use any other weapon than her tongue and it was very hard to withstand sometimes. Finally she became mad and ended it with a word I will not mention here.

Visits by the Elders

After the first Mormon had been in our house it did not take long until the next one came. The second Mormon Elder that visited us was Jons Jonsson, the first one being Nils Bondesson. J. Jonsson laid a foundation that was safe to build on. The foundation I myself had started to build, could not be used to build on, it started to crumble when N. Bondesson wanted to build on it and help me complete the building.

A Sunday morning in April 1859 my wife and I were ready to go to our Lutheran Church as usual on a Sunday. We went to Church often. At this occasion J. Jonsson came and told us that there would be a Mormon meeting at Qvarlof if we wanted to go there. I was ready at once and told Kjersti that she could go to Church if she wanted to, but she answered that she wanted to go where I went. Thus we went with J. Jonsson.

When we arrived there were no more than 3 or 4 persons besides those who lived there. There was a misunderstanding among them about the meeting. There was a traveling Elder by the name of Nils Rosengren, a young man about 18 or 19. We noticed because he looked so innocent. He started to talk to us about the necessity of obeying the true and everlasting Gospel, that again had been given to earth. He spoke many things that made impression on our minds, they sang together which made still deeper impression on us, especially on Kjersti, she started to weep while they sang.

Touched by the Spirit

After the song a couple Mormon sisters came up and asked my wife why she was weeping. My wife and one of them had been neighbors in their childhood. She asked if Kjersti was dissatisfied with her marriage, if her husband mistreated her etc. Kjersti answered no, she had as good a husband as she could find, the reason she cried was that she thought we were so simple compared to them, for their speech and songs had made a wonderful impression upon her heart.

Here the Mormonism was imprinted so hard on my wife's heart that it could not be erased. I also confess that I was deeply impressed by the spirit these people possessed. Nearly 3 hours passed and we did not notice it. We thanked for the teachings we had received and went home. After this I saw something new in our house. My wife put the Bible beside her when she was weaving and now and then she picked it up to see if she could find some confirmation of her faith in Mormonism, but what more could she find than she already had found.

After our visit to Qvarlof we did not need to wait too long for the Mormons, for they came to see that the candle that was burning in our heart would not pass out. My light was not shining as bright as it ought to, but it increased a little every time an Elder visited us.

Persecution Begins

Soon the rumor went around that the Mormon vagrants were visiting us. People began to look down upon us. Our earlier good neighbors and friends began to look at us with hatred in their eyes. A very rich farmer for whom my wife and I had worked a lot looked down upon us very bitterly and would not employ us any more. One day when I was away working a neighbor, our closest one, came in to my wife and abused her in the simplest way you can imagine. When I came home Kjersti was crying and I asked her why and she told me what had happened just before I came home. I got mad when she told me how shameful he had been and wanted to go over and give him a licking, but I just left the house when a Mormon Elder (J. Jonsson) came and asked me what I was going to do and I told him. He convinced me not to do it.

This man was for me like the angel that stood in the way of Balaam, with the exception that Balaam could not see him, as I could see the one that prevented me from walking in a forbidden path. Brother Jonsson did not use any other weapon than the word from the Scripture and with this he soon got me into my house and my wrath soon disappeared. Jonsson told us that we could read in the Scripture that Jesus, His Apostles and the Saints in those days had to suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. He comforted us saying, that if we would obey the Gospel and endure to the end we would have an eternal blessing that they would not have. He said that we would not take revenge on those that persecuted us for the revenge belonged to the Lord.

He stayed over night with us and preached until bed time and we understood that he told the truth. He wanted us to kneel and he would pray. This we had never done before. He did the same thing the next morning. We thought ourselves to be good Christians. On Sundays we went to Church, read the proposed prayers and listened to the sermons of our minister. And even in our home did it happen that we brought out Luther's Hymnbook and read or sang some songs in it. Does this not seem to be good. I myself think so, as long as it went. But Jonsson (the Mormon Elder) taught us that we were not true Christians. We were not buried with Christ through baptism, we were not baptized to the redemption of our sins. We had not received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by an authorized servant of the Lord. In all these things we saw clearly that we were not on the right way leading to eternal life. A Hard Fight

Looking back on my life I understood that if anybody needed baptism for the redemption of sin I was the one. But even though I saw this very plainly I still had a hard fight with myself to do this (or might be it was with somebody else, whom I did not know). The two Lutheran ministers in the parish and the people all round saw that we did not give up Mormonism, for the Mormon Priests (as people called them) continued to come to us as they pleased. They also held meetings with us.

This was more than the Lutheran ministers could stand. Then one day the sheriff came and told me to go and see the old minister Nils Duner and this I did without resistance. When I arrived there he had nothing else to show me than I was wrong in associating with the Mormons. The only thing he had to say was that I should leave this simple (meaning despised and criminal) people alone, that they would not lead me in the way of perdition.

I wanted him to show me from the Bible wherein I was wrong and asked him if he did not understand the Bible and his short answer was, "Anders Pehrsson, we do not understand the Bible." Then I was through with him. Some time after this, there came a traveling Elder to us from Svalu branch. He wanted to hold a meeting in our home and I hardly knew what to answer.

I gave him the answer that if the woman living in our house gave her permission to hold it in her home, for then I excused myself by saying it was not in our home. Rosenberg (that was the name of the Mormon priest) got her promise, if I would agree. The house was mine and I had to keep her in it as long as she lived. Now we decided about the date and the ministers and the people in the community soon found out about and that was what the Mormon Elders wanted for they were sent to preach the Gospel.

Teaching a Minister

On the set day Rosenberg arrived with two Elders, Jonsson and Akerlund, president of the Svalu branch. When the meeting started there were some Mormons and a lot of other people, men and women who wanted to listen to the message of the Elders, also the Reverend Neander ("Kapelan" serving under the old minister Duner) and they were all quiet during the meeting. Then the Kapelan wanted to take Rosenberg( who was the Mormon leader) into custody.

I did not know what to do as I had let them hold their meeting in my house. But nothing came out of it. The Lutheran priest left the house as a guard and the Mormon priest as a prisoner and when they had walked some from the house, they stopped and Neander told Rosenberg to leave and not come back, and he returned to our house. My troubled mind was cleared when I saw him return to stay with us overnight.

Then it was my turn to go to Neander to be straightened out. I went as soon as he sent for me. He did more as a herd for the flock than the old minister and told me many things about how wrong I was in leaving the Lutheran religion, which was the truest of them all. I listened to it all and did not say anything so he thought that he had found and returned a lost sheep to the fold, but he was wrong for the lost sheep would not stay among the rest of them. He asked me once again to see him and this time he took a book from his library: "Dr. Ross, Explanation of Daniel's Prophecy." He asked me to read this book carefully and I promised to do so. Before I left we became so good friends that he told his wife to cook coffee for me and we drank it together and that was a good sign for him, he thought. I read the book and found that it was according to Mormonism.

After a week I went back to him and had marked the book in many places and I was very welcome but that soon changed. He wanted to know what I thought of the book and I told him that it was according to the teachings of the Mormons. He was not prepared to be shown in his own book so many places about the building up of the Kingdom of God in the latter days. For me unschooled to show him, a minister, what the Prophets had said many hundred years ago was more than he could tolerate and he bid me a very bitter farewell. After this he did not care whether I was saved or not.

The Faith to be Baptized

The Mormon priests continued to visit us and on July 1st, 1859 my wife was baptized. Even though I had read the books myself I still did not know what to do. The neighbors looked down upon and despised us. One went so far as to threaten to cut my throat if I allowed the Mormons to have meetings in my house. It was hard for me to see that I was so despised after having been an honored man in their community.

I understood that Mormonism was the way I had to walk and have faith, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins. I had the faith and had started to repent from my sins. The sins I had committed were not forgiven and I had not received the gift of the Holy Ghost that would lead me into all truth. In this condition I had a lot of trouble in my mind. But Rosenberg, a servant of the Lord did not neglect his duties. He continued to visit hoping he would be a tool to bring me through the door to eternal salvation.

Thus on the 10th of the above mentioned month (July) he again visited us and talked to me about my eternal salvation. I came to see that the despise of men was nothing else than the inspiration from the evil one in them to prevent me from obeying the principles of the truth. I threw it all in (but was resurrected through Christ in baptism). There I also was buried and resurrected again. (Somebody might doubt that it was a grave, but it was a grave, a marl grave or marl pit, about 30 feet from our house but on the ground of another man.)

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