For centuries, the people of the British Isles have been seekers of the truth. In 1837, an Apostle of God named Heber C. Kimball arrived in Liverpool to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and establish the Saviour’s Church. He could do this because he held the priesthood authority Jesus had given His first Apostles, which had recently been restored to the earth by John the Baptist and the Apostles Peter, James, and John.

Truth-seeking Christians immediately became interested in the restored gospel. They were thrilled to hear of prophets, of priesthood authority restored. Because this success made local preachers nervous, Heber was not allowed to preach in their churches. Even so, nine people were baptized in Preston in the River Ribble like nine little seeds being planted. Thousands of people came to watch.

Since Heber couldn’t preach in the city, he went out to the villages, including two that were thought to be unfriendly, Downham and Chatburn. As he preached, many individuals and families believed and were baptized and enjoyed the fruits of the Spirit. They came to love Heber, and many wept when he had to go back home. After he left, British members wondered what would happen to their growing band of believers and the restored Church in Britain.

Due to the faith and efforts of British members and by the miracles of God, the Church continued to grow. Two years later, God brought more Apostles to the British Isles, where they found more people from Ireland and Scotland to England and Wales -who were prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel. Individuals, families, and in some places, whole congregations of Christian believers received the gospel and were baptized. They enjoyed blessings like healings. There were so many new members that the Apostles reprinted the Book of
Mormon. By the grace of God, thou sands joined the Church.

Then, as He did with the Children of Israel, God directed His prophet to call the newly baptized members to
go to a new land to establish the centre of the Church there. It was not easy to leave behind familiar and beloved lands for an unsettled frontier where the young Church could found new communities, build a temple, and prepare their youth to take the restored gospel to the world. The British people had faith in the Prophet and Apostles.
Though it required great sacrifice, they left their homes and travelled to America.

In America, the Church was eventually established in the tops of the mountains, as prophesied in the Bible. The British people brought their rich traditions, their gifts and talents, and their deep love of the truth, which blessed the Church in immeasurable ways. They became spiritual and civic leaders, and founded hundreds of communities. As the decades rolled on, missionaries went out to preach the gospel across the world, including in the homeland of their ancestors_-the British Isles. And in the British Isles, the Church continued to grow. Thousands shared the gospel with people in other nations, just as Heber and the other Apostles had done in Britain. Today, the Church and its temples have spread across the earth, with two magnificent temples in the British Isles one here in Preston. The Church continues to flourish here, in part because for centuries the British people have sought and loved the truth, and, beginning in 1837, embraced it as they found it.