The Women of Faith in the Latter Days series gives voice to generations of Latter-day Saint women belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its purpose is to let women speak for themselves and tell their own stories in authentic ways, using original sources when possible. It diverges from traditional histories by bringing forward stories of little-known women from a wide variety of backgrounds.[1] Here are just three inspiring stories about some of the women you'll find in the new book Women of Faith in the Latter Days: Volume 4: 1871-1900.

Magdalena Presser Adam

“One day, in Sunday School class,” wrote Magdalena Presser Adam, “a fine sister . . . testified that it is our holy duty to our future generations to chronicle our stories, our histories, our achievements and our downfalls; and to bear our testimonies.”[2] Inspired by this message, Magdalena, at age seventy-seven, began writing her life story. She was born in Breitfurt, Bavaria, Germany, on September 5, 1882.

Orphaned as a child, Magdalena navigated her world feeling alone and unloved. Pushed into a life of hard physical labor, she worked “often till my joints ached and my fingers bled.” She recalled one winter’s evening when she, at fifteen years of age, “returned to my dark and cold room so hungry and miserable that . . . for nearly an hour, I sobbed tears of lonesome agony,” she wrote. “I then looked to the heavens and cried out ‘Oh Mother, how could you have left me! A good mother would have never left her daughter alone for these many long years! . . .’ I had reached the depths of despair, deeper than my soul could bear. It was then that I felt a warm presence gradually fill my heart, my soul, and then my whole being. I was encompassed with peace and hope, I felt myself cradled in my mother’s loving arms. . . . ‘Peace be with you.’ She said, ‘Have patience my child, for you see, when we are resurrected, we shall be together forever. I have always, do now, and will always love you. My dearest child, I watch over you constantly.’” This transformative experience put young Magdalena on a quest to understand resurrection and the possibility of spending eternity with her mother.

Fortunately, the tide of Magdalena’s life turned when at age nineteen she married a “warm, wonderful, handsome, stubborn, and stern man” named Heinrich and they built a happy life together. In 1906, she attended her first LDS meeting (a Sunday School class) and, to her amazement, the topic was the resurrection. “With every principle,” she wrote, “I felt deep in my heart that it was true.” Magdalena was baptized, but Heinrich did not share her religious convictions. She abided by his request that their children not be baptized “although it broke my heart,” but she joyfully raised her children in the gospel.

World War I began in Germany in 1914. “It was a horror for everybody!” Magdalena recalled. “Life was a nightmare.” She recounted the great physical deprivations they endured because of the war, but also the “fellowship and strength she received from fellow [Church] members” as they met together. She said her friends and neighbors “could not comprehend our tranquil attitudes during such troubled times.”

At last the war ended, and a year later the Church sent food packages to the Latter-day Saints in Germany, who were still struggling to survive. “They contained flour, sugar, powdered milk, and shortening,” Magdalena recalled. “Each member got five pounds of each. I joked with my husband, ‘You see, if you had allowed the children to be baptized, they would now be members and we could get more food packages!’”

She continued, “After discussing the matter with the area president, he decided that since my children came to church regularly, paid their tithing, and fulfilled all of their duties with honor and vigor, that they too could receive the food packages. We now had 25 pounds of each item! I figured that this would be a good time to get my husband’s permission to allow the children to get baptized. (I must admit that I did tell him that if they were baptized, we might even get more food!) He did give his permission, and my four children all became members of the church!”[3]

Magdalena Presser Adam and her family ins Saarbrücken, Germany, ca. 1920. Back row: Heinrich, Heinrich Jakob, and Alexandra. Front row: Ella Sophia, Magdalina, and Caroline.

Magdalena Presser Adam eventually immigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah, where she died on November 11, 1965.

[1] The first volume was published in 2011 and features women born before or in 1820, volume two was printed in 2012 (1821-1845), and Volume 3 in 2014 (1846-1870). A slim gift book called Fearless in the Cause: Remarkable Stories from Women in Church History, was published in 2016 and comprises short stories from volumes 1-3.

[2] Magdalena Presser Adam, “My Book of Remembrance,” 1960, trans. Max Adam Jr., ed. Walter Max Adam, typescript, private possession.

[3] Heinrich and Magdalena’s children were baptized in April 1920. “Carolina Magdalena Adam,” “Ella Sophie Adam,” “Alexandra Adam,” and “Heinrich Adam,” FamilySearch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed September 10, 2016, http://familysearch.org.

This fourth volume features women born between 1872 and 1900 whose stories explore a comparatively untapped era in Mormon history. This generation of Latter-day Saint women experienced firsthand the challenges of the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and World War II. They also witnessed the unprecedented global expansion of the Church and the first young women to serve as proselytizing missionaries.

The faith these women exhibited as they rejoiced in blessings and dealt with struggles provides a model for us today in facing our own challenges as we too strive to build lives of faith.

María Guadalupe Monroy Mera

María Guadalupe Monroy Mera was born on December 22, 1885 and spent the majority of her life in San Marcos, Hidalgo, Mexico. After Guadalupe and her sister met missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they yearned to learn more and developed what their mother called an “addiction to the Church of Jesus Christ.”[4] They were baptized in 1913 with their older brother, Rafael, as the first converts in the San Marcos area. A short time later, their mother was baptized, as were three other family members and two servants of the Monroy family. They endured deep persecution as a result.

In 1915, during the Mexican Revolution, rebels demanded that Rafael surrender his weapons and denounce his religion. They vowed that if he did not do this, he would die. Rafael denied having weapons and said, “I know that what I have received [the gospel] is true and I cannot renounce my religion.”[5] Guadalupe entered the scene and argued that her brother was innocent. “They did not listen,” she said, “but rather ordered that I be taken to jail.” Guadalupe’s two sisters were imprisoned as well.[6]

At length, soldiers called out the names of Rafael Monroy and Vicente Morales, a fellow branch leader and close family relative. They answered, “present,” and were gruffly pushed outside. “The rest of the prisoners just stared at each other,” Guadalupe reported. “Our hearts were beating hastily and a profound silence came over the prison. In this condition we found ourselves when we heard the detonation of gunshots and then suddenly another shot was fired. Our fainting and sobbing hearts were exploding. Immediately you could hear the laments of my mother, as she heard the firing of ammunition” which had murdered her son and Vicente. Guadalupe wrote, “The criminal acts of the enraged people were consummated! My mother returned home letting out her bitter and painful cry, while we, the three sisters, waited in jail for the cruelty and infamy of men.”[7]

On June 11, 1913, Guadalupe Monroy Mera was baptized, along with two of her siblings. From left to right: Rafael Monroy Mera, Jovita Monroy Mera, and Guadelupe Monroy Mera. W. Earnest Young, the missionary who baptized them, is standing behind. 

Years later, emotions were still poignant: “The death of Rafael and Vicente afflicted our souls forever,” Guadalupe recorded. “Our hopes were lost, and all that we could do was cry and search the scriptures for something to comfort us.”[8] Guadalupe’s testimony and appreciation for the restored gospel continued to increase over time. “I have always testified of the joy that has come to my soul in these last days because of the restoration of the gospel by way of Joseph Smith,” she said.[9] Maria Guadalupe Monroy Mera passed away in San Marcos on January 20, 1965.

[4] Most of the information about Maria Guadalupe Monroy Mera’s life comes from a history of the San Marcos Branch of San Marcos, Hidalgo, Mexico, which she wrote in 1934. It gives a detailed account of her family’s history. The original manuscript is written in Spanish, and its translation into English is Barbara Morgan Gardner’s. Maria Guadalupe Monroy Mera, Historia de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los ultimos dias de la rama de San Marcos Hgo, 1934-1936, photocopy of holograph, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. A digital copy is available at “Guadalupe Monroy history of the San Marcos Branch, 1934-1936,” Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed November 29, 2016, www.churchhistorylibrary.org.

[5] “Pratt,” Conference Report, April 1920, 91.

[6] Monroy, Historia, 32.

[7] Monroy, Historia, 33b.

[8] Monroy, Historia, Appendix, 131b.

[9] Monroy, Historia, Appendix, 123.

Get your own copy of  Women of Faith In the Latter Days Vol. 4. This groundbreaking series recounts the lives of women of faith and dedication in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Often in their own words, they share their trials, triumphs, and testimonies.

This fourth volume features women born between 1872 and 1900 whose stories explore a comparatively untapped era in Mormon history. This generation of Latter-day Saint women experienced firsthand the challenges of the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and World War II. They also witnessed the unprecedented global expansion of the Church and the first young women to serve as proselytizing missionaries.

The faith these women exhibited as they rejoiced in blessings and dealt with struggles provides a model for us today in facing our own challenges as we too strive to build lives of faith.

Camilla Eyring Kimball

Camilla Eyring Kimball was born December 7, 1894, in the Mormon colony of Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1912, when Camilla was seventeen, the colonists were forced to leave Mexico for safety due to the Mexican Revolution. In their uprooted state, Camilla moved to Provo, Utah, to live with relatives and finish high school. She lived there for two years and was a good student, but, she remembered, “I suffered so with the inferiority complex that I made few friends.”[10]

In 1917, after a whirlwind courtship, she married Spencer W. Kimball. They were astounded when Spencer was called as an apostle in 1943. As he immersed himself in the work of the apostleship, she sometimes felt lonely and unimportant. She did all she could to support him but still struggled with her feelings. While he was away on assignment, she wrote him a letter opening her soul to him:

"Sometimes I almost feel in the press of your many responsibilities that I don’t matter very much any more. Anyone who thinks being the wife of one of the general authorities is a bed of roses should try it once, shouldn’t they? Theoretically I realize and appreciate all the blessings and advantages, but sometimes I selfishly feel it would be nice not to have to share my husband with a million others. I wouldn’t have you be one whit less valiant in the pursuit of your duty, . . . but it is comforting to be reassured once in a while that you realize I am standing by."[11]

With her endearing honesty, Camilla shared that all her life her testimony was simply “a fact of my existence.” But as the wife of an apostle, she had a quiet but impressive experience that deepened that testimony in a lasting way:

I served for a time as a guide on Temple Square. One morning as I was dressing to go, I was struck by a shattering question: “How do I know that Joseph Smith actually saw the Savior and the Father? How could I know such a thing?” . . . I was terribly disturbed. I knelt and prayed about it, but left the house still troubled. I can still feel the sensation I had when I stood up to tell the Joseph Smith story that day, as I had told it so many times before. Suddenly I had a manifestation—a burning within my bosom—that was so assuring, so reassuring, that I had no question in myself that this was actually the testimony that is promised if we seek and really want to know. What is amazing to me is that I’d never thought of that question before. . . . And then the question and the answer came in the same day![12]

Camilla Eyring Kimball and Spencer W. Kimball as newlyweds. They were married in the Eyring family living room on November 16, 1917 in Pima, Arizona. 

Although Camilla’s life was riddled with unexpected difficulty and bouts of self-doubt, she declared, “I love this life. . . . Living in this world has proven to be a voyage of continual discovery. I am reluctant to have it end. I am having too good a time." [13] Camilla’s long, full life did come to an end on September 20, 1987, when she was nearly nearly ninety-three years of age.

Editors' Note:

Series editors Brittany Chapman Nash and Richard E. Turley Jr. are particularly excited about the publication of the fourth volume of Women of Faith because it explores a comparatively untapped era in Mormon women’s history. It is filled with the stories of twentieth-century pioneers from all over the world who experienced World Wars I and II, the Mexican Revolution, life in communist East Germany, and more. The book consists of 22 chapters, with two bonus chapters in the eBook edition. It is our hope that the women in this volume can lift, inspire, and change you, as they have us.

[10] Kimball, Autobiography, 13–14.

[11] Miner and Kimball, Camilla, 130.

[12] Kimball, Writings of Camilla Kimball, 93–94.

[13] Miner and Kimball, Camilla, 211.

Get your own copy of  Women of Faith In the Latter Days Vol. 4. This groundbreaking series recounts the lives of women of faith and dedication in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Often in their own words, they share their trials, triumphs, and testimonies.

This fourth volume features women born between 1872 and 1900 whose stories explore a comparatively untapped era in Mormon history. This generation of Latter-day Saint women experienced firsthand the challenges of the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and World War II. They also witnessed the unprecedented global expansion of the Church and the first young women to serve as proselytizing missionaries.

The faith these women exhibited as they rejoiced in blessings and dealt with struggles provides a model for us today in facing our own challenges as we too strive to build lives of faith.