After my return to Nauvoo I labored on the Temple until it was so far completed as to admit of the ordinances being performed in it, when I had the blessed privilege of entering it and receiving my endowments and having wives sealed to me. I also at that time had the son of my first wife (who, I should have mentioned, was a widow when I married her) adopted to me by the Priesthood, and he has ever since borne my name and been recognized and treated as one of my own sons. I labored about three months in the temple in administering the ordinances of the house of God to others, and in April, 1846, I left Nauvoo and started westward with quite a large company of my southern friends. On arriving at Winter Quarters I was ordained a Bishop and appointed to preside over a Ward, and spent the winter in building cabins to shelter the people and in looking after the wants of the poor. In the spring of 1847 I was appointed to organize and lead westward a company of Saints having one hundred and twenty wagons. I chose as my assistants Major Russell and Geo. B. Wallace. We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 24th day of September. Thus passed the first twelve years of my connection with the Church--twelve years of rough but not unprofitable experience for me, considering the many lessons I learned and the satisfaction I enjoyed in contemplating my labors. During that period I had become strong and healthy, and through the blessings of God, had been enabled, with the help of my wife and boy, to earn a subsistence and accumulate some property, notwithstanding the many missions I had filled and the losses of property I had sustained. Since that time I never have performed a regular preaching mission abroad, although in 1851, I was sent to England, for that purpose; but on arriving there it was decided to have me return to lead the first company emigrated by the Perpetual Emigration Fund across the plains, and after a stay of thirty days in that country I did so. I filled various business missions, however, in which I crossed the plains thirteen times with ox and mule teams. CHAPTER III. ALMOST LOST IN THE ATLANTIC--NARROWLY ESCAPE THE "SALUDA" DISASTER--NEARLY DEAD WITH THE CHOLERA--HEALED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER--BLOWN UP WITH A KEG OF POWDER--A SICK WOMAN HEALED--ELDER PATTEN'S REMARKABLE PREDICTION FULFILLED--A MAN ALMOST DEAD RECOVERS ON BEING BAPTIZED. During my experience I have seen the power of God manifested upon various occasions in preserving my life; indeed, considering the many narrow escapes I have had, it might be almost thought that I have had a charmed life.