"The idea of being appointed to such an important mission was almost more than I could bear up under. I felt my weakness and was nearly ready to sink under it, but the moment I understood the will of my heavenly Father, I felt a determination to go at all hazards, believing that he would support me by his almighty power, and although my family were dear to me, and I should have to leave them almost destitute, I felt that the cause of truth, the gospel of Christ, outweighed every other consideration. At this time many faltered in their faith, some of the twelve were in rebellion against the prophet of God. John Boynton said to me, if you are such a d--d fool as to go at the call of the fallen prophet, I will not help you a dime, and if you are cast on Van Dieman's Land I will not make an effort to help you. Lyman E. Johnson said he did not want me to go on my mission, but if I was determined to go, he would help me all he could; he took his cloak from off his back and put it on mine. Brother Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Sr., Brigham Young, Newel K. Whitney and others said go and do as the prophet has told you and you shall prosper and be blessed with power to do a glorious work. Hyrum, seeing the condition of the church, when he talked about my mission wept like a little child; he was continually blessing and encouraging me, and pouring out his soul in prophesies upon my head; he said go and you shall prosper as not many have prospered." "A short time previous to my husband's starting," continues Sister Vilate, "he was prostrated on his bed from a stitch in his back, which suddenly seized him while chopping and drawing wood for his family, so that he could not stir a limb without exclaiming, from the severeness of the pain. Joseph Smith hearing of it came to see him, bringing Oliver Cowdery and Bishop Partridge with him. They prayed for and blessed him, Joseph being mouth, beseeching God to raise him up, &c. He then took him by the right hand and said, 'Brother Heber, I take you by your right hand, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and by virtue of the holy priesthood vested in me, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to rise, and be thou made whole.' He arose from his bed, put on his clothes, and started with them, and went up to the temple, and felt no more of the pain afterwards. "At length the day for the departure of my husband arrived. It was June 13th, 1837. He was in the midst of his family, blessing them, when Brother R. B. Thompson, who was to accompany him two or three hundred miles, came in to ascertain when Heber would start. Brother Thompson, in after years, writing an account in Heber's journal of his first mission to Great Britain, in its preface thus describes that solemn family scene: 'The door being partly open I entered and felt struck with the sight which presented itself to my view. I would have retired, thinking I was intruding, but I felt riveted to the spot. The father was pouring out his soul to