"The church ministers in this region were stirred up very much at this time, because of the success of the work of God in the midst of the people, and every exertion was made by them to stay its progress. They were finding that the Lord was delivering their flocks out of their hands and giving them unto the shepherds of the Church of the Saints. They were alarmed, and were holding conventions and meetings to contrive plans and adopt means to overthrow the latter-day work of God, which they understood not, and believed not, yet feared its power. And well indeed they might; for in some instances they did not have more than ten or fifteen at their churches on the Sabbath, while around them on every hand they had seen forty branches of two organized conferences of the Church of Latter-day Saints spring up in about six months, with over a thousand members and between one and two hundred offices ordained to scatter the seed of the gospel everywhere in this prolific field. {128} "On the 25th of September I again took leave of the Saints in my Herefordshire field of labor, to attend the Staffordshire conference which was held at Hanley. The day after the conference I baptized one, and preached at Tunstell; and on the next evening I preached at Burslem to a crowded house. The power of God rested upon me, and great solemnity pervaded the congregation. The spirit of God was moving the people, and they felt that the Lord was doing a work in their midst." {129} CHAPTER 13. BRITISH MISSION, 1840-41. Rapid Increase of the Church in Great Britain.--Mysterious Spirit Personage Attempts to Strangle Wilford Woodruff, and Wounds Him Severely.--He Is Relieved and Healed by Three Heavenly Visitors.--First Placard of the Church Posted in London.--Death of Wilford's Daughter.--Difficult Missionary Work in and around London.--Arrival of Lorenzo Snow To Take Charge of the British Mission.--All of the Twelve Called Home.--Attending Various Conferences.--Springing of the Spaulding Story.--Wilford Bids Farewell to the Saints in Fields Where He Had Labored.--General Conference of the British Mission, and Only Occasion of the Twelve Apostles Acting as a Quorum in a Foreign Land.--Wilford's Departure for Home, and Arrival at Nauvoo.--Made a Member of the Nauvoo City Council.