His release soon came and he began at once to put the Church financially as well as spiritually in a safe and prosperous condition. He reported property in excess of the debts to the amount of 574 pounds and 16 shillings. This was over $2800.00. Wherever a financial trust was put upon him he regarded his duties in the matter as both sacred and important. All his life long he guarded himself against the temptations that so frequently overtake men in administering the property of others. He fully realized that financial dishonor robs men not only of the confidence of their fellow-men but of the blessings of God. He was scrupulously careful to account for every farthing entrusted to him, and his presidency, therefore, of the British Mission was {245} marked both by zeal in preaching the gospel, and by high-minded honesty in the administration of funds. The year 1845 was now drawing to a close. During the entire year his work had been directed in a foreign land. He had personally baptized but few, had administered to something like a hundred persons, published three thousand copies of the Doctrine and Covenants, and twenty thousand copies of the Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles. He had collected three hundred pounds for the Nauvoo Temple and had been indefatigable in the management of the British Mission. He was now released to return home. On the 3rd of January, 1846, he visited Preston. On the 10th he made a feast for a few of his brethren, and on the 15th took his family on board the ship Liverpool. He went with them 10 miles and then returned to the shore. It was planned that his wife should go with the Saints then emigrating to Nauvoo. As soon as the business of the mission could be attended to, he expected to leave, himself. He wrote a valedictory for the Millennial Star and on the 23rd of January he set sail for America and arrived in New York March 6th. The voyage was uneventful except that the second mate fell overboard and was lost at sea. He was performing some perilous duty that he did not require of his men. The voyage at that season of the year was attended by cold weather and the usual winter storms. They were forty-three days en route. After reaching the United States, he paid a hasty visit to his old home in Connecticut where his father and step-mother were preparing to emigrate to Nauvoo. He also went to Maine where he found his daughter who had remained there during his absence. They reached Nauvoo in his father's party on the 13th of April. He says: "We stopped at Keokuk, and at two o'clock in the afternoon we began to ascend the rapids. I took my spy glass and enjoyed a view of the city and the Temple in the distance. They looked very beautiful to me."