"Elder Hale and I went to the stand, and I arose with peculiar feelings and addressed the congregation for one hour, taking for my text Galatians 1:8, 9. This was the first time that I, or any other elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had (to my knowledge) attempted to preach the fulness of the gospel and the Book of Mormon to the inhabitants of any island of the sea. I had much liberty in speaking, and informed the people that the Lord had raised up a prophet and organized His Church as in the days of Christ and the ancient apostles, with prophets, apostles, and the gifts as anciently, and that he had brought forth the Book of Mormon. At the close of my remarks Elder Hale bore testimony. I gave liberty for any one to speak who might wish to do so. As no one responded, I announced that we would hold meetings the next four evenings at the schoolhouses, beginning at No. 1. "During the first thirteen days of our sojourn upon the island, we preached seventeen discourses, being invited by the people to tarry with them. I left a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants with Mr. Newton for his perusal. He read it, and the spirit of God bore testimony to him of its truth. He pondered over it for days, and walked his room until midnight trying to decide whether to receive or reject it. He and his family attended about a dozen of my first meetings, and then he made up his mind, contrary to the dictation of the spirit of God to him, to reject the {78} testimony and come out against me. However, we commenced baptizing his flock. The first two we baptized were a sea-captain, by the name of Justin Eames, and his wife. Brother Jonathan H. Hale went down into the sea on the 3rd of September, and baptized them; these were the first baptisms performed by proper authority upon any of the islands of the sea (to my knowledge) in this dispensation. "Before we left Kirtland some of the leading apostates there had tried to discourage Brother Hale about going on his mission, telling him he never would baptize anyone, and had better remain at home. When Captain Eames offered himself for baptism, I asked Brother Hale to baptize him, and prove those men to be false prophets, which he did. On the following Sabbath I baptized Justin Eames' brother, Ebenezer Eames, another sea-captain, and a young lady.