"Please sir, will you baptize me?" asked one.

"And me, and me!" exclaimed a dozen voices.

So Elder Kimball went down into the water and baptized twenty-five persons.
As the elders were walking out of the village, the young folks of the place
ran to meet them, the older people stood in their doors to greet and bless
them, while the children ran ahead, hand in hand, singing their songs of
gladness.

At a conference held in Preston, April 8, 1838, there were reports from
twenty-six branches of the Church. The total number of souls in the Church
was reported to be about two thousand; and all this was done in the short
space of eight months.

The next day Elders Kimball, Hyde, and Russell left for home, leaving
Willard Richards to preside over the mission. Many were the sad partings
these brethren had with the Saints, for a great love grows up between the
Saints in the world and the elders who have brought them the gospel.

January 11, 1840, Elders John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff landed in
England. Brother Woodruff was led by the Spirit to go into a part of
England called Herefordshire. Here he found a religious body of people
called United Brethren. They had withdrawn from the Church of England, and
were now praying that the Lord would send them more light. These people
heard Elder Woodruff gladly, and with joy they received the gospel. Within
one month he baptized all their preachers, forty-five in number, and one
hundred and sixty of their members. In eight months time Elder Woodruff
brought eighteen hundred souls into the Church, including all the six