"That night we had a most enjoyable and profitable time in his home. In conversation, he smote his hand upon his breast and said, 'I would to God I could unbosom my feelings in the house of my friends.' He said in relation to Zion's Camp, 'Brethren, don't be discouraged about our not having means. The Lord will provide, and He will put it into the heart of somebody to send me some money.' The very next day he received a letter from Sister Vose, containing one hundred and fifty dollars. When he opened the letter and took out the money, he held it up and exclaimed: 'See here, did I not tell you the Lord would send me some money to help us on our journey? Here it is.' I felt satisfied that Joseph was a Prophet of God in very deed."
Prior to his departure with Zion's Camp, Wilford Woodruff became acquainted with many leading men and private members of the Church, some of whom were destined to be his co-laborers throughout subsequent years of his life. Besides the Prophet, the patriarch and their families, he became acquainted with Brigham Young, Orson Hyde, Milton Holmes, Sidney Rigdon, and many others whose names occur in the early history of the Church.
"I passed one Sabbath in Kirtland," he writes, "and heard many of the elders speak. I rejoiced before God because of the light and knowledge which were manifested to me during that { 40} day. The first day of May, 1834, was appointed for the Camp of Zion to start from Kirtland. Only a few of those composing the Camp were ready.
"The Prophet asked those who were ready, to go as far as New Portage and there await the arrival of those who would follow later. I left in company with about twenty men with baggage wagons. At night we pitched our tents. Climbing to the top of the hill, I looked down upon the Camp of Israel. There I knelt upon the ground and prayed. I rejoiced and praised the Lord that I had lived to see some of the tents of Israel pitched, and a company gathered by the commandment of God to go up and help to redeem Zion.
"We remained at New Portage until the 6th when we were joined by the Prophet and eighty-five more men. The day before their arrival, while passing through the village of Middlebury, the people tried to count them, but the Lord multiplied them in the eyes of those people so that those who counted them said there were four hundred.