Chapter 11

More People Join the Church

April–June 1830

After a few weeks, there were 27 members of the Church. They did not all live in the same town. Joseph Smith asked them to come to a conference, which is a special meeting for all the Saints. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ are called Saints.

The Saints had the sacrament at the conference. Some men were ordained to the priesthood. The Holy Ghost blessed the Saints, and they were very happy.

Some other people who attended the conference were not members of the Church. They learned about the gospel and wanted to join the Church, so they were baptized. After the conference, Joseph Smith went to another town. Some people there also wanted to be baptized. Joseph said they could be baptized in a nearby stream.

The people built a small dam in the stream to make the water deep enough to perform baptisms. In the night, some people destroyed the dam.

The dam was rebuilt, and Oliver Cowdery began to baptize people. Soon a mob came. A mob is a group of mean people. They said bad things and tried to hurt the Saints, but the Lord kept the people safe.

The mob continued trying to make trouble for the Church. They told lies about Joseph Smith and had him arrested. At a trial, they found people to give false testimony against the Prophet. But many other people told the truth about Joseph, proving the words of the enemies to be false.

Joseph was released, but almost immediately he was arrested again by people from a nearby county. While he was imprisoned, people spit on him and would not give him food. Another trial was held, and Joseph was again found innocent and was released.