In a general assembly conference in St. George, President Brigham Young read out names of men who were called for the new colonization in Arizona. President Young said, "Leave nothing to come back to...sell all you have and take your families with you."
This is Lucy Flake's reaction: "Another crisis in our lives had been reached. Another decision had to be made. Would we accept the call and go to this new country? Arizona!! The very name made me shudder. There were probalbymore Indians there than in any other part of the United States. It was the abode of the Apaches, whose depredations were known far and near. They were considered the most blood thirsty of all the Indian tribes. Arizona....where there was much land but little water, where there were the greatest distances with nothing to see.
Because of William's trying experiences on his former trip to the desert land of Arizona, he felt that no greater thing could be asked of him. He said he would not have felt worse had he been told to take his family to England. As for my reaction, I felt that this last call was too much. Our whole lives had been spent in moving from place to place, making new homes, only to be called to help establish a new community.
However, we believed the Bible where it said that in the last days would the Lord raise up a Prophet to guide his people. We had accepted Joseph Smith as the promised prophet. When he was murdered, contrary to belief of our enemies, the work did not stop, but another prophet was raised up by God to lead his people. My parents, with thousands of other faithful saints had seen the Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Smith fall upon the shoulders of Brigham Young.
The ancient prophet, Amos, says in the third chapter and seventh verse, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth his secret unto His servants, the Prophets." If we were needed to build up the waste places, we would go, even to the last Frontier."
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