Joseph Smith's Protective Covenant Over Zion's Camp - Fulfilled Promise

At the beginning of Zion's Camp in May 1834, Joseph Smith made a solemn promise to the volunteers: 'If you will go with me to Missouri and keep my counsel, I pledge that I will lead you there and back and not a hair of your head shall be hurt.' William Farrington Cahoon recorded that the camp then 'marched through a population of tens of thousands of people like lambs among wolves, but no man among them opened his mouth to say, Why do you do so?' Though the company faced cholera (which took sixteen lives among those who murmured against the Lord's counsel) and many hardships, those who kept their covenant and Joseph's counsel were protected. Cahoon testified of his own miraculous preservation through the entire journey: 'we felt to thank God for preserving our lives and bringing us together again.' This covenant protection demonstrated the Lord's care over those who followed the prophet.