Samuel Bent: A Convert in the Days of Kirtland and the Council of Fifty (1833-1846)

Samuel Bent (1778-1846) was baptized in January 1833 and ordained an elder by Jared Carter. The very day after his baptism, he set out on a missionary journey to declare the restored gospel to others. He became a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion and a member of the Council of Fifty, the body of faithful men who served as advisers to the Prophet Joseph Smith. In 1846, in the midst of the Saints' expulsion from Nauvoo, he was appointed president of the Saints at Garden Grove, Iowa, one of the way-station settlements that sustained the exiles on their westward journey. His immediate, obedient response to baptism—to begin preaching the next day—is a faith-promoting witness of the early Saints who, the hour they received the truth, gave the rest of their lives to carry it to others.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Samuel Bent, Doctrine and Covenants Central):

In January 1833 Samuel Bent entered baptismal waters and was ordained an elder by Jared Carter. The day after his baptism, he went on a missionary journey to Huron, Michigan. There he organized a small branch of the Church. “Quite a number of people in that vicinity embraced the new faith,” due to the efforts of Samuel. Before he was up and on his way, he heard a voice say, “Samuel, arise immediately, and go forth on the mission which thou wast commanded to take.” He arose from his bed and set off without further delay.