It was learned when David returned in the evening that he had broken his wagon, and had great difficulty in securing another wagon and transferring his load to it, all of which delayed him about three hours, and when he arrived in town all the stores were supplied. Feeling very much discouraged, he was about to start for another part of the city, when a man from Park City happened along and looked at David's load, and, as he found it included just the things he wanted, he bought the entire load. The father told him it was through the power of the Lord that the man was sent to him, so that he might sell his produce.
One day when he and his wife were eating breakfast an impression came over Thomas that they were going to have trouble of some kind before night, and he mentioned it to his wife. Just then his son Ephraim came in and remarked that he was going to the canyon. His father asked him not to go, but to remain at home and work, as he thought that some trouble was going to occur. However, after the father had started to the city, Ephraim went to the canyon, and, in felling a tree, accidently killed one of his horses, by the tree hitting it.
About this time the Bishop of Bountiful was absent from home a great deal, and Thomas, acting as head teacher, was required to assume the Bishop's duties to a large extent; indeed from his memoir it appears that his public service consumed nearly all of his time. It is little to be wondered at that his sons and son-in-law, who had been associated with him in the raising and marketing of garden produce, decided to dissolve partnership and operate separately. Thomas, in his memoir, expresses gratitude to them for their forbearance in having been willing for him to devote such a large share of his time to caring for the poor, and other public duties.
One member of a company or association may feel willing (as Thomas did) to devote the whole of his time, if necessary, to gratuitous service, but if his interest in the partnership or association is based upon the assumption that his time belongs to the company, his associates in business necessarily become servitors when he serves, whether willingly so or not. Thomas' sons and son-in-law were good men, and not ungenerous, but were not prepared in their feelings to make unlimited sacrifice for the public good, and their revolt was quite natural. Later, however, his son Ephraim decided to still work with his father, and they built a greenhouse to be the better able to carry on their business.
The year 1882 marked the half century of Thomas' life, and he was deeply grateful to the Lord for having spared his life so long—much longer than he had hoped to live, and the joy he experienced in contemplating the future of his posterity. His love for the poor found expression on the first day of the year in his entertaining the poor residents of Bountiful, about fifty in number, at his home, and on the following day all of his children and all of his wife's children by a former husband came to his home loaded down with good things, and gave him a genuine surprise party, and had a time of rejoicing.
Having received a call from the First Presidency to fill a mission to the Northwestern States, a number of his relatives and friends gave him another surprise party on the 22nd of April, 1883, and presented him with a purse of $30.00 to help defray his expenses, for which he felt very grateful. He mentions in particular one poor widow who had to work for her living, who sent him $1.00 and a silk hankerchief.
On the 1st of May he left his home to labor as a missionary under the direction of Elder W. M. Palmer, and in his diary expresses a doubt whether a missionary ever set out under such circumstances as he did. The two running sores on his leg were very painful, and he walked with difficulty. While on the way Elder Palmer evidently realized for the first time how serious Thomas' ailment was, and expressed a doubt about his being able to endure the hardships incident to missionary life, and especially the damp climate prevailing in the northwest.
On reaching Minnesota, he was assigned to labor with Wm. H. Wright, of Ogden, but was taken so desperately sick soon after reaching his field of labor in Wisconsin that Elder Palmer hastened to release him, lest he might die there.
He arrived home a little less than four months after he left, having slightly improved in health during the journey home.
As soon as he was able to walk about, he resumed his former labors of caring for the poor and comforting and encouraging those who were weak in the faith. He records in his diary the fact that he was prompted by the Spirit to visit a poor woman who had been abandoned by her husband. As she had not previously been dependent upon the ward for help, he disregarded the prompting until the Lord warned him a second time to call upon her. He found then that she had been subsisting upon a few potatoes, and was really in need of food. He soon provided her with what was required to make her comfortable, and asked the Lord to forgive him for failing to act promptly upon the warnings of His Spirit.