On the morning of 13 April 1843, at the site of the under construction in the city, JS spoke about settling in , Illinois, and a variety of other topics to a large congregation of , many of whom had just arrived from . The immigrants in the congregation had arrived in two groups on 12 April, one under the leadership of and the other under the supervision of and . In total, about 440 Saints arrived on 12 April, the vanguard of approximately 800 Saints who left England between September 1842 and January 1843.

JS’s discourse was addressed mainly to these newly arrived members. As the number of immigrating converts increased, so did JS’s concern for their physical well-being. Many of these converts had little money, and in December 1840, JS informed the preaching in that he wanted church members who had monetary resources to move to before impoverished immigrants so they could establish factories where poorer immigrants could work. JS was also aware that some immigrants had expectations about what they would find when they reached Nauvoo and that reality may not align with these expectations, as had happened in the past. For example, the Warsaw Signal reported in May 1841 that “great dissatisfaction exists at Nauvoo, amongst those who have lately arrived from England,” persuading some migrants to leave “both the City and the Church.” The Preston Chronicle similarly recounted in September 1841 that a family converted to the church in England, relocated to Nauvoo, and then left because they believed the city had “the most deplorable privations incidental on a new settlement” and was “badly supplied with the necessaries of life.” To temper expectations and to convey to immigrants the course to take when purchasing land and settling in the area, JS had given at least one other discourse to newly arrived members of the church in Nauvoo, instructing a group in October 1842 “how to act in regard to making purchases of land” and asking them not to expect perfection from him. JS’s discourse of 13 April 1843, featured here, provided similar direction.

JS gave the discourse following singing by a choir and a prayer by . JS welcomed the new immigrants, pronounced a blessing upon them, and gave them advice about what part of the city to settle in, whom they should purchase land from, and what they should do to preserve their health while living in . probably made rough notes of the discourse, which he later polished and expanded when he copied the discourse into JS’s journal.