Leadership responsibilities are not all pleasant as he also noted. He was also forced to deal with some of the unpleasantries of a church body in which all are not faithful. On Aug. 14, 1867, he notes that he administered to a woman and then came back to hold a council meeting to resolve a difficulty between two sisters. "It commenced very good but soon gave way to a spirit of accusation more than to council and it was settled satisfactorily. However, it was a great lesson for all present if they make it so," he wrote.

His non-stop travel from one community to another and the inconsistency of his sleeping and eating habits took a toll on Ezra James. His journal entry of Sept. 12, 1867, is perhaps one of the most telling about his circumstances and the willingness of his heart to do his duty, in spite of them.

"We walked to Faversham. A letter was waiting or here from father containing one from mother, sister Mary and J. F. Smith. My parents were very anxious about me having heard of my having been poorly last May when Bro. Hubbard was here. I had not been sick but was thin in flesh as this country does not seem to agree with me as my mountain home used to, but I have been gaining, though slowly since May and I hope to do so and stand it till honorably released to return home to the mountain of the Lord's House in the top of the mountains." 15

His honorable release did come, in June of 1868, but it appears as though his health never was robust. When the daily journal entries stopped, there was still a page in the back of his second journal in which he scribbled some notes, among them the fact that he was not well upon his release.

15 Mission Journals of Ezra James Clark, page 62

15