In this book, William Taylor tells in his own words the story of a foundational episode in his life. Following his trial ministry as a Methodist circuit rider in his home state of Virginia and his service of pastorates in the historic North Baltimore Conference, William Taylor (1821-1902) was commissioned as a missionary to California at the beginning of the Gold Rush Era. His subsequent "seven years of street preaching in San Francisco" set the stage for a half-century missionary career during which Taylor championed self-supporting missions to every populated continent, funded by the publication of his widely-read books. Despite his prolific writing, none of Taylor''s publications reveal the personal dimensions of his struggles or the day-by-day development of his missionary perspective. This early chapter in Taylor''s career emerges for the first time with the publication of his journal, privately held by family members for over a century. The substantial journal chronicles five of Taylor''s seven enterprising years (1849-1856) in San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, and the surrounding area, while offering a rich, first-person account of contemporary events written in Taylor''s fine, narrative style. With this journal, readers may trace the genesis of Taylor''s approach to self-supporting missions, including the development of his thinking on fund raising and his skepticism toward the possibility of a Christian use of money. A scholarly introduction, footnotes, and appendixes, together with several images, set Taylor''s California experiences in historical context, while clarifying and explaining the journal''s rhetoric, holiness doctrine, missionary strategies, and oblique references.