Ellen G. White’s Experience and Methods as a Personal Worker 389
she expressed a great desire to obtain another copy of the work. Her
neighbors were deeply interested in it, and were desirous of seeing the
writer. She said that when I called upon her I talked to her of Jesus
and the beauties of heaven, and that the words were spoken with such
fervor that she was charmed, and had never forgotten them. Since that
time the Lord had sent ministers to preach the truth to them, and now
there was quite a company observing the Sabbath. The influence of
that little book, now worn out with perusing, had extended from one
another, performing its silent work, until the soil was ready for the
seeds of truth.
[449]
I well remember the long journey we took twenty-two years ago,
in Michigan. We were on our way to hold a meeting in Vergennes. We
were fifteen miles from our destination. Our driver had passed over the
road repeatedly and was well acquainted with it, but was compelled
to acknowledge that he had lost the way. We traveled forty miles that
day, through the woods, over logs and fallen trees, where there was
scarcely a trace of road....
We could not understand why we should be left to this singular
wandering in the wilderness. We were never more pleased than when
we came in sight of a little clearing on which was a log cabin, where
we found the sister I have mentioned. She kindly welcomed us to
her home, and provided us with refreshments, which were gratefully
received. As we rested, I talked with the family and left them the little
book. She gladly accepted it, and has preserved it until the present
time.
For twenty-two years our wanderings on this journey have seemed
indeed mysterious to us, but here we met quite a company who are
now believers in the truth, and who date their first experience from the
influence of that little book. The sister who so kindly administered to
our wants is now, with many of her neighbors, rejoicing in the light of
present truth.—
The Signs of the Times, October 19, 1876
.
An Experience in Nimes, France—When laboring in Nimes,
France, we made it our work to save souls. There was a young man
who had become discouraged through the temptations of Satan and
through some mistakes of our brethren who did not understand how
to deal with the minds of the youth. He gave up the Sabbath and
engaged to work in a manufacturing establishment to perfect his trade
in watchmaking. He is a very promising young man. My watch needed
[450]