Part 1 (2/2)
Fro, ”You ought to be a better young h I could not be better at home in Norway so I determined to sail for America
I had been in America about a year and a half when I ht to be lost in this country, because his family had not heard froo into a saloon with hilass of beer We went in, and also played several ga it on the back of a chair In the inside pocket ofabout one hundred dollars, all the money I had, and also my valuable papers When I went to reach for one The saloon keeper seemed to knohat had taken place and handed me five dollars I had no work as there was none to be found It was the custolass of beer I went at noon every day and bought a glass of beer so I could have the free lunch that ith it I lived that way for about two ht work, which consisted of pushi+ng loads of stone in a wheelbarrow for the building of the Stone Arch Bridge over the St Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River for the Great Northern Railway Company The planks upon which we had to walk became very slippery and on one trip the man ahead of me slipped back in the wheel of e stone The force of his fall threw both stone and wheelbarrow into the river Thehirabbed ht me by one of my arms and heldfrom his hands about fifty to seventy-five feet above the river
After that experience I could not ain out of work and so terribly discouraged A few nights later I walked onto the Tenth Avenue bridge intending to jump off into the river to end it all As I took hold of the railing someone from behind in” I looked, to see the e The way he spoke had sent a chill through ht and I seemed to realize that it was the Lord who had spoken to me
After so man as before in Norway It see to io to school and study for the e certain things happened which turned ot s, and the doctor said there was no help forthe depression of 1892 I lost all I had In my sinful condition I called on God and He healedman came to our ho In answer to my query as to what kind of service it was to be, he infor I replied that I was not in favor of woo with him as I was not afraid the woh these woive upI was very tired and sleepy and went to bed at precisely nine o'clock I went to sleep at once and had a dreaospel and that I was traveling all over the United States and Canada, as well as in a number of European countries
Hundreds of souls were turning to the Lord in the s andlife to accomplish all that I saw done in my dreaht it was ht but found I had been in bed JUST TEN MINUTES! I did not sleep any on my dream which convinced me that therethat would continue to live forever and my infidelity vanished
A few months later (March 12, 1895), the Lord spoke peace to my wife and me at the same tiht us out of darkness through three visions and showed us the evil of all sectarian division All this was giving us light on the beautiful Church of God without our having heard any preaching on the subject, nor did we know anyone who believed as we did
We co at once and our first convert was a lady as saved in our home (Sister Hendricks, now Myhre, who is ahen the Lord healedin ht cold in it and it swelled so fast that when I got into the house I could not get my clothes off and they had to be cut off with scissors My wife and a young brother prayed for et immediate relief My entire aran to turn the same way I had read in the Bible that the sick were to be anointed with oil The young brother anointed o down i there was no sy whatever
The next experience of healing was of the restoring of one to services and I stayed home to take care of the children I had laid down beside theet them to sleep and had dropped off to sleepbeside the bed He said to me, ”Do you know John Pederson?” ”Yes,” I replied, ”he is hbor” And Jesus said, ”Isn't he a blackshs? And,” he continued, ”if he were to make one for you and you were to break it, wouldn't he fix it for you?” ”Why, certainly,” I replied
”Well,” Jesus continued, ”I made your ear in the first place and don't you think I can fix it?” ”Yes,” I said Then He stepped up to ers and I julory to God
The youngest of our twin boys, as nearly five years of age, was taken with double pneumonia and suddenly passed away Myto drive to town to get a permit from the doctor to bury the little one, the Lord said to et the teaain?” I immediately turned around and went to the little corpse and laying my hands on him prayed and wept, and after a little while he came to life He was not only alive, but also perfectly well When I knelt down to pray ht I had lost hter, so to leave hoone over Sunday The little one grew steadily worse and at eleven o'clock on Sunday night she passed away There was great consternation in the farand had quieted down and all had retired, except my ho remained up, she went to the little body, held it in her arms as she knelt beside the bed until she was tired, then, laying the baby on the bed and laying her hands on it, prayed until life came back into it When I returned Monday the child was as well as ever In both cases grandmother prepared them for burial
A little while after this experience the tere out in the barn feeding the horses Somehow in their actions one boy accidently stuck the tine of the pitchfork right into the eyeball of the other boy Wife hearing their screaht them into the house She washed the blood from the injured eye and laid the boy on the bed; then she and the twin brother laid their hands on him and prayed the prayer of faith He went to sleep and slept untill , and all that remained on the eyeball was a small white spot in the center which disappeared after a day or two, and his sight was not in the least impaired
A similar case happened at Bruce, South Dakota, while I was pastor at Brookings and White The little three year old daughter of Brother and Sister Hi Tellinghuisen was playing in the yard with an old rusty sewing ht into the center of one eyeball She was taken at once to a physician who ordered her to be taken without delay to a specialist to have the eyeball removed The parents then called me over the telephone to come at once When I arrived and saw the eye, it looked to me like a dried up prune stone I anointed the child, but could find no words to utter in prayer I could only groan, but the Lord witnessed to the healing (I think this took place on Saturday at 11 o'clock aht to the services perfectly well) (At this writing she is teaching school)
On March the 20th, 1904, as taken with quick consu as I re, she would be rational but as soon as I ceased praying her mind would wander Over a week later, on Saturday, Brothers O T Ring and Carl Forsberg caree of my wife, and froo down A nureeaker and weaker, until in the hbors would co, outside of the house, ”We are sorry to say it, but we do not expect to see your wife alive again”
One day she said towe know to do except to send to Brother E E Byrum for an anointed handkerchief” I asked, ”Do you want me to send for one?” to which she assented, and I sent for one We received it by ust the 23rd at 1 o'clock I placed the handkerchief upon her and kneeling beside her laid my hands on her and prayed She was so weak that it seemd as if she would pass away before I could remove my hands, so I soon said ”A, does it?” I answered, ”No, it does not” Then she drew one of her hands from under the covers and said, ”Do you believe that any flesh is ever co to these hands?” ”Dear,” I answered, ”I do not know” Then she said, ”I believe that it will happen” I asked, ”Why do you believe it?”
She toldShe said that it was the one about Naaain like the flesh of a little child and he was clean” 2 Kings 5:14
Two hours later she was perfectly well, but weak, of course
On one occasion I received an urgent call to come to Norway Lake to pray for Mrs John Evenson as ill with tuberculosis While on gy was full of devils, whispering toto be arrested and put in jail” However, after driving sixteento raise Sister Everson up, even if she were dead when I got there
As I drove into the driveway I saw a number ofout of the buggy, I proceeded to unhook my team when Mr Everson appeared, and said, ”The hiredwith me” We went into the house and into the room where the sick woman was Mr Everson sat down in a chair beside the bed, taking his watch out, he then took his wife's hand in his to count the pulse She was unconscious I spoke to her two or three times but she did not hear me
I knelt down and asked the Lord to restore her to consciousness Then I arose and spoke to her again After a bit she opened her eyes and I said, ”Brother Susag is here What do you want him to do for you?” She replied, ”I want you to anoint me and pray forwhich she sat up in bed and asked for so to eat