Bidding our loved ones good-bye we left Granite City, Illinois, May 29th, 1919. We took train from St. Louis at 4 P. M., for Stanton, Missouri, where God had definitely led us to go.

As the train sped out of the city and over the long stretch of country beyond, I was meditating over the many things that had happened at our farewell. My dear mother had said she did not understand this thing, and my brothers and sisters had spoken against our going out in such a foolish way, without money and without backing of any kind. They just knew that we would all starve and die in that far-off country. None of them being Christians, they could not understand how the dear Lord could supply our every need. But the blessed Holy Spirit had spoken to my heart and said, “You have left all, brothers, sisters, father, mother, houses and lands for My sake, and the Gospel’s, so I will give you brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers, houses and lands, wherever you go.”

As we rode on, we were praying that God would lead us every step of the way, and not let us miss His will in any thing we did or said. As I took some tracts from my hand bag to distribute among the passengers I noticed a white-haired gentleman take a seat just across from us. The Spirit said to me, “That is one of your Pentecostal brothers. Ask him what you want to know about the place to which you are going.”

We were not acquainted with any one at Stanton, and had been wishing that we could find out something about the place and the people before we arrived. I began distributing the tracts through the car, and when I came to this man he looked up and said, “Praise the Lord!” We had a blessed time from there on, talking of the work over the country, and learning of conditions at Stanton.

Arriving at the station we bade our brother good-bye and got off the train. It was now quite dark, and raining, and our funds were down to twenty cents. We stopped under the shed of the depot long enough to pray for leadings from the Lord, for it was late, the agent had gone, the depot was closed and the brother had told us that he thought most of the saints lived out in the country. As we looked to our Heavenly Father to guide us He directed us to a store on the hill. The owner was just closing the door as we came up. My husband asked him if any of the mission people lived in the town and he said he did not know. As we passed down the street we heard some one say, “Well, ‘Praise the Lord!’ Where did you come from?” It was dear brother Armstead. We had met him and his wife in some meetings in St. Louis, but did not know they lived in Stanton. Also others were there whom we knew, having met them in other places. We stayed about ten days and had blessed meetings. The blessing of the Lord came down upon our souls, the dear little band of faithful saints were refreshed, and the altar was filled with those seeking the Lord.

A remarkable incident occurred here. A woman across the street from where we were having the meetings became very much incensed at us because she thought we prayed and sang too loud. She sent her children over to throw rocks and sticks at us, while she sat in her house and made light of the shouting. One night the power fell in a wonderful way and the people were very happy. This woman was sitting barefoot in her bedroom reading the evening paper, and felt something cold touch her foot, but did not give it any attention at first. Feeling it again she looked down, and there was a very large snake coiled ready to strike her foot. She sprang away and screamed, then ran to the meeting crying for some one to come and kill the snake, as it had gotten on the bed where the baby was asleep. Some of the brothers went over, found the serpent on the bed, and killed it. After that the woman felt different toward us and our shouting and praising the Lord. We had been praying for her and the Lord had told us He would take care of it all. We find the Lord uses different means to bring people to Himself.

From Stanton we went to Rolla, Missouri. We knew no one in Rolla, or anything about the place, but the Lord had told us to go there, so we went. We just had money enough to get there. As we stepped off the train a brother threw his arms around my husband and said, “Well, Hallelujah! My wife told me to come and meet this train, for the Lord was sending some one on it to help us in the meetings we have just started, and here you are, just in time.” They had opened a little work there and had been asking the Lord to send someone to help them, so He had sent us, bless His dear Name! He also sent the Holy Spirit, for we had a wonderful time. One of the hard fighters of Pentecost received the Baptism, and many others were blessed in their souls, and some were healed in their bodies.

From Rolla we went to Springfield, Missouri, and stayed over Sunday with the dear saints there, having a refreshing time for our souls, and a rest for our bodies. From there we went to Everton, Missouri, where we had been led to hold some meetings.

On arriving in this little town we found that the only building there was for the meetings had burned down the day before. We spent the day in a grocery store praying for a door to be opened for the Gospel, for we had been told it was a very wicked town and that the Pentecostal message had never been preached there.

In the evening we went out to see about getting some rooms where we could stay while there. Going to a certain place we met the Presbyterian minister. When he found that we had come to have revival meetings he hastened to open his church to us and insisted that we begin the services that night. He told us that he had been praying for a revival as they had not had a convert in that town for over thirty years, and that he hoped we could do something to stir the people up. He had not asked us what we were preaching, as many others do when we arrive in a new place. If he had known how we would stir up things in that dead town and that fine Presbyterian church I don’t know whether he would have been so quick to invite us in.

He rang the church bell, we went in and began to sing and pray, and soon the crowd came. Such a hungry-looking lot of people they were, yet they looked like they were ready to run if something happened that they did not understand. As we prayed and testified the glory settled down over us. Each night the people moved up a little closer to the fire, and some dared to come up in the rostrum and help us sing. Once in a while we heard a faint Amen from the dear old pastor, and one night, after the Lord had met us in a very sweet and wonderful way, he came and said, “There is something so different about you people from what we have ever seen in others. Why,” said he, “it is no trouble at all for you to pray and testify, and there is something about these meetings that fills my heart with joy, and I want you to pray that I will get this blessing that you have, for we need a great spiritual awakening here.”

I felt like jumping up and down and telling him we had the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and it was that which made us different from other folks. O Hallelujah! But I knew we must use wisdom with them, so left it to the Lord to work out in His own way and time.

The next night the power fell on Sister Hagg, and she went up and down the platform singing in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. We were wonderfully anointed and had a blessed meeting. The dear people had never seen anything like that before. They looked so hungry.

The next morning the pastor and his wife came to our rooms and he said, “I want this blessed experience. Pray for me, and pray for my wife’s healing.” She was deaf. We had a sweet time praying together, the dear old pastor calling on God to send the Holy Spirit into his life and into the church.

The next day we had to move on to Kansas City. But I am sure there was a work done and seed sown in Everton that will bring forth fruit. The people came to bid us good-bye, saying they were so glad we had come and brought them the light of Pentecost.

At the depot we were told the price of our tickets was $20. We found we were short of that amount by $4.20. We had only $14.80. We went aside and prayed, telling the Lord He had told us to go to Kansas City, Missouri, and now the train was arriving and we did not have sufficient money. The Lord said, “Go to the window and call for the tickets.” We obeyed, knowing the Lord was able to send money right straight from Heaven. As husband received the tickets through the window, the agent said, “$14.80.” We were soon on the train speeding on our way. We do not know just how it came about, but we know God did it. Hallelujah! He makes a way where there is no way, if we believe.

It was after dark when we arrived in Kansas City. We prayed and asked the Lord just where He wanted us to go as we did not know anyone there. He directed us straight up a street. We walked several blocks, not knowing where there were any missions. We saw a nice little brick church on a corner, but no sign to tell about meetings, and the doors were closed. As we stood there praying, the Lord told me to open the door and go in.

As we pushed on the door it opened into a vestibule. From there some steps led into the auditorium through another door. We heard some one saying, “Praise the Lord!” and knew they must be Pentecostal people. A brother came with outstretched hands to greet us, asking, “Where did you come from?” It was dear Brother Huff from Chicago, who was in charge of the mission. We had a blessed time together praising God and seeing souls brought in and baptized in the Spirit. We were also blessed with Brother Scott in the mission in Kansas City, Kansas, and with his saints.

We then went on to Topeka, Kansas, by the direction of the Lord. We never went anywhere until we had prayed and received instructions from the Lord. Most of the time He spoke through my lips the name of the next place, even telling us when to go, and what train to take. Oh, the blessedness of the sweet Holy Spirit flowing in and upon our souls till we are lost in Him.

“He leadeth me, oh, blessed thought.”

We arrived in Topeka, knowing nothing of the missions there or how to find them. As we were walking down a street the Lord said, “Ask that boy where the mission is.” He was the son of one of the saints, and lived near the mission. We were at that mission two weeks and had a precious time.

The Lord provided for us to travel to Colorado Springs with Sister Bowers in her car. Many were the times and ways God showed His mighty arm out-stretched toward us. We started with very little money to buy food and gasoline, or to pay for repairs for the car. But He provided for all.

One morning as we were crossing a bridge, some drunken men ran their car into ours, throwing it over the edge of the bridge which had no rail, the bridge being a new one and not completed. Our machine hung out over the water fifty feet below. But as we went over the edge the power came upon us all, and we began speaking in tongues. The glory of God came down like a great white cloud, and the machine was picked up and set in the middle of the bridge without a scratch on us or on it.

Another time when we came into a town we were told that the road ahead was impassable; that twenty cars had been pulled out of the place where the water covered the road for about a mile. We asked the Lord if we should go on or not. He said we should go on, and if we believed we should see the glory of God. As we approached the water, which came up to the doors of the machine, and with great ditches on either side, filled with water, we could not see where the road was, nor where the ditches were. The power came down over the machine, and we all began to sing in tongues. Sister Bowers’ hands went up in the air, and never touched the wheel till we were over the place, about a mile in length. The mud and water did not even splash the wind shield or machine anywhere.

“We will rejoice in Thy salvation, and in the name of God we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.”—Psalm 20:5.

We stopped at several places on the way and held meetings. We also gave out tracts and papers, filling the rural mail boxes along the highways with gospel literature. Each morning we cooked our breakfast and had our morning worship by the roadside, then went on our way praising God for all His goodness in permitting us to preach His glorious gospel.

One night when we were sleeping out on the open prairie—as we were too heavily loaded to carry a tent—there came up a terrible storm. The wind blew at a terrific gale and the thunder and lightning were awful. We were fast asleep when a large coyote came near and began his loud barking, evidently sent by the Lord to awaken us just in time to see our clothes and hats sweeping across the plain before the fierce wind. We ran after them, and prayed the Lord to stop the storm, telling Him He had promised us that it should not rain on us. Then the wind stopped, also the thunder and lightning, and we had nice dry weather the rest of the way.

Arriving in Colorado Springs, we were welcomed by the dear pastor and people. They had a nice assembly, and the Lord sweetly worked the few days we were there.

Some people from the plains came asking us to come and hold meetings for them in a school-house. They had never heard Pentecost preached, excepting one woman who had read some about it and was hungry for the Baptism. We found the whole country Free Methodist, and they said they had the Holy Spirit.

We had meetings every night for about a week, everybody sitting back and looking on. On Sunday we were invited to the home of some of the leading people for dinner. After we had eaten, someone went to the piano and began playing a hymn, and we started to sing. Soon we heard a terrible noise. Looking around we saw the man of the house laid out in the middle of the floor, shaking from head to foot under the power of God. In fact his feet were up in the air and his whole body was shaking violently. His wife and the people were running out after water to throw on him. But we told them it was the power of God, and they must leave him alone. They declared he had a spell with his heart and was dying, but we kept on singing and holding on in prayer till he came through.

The news spread all over the country, and that night all the rigs and autos for many miles around were there bringing the people to see the strange sights. While we were singing, the daughter of this same man arose, came to the altar and fell under the power. The fire spread over the house, God working in a wondrous way. Some said it was the power of God, others said we were hypnotizing the people, and that was what made them fall. The whole country was stirred, and many heard the last-day message of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. We still receive letters from these people. They are holding on to God, and He is blessing them.

We also visited with dear Brother and Sister Roper and their sister Stout, at Immanuel Faith Home, in Pueblo. This is a school for orphan children, and a faith home where saints and missionaries can come and rest for a while. We were there for a week, and those were days of great blessing and refreshings from the Lord. These clear saints have opened that wonderful work in faith, looking to God to supply every need, and surely He has done according to His promise. The way we saw God work there in answering prayer was far beyond anything we had ever witnessed before, and the way the dear little children were taught to pray and trust God for their needs was blessed.

From there we went in the machine to Denver, where we spent two weeks at the camp-meeting. How the blessing of the Lord did come down on our souls! We were greatly refreshed and our faith was quickened. The latter was needed, for we were going to the mission field by faith, looking to the Lord alone to supply every need.

The camp-meeting was coming to a close and the tents were being taken down, but we did not know where we were to go next. As I was packing the suit-cases, and getting ready to leave, the Lord said to me, “Arrange your clothes, for you will go to Los Angeles in a few days.”

Offerings had been small and expenses heavy, so we had but little money, therefore we did not see how we could get to Los Angeles. But never mind. “The natural man receiveth not the things of God.” Don’t reason, but believe. As I walked out by the lake, and saw the pretty little fish so at home in the beautiful water, without a care, for God took care of them, He spoke to my heart, and said, “Not a worry, for as I made this beautiful crystal lake for the fish, so I have made a great and beautiful way for My children. And just as the fish swim through the water and drink it, so My little children shall live and move in Me.” “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

Just then three women came up in a machine and stopped near where I was. All were strangers to me, but the Spirit said, “Join yourself to them.” I went over and spoke to them, asking if they were Christians. They said they were, and were wanting to see me. They had heard me speak the night before, and wanted to see more of me. When I bade them good-bye one of them went with me to my tent. She said she had some of the Lord’s money for me, but did not know how to find me, as the camp was breaking up and everyone was going away, but she had been directed back to the camp-ground. “Give me your address on the mission field,” she said, “as I am to help support you there.” Besides what she gave me at the camp-meeting, she was one of our main supports on the field, sending her offerings in no small sums.

We then went to Colorado Springs with a brother in his auto. All the way the Lord kept saying to me, “You will leave for Los Angeles soon after arriving at the Springs.” As we must have $100.00 more for our tickets, we did not know how it was going to work out. When we went to the post office we received a letter from a brother in Kansas with a check for $100.00. In the letter he said, “I supposed you were in California, but as I was writing this check I was led to send it to Colorado Springs. Hope you receive it o. k.” So here was the rest of our fare. Just as God had said, we were to go to California. He had the money right on hand, bless His name! After buying our tickets and a little lunch, we had $3 left. We praised the Lord we were on our way to the mission field, to tell the heathen of this wonderful salvation.

As the train pulled out of the station, a little sister who had been very kind to us threw $4 in at the window.