There were good reasons why Ellen White hoped to get settled quickly on her return to the United States, and why she was so pleased to find Elmshaven ready for occupancy. In a number of visions in Australia, conditions, situations, and dangers that threatened the church were clearly revealed to her. Correspondence from America also disclosed some of the looming problems. These she must face unflinchingly and without delay.
There was the matter of the disproportionate development in the medical missionary lines, which was placing special emphasis on a work in Chicago directed toward the outcasts, the drunks, and the harlots. The light given to Ellen White indicated that a certain amount of this type of work, carried out under proper safeguards, was essential and proper, but it would yield but a limited lasting harvest. There was grave danger of an unbalance that would divert attention from major objectives in the medical work of the church and, because of the heavy financial demands, curtail various lines of denominational work around the world. From a reliable source in Battle Creek she was informed that Dr. Kellogg had at last taken a position against Sister White because she did not sustain him in the work he had carried to such extremes.
Then there was the situation in which Dr. Kellogg was involved. His growing interest in and promotion of a great Christian medical work that would be undenominational in nature and not linked to a small religious body was a matter of growing concern. Ever loyal to health principles, Kellogg was very critical and at times intolerant of ministers who were slow to accept and follow all these principles. At the same time he was so pressed with duties and responsibilities that he had little time for the theological interests of the church.
Then, too, Ellen White had been given views of an outbreak of fanaticism, which when it developed came to be known as the Holy Flesh Movement. While in Australia, she was shown in vision its perils and what would transpire.
There was the work among the blacks in the South in which her son James Edson White was leading out. In 1894 he had built the Morning Star, a missionary riverboat, which in early 1895 he had sailed down the Mississippi River, and had pioneered a work, establishing schools and churches. This work was now under the direction of the Southern Missionary Society, an organization he headed and one that was recognized by the General Conference as the agency largely responsible for the work of the church among the blacks. This was almost entirely a self-supporting work, carried on with approval of church leaders and with minimal financial assistance.
In connection with this there had been the sad experience of the lost offering--$11,405 raised by the Sabbath schools to assist in the work in the Southern States, which in the absence of a central, overall organization, was inadvertently diverted to meet other pressing needs of the church. When the matter finally came to light, church leaders were dismayed, but seemed helpless to remedy the situation. Then, too, some unfortunate financial moves on the part of Edson White had reduced the confidence of church leaders in his qualifications in financial lines.
Perhaps uppermost in Ellen White's mind was the General Conference session that was scheduled to be held in February. The reason she felt she must leave Australia in August was in order to be certain that she could attend this conference. There was an uneasy feeling among thoughtful church leaders; almost all of them sensed that this would be a particularly important meeting.
Clearly, the rapidly expanding outreach of the church was outrunning its organizational structure. Church leaders could see this, but they did not know how to grapple with the problems. They had considered these matters at the 1897 General Conference session, but no remedial steps were taken.
To Ellen White these combined burdens intensified as she set foot on American shores, especially as she quickly comprehended the lethargy that marked the work in California, the second-largest conference in the world. Added to this was her own state of health. Approaching her seventy-third birthday, she recognized that her years were running out. She had left Australia in early spring only to arrive in the Northern Hemisphere in late autumn, to be followed quickly by an early winter, putting two winters end to end. She dreaded the prospect of traveling to Michigan in winter. Yet it seemed that she must attend the coming conference in Battle Creek. Also she had had unveiled to her in vision the needs of Europe and especially London, where she said that a hundred men should be at work.
Books were yet to be prepared and published. Her unfinished work pressed upon her. First there was Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, sometimes referred to as Testimony No. 34. Nearly twelve years had gone by since volume 5 had been published in 1889. There were reasons why another volume of the Testimonies seemed to be very necessary, and its issuance urgent.
When volume 5 was published, there were three Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions--Battle Creek College, South Lancaster Academy, and Healdsburg College--all located within the limits of small cities, and curtailed in their opportunities for outreach in normal expansion.
In the meantime, Ellen White had been in Australia, and in response to her counsels and encouragement the Avondale school was started on a 1,500-acre tract of land seventy-six miles north of Sydney, the nearest large city. Here was opportunity to develop a college along the lines that were called for originally if our educational work was to accomplish all that God would have it do. Now other institutions were being established, and to provide guidelines there was need of the recently written counsels that had been available in but a limited way.
There was Battle Creek with its many problems. Institutions were saddled with heavy indebtedness, particularly the college. Already Ellen White had dedicated the newly published Christ's Object Lessons to help lift the debts on our schools.
Not only was she deeply involved in the selection of material for Testimonies, volume 6, but work was under way for a book on education that could serve both the world and the church. This was to occupy considerable time from certain members of her staff until the book Education was published in 1903.
Then, for years she had been concerned relative to a general book on the subject of health that would serve the world as well as the church, taking the place of the old Christian Temperance. The work on this culminated in 1905 in The Ministry of Healing.
Long waiting for attention was work on the early Christian church, providing a Conflict of the Ages book to replace the Sketches From the Life of Paul, published in 1883. And there were her plans for a book on Old Testament history to follow Patriarchs and Prophets. Then, too, there was the matter of supplying articles almost every week for the Review and Herald, the Signs of the Times, and The Youth's Instructor. From time to time articles for the union papers had to be prepared. Many interests demanded her attention and that of her staff.
Ellen White moved into Elmshaven as quickly as she could in early October. But this was no time to rest. As noted earlier Edson had left for California as soon as he heard that his mother was back in the States. Elder G. A. Irwin, president of the General Conference, was on hand in California to meet her and seek her counsel. The last Sunday in September, just a week after her arrival, found Edson, Willie, and Elders A. O. Tait, A. T. Jones, and G. A. Irwin gathered in counsel with Ellen White at the Rural Health Retreat, where she was staying. A major topic of discussion was Edson's work in the South. Some problems had arisen over some of the transactions between him and the publishers who were issuing his books for colporteur sale. It was these books that formed the basis for financial support of the work of the Southern Missionary Society. Also, outbursts of racial violence demanded new tactics and some new personnel. All this was reviewed carefully.
The Next General Conference Session
Perhaps the main topic of discussion was the next General Conference session and where it would be held. Normally, it would come in February, 1901. The sessions held in the 1890s had been scheduled for dates from late January to early March. As the group broke up, it was with the feeling that most likely Oakland, California, would be the best site for the 1901 session. Elder Irwin returned to Battle Creek prepared to speak in favor of that proposal at the Autumn Council, which would convene shortly.
Factors that seemed to point to Oakland as the logical place were the delicate nature of Ellen White's health and her dread of a long journey east in midwinter, and the state of the work in California. Nonetheless, while she dreaded returning to Battle Creek in winter, or anytime, because of the burdens that would fall upon her when she returned to that city after an absence of ten years, deep down in her heart she knew that the time would come when she would have to spend some time in Battle Creek. In visions of the night she seemed to be bearing her testimony there in the Tabernacle, and she knew that she must sometime return. But in her weakness and advancing age, she just did not feel that she could undertake it for a meeting in midwinter.
The Autumn Council action on the question of the forthcoming session was that the meeting would be held in Oakland. It was an indecisive action, for some refrained from voting. It was clear that the vote was in deference to Ellen White. Some of the men, seeing the crisis that was looming at Battle Creek that involved Dr. Kellogg and his loyalties to the church, felt that there would be great advantage if the General Conference session could be held there at the headquarters city with Ellen White present.
Dr. Daniel H. Kress wrote to her on this point in a very open and candid letter, explaining the situation as he saw it. Kress had been in England and then returned to the United States to regain his health. He was now soon to leave for Australia. He felt that the men were using Ellen White's position as an excuse for not thinking or acting for themselves. He was sure that a majority of the delegates favored Battle Creek over Oakland, but were afraid to go against her wishes.
Kress told Ellen White that Dr. Kellogg "feels that every hand is against him." Then he explained that this was "not altogether without reason, for some of our brethren have used the testimonies which were given to correct and save him, as a club to destroy him and his influence.... The doctor thinks you also are trying to crush him.... I know you have the feeling of a mother toward him, but he does not believe this."--D. H. Kress to EGW, October 18, 1900.
Kress pointed out that if the General Conference were held in Oakland, the rank and file of Battle Creek Sanitarium workers, as well as those in the publishing house and the college in Battle Creek, could not attend. Kellogg, he felt, would see it as just another scheme to press him to the wall. Kress mentioned a rumor that Dr. Kellogg was planning to leave the denomination and he hoped that Ellen White would be able to prevent it. He felt that more than anything else Kellogg needed a heart-to-heart talk with her.
There were other rumors and reports that came to Ellen White that led her to feel that it might be best if the General Conference session were held in Battle Creek rather than in Oakland. Among these was one she heard in Australia that she was engineering things so as to bring A. G. Daniells and W. C. White into prominent positions in the leadership of the church--Daniells as president of the General Conference and W.C. as secretary and president of the Foreign Mission Board. These Ellen White categorized as "most surprising falsehoods," stating that "such a thought never entered our minds."--Letter 139, 1900.
Her correspondence, with St. Helena as the dateline during late October and November, reveals the struggle in her heart as she dealt with important matters, particularly in regard to the forthcoming session. The Lord did not give her clear light as to just what move should be made, and she wavered between promises to attend the session if it should be held in Battle Creek and her own physical weakness that seemed to make the journey impossible. To the General Conference officers she wrote on October 24:
I do not refuse to go to Battle Creek if the Lord indicates that it is my duty to go, but I may not be present at the General Conference if it is held in Battle Creek, or even if it is held in Oakland. I have a great and most solemn work before me in preparing for publication the writings which till now have been merely private testimonies, to be laid away in a drawer, with no heed paid to their instructions.-- Ibid.
But it wasn't long until she assured the president of the General Conference that if the decision were made to hold the session in Battle Creek, she would be present.
Now settled in northern California, she was urged to fill speaking appointments in nearby and Bay-region churches. Immediately upon her return she had spoken several times at the camp meeting at Napa, twenty miles south of the Rural Health Retreat, where she was staying. On Sabbath morning, November 10, she spoke to four hundred believers crowded into the San Francisco church. Her altar call brought a hearty response, with some lingering on to visit. There were some who expressed their "gratitude to God that they had been permitted to see Sister White's face again and to hear once more the message of the Lord" (Letter 148, 1900).
The next Sabbath she spoke to the Calistoga church, nine miles to the north. She was pleased with the neatness of the building, and the congregation was larger than she expected. But the room was small, the day was rainy, and a fire was burning in the stove in a room without proper ventilation. The hot stovepipe ran right above her, and when she rose to speak, the blood rushed to her head. Sara McEnterfer, her traveling companion and nurse, who had accompanied her, saw her face turn almost purple and feared that she would fall. Ellen White had to ask for more ventilation and told the people it would be better for them to dress warmly and do without the fire. At any rate they would be able to listen better if they had fresh air.
Just after the experience in Calistoga, in an interview with Dr. Kellogg, who had made a surprise visit to California, she explained to him that she could not go to Battle Creek in the middle of winter to attend meetings in tightly closed rooms. He asked her whether it would help if the date of the session were postponed a few weeks, and she indicated that it would. He invited her to come to the Battle Creek Sanitarium for a few weeks before the session and receive treatments so she could be ready for it. In commenting on the matter, she said that she would not dare to attend the session in midwinter in the East, then declared, "Midwinter is not the proper time to hold a conference."--Manuscript 62, 1900.
The next Sabbath she was to fill a speaking appointment in Healdsburg at the church that served the college. She had sent word in advance that the room was not to be heated, but the janitor forgot, and when she arrived she found a crowded, closed room heated with two wood-burning stoves. She got through the meeting successfully, and felt that she had been vitalized by the Spirit of God. This experience was to her an indication that she could probably attend the session in Battle Creek. On December 4, she wrote to the General Conference Committee urging that the session be held later than February or March. She declared, "It is not wise to bring together in midwinter a large number of people to a place which, in order to be comfortable, must be artificially heated. The heated atmosphere, with limited ventilation, has a tendency to lessen vitality."--Letter 155, 1900.
Battle Creek Finally Settled Upon
On December 10, the available members of the General Conference Committee in Battle Creek voted to hold the 1901 General Conference from April 2 to 23 in Battle Creek. But her decision to attend had not come without some cost to herself. She declared, "For a week before I fully consented to go to Battle Creek, I did not sleep past one o'clock. Some nights I was up at eleven o'clock and many nights at twelve. I have not moved from impulse, but from the conviction that at this time I must begin at Jerusalem."--Letter 159, 1900.
Then she explained her willingness to abandon the hope that the meeting might have been held in California:
The deep regrets of many that the conference was to be held in Oakland came to me across the Rocky Mountains. Had not a change been made, the impression would have rested upon minds that the conference was held in Oakland because of Sister White's choice. To bear all the responsibility of having the conference in Oakland was a burden too heavy for me to carry.-- Ibid.
She was also concerned about the extra expense for such a meeting in Oakland. She found that because of travel it would cost probably $5,000 to $8,000 more than if it were held in Battle Creek, and she was determined to do her part in trying to save this money. She explained, also, a factor that had helped her in her final decision:
In the night season, I was standing in the Tabernacle at Battle Creek, and the Spirit of the Lord gave me freedom to present practical godliness in clear, distinct lines before the people. Several times this representation was impressed upon my mind. More definite light came to me. Yet it was some time before I could make the decision.-- Ibid.
So the Committee action to hold the session in Battle Creek in April stood, and Ellen White would attend.
The Activities at Elmshaven
We turn our attention now to what was going on at Elmshaven from the standpoint of establishing Mrs. White's work there. She occupied the northwest bedroom, at the top of the stairs. This overlooked the prune orchard, which had two thousand trees and stretched just below the knoll and a quarter of a mile to the west. She was to retain this bedroom until her death. Her office occupied the front bedroom across the hall, facing the south. The large writing room with a bay window that she later used as an office had not yet been built. She suffered somewhat because the room in which she worked had a stove instead of a fireplace. Very seldom did she light a fire in it, choosing rather to dress warmly enough to write.
The bedroom across the hall on the north side of the house was shared by her helpers Sara McEnterfer, Sarah Peck, and Maggie Hare. Kitty Wilcox, niece of M. C. and F. M. Wilcox, who for a short time served as cook, stayed in the small attic room over the kitchen. The large downstairs formal parlor under Sister White's bedroom was converted to a bedroom and used by Mr. and Mrs. Druillard, for a time members of her staff. Others who intermittently helped with Ellen White's literary work in those winter months were Eliza Burnam and Lillian Whalin, daughter of John Whalin, both borrowed from the Pacific Press.
The W. C. White family were living in five rooms rented from the Atwoods in a home at the north end of the narrow valley, some ten minutes' walk from Elmshaven.
The little farmer's cottage, with vertical boards and battens, some thirty yards to the east of the main house, was raised two feet and equipped as an office where her secretaries could work. W. C. White ordered self-inking rubber stamps, one with Ellen White's signature, another with his own, another to say "Read and let others read," and another cautioning, "Not for publication." He secured paper, envelopes, receipt books, typewriters, files, wire trays, alphabet dividers, three Bibles, Young's, Strong's, and Cruden's concordances, and a good supply of Ellen White's books. At hand was the "letter press" and letter books with their tissue-thin paper that carried copies of the letters and manuscripts--a thousand pages to a bound book--ingeniously reproduced from an indelible-ribbon copy.
Testimonies, Volume Six
The first order of work was to finish the preparation of Testimony No. 34 (volume 6), in time, if possible, for the General Conference. Something must be done to move the church away from a seeming standstill. Diligent effort was put forth to search from Sister White's manuscripts, periodical articles, and other sources, such as her handwritten journals, to find what she had written that would present the counsel now so much needed. While in Australia she had assisted in the establishment of the college at Cooranbong, where she helped carry out principles that had been shown to her as essential to the church's educational work. During those Cooranbong years she wrote much on the operation of schools. These writings were carefully searched and materials brought together for the section entitled "Education."
The denomination's sanitarium work was growing rapidly also. From the two medical institutions that were operating in 1889 when volume 5 was published, this line of work had grown to the point where the church was operating five in the United States and seven rather small ones overseas. The church also operated several orphanages, treatment rooms, and vegetarian restaurants. Counsels giving safe guidance in medical lines provided materials for Section 4 of the book. The volume opened with a presentation of the outlook before the church and a strong section on evangelistic work. There were also general counsels and cautions; the book closed with calls to service.
This volume took a somewhat different form than the first five Testimony volumes. The earlier books presented selected communications quite largely in chronological order, but almost without subject arrangement. Individual items appeared in their entirety, or almost so. Now with the very large amount of material already available in the Testimonies in volumes 1-5, it was thought that more selective efforts should be made in choosing materials not so thoroughly covered in earlier articles. Many documents were marked for possible use. This procedure led to a choice of items that were grouped together in sections; sometimes several sources would contribute to one chapter within the section. This called for much more careful work on the part of Ellen White and her helpers in compiling the materials. She explained this work in a letter to Dr. Kellogg:
I have much to do before going to conference. There are some things to be completed for Testimony 34 [volume 6]....I had thought to go to the sanitarium for a while, but I seem to be needed here. I must select the most important matters for the Testimony, and then look over everything prepared for it, and be my own critic, for I would not be willing to have some things which are all truth to be published, because I fear that some would take advantage of them to hurt others.
After the matter for the Testimony is prepared, every article must be read by me. I have to read them myself, for the sound of the voice in reading or singing is almost unendurable to me.
I try to bring out general principles, and if I see a sentence which I fear would give someone excuse to injure someone else, I feel at perfect liberty to keep back the sentence, even though it is all perfectly true.--Letter 32, 1901.
W. C. White took care of the business end, handling all negotiations with the Pacific Press regarding type sizes, type of paper, binding, style of headings, cost of setting type, making up pages, producing plates, et cetera. He was a little bit surprised to find how much costs had increased over what they were when volume 5 was published.
The Everyday Engrossing Activities
The work on Testimony 34 moved along at a torturous pace through the early weeks of 1901. Two things served to make the work difficult. The first was the numerous letters and visitors that began to deluge the staff at Elmshaven as soon as Ellen White's new residence was established. Some wrote wanting to work for her. One wrote that her doctor had recommended milk and she wondered whether it would be right to follow his advice. A young minister wrote asking whether he should try to convert the Protestant pastors of the town before visiting the members. Then there were questions of marriage and divorce and others about butter and eggs and cheese.
Sara McEnterfer, Sister Druillard, and Willie answered many of these letters as they were instructed to by Ellen White. W. C. White proposed that with many of these they enclose a little duplicated appeal that read: "There are hundreds of people who desire to hear personally from Mother. Some write letters containing questions, others send us their life history, and others make donations to the cause. We have not time to write lengthy letters to these persons."
Often the answers said that Ellen White had no special light on the case and urged the person to study for himself what was already published. Sara told one lady who wanted Ellen White to inquire of the Lord, "I would say that the Lord is no respecter of persons and will hear your earnest cry to Him for help as quickly and willingly as He will should it be sent to Him through Sister White."--16 WCW, p. 184.
Then there was a constant stream of visitors. Two women appeared one day just as Ellen was returning, worn and weary, from San Francisco. They said that they had driven sixty miles in their little rig and they just had to see Sister White. She agreed to see them. The first thing they did was to present her with a demented child, and asked what should be done. Then they produced a list of ten questions for which they wanted nothing but Yes or No answers. 1. Has the time come when we positively should eat no more meat, eggs, butter, milk? 2. Is it a sin to raise children? Is it a sin to raise bread? et cetera. Ellen White referred them to her writings on each point, and told them that she was not commissioned to answer such questions, but the women would not desist (16 WCW, p. 55).
A daughter brought an invalid mother for whom she wanted Sister White's special prayers. A divorcee wanted to get a little advice. Then an old friend fresh from the Klondike gold fields came to the home. It's not hard to see how Sara McEnterfer acquired the reputation of being Ellen White's "watchdog," for she bore much of the responsibility of protecting her from unreasonable demands upon her time and energy.
The great bulk of the mail received was of a justifiable and sensible nature, a good portion from workers carrying heavy responsibilities. Many of those well acquainted with her and her work would address a letter to W. C. White and merely suggest that he discuss the matter with his mother at a time when she was free to give consideration to it. There were some very personal letters that she herself elected to answer.
Among the men who kept up active and continual correspondence were Elder Irwin, president of the General Conference; Dr. Kellogg; Elder S. N. Haskell and his wife; and Edson. All wrote on a fairly regular basis, reporting their activities, outlining developments in their work, and asking for guidance and direction. Ellen White kept up an active correspondence with all of these. Her letters to them and to friends and relatives constitute the richest source of information about her day-to-day life. Whatever extra strength she could muster between her writing and bouts of illness she used in speaking to believers and unbelievers.
Meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area
She and Elder A. G. Daniells were the main speakers for the Week of Prayer in the churches at Oakland and San Francisco during the last week of December, 1900. She stayed in the home of a Dr. Ernest H. Mattner, who resided about five blocks from the church on Laguna Street. But she was to suffer another of her suffocating encounters with crowded rooms and hot wood-burning stoves when she tried to open the Week of Prayer in San Francisco on Sabbath morning, December 22.
She tells what happened when she went to the church:
I found two stoves in the meeting room, one on either side, midway between the door and the pulpit. Fires were burning in each of these. Sabbath school had just been held in the room, and owing to the imperfect ventilation, the atmosphere was very impure. I felt the effect of this as soon as I entered. My heart began to pain.--Manuscript 1, 1901.
So greatly did I feel the effects of the poison in the air that although I stayed in the church only fifteen minutes, I feared that it would cost me my life.--Letter 2, 1901.
I could not breathe freely, and I knew that exhaustion was coming over me. I said to Elder Corliss, "I know that I cannot speak this morning." He was greatly disappointed, and asked me if I would venture to speak in the afternoon. I said that I thought I could, and as nothing had been said before about an afternoon meeting, he put the question to the people. They unanimously decided to have a meeting.--Manuscript 1, 1901.
Before leaving the church auditorium, Ellen White nearly fainted. She feared that she might fall from her chair and create a sensation, so she half hid behind the organ. Just then Sara McEnterfer appeared and assisted her outdoors, and Ellen White declared, "I cannot describe the relief that came to me to know that Sara was there."-- Ibid. She rested in her room until the afternoon, pleading with God for strength to bear her testimony.
In the afternoon she found that there were no fires in the stoves and that the building was well ventilated, even though the thermometer stood at 56 degrees F. She addressed the people and felt that the Lord helped her in what was a "most decidedly victorious meeting.... The countenance of the congregation was lighted up and many testimonies were borne and they were right to the point--testimonies of thanksgiving and joy in the truth. Then I requested all to rise up and pour forth from grateful hearts their testimony.... It was a wonderful, blessed meeting."--Letter 14a, 1901.
Tuesday was Christmas Day, and Ellen White spent much of it touring San Francisco. Of this she wrote:
Brother Pierson drove us to Strawberry Hill, explaining many things of interest along the way as we wound up the ascending grade. Here there are large parks, to which the people can come from the bustle of the city. This is a blessing which all classes are free to enjoy, the poor as well as the wealthy. Here they can see trees and plants and shrubs from every clime, with roses and lilies and pinks and many other flowers. All are free to enjoy these things, but none are permitted to pick the flowers. Should they do this, the beauty of the scenery would soon be no more.--Manuscript 1, 1901.
Since it was a holiday, the park was not, as usual, filled with men "smoking pipes and cigars and cigarettes." In regard to the few who were, she thought to herself, "Oh, how I wish they knew what harm they are doing to themselves by using tobacco, while at the same time they poison the Lord's free atmosphere, so that others are injured."-- Ibid.
Dinner was taken at the vegetarian cafe at 755 Market Street. E. G. Fulton and his wife were operating a thriving business, serving nearly five hundred people a day. Ellen White liked everything about the little restaurant. She commented on the neat appearance of the waitresses with their dark dresses and white aprons. She was pleased that the establishment lived up to its name and did not serve a "particle of meat, poultry, fish, or anything that requires a sacrifice of life" (Letter 3a, 1901). She was also pleased to learn that the cafe was closed on Sabbath.
Fulton had received complaints from his regular customers when he first closed the doors on Sabbath. Some declared he would "fold up" if he insisted on that policy. But he had persisted, and as Ellen White noted, "Since the Sabbath closing, a special blessing has manifestly rested upon the work."-- Ibid. She was glad for the service the restaurant provided as a practical demonstration of the best methods of preparing wholesome, palatable food without flesh meat. Writing to an Australian doctor, she commented that she wished that some Adventists with their money tied up in banks and other investments would use this means in establishing vegetarian restaurants so more people might be benefited.
Midweek she went to Oakland for the last half of the Week of Prayer. She felt the Lord's special blessing as on Sabbath she spoke to a congregation of six hundred. Elder Daniells, returning from many years' work in Australia, stayed on in Oakland to bind off the work. When the final reports were in, forty-six had been baptized.
The ten days spent in the Bay Area were a time of earnest labor, and Ellen White was quite worn out when she returned to her home. She was happy, however, with the fruitage of the rather strenuous program. The following Friday she was exhausted, and during her evening bath she fainted. Sara and Maggie succeeded in getting her to bed, where she was confined for the next two weeks. Then, upon getting up too soon, she suffered a relapse and had another period of illness. Nonetheless, she maintained her plans to attend the General Conference session in Battle Creek, even though Sara declared that she was "'not fit to go anywhere,'" and she dreaded the trip for her (Manuscript 43a, 1901).
Guided by a Sabbath-Evening Vision
As the time neared for her to start her journey east, the question of where she should stay was uppermost in her mind. Dr. Kellogg had at first invited her to stay at the Sanitarium, but later invited her and her party to stay in his own home. He had a large, two-story frame house with sufficient room to accommodate the children he and his wife took in to rear. He now promised to make a portion of the home available to Ellen White and those of her helpers who would accompany her to the session, and urged that she accept the invitation. She had also received letters from others opening their homes to her. She wanted a place in Battle Creek where she could have her workers together with her and where she could be protected from the large number of visitors who would inevitably seek interviews (Letter 133, 1900).
But would it be wise to stay in the doctor's home when so much controversy swirled about him? At first she felt it would not be best. Would not people feel that she was influenced by him? And then she thought, "No matter with whom I should stay, it would be said, 'Someone has been talking with Sister White, telling her about the state of the church. This is why she talks as she does.'"--The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 204.
The answer came in a very forceful way. Friday evening, February 15, as Ellen White met with her family in the sitting room for worship, she was deeply burdened with a decision about Dr. Kellogg's invitation. She began to pray about it. In reporting the experience, she says, "I was asking the Lord where I should go and what I should do. I was for backing out.... Well, while I was praying and was sending up my petition, there was, as has been a hundred times or more, a soft light circling around in the room, and a fragrance like the fragrance of flowers, of a beautiful scent of flowers."--Manuscript 43a, 1901. And a voice said, "'Respect the courtesy of My servant, John Kellogg, the physician by My appointment. He needs encouragement that you can give him. Let him put his trust in Me. My arm is strong to uphold and sustain. He may safely lean upon My strength. I have a work for him to do. He must not fail nor be discouraged.'"--Letter 33, 1901.
Did the others kneeling in worship that Friday evening see the light and notice the fragrance? This is a very natural question, which she answered as she recounted the incident on April 11 at the General Conference session: "Though none of the family saw what I saw, or heard what I heard, yet they felt the influence of the Spirit, and were weeping and praising God."--The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 204.
So Dr. Kellogg's gracious invitation was accepted. Ellen White and her helpers would stay in his home. Now preparations were begun for the long journey by train. Routes must be decided upon and a schedule established.