Mother Smith then asked God to bless the food, and we all thanked him for it, in our hearts. After the horses had finished their dinner we pursued our way, rejoicing because we had Jesus in our souls, and he made melody through us to the Father.
The next morning the Beaver Dam brethren returned home, and brethren at Sweetser brought us to Prospect, Jay County. We started at 7 A. M. It was a beautiful morning. The recent rains had laid the dust, and we had pike roads most of the way, making traveling delightful. In the afternoon the clouds began to gather blackness, and in a short time a terrible storm was upon us. The rain came down in torrents, drenching us through and through. The wind was furious. It seemed almost every moment as though it would take us up. Then the hailstones came down so thickly the horses refused to go. We were seemingly in the midst of an ocean of water. The recent heavy rains had flooded the country, washing away several bridges.
We had quite an adventurous trip; forded one river, and the horses, while pulling us through a deep creek, pulled loose from the wagon, leaving us in the water. We were able to get to land, however. This was about two hours after the storm, and while the brethren were repairing the wagon we gathered hailstones by the handful in the fence corners.
Well, I am satisfied that none but the pure in heart could relish such a storm. We did enjoy it; and God so filled our hearts that we praised him through it all. And when the wind was blowing the thickest, the calmness in our souls was indescribable. We knew God had power to prevent the storm; but in his wisdom he saw it was just what we needed, and his will being ours, we thanked him for it and left the consequences of our becoming wet in his hands, knowing all would work out for our good.
After the storm, it turned quite cold. We had thirty miles yet to drive; but we had the holy fire burning within us. We reached Brother Key's about twelve o'clock that night, waking Brother and Sister Key with the song, "Oh, 'twas love, 'twas love, that found out me!" The next morning, Saturday, May 15, we arose feeling refreshed after a few hours' rest, not one of us feeling any the worse after our exposure of the previous day.
Oh, what a wonderful God! Let us praise him for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. We drove out to Prospect that morning, six miles, and to our surprize and joy met Brother and Sister Fisher, who had come with Brother Warner. Our hearts were made to rejoice to meet the dear saints at Prospect, with whom we had labored in the Lord last January. We had a glorious time and witnessed the salvation of many precious souls.
This second meeting at Prospect was to be held in a grove; but on account of the weather being cold and damp, and the meeting-house being refused, the meetings were held most of the time in a granary building owned by a brother, Jesse Wickersham. This brother had given the land on which the Prospect meeting-house stood, and had contributed largely to its erection, with the understanding that the house should be open to all true worshipers of God. But here the sect refused the house, the preaching of the truth on the former occasion having been too much for them.[19]
In August of this year (1886) was held the first of the annual grove- or camp-meetings in the Beaver Dam vicinity. It was in W. W. Ballenger's grove. For the next five years the annual camp-meeting was held in J. Kuhn's woods; and then, beginning in 1892, it was held for five years in D. Leininger's woods. Beginning with 1897 this meeting has since been held on the beautiful ground overlooking Yellow Lake.
Before attending the Indiana grove-meeting in August, Brother Warner felt impressed that from that meeting he should labor on a line eastward from that place. In conjunction with this came urgent calls from that direction, and brethren even made preparation for his coming before asking him. The first place was Arcola, Ind. We quote from his report in which he speaks of this part of his trip:
On Friday morning, August 13, with our heart melting with pure parental love for our child, we kissed his innocent cheek and left him in silent slumber, not daring to wake him lest his little heart should break with grief at our departure, and our soul also be filled with sorrow at his pitiful tears. O God, thou knowest the abundance of thy grace that enables us to tear away from this affectionate child! The poor boy has recently been sick insomuch that many of the saints despaired of his life. O Lord, only thou knowest the great trial of our soul when we felt the awful sickness of our boy, by the Spirit of God, while we were making up the last Trumpet at Williamston, and packing the Office, which none of our company had any experience in! Our presence was much needed, so that we did not feel permitted to go, though we keenly felt his sickness and told some of the saints that we felt he was sick. After suffering those feelings a week, we received a letter stating that he had been very low but was better. This took a great load off our heart, and a few days later a second letter stated that through the laying on of hands in prayer the Lord had gloriously healed the poor little fellow.