The first Camp Meeting I attended at Grand Forks, I generally got up at 3 or 4 a.m. and went to the woods to pray. At that time you could hardly find a place to pray.
There were two or three members praying behind every tree before I got there.
The first Camp Meeting I attended in Anderson, I went out early in the cemetery and here they were praying every where.
The pioneer ministers knew how to pray, because they had no sermon outline book to take it from. Their converts knew how, too, for they were taught by the Holy Ghost.
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Once Brother Renbeck and I were holding a meeting in Erskine, Minn. It was 42 degrees below zero every day, and we had to stand the bread by the heating stove and a number of times it froze so hard on the table, before we got through with our meal, that we could not eat it. When we went to bed, we could see the stars twinkling through the cracks of the roof. We took off our shoes and coats and lay down on the bed, and pulled our fur caps down over our ears and put our fur coats over us. Often through the night we would have to turn over because the side that was down got cold. This may seem ridiculous to some, but God knows it is true.
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In 1911 Brother Morris Johnson and I held a meeting on the west coast of
Denmark. At the place where we stayed and slept, we had to climb up a
ladder through a hole into the room to sleep. The bed was too short for
Bro. Johnson and too narrow for two, and the bed clothes accordingly.
We could not sleep much after breakfast. We took our traveling blankets and walked out side the town where there were some old grave hills that had been opened to get out the wealth that was buried. It left a deep hollow place in the ground. There was ice in the bottom. We wrapped our blankets around us and lay down so the wind could not blow on us and slept some. That was pioneering in Denmark. In this little town it was really the first great battle for the truth won in Denmark.
Many have said that much of the pioneer work was lost and did not pay. It
is true, some was lost, but what would we have had today without it? I pray
God to rekindle the pioneer spirit and passion for souls and trust in the
Lord. The opportunities are still here. If I were a young man I would say