Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years: 1900-1905 (vol. 5)

Ellen White's Visit

This was the situation when Ellen White stopped at the new Glendale institution. She went through all the rooms of the new Sanitarium, many of which were freshly painted. She wished there were more land than the five acres connected with the building, but she observed, “It is certainly in the country for there are no buildings very near it. It is surrounded by large fields of strawberries, and by orange orchards.”—Letter 311, 1904. 5BIO 375.1

In spite of the fact that men were painting here also, Ellen White decided to stay over the weekend. On Monday, December 5, she went over to Redlands, some sixty-five miles to the east. Elder E. S. Ballenger, pastor of the new church that had been raised there as the result of an evangelistic effort, had invited Ellen White to come. She stayed in the Ballenger home for a few days and there completed some Review and Herald articles. 5BIO 375.2

Sabbath morning she spoke for about thirty minutes in the Redlands church, which was about as much as she dared venture in her state of health. She later observed that “just such places [as Redlands] had been presented to me in vision as places to which we must give special attention.”—Manuscript 30, 1905. Describing her visit there in a letter to her friend, Mrs. Crawford, she remarked, “I wish that a small sanitarium could be started there.”—Letter 349, 1904. 5BIO 375.3

She noted, “The climate in this valley is very good.”—Letter 321, 1904. Sunday morning Mr. Boles and his wife took her and Sara the eleven miles to Riverside, where Mrs. White was to speak in the new church. On the way they passed through one orange grove after another. She spoke for half an hour and then went for a treatment at a nearby treatment room operated by Dr. J. R. Leadsworth. After resting a time, she returned to Redlands and then back to Glendale and headed for her home in the north. 5BIO 375.4

As Ellen White traveled north, she was not able to meet as large a number of speaking appointments as she ordinarily would have. Her health had not been good. On the trip south she had spoken at Fresno on Sabbath, and then was invited to go down to the Hanford-Lemoore District, where she agreed to fill appointments every afternoon for four days at missionary meetings being held in nearby towns. Going on to Los Angeles, she stayed Sabbath and Sunday and spoke on both days in a large tent in which Elder W. W. Simpson, a successful evangelist, had been holding meetings. Sabbath there were twenty-five hundred people present and Sunday there were a thousand (Letter 311, 1904). 5BIO 375.5

While staying at the Paradise Valley Sanitarium and really not well, she was urged by the members of the San Diego church to hold a meeting there. So on a Sunday morning she drove six miles to San Diego, but after speaking for fifteen minutes she found that she could not go on. She had to give up and return the six miles to Paradise Valley Sanitarium. This was a very unusual experience for her. Many times the Lord had given her special strength to meet her speaking appointments, but this time was an exception, and she and her audience were disappointed. Then there was the speaking appointment in Redlands and the one on Sunday at Riverside. 5BIO 376.1

On her trip back home to St. Helena, she made a stopover at Mountain View to consult with the brethren. She wrote in her diary while there: 5BIO 376.2

I am strongly impressed that my family shall locate here to be near the printing establishment, but the Lord must direct us, for it means a great deal to us to uproot and to resettle and perhaps have to build. St. Helena has been my refuge, but I have much printing to be done. May the Lord spare my life to do His work before I shall rest in the grave is my prayer.—Manuscript 147, 1904. 5BIO 376.3

W. C. White, Sara McEnterfer, and Maggie Hare had been with Ellen White on the trip. They were all glad to be home, arriving on Tuesday, December 20. Later she wrote, “We are home again, and I am in my own room, writing to you.”—Letter 341, 1904. 5BIO 376.4

Seven months of the year 1904 Ellen White had spent away from home (Letter 349, 1904). 5BIO 376.5