Ellen G. White — Messenger to the Remnant

Various Financial Transactions

It was not long after this that Mrs. White was borrowing $50 so she could lend $38 to a brother about to lose his property. A few days later she pledged $25 to help in constructing a church at Seven Hills, then raised this to $50, and then to $125, so they might have a house in which to worship. EGWMR 124.6

These were days when the conference resources were very limited. Note the financial transactions mentioned in the following statement made at a time when preparations were being made to erect the school buildings at Avondale: EGWMR 124.7

“Our only course now is to prepare to build. I have hired, and am paying interest upon, one thousand pounds, which is drawing 4½ per cent interest; one hundred pounds from another, which is drawing 5 per cent interest. I have loaned the conference one hundred pounds since 1895, from which I have drawn no interest. That amount I wish to use at once in helping to build a meeting-house.... EGWMR 124.8

“I wish to invest all that I possibly can in the advancement of the work in this country. What is done should go forward without delay.... Sister White is straining every nerve to advance the work in these countries that God may be glorified. She is not seeking to hoard money or live extravagantly.... EGWMR 124.9

“In order to erect our school buildings, Mother Wessels loaned me one thousand pounds at 4 per cent interest. Brother Peter Wessels gave a donation of three hundred dollars. All this is invested in the work; every gift coming from any source has been put into the work.”—Manuscript 80, 1897. EGWMR 124.10

These heavy drains on Mrs. White’s finances involved her in debt quite heavily, and gave her concern. Thus she wrote in 1903: EGWMR 124.11

“I am carrying a very heavy load of debt, much of which I incurred in my effort to establish the work in Australia on right lines.”—Letter 83, 1903. EGWMR 124.12

It was not many months after this that we find her borrowing money that she might join Sister Gotzian in opening a sanitarium in California. EGWMR 124.13

“I have recently added to my indebtedness by borrowing two thousand dollars from the bank to help in the purchase of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium property. I could not endure the thought that the opportunity to purchase this property for so low a price should not be improved, and Sister Gotzian and I clasped hands over the table in a resolution that we would purchase it and set the sanitarium in operation.”—Letter 81, 1905. EGWMR 124.14