Manuscript Releases, vol. 17 [Nos. 1236-1300]

MR No. 1244—A Night of Troubled Sleep; Talented People to be Educated for Missionary Work

(Diary entry written June 18, 1892, in Preston, Melbourne, Victoria.)

Preston, Melbourne, June 18, 1892. The past night was one of great suffering. During the evening I had a coke fire in the grate. I awoke with a sense of suffocation and pressure for breath. I called for help. By mistake all the windows in my room had been left closed. I felt sick all over and very faint, and for a time I lost all sense of things about me. At last May Walling and Emily Campbell came to my help, and every effort was made to give me ease. But I was not entirely relieved for some time. 17MR 61.1

After all had been done that anyone could do, the windows were opened and a screen placed around my bed to prevent the air striking directly upon me. I slept again, a troubled, dangerous sleep. For the next two hours I was wrestling in my sleep to find my way out of a dense wood, to where I could get a free breath of air. When at last I aroused from sleep, I did not come to my proper bearings for some time, yes, for hours. Then I knew that something must be done. I was weak, and my heart pained me. I felt the need of a strong cordial, but there was nothing in the house but grape juice. I took some of this, and it strengthened me, but I was much exhausted. 17MR 61.2

On the Sabbath, all the members of the family excepting myself went to church. During the day I wrote something in regard to missionary work. I felt deeply as I wrote, and my heart went up in prayer to God to set things in order in this country, and to raise up men who have wisdom to recognize the talent that God has given to many who have accepted the truth. These can be fitted for a place in the work, but they need to be educated and disciplined, that they may know how to use their talents for the spread of the truth and the upbuilding of God's kingdom in the earth. 17MR 61.3

Christ is the greatest missionary our world has ever seen, and I have faith that He will heal me.—Manuscript 33, 1892, 5, 6. 17MR 62.1

Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

May 7, 1987.