Real, True
Friends
We were moving! Destination—Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. It was 1940 and once again the “colpor-
teur bug” (selling gospel literature) had bitten my hus-
band. He loved people and they responded readily to
him. In this door-to-door
work, he found people
who were hurting, in pov-
erty, in sickness, out of
work, young mothers with
new babes, and just
ordinary people—some
desperately longing to talk
with someone who cared.
He offered comfort to
them through God’s Word.
Sometimes he would come after
me, and we’d go together to offer
them practical help as well as
comfort and hope.
I remember one particular
day when he came home to get
me (our two children went
along). On the way he explained
the situation this family was in. A
new baby had been born (in the
days when mothers were in bed
ten to twelve days after birth),
and there were several other small children in the home. Nor-
mal cleaning and food preparation, etc., needed to be done.
He introduced me to the mother who was so relieved to see
me. While I was caring for the mother and the baby and at-
tending to the other housekeeping needs, my dear husband
gathered all those little ones, including our own, together.
Using a small slide projector, he entertained them with pic-
tures and stories of Jesus.
Now I must get back to my story. My mother, who was a
Bible instructor and loved young people, lived in Milwau-
kee, and she had urged us to come and share her apartment.
Being thankful for her offer, we made our home with her un-
til we could gather the means and find a place of our own.
Mother had started a Bible class for young people and a
young couple, Blanche and George Johnson, with their three
children, ages about 12, 7 and 4, joined the class. At church,
she introduced us to each other, and they told us where they
lived, in an apartment complex
in North Milwaukee.
Wanting to get better ac-
quainted, we started out to find
them one very cold (zero degrees
Fahrenheit) day. The ground was
covered with snow, and we had
no car. A trolley bus stopped and
we climbed aboard. After check-
ing each street sign as we trav-
eled, we got off at the street
nearest the complex. However,
finding the correct street within
the complex was a different mat-
ter. We walked and walked. My
husband was carrying our
two-year-old and I had the
four-year-old in tow. The latter
walking beside me managed
quite well, but our concern was
for the younger child who was
not getting any exercise. In such
weather exercise is very impor-
tant to keep the blood circulating—especially in one’s ex-
tremities.
It was bitterly cold, and finally Hubby knocked on a
door. The door opened and we were immediately ushered
(Continued on page 4)
Vol. 3, No. 4
“And ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10
July/Aug. 2000
Woman to Woman
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Our Mission Statement: Believing that we can find
completeness in all areas of our lives only “in him, who
is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians
2:10), it is the mission of Hearth to Hearth to provide a
forum for Christian women to reach out to each other in
friendship, with joy and hope; and to encourage each
other to find our completeness in Christ as we sojourn
here on our way to the kingdom.
