Starr, Brother and Sister [G. B.]
St. Helena, California
August 1, 1906
Portions of this letter are published in 6Bio 106.
Dear Brother and Sister Starr:
Why do you not write me? I would be very glad to hear from you. This very day the letters must leave for Australia, and my workers have not yet all returned from the camp-meeting. I had no thought that the Australian mail would leave so soon. I returned from camp alone and left Sara and Helen Graham to pack up. I had a letter partly written to Dr. Kress; I finished it and this morning I am having it copied. 21LtMs, Lt 250, 1906, par. 1
Please write to me whether I write to you or not, because most of our time is taken up in writing much matter to our churches. I have had a long, trying time with influenza, brought on by speaking in the Southern California tent-meeting and in the open air. I went to the camp-meeting in Oakland because I thought it my duty to be there. We were well located, having our tent not far from the large meeting tent. The Lord gave me a message for the people. The large tent was crowded on Sabbath and Sunday, and all through the meeting everything was orderly and quiet. I spoke several times, putting all my strength into the message I had to bear. I thought I might speak three or four times, but I spoke seven times, four times speaking more than an hour. After speaking before that immense congregation, not one phase of weakness was upon me; this was the greatest wonder to me. I was as one refreshed from the beginning to the close of the meeting. This is a new phase in my experience. All who heard me say that it was a miracle that my strength was sustained from beginning to end. Praise the Lord that He has given me His Holy Spirit. 21LtMs, Lt 250, 1906, par. 2
I would be so glad to see you and to converse with you, and I would be rejoiced to spend some time in Australia. But this will not be. The work here needs my labor. I thank the Lord that my mind does not fail me. I shall be seventy-nine years old next November, but not one of my family can go up and down the stairs to my office room any quicker than I can. I have feared, and physicians have told me, that natural lameness would come upon me because of the difficulty in my hip; both my ankles have also been seriously injured. But I thank the Lord that if I am careful I may not need my wheel chair, which I have purchased that I might use in the cities if I was at a distance from the place of meeting. 21LtMs, Lt 250, 1906, par. 3
This much I have told you of myself. I will praise the Lord and glorify His holy name. Please consider, and write to me. 21LtMs, Lt 250, 1906, par. 4