Turning Westward

With the cherished visit in Portland over, Ellen White and her associates turned westward for the 3,000-mile journey home. It was to be stretched out to two full months, with days spent at Melrose Sanitarium in the vicinity of Boston, then Buffalo, New York, and westward to Battle Creek, Michigan, and nearby Three Rivers, where the Michigan camp meeting was held. This would be an important meeting, for it was a large conference and she had labored for many years in that State. She was on the grounds a day early to get a good rest before beginning her ministry.6BIO 214.2

During the meeting, she slipped away for one day to fill a speaking appointment in Battle Creek, her last visit there. The meeting was held on Thursday afternoon in the Tabernacle, and was well attended by church members, Sanitarium employees, and citizens from the city. She opened the service with prayer, after which she gave a simple but earnest discourse, based on the fifteenth chapter of John (The Review and Herald, December 23, 1909).6BIO 214.3

Monday morning they were again on their way west. The next stop was at Wabash Valley Sanitarium in Indiana. Of the visit to this institution she wrote:6BIO 214.4

We were intensely interested in this Sanitarium and its surroundings, for the Lord has presented before me in vision just such a scene. I could hardly believe that I had not seen the place before with my natural eyes.6BIO 214.5

I am instructed to say that it is in the order of God that this property has been secured. It is to become an important center for missionary work in the surrounding cities.— Ibid.6BIO 215.1

As she commented on the rural location, she added that in locating sanitariums “sufficient land should be secured to raise fruit and vegetables,” and the outdoor work afforded the guests would “be a boon to the sick” (Ibid.).6BIO 215.2

She visited Hinsdale Sanitarium near Chicago, and then spent a few days at the Illinois camp meeting at Elgin. From there it was on to Madison (Wisconsin) Sanitarium, and camp meetings in Iowa, Kansas, and Colorado.6BIO 215.3