Pioneer Stories

Everyone loves a good story. It warms the heart and engages it in a way that facts and figures never can. Stories can worm their way past our defenses and speak to us in a way that can touch us, change us and challenge us for the better. The head can never accept what the heart refuses to see. Stories open the eyes of the heart and help the head to move forward when it can’t see clearly. Curl up on a comfy chair and enjoy these stories.

The Marvellous Healing Of Madam Parrot

In Need Of Healing The crunch of shoes hurrying over the gravel went unnoticed. The congregation was listening to the speaker with rapt attention that couldn’t be shaken. The solitary messenger slipped into the large imposing tent and stood nervously at the back,...

Joseph Bates And The Unidentified Benefactor

Joseph Bates Needs Funds Joseph Bates sidled down the street in a chipper mood. God had just provided for his needs in a miraculous way and he had a lot to be grateful for. Just this morning he had only had a single york shilling in his pocket, which amounted to about...

Ellen White Survives An Assassination Attempt

Ellen White Struggles To Survive The summer of 1846 was a special one for James White and Ellen Harmon. On the 30th of August, they united their lives in marriage and began a partnership that would last the better part of 35 years. The newlyweds were desperately poor...

The Heavenly Sanctuary Vision

A Vision Of The Sanctuary In early 1847 Stockbridge Howland and his wife offered James and Ellen White the top floor of their home. The Whites gratefully accepted the offer and moved the 35 miles from Gorham to Topsham and settled into the spacious second-story...

Frances Howland Rises

Frances Howland Is Stricken It was springtime in Maine and Ellen Harmon found herself enjoying the beauty of the blossoming countryside as her buggy wound its way down country lanes towards her destination of Tosham. She was on her way to the home of Elder and Mrs....

Two Dreams And A Lot Of Spunk: The Adventures of Joseph Bates

Joseph Bates Hits The Road Joseph Bates had a spirit of adventure in his blood. It was an inescapable pull that drew him into the very thick of the action at the slightest provocation and his current circumstances were a classic example. He was meandering along rough...

“I’m A Pilgrim And I’m A Stranger” | Heman Gurney and Joseph Bates Storm The South

Joseph Bates Is Off On An Adventure Joseph Bates closed his little travel bag with an air of finality and turned to gaze pensively around the room. It was the spring of 1844 and there was a certain excitement in the air that could not be denied. William Miller had...

Peace Amidst The Storm: Ellen Harmon and Heman Gurney In A Sailboat

Heman Gurney, Ellen Harmon, and A Sailboat The sea heaved violently around the little boat. The three passengers inside the battered vessel hung on for dear life. Ellen Harmon and her sister Sarah were trying to bail out the water that was pouring over the sides,...

Struck by Fire

Ellen Harmon Faces A Dilemma Ellen Harmon sat bundled up beside her bedroom window staring at the frosty landscape outside. It was December in Portland, Maine and the trees were bare against the wintry grey backdrop of the sky. Ellen barely noticed the details of the...