UF THE HOLLEHS verses, go to camp each summer. T o a c c omp l i s h this, A n n i e Bethke needed two things. A per sistent purpose and a great God. Miss Bethke is a pleasant-talking woman with more purpose than exceptional ability. But she is a woman of great faith. She actually believes that God can do anything. A Nurse for Stray Branch Prior to her coming to the hol lers, a woman having a baby could have the comfort of a straw tick and a “ granny” to help. When Mi s s Be thke mo v e d to S t ray Branch, she was willing to share her nursing experience, but it was two years before she was asked to enter a home. At the schoolhouse she taught Sunday school and cared for the childrens’ cuts and bruises. They would go home and talk of “Miss Bethke this” and “Miss Bethke that.” F inally, a desperate mother, on the point of death, sent her husband to fetch Miss Bethke. With no equipment whatsoever and no light but her flashlight, Miss Bethke delivered the baby and saved the mother’s life. Even then, acceptance was slow. In one of the first homes where Miss Bethke went, when she asked for boiling water, the expectant moth er became frightened. She thought Miss Bethke would scald her for sure and refused to let Miss Bethke take care of her. Later, Miss Bethke delivered several of this woman’s children. When Miss Bethke was called to a home, she had to take everything she would need with her,, instru ments, bandages, even newspapers. The homes had nothing! Often she was called during the night. She would hang a lantern on the pom mel of her saddle and go on. Many times she rode through the rain. Sometimes she became lost and sat on a log until morning light. By 1936 she had delivered 200 babies. After that, she didn’t keep count. "My Wife's Quite Puny" One evening a man came to her
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door and drawled, “My wife’s quite puny and I’m ’pending on you. This is my 24th youngin’ and I don’t owe on nary a one.” He meant that he had paid Miss Bethke $5 each for his other chil dren which she had helped deliver. Scores of husbands had promised the $5 and never paid the money. It was 10 miles to the man’s shack. His first wife had died at the birth of her 12th child and the second one feared she’d do the same. As Miss Bethke moved about the cabin, preparing things and taking care of the woman in pain, the expectant mother asked, “Do you all think I’m a gonna die?” “ Are you ready to die if the Lord takes you?” “ That’s the trouble, I ain’t.” “ You can be.” And as Miss Bethke worked she quoted Scrip tures, showing the way of salva tion. Between pains, the mother received Christ as her Saviour and sat up in bed, thanking the Lord for saving her soul. Another pain came. She clenched her fists and her face blanched. The pain re ceded and she turned to her hus band, sayring, “Now you accept Jesus as your Saviour. You ’uns need Him, too.” He prayed and then, clasping his wife, in his arms, wept and asked her forgiveness, for anything mean he might have done. After the baby was born and the mother was rested, she raised her self up in bed and said, “ Thank you, precious Lord, for saving our souls and for this first child in our Christian home.” The following Sunday they both went to church and made it known publicly that they were Christians. The husband lived about seven years longer and was a true witness to the Lord in his community. M iss Bethke rejoiced in her work among these moun taineers. During one fur lough she took additional training in obstetrics to better help them. She often thanked the Lord for bringing her there. She had
been born in Hastings, Minn, and early in life found the Lord as Saviour. She e n j o y e d going to church services. When the time came for her to earn her own liv ing, she worked as a children’s nurse, often in orphan homes. In 1917, in her late 30’s she de cided to take a vacation. She and a friend went as far west as Prince Rupert, B.C., Can. to visit a sister and then came down the coast to Los Angeles. One day, when walk ing along Sixth Street, she looked up, and there on the side of a building was a large sign, “Bible Institute of Los Angeles.” She thought, “ I have always wanted to study the Bible!” She turned on to Hope Street, came to the building, went inside and enrolled as a stu dent. "Nothing But Tears" School days were difficult days for this woman, verging on middle age. She could speak German bet ter than English and her first examination paper was “nothing but tears.” Instructor William Pike looked at it and then kindly wrote, “ You’ll do better next time.” And she did. At that time, “Daddy” H. A. Hillis was field representative of B io l a .* He was a man of God who not only raised money for the In stitute but also entertained students in his home, encouraging them. And it is said that no one ever left his office without prayer. He took a trip to the eastern hills of Ken tucky, came back and told the stu dents about the “ hollers” of Lost Creek, Stray Branch, Cow’s Creek, Hell-for-Sartain and the like. He told of the people who lived there, earning their living by gardening or working in the mines. If the mines weren’t closed down. Of schooling, seven months a year with two classes in one room, and alternate grades taught each year. If a boy or girl didn’t have to stay home to hoe. And of backwoods preachers with little study and * Grandfather of Don and Dick Hillis, missionaries to India and Formosa.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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