The Difficulties Mount

Sunday morning dawned clear and beautiful. Ellen White was impressed by the scene she saw when she walked out into the market place. There women with inflamed eyes and coarse, leathery skin were crying out, trying to sell their wares. In the wintertime many of these mountain people lived in stables with their cows and goats, in order to keep warm. The buildings generally had only one small window.EGWE 142.1

On Sunday afternoon Ellen White stood up to talk to a small group once more. While she was speaking Malan came in again. This time he sat there looking very agitated. Whenever something was said with which he agreed, he would nod his approval. If he didn't agree, he would shake his head and begin to murmur to those around him. Finally he popped up again and asked Bourdeau, who was interpreting, “Do you keep all the Commandments any better than the Pharisees? Answer me!” Bourdeau ignored him, and Malan presently grabbed his hat and hurried angrily from the room.EGWE 142.2

“This was not a very encouraging beginning,” Ellen White wrote in her diary that night, “but we will remain and see if the Lord has anything further for me to do.”—Manuscript 29, 1885.EGWE 142.3

Happily she could write the next day, “We have a most glorious morning. The sun shines so warm and mild, the doors are open and it seems like spring.”—Ibid. All through her stay in Italy the air was soft and clear, and she took full advantage of the situation to get outdoors as much as she could.EGWE 142.4

That afternoon Bourdeau hired a carriage and took Ellen White and B. L. Whitney for a ride. They went up past St. Johns, a Protestant village, and on through a quaint Catholic town. They saw men and some boys, even small ones, at work in a granite quarry.EGWE 142.5

The little party then returned to Bourdeau's house, with a better understanding of the life-style of these humble folk of the mountains.EGWE 142.6

Part of Ellen White's plan in coming to Italy was that she should get some of the rest and quiet she had missed in Basel. So on Thursday there was another five-mile carriage ride. On Friday it was time to plunge back into the evangelistic meetings again.EGWE 143.1

The workers had concluded after Malan's two intrusions during the meetings on the first weekend that they would have to hire another hall. Malan owned the hall they had been meeting in, so felt free to break in whenever he pleased.EGWE 143.2