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Called By God
“Why not?” Pastor Williams inquired. “Did you not send it in with the others?”
“I thought I did—I am almost sure I did,” Pearl answered, beginning to cry.
“Never mind,” Helen assured her. “You are sure that I have a ministerial license?”
“Indeed I am.”
“Are you sure that I am on the payroll?” Mrs. Williams asked.
“Yes,” Miss Hallock assured her.
“Then what do we care about that old Yearbook?” the min-ister concluded. “If God
has given me work to do, no man or set of men can take that work away from me. And
if He has not, I do not want it.” This ended the matter. (From Helen Williams, letter
accompanying Sustentation Fund Application, 1922.)
Helen Williams was not dependent on status to function as a minister. She never
heard an explanation about why her name, which had been listed with the other
licensed ministers in the Yearbooks, ceased appearing for several years. In the 1907
Yearbook only E. R. Williams is listed. Yet Helen Williams’ work continued, and she did
receive a ministerial license.
Information concerning Mrs. Williams’ ministry can be found in the Northern Illinois
Recorder. In the Week of Prayer Appointments for the winter of 1906, Helen Williams
had responsibility for the churches in Harvey, Elgin, and Hinsdale. When Mrs. Williams
visited the Hinsdale Sanitarium Church on Sabbath, December 22, she was pleased to
find a well organized Sabbath school numbering 25 people. She preached, and afterward
almost everyone present added a testimony. Mrs. Williams wrote concerning the sanitarium workers, “As I looked into these happy and bright young faces, I prayed that God
would keep them faithful to their calling, for they surely have access to a class of people
that are not so easily reached by our other workers.” (From Mrs. E. R. Williams, “Hinsdale
Sanitarium,” Northern Illinois Recorder, February 19, 1907: 1.)
During the summer of 1907 the Williamses moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to be
part of a city evangelistic team. A few months later they accepted a call to the Cape
Conference in South Africa.
Helen, always ready for adventure, enjoyed the trip to Africa. Letters she wrote to her
parents during January 1908 from aboard ship provide glimpses of the journey. The
voyage to England on the 725-foot Baltic was pleasant except for a bout with the flu that
infected all members of the family except Irwin.
Helen described sailing by the beautiful country of Wales, resplendent with white
houses and castles nestled among mountains, and then being surrounded by an impenetrable English fog.
In England the Williamses changed to the Union Castle Line to sail for South Africa.
The ship, much smaller, ran into rough seas. Writing with difficulty while confined to
her bunk because of the turbulence, Helen expressed appreciation for the two suitably
appointed staterooms that she and her family were occupying. “I think that the General

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