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Minister to Legislatures
While in Geneva, Mrs. Wightman received letters from two women who had
attended her meetings in Angola. They both said that they had accepted the truth and
had joyfully begun keeping the Sabbath. (Indicator. May 3, 1899). God was using Lulu’s
preaching to bless people even after she had progressed to a new location.
A handbill prepared for Lulu Wightman’s evangelizing during 1901 demonstrates one
means that John Wightman used to draw people to the meetings. (Handbill printed by
Ontario Repository-Messenger Print, Canandaigua, N.Y., 1901. (General Conference
Archives.) See last page of this chapter.) This type of advertising, used successfully by many
Seventh-day Adventist evangelists, brought curious people out to learn what the Bible
teaches regarding the Sabbath.
In 1903 John Wightman was voted a ministerial license for the first time. Lulu
Wightman for the seventh year was recognized as a licensed minister.
Together John and Lulu held an effort in Eden beginning on December 8, 1903. A
blizzard replete with deep snow, freezing cold, and biting winds prevented people from
coming out at all for a week. After that the Wightmans began again. A few attended,
and the evangelists worked patiently hoping gradually to gain a better foothold. They
prayed the Lord would lead souls in that area to look upon the Eden of eternity as a far
better place in which to dwell than Eden, Erie County, New York. The work in Eden
was difficult. People resisted taking a stand for the truth.
When a member, Edwin R. Darling, aged 52, died, Lulu Wightman conducted the
funeral. She wrote the obituary, delivered the funeral discourse, and was assisted in the
service by Elder J. W. Raymond. (Indicator. April 27, 1904).
The Wightmans moved to Avon in 1904 to evangelize and hold worship ser vices. At
one of the Sabbath services, when Lulu Wightman asked who of those present had
decided to accept the truth fully and to keep the Sabbath, nine people rose to their feet
in assent. Lulu and her husband gave thanks for each one.
A leading businessman in Avon who up to that time had not been a praying, Biblestudying Christian attended the meetings regularly, purchased a Bible, and set to work
studying the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.
The conference president, Elder S. H. Lane, bought a large tent for 71 dollars for the
Wightmans to use in their efforts; they liked it and found it easy to pitch.
The next tent pitching took place at the foot of beautiful lake Conesus. Unlike the blizzard that greeted the Wightmans when they started their December series in Eden, perfect
weather accompanied the opening of their effort in Lakeville on Friday, June 24, 1904.
Fifty people attended that night, and on Sunday evening the attendance swelled to 100.
A new and formidable challenge was posed when for three nights the Wightmans
found themselves in face-to-face confrontation with a spiritualist medium. The attendance grew very large. God saw the Wightmans through this crisis victoriously.
In place after place the Wightmans left behind them a new company or church
where none had existed before their coming. On August 21 a church with a membership of 14 was organized at Avon, where they had previously held meetings.
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