I learned about Christian Science a few months before the beginning of the First World War in 1914. A woman from America came to visit relatives in Latvia, and when she heard of my suffering from severe headaches, she came to visit me and advised me to turn to Christian Science for help. I was willing to do this, and she sat by my bedside silently for a while. Before leaving, she gave me a copy of The Herald of Christian Science to read. I knew something had happened during this visit, for I was able to arise, dress, and do the necessary housework for the family. The headaches which had plagued me for so long did not return.
I read the Herald eagerly, for it showed in a new light the truths I had read in my own study of the Bible. God, and His greatness, did not seem so far away. I began an earnest study of the textbook by Mrs. Eddy, our Leader.
At the start of the war, my husband was sent to Russia. There was no time to settle our personal affairs, and I was cut off from support of any kind. Expecting our fourth child, I found life very hard, for I was forced to go to the country to live and to earn something for us all. I looked to the Bible and the textbook every day for guidance and inspiration. I kept in my thought that our children were really God's children.
