Simonsen became interested after having received a copy of one of the Dawns from colporteur E. R. Gundersen, who had come to Norway from the United States.

The first one to get the truth in north Norway was Lotte Holm. She lived near the town of Narvik, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. In the autumn of 1903 she went south to Trondheim, where she met colporteur E. R. Gundersen. He gave her a small tract, Is Jesus Suffering Eternal Torment? She also subscribed for the Swedish magazine I Morgonväkten, the forerunner of the Swedish Watch Tower.