One day in 1908, Andreas Øiseth was chopping wood at the family farm near Kongsvinger when a pioneer called and left the book The Divine Plan of the Ages with him. Andreas, who was in his early 20’s, loved what he read and ordered more literature. After some months he turned the farm over to one of his younger brothers and began to pioneer. During the next eight years, he preached throughout almost the entire country. First he went northward, traveling inland by bicycle in the summer and by kick-sled in the winter. When he came to Tromsø, he turned southward and covered the areas along the coast all the way to Kristiania.

In Kristiansund she got in touch with another Salvation Army officer, named Hulda Andersen (later Øiseth), who showed interest in the Bible. Soon those two women set out on a long trip northward on a coastal steamer, which took them all the way to Kirkenes, close to the Russian border. En route, they went ashore at every port and placed literature.

[Pictures on page 98]

Early pioneers: (1) Helga Hess, (2) Andreas Øiseth, (3) Karl Gunberg, (4) Hulda Andersen, and (5) Anna Andersen