Love Lines Goes 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week
Diane and I decided not to tell everyone about/this change in our life. With a few exceptions it was just Diane and me and God. Surprisingly, my salary started showing up in our mail box, just as Beth's salary had. I was taking home the same amount of salary as I was making previously at Sears.

Morris Vaagenes, my mentor, suggested that we go visit Melody land Church in Los Angeles, California, next to Disneyland, and how they operated a 24-hour Christian hotline.

So, at the end of January, Diane and I and Dean (just over two years of age) and Debbie (just approaching two weeks of age) went to spend a week at Melody land. We wanted to learn and copy what they did and bring it back to Minneapolis. While we were there we prayed, asking God for volunteer prayer counselors who could work at least 20 hours a week. He reminded us of some retired people who could be telephone counselors.

With the personnel structure of Melody land Hotlines in our hands we wrote in our own department head names. When we got back to Minnesota we planned a meeting and invited these people. By the end of January we had put desks in our family room and began to lay the foundation of a 24-hour line.

Mike Bonnema, one of our original counselors in 1972, was still with us. He suggested we bring in a well-known speaker for a fund raiser. He arranged to bring in Hansi, who wrote the book "The Girl Who Loved The Swastika." We served a dessert at the St. Paul prom center on March 1st. We sold $2.00 tickets to cover the expenses. Fifteen hundred people came, especially from Bethel College, where our phone lines were located.

Our offering was only $300.00, but the best part of the fund raiser was that Hanzi endorsed us and prophesied over