Mildred Condra

I was born in Brownsville, Oregon, in 1893. As a youth, I was active in our family church. My mother had taught me to play the pump organ at an early age. I also played the piano and sang soprano in the choir. However, I did not know what it was to have a personal relationship with the Lord.

I married Dwight Smith in 1914. When I was thirty years old, in poor health, and pregnant with my fifth child, I happened on an Apostolic Faith street meeting. Evangelist, Clarence Frost, was preaching and said a person must be born again. Like the sun bursting across a dark sky, I felt God’s love. I realized Jesus Christ was more than a folktale. I knew He was real! I attended the meetings, prayed, and was saved. The heavy burden of sin rolled away. Joy and great peace flooded my soul.

When I told my family about my conversion, they had never heard of anything like it. They worried there was something wrong with my mind. One day, I answered a knock at the door and there was my uncle who had come to check on me. He was an elder and a preacher in his church. My family had sent him to find out if I had lost my mind. I told him all of the great things the Lord had done for me, and we rejoiced together. Then he wrote a letter to my family saying, “Don’t worry about Millie. She’s just got a dose of the old-time religion.”

Later, my husband prayed and was saved also. We instituted a family altar, praying with our children and reading the Scriptures to them each morning and evening. Afterward, we would gather them around the piano. I would play and my husband would lead the singing. We sang such songs as, “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Above the Bright Blue,” and “Tell Mother I’ll be There.”

In 1943, after my husband passed away, I became active in the Apostolic Faith street meetings and jail meetings. I learned to play the Hawaiian guitar and the accordion so I could accompany the singers.

In 1948, I married Grover Davidson, but he died suddenly of a heart attack ten months later. In 1958, I married Lester Condra, and four years later we moved to Dallas, Oregon. I learned to play several more instruments—the marimba, the xylophone, and the vibraphone—and joined the church orchestra. I also had the privilege of serving as a Sunday school teacher and pianist in the afternoon Sunday school. And I enjoyed being part of the nursing home visitation team and working in the church mailing department.

In 1971, I was widowed again. I have learned that life is not all roses and cream. There are hard things to endure, but in Heaven there will be no more pain. I look forward to it, and am glad I am ready to go. I thank God for this old-time religion.