Anne Green

Anne Green’s story started in Okanogan, Washington, on a little farm during the Great Depression. She was born to parents who were searching for God and desired to raise their children in a godly fashion. They went to church, but were taught that Christians sinned in thought, word, and deed daily.

Anne told of a time at the age of eight when she first recognized God’s call. She was awakened early one morning with a hymn going through her mind, and the words of the second verse came clearly to her:

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

As she sang it softly that morning, she thought, “That’s strange. I didn’t know I knew all the words to that song.”  Over the years, the memory of that came back to her—how God had looked down and given a song early in the morning to a little girl in an upstairs attic room, before the light of the Gospel ever came to her family.

But the light did come—God saw to that. A team of Gospel workers traveled over three hundred miles into the eastern part of the State of Washington, stopped right on their property, and held the “first-ever Apostolic Faith Gospel meeting for the Maxwell family” right under their own tree. The family recognized the call of God and opened their hearts to Him. God saved the parents, and not long afterwards, Anne was saved too. She testified, “I was just a schoolgirl, but the Lord put a wonderful hope into my heart, a living reality. He gave me courage to live a Christian life at school, in the business office, and at home.”  She received her sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost shortly thereafter.

She was married to Bob Green on one of his furloughs during World War II. In 1944, Bob was able to get the last week of camp meeting; they were married on the following Tuesday in Port Angeles, Washington, with a four-day honeymoon to follow. For the next eighteen months they were separated by the Pacific Ocean and the uncertainties that war brought to relationships and families, but God saw them both through. Anne moved to Portland to begin working in the church office, and she lived with Bob’s family until the war was over and Bob returned to Portland.

“I was just a schoolgirl, but the Lord put a wonderful hope into my heart, a living reality."

After the war, she was blessed with three children. She would tell how thankful she was for a Christian home and for the privilege of bringing up her children to understand that they too could know God for themselves and have a real experience in their hearts. She was blessed to see them all follow the Lord and to begin raising their children in the Gospel. After they were all married, the Lord led Bob and Anne to adopt two boys from Vietnam. The two youngsters had fled Saigon on the very day the city fell to the communists; but God’s protecting hand was over them, and brought them to Portland where they had a chance to hear of God’s wonderful power.

The Pacific Ocean played a part over many years in their lives, from those early years of separation, to adopting two sons from Asia. Anne would often accompany her husband to the ships in the harbor where an invitation was given to men from across the seas to come to the evening meeting. She kept meticulous records of names of men, names of ships, dates visited, and photos to match (to nudge her memory of who they had met or were to meet). They were blessed to see some of these men become Christians, and over the ensuing years some even become workers in the Gospel in their home countries.

A year before she passed away, Anne was able to travel a second time across the Pacific Ocean to visit some of the churches in Korea and in the Philippines and to also visit with many of the seafaring men in their own homes. She testified that she was so thankful for what she felt and experienced. She saw people, some in grave hardships or suffering great trials, but looking to God to answer all their needs. She saw people who were feeling as Paul of old. They were not looking to the things that were behind but were pressing forward. Anne said, “You could feel the Spirit of God in the meetings. I can’t begin to say how much I appreciate the privilege we had of worshiping with these groups of people and to see God’s mighty power transforming lives. He is doing the same thing in lives there that we have experienced here.”

Anne stood often in the congregation in Portland with a vibrant testimony of the wonderful blessings God had showered on her life. She proved His promises many times, and gave back her life in service to Him with much gratitude. Among all her duties in life, she also worked in the church office from her early twenties (right after she got married) until the day before she died.

The last photo taken of her was on a Sunday night with a group of seafaring men. The next day, Monday, she worked a full day at the office. On Tuesday morning she suffered a stroke while kneeling by her bedside early in the morning. She died later that day—a radiant witness to God’s power to keep a soul from sin and bless a life abundantly.

This testimony of Anne Green was written by her daughter, Roberta Parker.