1983 September/October issue Part 3

Who is Lars Gren?

He’s my husband. I’m Mrs. Lars Gren, but because I’ve been writing under the same name of Elisabeth Elliot for more than a quarter of a century, he lets me use that name on my books and newsletters. But I want to introduce him. He was born in New York, but went to Norway very soon afterwards and was there until he was ten. Didn’t know a word of English when he came back, went right into public school and got zeros for several months till he learned English to pass. He spent most of his life in Mississippi and Georgia. Was a salesman of many different products, most recently of women’s clothing.  Traveled as a manufacturer’s representative from Washington D.C, to Dallas, covering all the southeast. Then, in mid-life he decided he did not want to spend the rest of his life selling clothes and came to Gordon- Conwell Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. The story of how we met is in my book Love Has a Price Tag. We thought, when we were married, that he’d be a hospital chaplain, for which he had trained, but he began to travel with me on a part-time basis, handling me, the travel arrangements, books, and tapes. In short order it became a full- time job, so that’s what we do now, together. It’s been wonderful to see his gifts unfold in this way, and for me, the protection and authority of a godly husband have liberated me in a way I did not know during all the years I traveled as a widow. God does have the most unexpected things up His sleeves!

Forgot to say that Lars is tall, ruddy- faced, blonde, blue eyed. Not surprising- his father was Swedish, his mother (who lives in Palm Beach, a widow) is Norwegian. Lars speaks not with the accent of either parent, but pure Georgian cracker. Calls me “Lisbeth,” or “dahlin,” says, “Ah’m’on teach ya how to talk.”