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Among those saved during this second visit was the mayor's wife. This was no little insult to his dignity and position in the community; so he, with a few others, encouraged by the priest, invited the preachers to a meeting up a side road where there were very few houses. Mr. Spreeman and Mr. Gratton, feeling that no opportunity should be lost, consented to go. On arrival they thought it strange that no women were present and sensed that the men were uneasy. A lot of coming and going, muffled talking and strange behaviour was soon explained when a truck pulled up with armed, masked men who stalked into the room and ordered the two men to get into it. All their books, tracts and Bible were taken from them and never seen again. The two were driven to Normandin, about ten miles away, where other men, under advice of the priest, tried forcing them to promise to leave the community.
Failing to be intimidated, Spreeman and Gratton were taken to St. Félicien where they took a hotel room for the night. The following day they were back in Girardville. However, at that point, they felt it might be best to leave the community for a time until the contempt and excitement quietened. Before long, however, they were back again to continue the work the Lord had led them to begin. The following summer, 1934, several were baptized and a small group of ten or twelve gathered to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread. The assembly had officially begun.
A school was added in 1937 for the education of the children of those who had left the Roman Catholic faith. This was continued until 1980. In 1943, a property was secured on land owned by local First Nations people for the burial of believers who could no longer be buried in the consecrated grounds of the Catholic church. The present building, constructed in 1948 to house the Salle Évangélique (Gospel Hall), was enlarged by the addition of a basement in the 1980s.
==AKA==