“Lord, I Can not do it Without You.” 

The Life of John Isaac Gunther

By John Gunther

Translation: Helen Penner

with the help of Uncle Peter

Layout and published by Marvin Penner

 

Translation notes:

To my brothers and sisters and their families - "Vout long diat voit endlich" We have finally got this story to you. After letting some of our children read it we felt we should try and translate some of the Russian words. So with Uncle Peter's help we have tried our best.

We also tried to leave it as close to the way Dad had written it, so the grammar isn't as good English as it could be. It has a German structure in many places. The people here who have read it and the printer by whom we had it done have really enjoyed Dad's testimony.

We trust it will do the some for you and your families.

With love, Helen Penner

Publishers notes:

I was privileged on two occasions to travel to Ukraine with the Evangelical Free Church of Canada to teach in the Dnepropetrovsk Bible Institute. On both occasions I was able to travel to the location of many of the places described in this story. My guide from DBI took me first to the university where two professors had to translate the Low German place names into High German, and then into old Ukrainian, and then into Russian, and then into today's Ukrainian names. After that we could look on a current map and find where we needed to go. These professors were very interested in the whole affair. They were trying to write the German influences in Ukraine back into the history books as the Soviet Union had erased it all after the war. I gave them a copy of this story for their records in gratitude for their help.

I really wasn't expecting much when we started driving south from Dnepropetrovsk. As it turned out my visit to these places had a much larger impact on me then I expected. I will be adding my pictures and thoughts to this story in the hope that you too can experience in a small way what I did. 

 

The Early Years and the War

 

As you drive south from Dnepropetrovsk you begin to notice more and more distinctive buildings such as this house. They have the red brick, arched atic windows and many still have the original tile roofs. Every one of them was built by Mennonites. These were the homes they left behind when they immigrated to Canada, USA, and South America. The Ukrainians and Russians never built anything like them. They were very well built and many of them are still in use.

 

I, John Isaac Gunther, was born in Russia in the village Neurosengart, at Osterwig Altkollonie on January 6, 1891. There I went to school till the age of fourteen. A Christian man, Mr. Kornelius Penner was my teacher the last year. I had to stay after school once. I was very angry. He came to see me. I did not want to tell him anything but he began to speak with love. "John, don't give yourself over to Satan", he said. He continued questioning me with love until I had told him the whole story. From that time on I loved my teacher more, I appreciated him. 

 

This building is currently used as a residence, but it was the school house in Neurosengart. This is where Kornelius Penner taught our grandfather.

 

Across the road from the school house stands the church. It is now used as a theater.

 

These pictures are taken from the hill you can see behind the church. This is the Neurosengart cemetary. It was used by both Mennonites and Ukrainians. The picture shows the German section. There are only a few grave stones remaining in this part but Ukrainians still keep it mowed and respectful. It was quite emotional to know that I was standing on the ground that held the graves of about 400 years of my ancestors!

 

In the year 1905 to 1906 my parents moved to No.4 Eichenfeld Dubovkain Government Ekaterienoslaw.

In 1911 I was baptized by Elder Isaac Dyck and accepted into the General Conference Church.

 

This is the school (top) and church (bottom) in No.4 Eichenfeld. This village is exceptionally well preserved. Though most of the farmers living here are Ukrainians you can very well imagine what life was like when grandpa was here. When I was there I say ducks and chickens all over the street and yards. Some men were hauling in hay with a horse drawn cart and another group of villagers were butchering a pig that was hanging from a tree in the middle of town. It is amazing to see the value the Mennonites placed on education and religion. This is just a small country village but the school and church are truly impressive. 

 

This house stands in the lot next door to the one grandpa lived in (I think). The one he lived in is not standing. The Germans would never have painted the bricks and the clay roof tiles have been replaced, but otherwise this is almost exactly what his home would have looked like. All the yards are along one long wide street. Each house stands on a plot of about 3 acres. There is an orchard out front, a lane going past the house to the barns, machine sheds and gardens in the back. The houses are nice and large enough. I'm sure you would not mind living in them.

 

In 1912 I was called to the army but was released because I had a 3rd degree Begensejung (Privilege), In the autumn of 1914, when the war started I travelled to Moscow on Train No.175 as a volunteer orderly in Semskijlous. (place of government offices). Several others and I went home for Christmas.

I was called back in April 1915. When we arrived in Odessa, several others and I were placed on the Red Cross ship, first the Egatow, then the Portugal, There we applied for first aid and worked in the operating room.

This is the building in Dnepropetrovsk where the Mennonite conscientious objectors were trained as medics for their military service. Grandpa would have been here for at least part of the time between 1912 and 1914.

 

We traveled from Batum to Trapisond, Turkey on the Black Sea. From there we transported wounded soldiers. I believe it was the 17th of March 1916, on our way to Trapisond for wounded soldiers that our ship sank. It was nearly 8:00 o'clock am. The ocean was calm like a mirror, {we almost always traveled at night),when from a German submarine a meine (torpedo) was shot, which hit our ship, the Portugal, in the middle. The front and the back of the boat lifted and then ofter a few minutes sank. I went down with the ship. As we were sinking I prayed, "Heavenly Father, help me”. God be thanked, He helped me. I twisted in the whirlpool and when I emerged the ship was gone. My right foot and several other places were squashed and I was bruised on my right side. Since I had my life belt on, I was able to stay above water and grab a plank. I tried to swim but the water was still swirling and my boots were too heavy so I dropped my feet straight down.

Fortunately, I was off to the side because as the ship broke apart, huge planks shot into the air as from a gun. Then when the pull of gravity took over they plunged back into the sea. If anyone had been hit by one of these they most likely would have drowned.

 

Russian hospital ship Portugal

The sinking of the Portugal. The sinking of this Red Cross ship by the German's sparked an international outrage that caused many nations to re-evaluate their attitude towards German aggression.

 

A Russian warship Minovosha came to the rescue. The soldiers lowered the

boat to rescue several men. I swam to the boat which was not far.

Our ship had approximately sixteen lifeboats but all except one went down with the ship. This one was overfilled and sank with all on board. A Mr. Petkau and Warkentine from the village of Neuenburg jumped off on time and were rescued.

A motor boat was available to us so we tied our boats to it and made for the shore which was about four miles away. On arrival someone found dry matches so we made a fire out of box boards and dried clothes.

“Fellows, does anyone have dry tobacco?” said Willelm , who was still anxious to smoke.

Soon another ship came and took us to Rise Turkey to a Russian Lasuret (Hospital) which was somewhat remodelled to receive wounded soldiers. There we were fed, given dry clothes and the wounded received first aid, and checked for arms.

My foot was badly swollen and I was limping. They bandaged my foot but I could see that at this rate I would keep limping. I asked the nurse to bring some (gedampelten spirits) rubbing alcohol. I had time and so I sat and massaged my foot every morning and evening. Then I could soon walk. God be thanked.

Approximately eighty people including nurses drowned. This included only a few Mennonites, my first wife's cousin Peter Klassen, from No. 4 Exhenfeld, and a Kohn from the Warrchau area.

We did not stay in the hospital very long because some of us were not hurt at all. They went visiting and did various other things. So the innocent had to get out with the guilty, just as it always is. They took us to a Boizdaral Laurrziy Kamando, (therapy center). There we were supposed to get well and strong.

Our food consisted of fish soup, cooked in a miagrapen which was made chiefly from fish bones, a few herbs and occasionally contained a few potaotoes. There were also some sugar cubes, and some pretty stale bread. From this food we were supposed to regain our strength.

Then the Red Cross sent us to Ekaterienoslaw. One of us received the necessary papers and he went to Ekaterienoslaw with the papers while the rest of us went home (We had to pass home anyway). So we stayed home for Easter and reported our experiences.

After about a week we appeared at Ekaterienslaw. When we arrived there we were greeted and taken into captivity by a Polkownik; it was wartime. He gave us a hard scolding, but because we were Portugalze, we were not punished. He said, “We wanted to give a good holiday but you have spoiled that for yourselves.”

In the meantime, the Red Cross in Odessa prepared another ship for the transporting of wounded soldiers. We did not want to go on a ship again. We contacted the chief secretary, Adwokat Funk in the Red Cross office and he arranged things for us. I wanted to go on the ship which transported the wounded from Kiev to Ekaternoslaw, with a certain doctor. He wanted to take me too, but secretary Funk know me and put a Petkau and a Warkentine out of his village Neuenburg on that ship. The rest of us had to go to Odessa and board the Red Cross ship there.

Our Doctors and Upolnomischenuw, (Helpers) kept the papers of all those who came from Ekaterienoslaw so we could not board the boat until the Knas Urusovkam, (staff government Officer), had inspected the ship. Then our Upolnomoschenew (staff) went and scolded him saying, "If you take our Sanitor (German Officers), from the boat , then we leave the ship too. The Kuas (officer) took his word back and we stayed on the ship Atene.

We immediately received the same jobs we had on the other ship. I was working in the bandage and operating room, and so on. As the ship was ready we traveled to Batum and transported the wounded from Trapisond Turkey. Our ship was now escorted by the warship Minonoska for our protection. This Red Cross ship had two canons and Pulemoten (automatic Machine) guns.

One night as we were traveling from Tropisond there was a very dense fog. We heard the fog horn of our ship and then of another one. Then everything was quiet and we thought here we go again. Then the other fog horn sounded again and then ours. Quietness again. Suddenly it crashed past our window ( Limainotor). Then the portugalse (ordeal) was over. We could not have light because of the enemy. I went onto the deck, Polobo, stumbling over the wounded and wanted to jump over board. I did not want to go down with the ship again. It was so dark that we could only see the white foam streak the boat left.

Then we heard the captains calling to on another, “Did anything happen to your ship?"

"And what about to yours?"

The ships had met head on and stopped each other. There was hardly any damage.

When the king was dethroned, things on the ship got out of hand. The Matrosen

(sailor) are raw folks. The badges were torn off the officers' shoulders and not gently either. After this I received a leave because of my squashed leg. I stayed in Odessa for several months, helping the Red Cross in the dining room. Then in 1917 I went home for winter.

A certain measure of peace was established. I believe we had our wedding on February 18,1918, I and my first wife, Maria Warkentin. 

In December 26,1919 the (army) Machnovzens with Mochno (leader) himself moved through our village. The neighboring bandits had joined with the Machnovzen (army) and they began their destructive work. Everything was done at night. Within a week another 11 were murdered: They claimed that we had shot Botko Milehnov.

Among the eleven my brother Abram was shot like a raven. A Jacob Dyck, if I'm right, 15 tent missionaries and a certain Shellenberg from Reinfeld were murdered in a terrible way, the women and girls were raped by force. I was spared again. Praise the Lord.

The Russians and German neighbours came to help us bury them. Up to eleven men were laid in one grave without coffins. As we laid them into the graveyard the widows and girls stood there without tears, the hearts were bleeding. I could not find my brother's hand; they had dragged it away, gruesome ! Those who had relatives were wrapped in sheets. Among these was my father, father-in-law, two brothers and two brothers-in-law.

After this we stayed at Giesbrecht's for one night. A Peter Giesbrecht was also there for night. Since we were all needy we knelt down in prayer. Mr.Giesbrecht's prayer was beautiful. He said, "Lord, give me a desire to die and give me an easy death. Then the Giesbrecht's went home. On the way he said, "You go on home, I will come later, I will check the doors yet." She got home but he never did.

That same evening a wagon left our village. Not far away she heard a gun shot. Mrs. Geisbrecht and we thought they had taken him along and shot him. Next morning Mrs. Geisbrecht got up and went to their miller. They had a windmill. They had to walk through the barn. As she opened the door of the scheine (machine shed), she saw Geisbrecht hanging by a rope. He had hung himself. Satan likely persuaded him that that would be an easy death. I don't know. I had helped to bury many, but here I had to gather courage to start.

We stayed for another week. The neighbouring bandits became more and more dangerous. Then we were at a neighbour’s farm, near the school for one night. My brother-in-law, Henry Klassen lived there. His life had also been spared.

In the middle of the night two bandits came. I was on guard. I waited. The shutters were closed. From our house two left by the front door. Then someone came in. Someone had opened the back door of the house, then the other came in. They immediately hit with the gun. The rooms were filled with widows and children. They prayed and cried to God. A gun fired and hit the ceiling. Then the lamp went out. They screamed, “God help us”, "Who was shot?". The Lord arranged it so that they were afraid of their own shot. They went out where they had come in. It was an answer to prayer. Then all was quiet. Somebody suggested the song: "It is a Joy to be born a Man.” They sang it.

One afternoon my brother-in-Law, David Friesen was also shot to death. Then they fled to No.1. From there to Neuendorf where we stayed at Henry Dyck's for several weeks.

Meanwhile the Red Army scattered the Machnovae. One evening the army entered the village. They come into the house and Funk's boys had to tell them how many farmers there were in each yard. During that time they noticed that I was lying there. They come to me with open Sabel, (sword) and wanted to kill me. They thought I was one of the Machnovz. I told them I transported them and had been left here a sick man. Funk's boys said the same thing and so they let me live again. I praise and thank God for this.

After about three weeks I was well enough to go back to Neunendorf. A teacher, Mr. Peters. went along with me. He grew up at Neunendorf. As I met my wife she said, "Where did you stay for such a long time? The other waggons had all come home but not me. "She said she had looked till her eyes hurt. She had prayed. I must come.

We drove from Neuendorf back to No.2 (village), and there we lived at various places, in their summer rooms, Nebenhouschens, (extra house used for parents). Our first home was at Wielers. There I took sick with typhoid. There was no doctor and so I was very sick. Several who were left in No. 4, (village), died also. After this I developed a boil under my right ear. Such a boil will suddenly choke a person when it reaches the throat. Again I was near death. During the night of the crisis I had said, "Geit dit dan gonig." That was when I was delirious. It seemed as if two men tore the ear with the boil off, then drained the boil and stuck it on again. In the morning I asked for a mirror to see if the ear was on straight.

My wife had put a hot water bottle on my feet. My sister-in-law and mother-in -Law had thought it was no use. But it was not yet my end. When I had recovered to the point where I could do something, then the others and also my wife lay down with Typhoid fever. I carried in straw to heat the house. I had to get it from far away. It was cold already and I felt it was far too soon for my lungs, but I had to do it.

Things had become more peaceful in the land. Then my uncle Peter Guenther came to visit us. He was a lay preacher in the M. B. Church, later he was ordained as a preacher. My Mother-in-law only wanted to die after this terrible event. She knew my uncle from No. 4 (village). My uncle said to

her, “Fu daut schauft nich wann vie welle, dou es ein Gott, wann de sagt dan as di tiet, u.s.w.s.

Then we lived Nebenaus, (next door) to Jacob Penners in No. 2. Uncle Jacob Guenther gave us a hen. She laid an egg for us and always moved along with us. We also lived in the Nebenause at Klassens, and at Siemens in the summer room also at Jacob Ennses in the summer room.

 

NOTE: As you read this part of the story it seems that there is a lot of travelling around. At this time Jacob Guenther is living in the area near the pictures of the cemetary above. The land is gently rolling through several valleys slopping towards the great Dnieper river. This area was among the first colonized by the Mennonites. The old road must have wound its way through this area. Each new village or colony was simply started a short way down the road from the previous. Each colony was laid out as described above with large farm yards and houses on each side with the school and church in the middle. There was normally no side roads or cross roads. Then the road would curve around and go up the valley on the other side, just over the hill. All the families would live together in the village and farm the land all around it. To us it would seem almost like one continuous country road with acreages on either side all along it. 

 

Things became more peaceful yet. At Easter we drove to Neurosengart. My oldest sister, Mrs Jacob Siemens lived there. There a Mr Klassen, (the father of Mr. Deitrich Klassen from Ontario), was preaching about Jesus talking to Maria. My wife's name was Maria too, so it spoke to her. Then we drove to Stronsfeld where my uncles, Jacob and Peter Guenther lived; we stayed at Jacob Guenther's also came there and we sang and had Bible reading. There my wife could find peace and forgiveness of sin through Jesus blood.

 

This great oak tree is the birth place of the Mennonite Brethren church. When some of the people became Christians they wanted to sing and clap but they were expelled from the church so they would walk with their families to church and then leave them to meet under this tree for their service.

 

I have to say after all these terrible things we could pray out loud and worship the Lord Jesus. I was searching too, but something was always missing.

Then we drove back to No.2 Wararouka. There the conference churches from our villages (our village was totally slaughtered), organized a songfest in the spring. I sang tenor. After this the choir director, Br. Peters, a teacher from No.2, invited me to sing again and again. I wanted to have more already, (more spiritual life). My wife and I walked together 'till the Conference Church, then she took our oldest son and went to worship at the Mennonite Brethren Church. The she asked me if she could be baptized. I said, "Go and be baptized, afterwards when I want to, you may not be able to. So she became a member of the M.B. Church.

In the fall of 1920, on a Sunday afternoon, I think it was November 20 or 21, I wanted to go visiting. . My wife said rather take the 3 Bond (hymnbook) and lets sing. We had received the 3 Bond from my father-in-law. I loved to sing, so we sang the songs. They were all so (wichtig), precious. At last we came to the song, "Wie wird uns sein". In the 3 Bond there are eight verses. We left some out, but when we came to the fifth, everything was meant for me.

“Wie wird uns sein, wenn wir Ihn horen rufen.

Komnt ihe Gesegnetin; wenn wir im Licht Da stehend

an des Gottesthrones.

Stuffen Ihm schouen in sein gnadig Angesicht,

Die Augen sehn, die einst von Tranen Flossen

Um Menschennot und Herzenshertigkeit

Die Wunden die das Teure Blut vergossen

Das uns vom ewgen. Tode hat befreit.”

Then it happened according to the saying, won through a song. We knelt down and prayed. I could believe that Jesus had suffered for my sins on the cross of Calvary. I could accept Him as my personal Saviour. That evening I wanted to go visiting again, but this time I wanted to go to the rejected people in the village. I wanted to tell them what the Lord had done for my soul. This was in village No.2, Fransfelt Warvaroka.

Next, we moved to No.3, Adelsheim Dolinovka. We had seeded a half acre of rye on Barstand land in Warwarflka. But in the end we forgot to register our claim. In No.3 my uncle gave me his 3/4 desj(acre) rye on 3rd crop share. Both were not registered, so the Komnesamschneje (government men), took them away on us. We had one cow and one horse so we hitched them up and drove. My brother-in-law D. Friesen only had one cow, Mr. K. Wieve also had one cow so they teamed them up and gathered their corn straw, seeded their crops and did many other things. Today, we would insist on driving tractors and cars. We think it can't be done any other way, but it had to be done so we did it.

In 1912 there was a famine in Russia. Many ate a variety of things at the time, field mice and Russian thistle bread. We almost always had some flour, but we also ate calf skin with half meat and cheese. But you had to be hungry to eat this. When my loving wife was laid up for a week she received a little help from the Americans for that week (she was having a baby).

I had to take butter to Ekaterinoslv. (Ekaterinosly is the city that is today called Dnepropetrovsk. It is about an hours drive by car today so this was a long and dangerous journey) We were never sure of our life on these trips. Many were killed, but the Lord always protected me on these trips. I know my loving wife prayed much at home. I could not buy the butter which I took, I obviously could not buy for others, because you never knew if they would not take it away on the way. Once I sold a pound of butter for one million rubels, (money). We always had the butter in a bag of chaff. Then 18 miles before the town we were stopped again and again and asked, “What are you hauling?" I thought my father had not been a millionaire and I almost starved on the job, (hauling butter). Some did die of starvation.

On June 4,1922 I too, was baptized. Br. Abraham Qiiring baptized me in the river Dnieper Kanjerowka, and so I also became a member of the M.B. Church. Again I sang in the choir.

Then we began the work of immigration to Canada, North America. We always had to pay something which was not easy for us at that time. Dr. Drury examined us and we were able to leave on September 1, 1924.

We sailed on the ship Baltick till Southampton, England. Then we were examined again, (medical). At Southampton we boarded the Melita to Canada. We had stormy weather while on the ocean. My loving wife and I did not eat much on the ship, because we were seasick. 

 

The HMS Melita

 

We arrived in Herbert on September 30,1924. We had travelled just one month. In Herbert we were welcomed by the M.B. Church. Br. Henry Neufeld spoke about David and Jonathon's friendship. We had a good meal and were glad that we were among Mennonites. That evening Peter Nickels

took us along to their parents in Main Center. The next day I went to work in the field stoking, pitching bundles and threshing. I wasn't used to working but I managed the work. After we were there for one week our daughter Tina was born. We stayed there for the first winter.

In the spring of 1925 we moved across the river to Beechy. There Bernard Nickels and I rented a farm on 1/3 crop share basis. We had two cows and lived from them during the summer.

There, we had one large room. It was almost black with dirt since a bachelor had lived there. We washed the room. That's how those Christians around Beechy began to have church services.

One day I went to Domain to trade some butter for Whitewash. But the grocery store did not handle whitewash, so I had to go to the hardware store for it and there I had no credit at that time. I was persistent but he said again and again, “I don't know you.” If I explained that I had left some butter in the grocery store and had bought nothing with it. He went to the store and since they already knew me there I got the whitewash.

After two weeks I sold some wheat and had to cash it in the hardware store (it was approximately $500). As I put it on the table he looked at the cheque and then to me. I said to him,"Do you know me now?"

He said, "Yes".

So you see, the dollar plays on important role in America. In 1926 we bought a farm closer to the river and also moved there. In April I tried to buy what I needed for farming. I bought four horses and machinery, making a down I payment and borrowing the rest.

One mile south of us there was a closed school. There we started church

services. More and more people moved to Beechy. Among them were Rev. John Wiens and Rev. John Hieberts. There, we had very good church services. Seeing we had suffered so much in Russia. I think it was in 1928 when I became a substitute Sunday School Teacher, and from then on I have almost always been a Sunday School teacher. First a few years with the young men, then I was teaching the children from age 7 or 18 to 15 until 1938.

In 1934 I, my oldest daughter Tina and a neighbour’s boy drove to Beechy with a load of oats. It was very windy. I stopped at the store. I had tied up the lines, and had just got off the wagon and was walking to the store when a large piece of paper came flying towards the horses. The horses were kind of wild and began to run. I tried to stop them. I got a hold of the lines but what can you hold when you are running? I fell and the back wheel of the loaded waggon drove over my leg. My thigh bone was broken right under the hip. The horses ran up to the Station. There they turned around and the waggon tipped over. My daughter had hurt her shins badly. Then the horses ran on with the front wheels until they come to a fence and got tangled up in it. There some people stopped them.

That evening through the night Br.lsaak Neufeld took me to Saskatoon. Close to Kinsmore we had car trouble. We were towed into town since my leg was broken they fixed the car at once. It did not take long. I lay with the front seat folded down. Frank Nickel was along too. He gave me a pain killer to ease the pain. At six am we arrived at St. Paul's hospital in Saskatoon. We called Dr. Neufeld and he came. With prayers in our hearts they placed me on the operating table. They took X-rays. They gave me a pre-op sedative. Then they set my leg. I could half see and hear what they did. Then with steel braces on either side and a ring over the hip they stretched the leg until the bones could be set.

That's how I lay for two months. The first week I had great pain. I could not sleep and did not eat much. I was depressed,but over my head there was a picture of Jesus nailed to the cross with nail marks clearly visible. I could hardly stand it if I had one broken leg and Jesus did on that for me. I had someone read Psalm 77 to me. Especially verse 10 and 11 then I found peace. Amos 3:6 “...shall there be on evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it". I knew He had allowed this to happen too. “God's ways are not my ways.” Is. 55:8,9.

After this I spent many blessed hours with my Saviour. I could understand the bond between me and my Saviour in a new way. Psalm 130:3 spoke to me: "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities , O lord, who shall stand?” Psalm 139: "Search me,

O God, and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Rev.3:15-16 “I know thy works, that thou aft neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot, so because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I wily spue thee out of my mouth." I had to examine myself with the question: "Have I become lukewarm? No, but perhaps heading that way. Vs. 19 "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." Vs.20 "Behold I stand at the door and knock. " the day of grace is still here.

The person thinks, but God leads, but sometimes He leads us to places we don't want to go and that hurts. Praise the Lord if it leads to repentance. Hebrews 2:11, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; never-the-less afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which were exercised thereby.”

There were two traveling evangelists. One of them had something to be thankful every morning. One night they stayed in very poor quarters, the bed was so hard. Now, thought the one, what will he be thankful for this morning? But he thanked: I thank thee God that I have two sides, when I get tired on one side that I can lie down on the other side. Then I could thank God every morning that I had no bed sores. I had to lie on my back for 2 1/2 months and be in a cast till over my hips for the last while. The right foot was also in a cast up to the toes.

While in this cast they took me home. They carried me in and there I had to lie in the cast for awhile before they could take it off. When the cast came of I could not bend my knee, hip, or foot. I worked on them with salves and massage. The hip and the foot soon responded to the treatment but the knee look longer. I could move it about on inch farther each day. So it still took months. Psalm 18:19 “Praise be to the lord, to God our Saviour who daily bears our burdens.” Praise be to God, He also has taken me through to this point. I could daily praise the lord, because I could walk and do my work. We were so glad that I did not need to limp.

Then on the 12th of June, 1936, my loving wife passed away, (after 24 hours of hemoraging). The doctor came yet and gave her a needle and then went to the stampede. Towards morning she died. Then I had arrived at Marah. O how it was so bitter, I could hardly drink it. 

It was a sad funeral. The mourners were myself and my nine children; three sons and six daughters. The oldest son John was just seventeen years old and the youngest daughter Hulda was ten months old. My wife was forty-two and had always been healthy. When my wife's sisters took small Lydia and Hulda with them to Hepburn, I felt like Jacob. Joseph is no more, Simon is not at hand and now you want to take Benjamin too. That was too much for me. Later, when someone wanted to take Helen and David along they hid themselves.

We did not know much about cooking, neither could we buy everything ready made. As you know this was in the thirty's when everyone lived on relief. We had pigs and cows which provided milk and butter; the problem was bread. Tina, Frank and I knew something about baking bread so together we succeeded in baking bread. Later we could easily bake bread.

In Isaiah 55:8,9 we read, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts thatn your thoughts.”

My the Lord sometimes leads us to places we do not want to go. At one home He takes the dearest Child, in another the only child, and here he takes a man's wife and leaves him with nine children. There He takes the husband and leaves the wife with her ten children. It is painful, it hurts, but thanks be to God if it leads to repentance.

In Exodus 15 Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea to the wilderness of Shur. They wandered in the wilderness for three days and found no water. When they arrived at Morah they found water but it was very bitter. They could not drink it. Then the people murmured against Moses. Moses cried to God. Then I God showed him a tree. He put it into the water and the water was sweet. Job had arrived at Morah too, when God allowed everything to he taken away but he could say, “The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away. The name of the Lord be praised.” The Lord can change things today, too, in that He has given and He has taken. There was a widow at Rush Lake who was in similar conditions. She had ten children and I had nine. We were both poor but rich in the gift of God. Psalm 127:3, “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord.” They were all healthy children. (Now April 19, 1963 they are all saved. We can't thank God enough for this).

It was a long way to go to Rush lake with horses. I told the lord that if it was not His will He should put something between. But he didn't and we grew closer together.

On April 24,1938 we were married.

The two little girls could come home again. When the school was over at the end of June we moved to Rush Lake. The house was bigger and the garden was good. We enlarged the table because we were 14-16 people. Then it tasted good. One sack of flour (100 lbs) did not always last a week. We butchered a big steer and four big pigs ( 400-500 lbs.) and it was all eaten. The bread never dried out, (like it does now, we always have to eat it old).

We had a whole choir in the house and we sang much. It was like in the song

Gesang Jersehant das leben, Gesang erfreut dasHey

Ihn hat uns Gotgegeben, zu linden Gram und Schmerz

We sang many hardships away. The lord gave us many spiritual blessings. He is to be No.1 in our life. With out the Lord Jesus we could not hove done it. When we take out the bad, and this is permissible for a Christian, then it went well. We met for worship with other families, in the Ebeneza Church. I was privileged to teach the adult Sunday School class there too. We also had prayer meeting and when the preacher came to visit us , we were glad and thankful. We encouraged one another the best we could.

The Lord blessed us materially too. To Him be the glory. Our experience was almost like Job. He sent us another time as many children. The name of the lord be praised.

In 1944 we moved from Rush Lake to Greenfarm. We bought a farm one mile from the church so we could always go to the service. If there was no other way we could walk. That was worth more than money to me. The children could always sing in the choir. I was a deacon for nine years, Sunday School teacher, and also helped along wherever I could.

When our children, Mary and Paul were married in Greenfarm, Brother Theesen asked Meno who had married our oldest daughter, Tina, "How many pairs are there now?" Meno answered this is the fourth pair. The parents made the start and the children followed their example.

In 1954 we moved to Herbert. Here again, I was soon able to teach the older Brethren in the Sunday School. The Lord had also shown me that when I thought I was well prepared things did not so well. Other times when I did not have time or something else came up, I prayed, "Lord, I cannot do it without you." Then the lord helped me and the brethren worked well and the lord blessed. That’s how the Lord shows us that we can do nothing without Him. Today, we are writing, April 26,1962, and I am still privileged to teach the men's Sunday School class. Praise the lord for this. So from 1928 till now October 1964 I have almost always been Sunday School teacher. (Present age: 74 on January 6,1965). 

Various pictures of Mennonite buildings, factories, and churches from south central Ukraine

 

The main church in Chortitza (now used as a government building)

 School in Chortitza just down from the church

Farm machenery factory across the street from the school and church above. It is now used to make electrical boxes. An interesting story; the Mennonites who owned this factory gave much of the metal work to the school. They built beautiful stairs out of iron with German Bible verses in each step for the school. For years under the Soviet Union Russian children went up and down the stairs, stepping on the word of God.

A large house built by Mennonites. Probably the residence of the owners of the factory above.

This building housed a nursing school built and operated by the Mennonites. It is now used as a dance school.

Another view of a typical Mennonite farm house and yard.

The interiour of a typical Mennonite home. These homes were built with a large hot kitchen in the center made out of heavy bricks and a large fire, oven, stove. The other rooms are arranged around this central heat sink making the home warm and cozy. The following few pictures are more interior and exterior pictures of these fine houses.

For those who are interested this picture and the following ones are of the Shultz factory and the village it is located in.

Shultz factory

directly across the road from the factory

Shultz factory

Shults factory main entrance with unloading tower over top. Whole wagon loads could be mechanically unloaded in one operation.

Shultz factory inside the courtyard

The village

This house is across the street and a few steps down from the Shultz factory. The present villagers call it the Penner house. I wonder if there is a connection here to our family?

This and the following pictures are of the school in the village where the Shultz factory is located.