Serene old age

Serene Old Age

“The length of our days is seventy years, or eighty, if we have the strength” (Psalm 90:10). I am in my 80th year and, I thank God, still healthy. Lina said that I had looked older in Russia than I do now. My braid, which had been gray, is darker again. With my glasses I can read easily and can knit and crochet. I live in a bright, pleasant room and have no worries about my physical needs. My children do not expect any hard work from me. I am fortunate!

I think of my children often. I would so much like to have news of them, for a mother’s love burns constantly. As I have always done, I pray for them. I would be too weak and poor to help them. God will find ways and means to help them, so that none of my children and grandchildren will be lost. The first word that they heard whispered in their ear by their mother was the precious name of Jesus. And today, there is nothing better that I could wish them than: Jesus the Savior has come! O what a sad fate has befallen us that we have to live so far apart. I thank God for the strength, which He gives me daily and hourly to remain calm and steadfast. He is our refuge!

My dear sons-in-laws Jakob, Abram, Gerhard, Naum, whom my daughters married, where are they today? Heinrich is dead and Frieda knows it. Woldemar alone is here in Canada. I live in his house and he provides for me, like a good son. “Lord, my Savior, bless Woldemar and Lina!” My sons Heinrich and Gustav, where are you now?

At age 82, on August 4, 1955 in Altona, Manitoba, Evangleine wrote the following:

I am “celebrating” the sunset of my life. I am free of all hard work. I am glad if I can still help a little, like washing dishes or preparing vegetables, which gives me satisfaction. I am at peace with the people around me. I have a sunny room with a beautiful view of the neighborhood. I like to read, crochet, and do other light work. I live as one who is condemned to death and every healthy day is like a gift and something extra added on. I am inwardly joyful in my faith in God, in whose presence I live. Even in death I will not fall out of His hand.

And today too is a beautiful day. Towards morning there was thunder and it rained a little. The air is pure and the flowers are blooming. I slept well and in quietness listened to the thunder.

I am happy and thankful that I can still read and write, even though I cannot hear well. Often that makes me feel alone and cut-off and requires much forbearance and patience from others. How glad I am that I do not have to live among strangers. My evening is full of light! In earlier days I always had so little time for myself. Now I have a lot of time as compared to when I was a mother and housewife. Until I was seventy, I was an early riser. Now I lie in bed until eight o’clock and don’t miss anything. My small tasks are easy and difficult ones don’t come my way anymore.

My dear sister Maria Dirks died last Sunday, January 6, 1957 in the Nursing Home in Vineland, Ontario. The funeral was January 9th.

A white lily in God’s garden,

How my heart aches,

Also for my brother Heinrich,

Where is his reading place?

News of Neta and Sara from Siberia

It is Sunday evening, May 5, 1957. Spring is coming and everything is turning green. I can sit outside again. How much better it is for me now that I know where at least two more of my children (Neta and Sara) are living. On May 8th last year I received the first news about Neta through a letter written by my niece Elfriede Ediger from Siberia to David Klassen in Culross.