A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

sumed their work in a faraway land, was in her father's arms, clutching him tightly as the train pulled into the station. The moment of parting had come. The daughter cried, even screamed. People had to help release him from her clinging arms so he could board. Kissing his child goodbye, Voth en- tered the train, sat down and buried his face in his hands. His brother, Heinrich S. Voth, who was to accompany him as far as Kansas City, sat silent at his side. Suddenly, overcome by bursting emotion, John Voth sobbed, "Is this what Jesus meant when he said, 'He that loveth more father or mother, brother or sister, wife or children is not worthy of me?" The story of Mennonite Brethren missions in India in- 104 EARLY MENNONITE BRETHREN MISSIONARIES dudes ten missionary deaths. Some were victims of accidents, like Herman Warkentin and Eva Kasper and her children; oth- ers died from lack of medical attention, Frank jan2en died an excruciating death from deliberate poisoning. The sacrifices, though immense, were not in vain. In 1990 the Mennonite Brethren Church in India, by some estimates, numbered 60,000. Frank Wiens, a farm boy from Henderson, Nebraska, was already an effective evangelist at home yet he sensed a growing vision for a far-off land. The Hakkas, a progressive people among the millions of China, weighed heavily on his heart. The conference was not ready for a mission program to China, but Wiens wondered; "Is not God able to do what the brotherhood cannot7" With enough money to purchase tickets halfway to China, he and his family went as far as Rus- sia. He was sure God would do the rest. God used Wiens in Russia to bring about a renewal in the Mennonite Brethren churches there. His preaching resulted in the conversion of many people, God also provided the money needed to go to China to evangelize the Hakkas. Wiens's motto was Psalm 18:29-"By Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall," He did manage to leap over the China wall. He attempted the humanly impossible. Together with coworkers who fol- lowed, he founded the Mennonite Brethren Church in China. In 1919 the conference accepted China as a Mennonite Brethren mission field. The Frank Wiens story in China can best be summarized in the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:26-28: In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of rob- bers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weari- nes