THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

1) “Einlage, Province of Ekaterinoslav, South Russia, October 29, 1869 [new calendar]— I had hoped to send these few notes to you and to my loved ones during my return journey, possibly from Pest, but the long, time-consuming journey across the endless steppes [without railways at the time], beyond which I have not yet gone, and the unanticipated labors in God’s kingdom, have kept me here until now. I have been in Einlage for eight days now, and will be able to depart only next Monday, November 1. Here is a church which has separated itself from the Mennonites mainly because of baptism[?]; otherwise it continues to hold to their regulations. [N.B.l] This congregation has been exposed to many siftings, and upon my arrival I still found much discord among the brethren and it almost seemed as if my stay here would be fruitless. After lengthy discussions among them, the Lord enabled me, finally, to gain the confidence of the brethren and I tun now to ordain an elder, Br. Abraham Unger, two ministers, and two deacons next Sunday. On Sunday, the 24th, I preached in the [private] school among our brethren, that is among those who have separated themselves from the larger Mennonite Church, and in the afternoon, in the large Mennonite Church in Chortitza, a Mennonite colony, seven versts from here. But life leaves much to be desired. Yet I am glad and blessed in my Savior, and, with the exception of a throat ailment, I feel fine. I dare to hope that through the blessing of the lord upon my humble efforts, some order has been brought into the hitherto existing confusion so that matters here may improve, and that we, in the future, may yet exert a The Chortitza M.B. Church 1866-72 463 wholesome influence upon this interesting movement. All of Southern Russia ... is a beckoning missionfield, and were I but thirty years old instead of seventy, I would dedicate my life to the cultivation of this fallow yet very promising ground. Let us pray the Lord of harvest to send forth laborers. 2) It is November 1 and I am going still further south, to Alexander [Alexandrovsk], ten versts away on the other side of the Dnieper, and from there, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, November 2, to Molotschna, where a similar congregation 252 awaits me. 3) November 4, 1869, on board the steamer, between Nikolaiev and Kherson. I am now on the Dnieper .... In Einlage, from where I wrote to you, I have been able to arrange everything which pertains to the ordination of the elders, two ministers and eight deacons [evidently a number of these for the Baptist Brethren]. The congregation there derives from the Mennonites, still names itself after Menno Simons, and adheres to some of the particular views of this reformer. These ordinations were carried out in Einlage last Sabbath [Sunday]. In the afternoon I conducted a missions service which raised an offering of 108 rubles for the mission in China. These meetings were held in a temporary