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

d’s name to follow the call given to me. “Because during the first quarter year of my service from May 1 to August 1 the harvest and the threshing were completed, I can report little of the itinerant ministry during this time, with the exception that I have attended almost all of the congregational meetings in our colony [volosts of Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld] and have taken part according to need in lectures for the edification of those gathered. Besides this, I, to- gether with Br. Johann Regier [Klippenfeld], have made only a small itineracy here in our colony. After having experienced a blessed meeting in Tiege at Brother and Sister Philipp Isaak, I travelled in the company of the Klippenfeld brethren and sisters to Rueckenau where we first visited Brother and Sister Hamm. Here we shared our experience that our life on earth is a battle and that we enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation. Then we went to Brother and Sister Johann Friesens and from there continued to our friends Brother and Sister Gerhard Martens where we together led an evening Bible study. The subject of our study was Luke 19, the story of Zacchaeus and his efforts to see Jesus, his climbing up and down the sycamore tree and the blessed results which followed. The application of these truths to ourselves seemed to be well received by those present. In conclusion there was much heartfelt praying. Monday the 17th we first travelled to Klippenfeld, and then on to Sparrau to Brother and Sister Schroeder. These told us how they rejoiced at having entered into fellowship with the Lord and His people. One continually experiences that in obedience there is blessedness and in rebellion, pain and an absence of peace. We first visited the Abram Wienses, now already believers; we recalled many a precious promise from the Word of God and prayed together. Then we visited the Dietrich Loewens, also already believers, who, especially the beloved sister, were at that very moment experiencing great inner conflict. She had already all but come to the conviction of the necessity of baptism, but her relatives raised many objections; indeed they accused the Loewens of bringing about the death of their parents if they were to be obedient to the Word of God and be baptized. It is strange, upon what absurdities and yet apparently valid reasons these people come, when they want to keep their own from the truth! We commit them to God and to the Word of His Grace, and time has proven that the fear of their friends was unfounded. For the night we travelled to Grossweide to the Jakob Friesens and The General Conference 517 went to our friends, the Franz Wienses, for evening Bible study, which consisted in mutual edification and study of the Word. Tuesday the 18th we made a visit to a poor old widow, Mrs. Martens, whom we visited at the suggestion of her relatives (our friends). She really resembled a rose among the thorns, and even though she wa