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

rch. At the same time they also observed communion and foot-washing and enjoyed great blessing. "In this way things went on under God’s blessing until 1895.” Then the brethren, Elder Aron Lepp and the ministers Kornelius Fehr and Wilhelm Dyck arrived to conduct an election of ministers. The brethren Johann Epp and Jakob Heide were elected to serve as ministers and Jakob Toews and Hermann Neufeld as deacons. The ordination was held on June 12. At the same time, five more persons were baptized. “When the brethren left us we remained behind, inexperienced in the Kingdom of God; often we were afraid, but the Lord did not leave us nor forsake us. His Spirit taught us according to His promise.” The mother church helped the congregation in many requests for advice in spiritual as well as in The M.B. Church 1885-1910 563 temporal affairs, and stood by them with fatherly counsel and help. In the latter year they were granted grace to buy a lot for 150 rubles in the village of Kamenka, on which to build a church building. “In temporal things— after a poor crop in 1896 we now are quite well off (1902). We are always able to thresh our grain before the winter comes. The mother colony has had much patience with us in our payments, because we are all, so to say, poor. They only asked from us what we could pay. The mother colony has done much for the poor in providing gifts of money and clothing. In the first year we were to buy expensive seed grain, but they gave the grain to us without money. This was a great help. They also gave us a generous grant to build our schools and when horses were frequently stolen, they shared with us so people could again buy horses.” In the spiritual realm, the Lord had begun to bless and He continued to do so. “In the spring of 1898 we experienced what Jeremiah speaks of, Jer. 33:14. A great awakening began and our meetings became so large that our houses could hardly accommodate them. We were able to manage, though, until spring and then we went into the hay barns which were packed to the last seat. On our knees we often said to the Lord: ‘Lord, where shall we get bread for so many.’ But the Lord has always provided; He is rich enough to feed thousands, even when we have no prospects. We have experienced that.” In winter they needed room. The brethren brought this need before the Lord, and the village assembly permitted them to use the school building, built in 1897, whenever it was not in use. In this year the brethren began to work for ratification of their plan to build a church and were granted this. The brethren and sisters prayed for the means to build and these came according to the promise of Psalm 145:19. On September 15, 1900, this church was dedicated to God, with great blessing experienced by all. The church had grown to be large. Many had been baptized, especially in 1897 (32 persons) and 1899 (25 persons) and others also every year. In addition, new arrivals came