The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

gious duties despite ihe hardships of his flock. He was deeply involved and put all his energy in pro- moting a community assembly hall, where he hoped all the people from both small churches could unite in religious instruction and prep- aration for the great tribulation. The problems his people were having now, taught Epp, were nothing compared to the final trials of the last days. To accomplish the task of building his unifying hall, he ordered every able-bodied man to work two days a week on the project. Many of the men complained that they were having a hard time even mak- ing a living and bridled at the extra labor. Epp urged them to work because he said the Lord wanted the assembly hall ready the first of August. In fact, Epp said, it must be ready by August 7, 1883, in order to celebrate a festive occasion. The celebration Epp anticipated was a baptismal service. To him, this service was more important that any- thing the community was doing. Portents of Future Troubles Once again, Epp’s impulse to unify turned into another cause for growing divisiveness. Seven of the 12 young people to be baptized had already been baptized by J. K. Penner in Serabulak, but Epp pro- nounced the baptisms void because Penner had strayed from the truth, and the youngsters had not had a true conversion experience. Several of the brethren, however, believed that the seven young peo- ple should not be rebaptized. This very controversial baptism be- came a point of contention among the settlers and brought even more disunity. These were days of bitter feelings at Lausan, and the Mennonites were soon to face added perils and anxieties that cul- minated in a deepening sense of fear. 14 REFUGE BECOMES A TRAP The insecurity of life in the Lausan settlement was compounded by the growing hostility of their Turkoman neighbors. These natives became resentful of the Mennonites, and their jealousy was increased by the khan’s perceptible predilection to favor them. This festering resentment turned into such an open animosity that it eventually brought the refuge settlement to an end. Trouble with Turkoman Natives While ostensibly friendly during the daylight hours, these Turko- mans expressed their hostility through almost nightly raids on the Mennonite farms. Numbering about 300,000 in the entire desert and steppe region between the Syr Darya and the Caspian Sea, they lived in small clan villages.' The Turkomans indulged in blood feuds against other clans and ‘invaders’ and were noted for their marauding habits. While contemporaries credit them with great skill in making rugs and mud bricks, others emphasize their penchant for cruelty, lying, stealing, and murderous raids. Though most of the Turkomans near Lausan made their living in settled pastoral or small agricultural pur- suits, they had still not completely cast off their old character of nomad- ic marauders. The first of many confrontations between th