JOURNEYS Mennonite Stories of Faith and Survival in Stalins Russia, John B. Toews, 1998

. Finally a joyful moment. My new boss apparently wanted a reliable worker whom he could send anywhere and use as he pleased. Previously I was the boss, now I was the servant .... I was responsible for obtaining hay for my superior s horses. This was a difficult problem since it had to come in by barge from one hundred to one hundred and fifty kilometers away. My new job began on New Years Day, 1939. It was incredibly cold, the temperature plunging to minus 50C. I was very cold even though I had good clothes .... We took eighteen to twenty horses and supplies for five to six days .... It was a clear winter day with some twenty-five to thirty degrees of frost when we left. We spent the first night in a forest rangers cabin .... After we ate supper and arranged for the night watch we all went to sleep .... Next morning when we prepared to leave the men requested that one of their number stay behind to keep the cabin warm and look after them on our return trip. I agreed. The weather worsened during the day and the way was covered with drifting snow. Finally towards evening we reached our destination, a long abandoned logging camp .... As it turned out there was hardly room for everyone and so I volunteered to go to a hunters cabin about half a kilometer away. I had an uncanny feeling as I walked through the deep snow. There was no sound, no wind, only the overwhelming calm of the forest. I shall never forget that moment. Everything appeared so remote, so lonely. I was only a few minutes away from other peo- MEMOIRS OF ARON WARKENTIN 201 pie yet it seemed like hours .... I felt awestruck and overwhelmed. Above me hundreds of thousands of twinkling stars seemed to share in the experience of that lonely wanderer. At various times and in various places the insignificant crea¬ ture senses the overwhelming voice of his Creator in a special way. Yes, in those days I was unhappy with the way God led me, argued with Him, and could not and did not want to understand His leading in my life. Yet it was He who was directing my pathway. Now, far away from everything, He met me and directed my ears and my eyes towards Him ... . Soon I stood before a small cabin .... I opened the door and entered as quickly as possible. As an uninvited guest I soon dis¬ covered two human figures .... Angrily they looked at the in¬ truder. They looked more like robbers than hunters .... This was not a place to spend the night.... No one responded to my “Good Evening” .... They were skinning some rabbits and so I asked them not to stop their work .... I suggested they look through my pack which contained flour, butter, salt and onions and take whatever they wished for their supper .... Exhausted I lay down in the corner and slept the sleep of the righteous. I don’t know how long I had slept before one of the men woke me .... A wonderful odor permeated the room. In the middle of the room was a small stove and on top the best ra