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

not call on me again, but today I am reading my Bible. With the arrest of our church leaders and ministers, the Gos¬ pel continued to be disseminated without special services. Our Bibles were confiscated because we were not allowed to read Gods word at home. In June the last of the men were taken from the village by the Russians and sent into the Work Army. Now all the work was left to us women. On December 1 we women were also drafted into the TrudAimy. I can scarcely describe the shock of being rounded up. Our children were screaming and we could not believe how cruel the Russian army drafters could be to take mothers away from their crying children. We were worried about what would happen to our poor children because there was nothing to eat in the village. I took my little son Alfred, who was not quite four years old, and held him on my lap in the wagon but a man came and took him away from me. We were driven out of the village and told that we were being sent to the White Sea. Our children over ten years of age were to be put to work, while those under ten were placed in a children s home. My heart felt as if it would break and I did not know what to do. How could I leave my children? I could not eat or sleep during the first days, because things were so difficult. One night I sensed Jesus speaking to me saying, “I love your children far more than you do.” This proved a great comfort to me, and I was able to remain calm .... The head of the Kirghiz Republic strongly opposed the de¬ portation plan made by the Russians. He said the Russians could put us to work but they had no right to deport us. At first we did not know what the head of the Kirghiz Republic wanted to do with us. . . We were put to work on a large canal which was being built near the barracks where we were being housed. Our job was very hard because we had to dig through ground that was frozen solid. If we did not fulfill our quota, we were given very little to eat .... I lasted for six months, and then became seriously ill. I was given four days sick leave, and since my village was not far from the place we were working, I decided to take the train home in order to check up on things. When I arrived, I found only the girls and Alfred at home. The army recruiters had not only taken the men to work in the army, but they had taken all lads sixteen and over. 36 JOURNEYS I must say a few words about my husband. Now and then I received letters from him telling me about the lack of food and hardship that he was going through. In one letter he wrote, “Anna, sing the song, ‘The way of the Lord is always best’.”. . . His re¬ quest gave me comfort because I knew that my husband had given himself to the Lord in the midst of his difficult situation. I was so thankful to the Lord for this because I had often worried about his spiritual condition. For a time I could still send him packages but during the war years, the authorities ref