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

ed and was able to purchase a number of things including a year-old heifer. We needed milk desperately for Alfred and my aging mother. When our heifer was two years old, the head of the collective came and informed me that during my absence the children had not fulfilled the required meat quota and consequently he was seizing the heifer. I had paid out all our money for the heifer only to have it taken from our yard. We did have a small pig which we raised and when it far¬ rowed, we decided to sell it along with its young in order to buy another cow. Unfortunately while farrowing she became ill and died, as did her litter .... I sat down and cried bitterly. “Lord,” I complained, “why did you allow this? You know how we need milk and now we have nothing. The heifer and the sow with its young are gone. Now we can’t buy anything. If I deserve a cow, You will have to give it to » me. Not long after this my cousin came by. “Anna,” she said, “if you like you can come and get a calf. It has almost died twice and my son says we can’t keep it. The Lord wants us to give it away. We both prayed about it and the Lord told us to bring it to you.” I went to get the calf but it was only four or five weeks old, 44 JOURNEYS and I wasn’t sure what to feed it. We had absolutely no milk and it could not thrive on grass and water. My sister-in-law looked after calves in a kolkhoz in the mountains. I asked her to inquire whether I might not bring our calf to her. She sent her son to tell me I could bring it immediately. Alfred and I spent a day taking the calf to the kolkhoz. She told us not to worry — that the calf would be looked after. That was in May. In October, my sister- in-law sent a message that we were to come and take our “calf” home. We brought home a fine large heifer. This is how we got our cow. The Lord simply gave it to us! Things had begun to change spiritually. When the men from our village were arrested, I had managed to save a Bible storybook. My youngest daughter became a believer when I had returned home from my imprisonment. She and her friend, who was not yet converted, were at our house one day. I asked the girls if I could read to them from the book The reading of the Bible story¬ book and the conversation that followed helped to bring my daugh¬ ter s friend to a saving knowledge of her Savior, Jesus Christ. A few days later, my daughter and her friend called for me to go with them. We arrived at a house full of young people crowded around a long table. Realising what was happening and what they wanted from me, I was immediately filled with fear. I said to myself, “You are finally home from exile and you know it is strictly forbidden to tell young people about Jesus Christ.” I experienced a tremendous struggle, remembering what happened to my husband years ago when he shared the Gospel. I did not want to return to prison. Then I remembered these words, “He who loves his