Jacob A. and Justina Friesen Wiebe

Jacob, as I look across the countryside it looks so different than the first time we set off through the tall prairie looking for our stake of land. I had no idea that I would see tall grass, rippling like the waves on the ocean. It was a fearful and depressing feeling. I remember the parcel of ground had nothing but tall grass growing on it. We had to fabricate a makeshift canvas hut until we could build a barn which would eventually serve as a temporary home for nineteen people.

Many times I think of our own children. We were blessed with twelve children. Seven sons and five daughters, however four sons and four daughters died many years ago.

We have enjoyed visiting with so many wonderful people through the years sharing our faith and friendship around a table of zwieback and coffee. So many memories, so many experiences, so many blessings, our life has been quite a journey. I wonder if our future generations will encounter faith journeys such as ours?

Justina, we left our dear Crimean homes in South Russia after much soul searching prayer and meditation. You see, I was originally a minister in the General Mennonite Church in Russia. I was sincere, but followed the rituals of the church. In many of these churches the spirit of worldliness had taken possession of the hearts of many members. It seemed there was no difference between us and the world.

Several churches had been awakened by visiting Baptist preachers, and the spirit of God had moved small groups of seriously minded members to meet in homes for prayer and spiritual edification.

I often encouraged this spiritual movement among the members of the church. I also instructed young boys and girls regarding their Christian experiences before their baptism which was administered in all Mennonite churches by the act of sprinkling. One particular defining and life changing moment occurred when I was called to administer baptism in a neighboring church. I found the baptismal candidates wholly unprepared for this important spiritual step but yet went ahead with the service.

My heart was pierced by sorrow, pain, and guilt as I witnessed the wild party as they celebrated which followed the baptism. I felt I had contributed to the indifference and worldliness of these young people. As I walked home in the evening, seeking comfort, meditation, and communion with God, I prayed to God for guidance. I asked, “Oh my dear Lord, what have I done and what shall I do now?” as I meditated, the Lord spoke to my heart, soul, and mind with these words: “Except a man be born of water and The Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” I clutched my hands firmly, and with my head deeply bowed, I solemnly said, “Speak dear Lord, Thy servant heareth. God questioned me, what does it mean to be born again? I knew that believing and accepting Christ as Savior and Lord upon confession, was a heavenly experience when the new spirit enters our soul and the old self dies and is buried with Jesus in baptism. But I felt that the young people whom I sprinkled did not have any conception of this spiritual regeneration. I questioned their need for salvation. I asked God again and again what can I do? God’s response to me was, “Jacob, follow me and be my servant among your people.” I replied, “Yes my Lord, and Master, I will, I will obey thee.”

I questioned what my church would say and do to me if I preached regeneration and baptism by immersion. But God’s reassurance to guide and support me gave me the strength not to be afraid.

I felt the Spirit of God walk with me as I spoke before the church about my convictions on conversion and baptism by immersion as they are represented in the Bible. That the Bible is the inspired word of God and that to be saved one must accept and obey God’s word. This meant believing in spiritual birth by letting the old man of selfish and worldly interests and pleasures die and be buried an by letting the new man with spiritual desires and joys in his heart be born. I spoke of my belief in baptism by immersion, which is a symbol of the death and burial of the old man, and a resurrection of the new man from the grave to live a new life in Jesus Christ. I also promised God to obey His word in the future as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I told my congregation that if they were not willing to accept such a ministry, then I would have to leave. Many members were bewildered, some were distressed, others expressed excitement and asked me why I would become an Anabaptist, a member of the “radical sect” that had brought so much distress into some churches. Yet there were a few members who gave me God’s blessings and supported my stand on these convictions. The church council met and decided that the old Crimean Mennonite Church could not depart so radically from the established religious principles, and as a result I resigned my position as preacher in the church.

Twelve members, however, felt my convictions were true to the Bible in my religious interpretations and they left the church at the same time. We united as a religious body, The oldest male baptized me by immersion, then in turn I baptized all the others. We called ourselves “The Crimean Mennonite Brethren Church”.

Now comes the question why we left Russia and came to America as it brought with it so many hardships. Our grandfathers came from Holland to Germany and Germany to Russia where we received a privilege that we and our descendants should be exempt from military duty with the condition to pay low taxes to the crown. We were model farmers, and were wise in agriculture and livestock. But after 100 years this privilege was annulled and in 1870 the Czar Alexander gave orders that within ten years everyone whom the new law did not please was at liberty to emigrate with full property, if he chose to hold fast to his fathers’ faith. If we chose to stay it meant military duty for everyone. Since taking up a sword was against our Godly convictions, we sent several elders to America to see if the reports that in America full freedom of conscience prevailed.

After three or four months when our elders returned they confirmed this and we began to prepare to emigrate. However, Czar Alexander did not want us to leave and sent General Von Todleben to visit with us to persuade us to stay. He worked hard against emigration and even made an offer that those who didn’t want to serve in the military could do other duties such as sanitary service, nursing, building bridges, working plantations and doing forestry service.

But we had already disposed of our property so we thanked his Majesty the Czar for the grants we enjoyed in Russia, received our passports and left our homes on May 30, 1874. On July 15 we arrived in New York. Then we journeyed to Elkhart, Indiana. We encamped there and I took two brethren to explore possible locations in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas for our future home. As a result of these explorations this committee selected and purchased twelve alternating, but adjacent, sections of land from the Santa Fe Railroad Company for our present home which is at the present site of Gnadenau. We then notified the immigrants in Elkhart to come to join us. Upon arriving, we purchased horses, wagons, lumber, implements, tools, some furniture and food and traveled over the trackless prairie to our new home. When we finally stopped amid the tall grass my wife asked why we were stopping. I hesitantly replied, “Dear wife, we are stopping because we are finally home.” Some people dismounted and walked about in the deep grass. My wife, as well as others, began to weep, remembering their comfortable homes, well-tilled fields, and beautiful orchards in the Crimea.

I gathered my small flock and we knelt and thanked God for His protective care on this journey, our new home, religious liberty and prayed for His guidance and blessing in the future.

We decided to build the Gnadenau Village in the central section. At first we had to make temporary homes in our wagons or pitch tents before we made little sod thatched cabins. It was slow, hard work, but determination and commitment were high priorities. We were a poor, humble group of farmers, intellectually not well educated, and spiritually very imperfect but anxious to know God’s will and striving daily to accomplish the goal set before us by our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Many times I was called to solicit aid to others who suffered physical aches and pains from accidents. I never received any formal medical training nor did I pretend to be a medical doctor. Many believed I had a natural gift of osteopathy. Some called me a “bone setter”. Coupled with God’s special blessings in this line, people often came to me to set dislocated joints and broken limbs, but I also helped many damaged souls. Often visitors would come for the purpose of receiving counsel and comfort in the spiritual sense.

Our dear heavenly Father looked down on us with favor. We had several good crops, patient men who understood when we could not make payments due to failed crops from grasshoppers, and dear friends who treated us faithfully.

Through all these experiences, God’s blessings were poured on us. Our comfort came with full assurance that the good Lord was watching over us, His children.

I often wonder what the next generations will do with their faith and commitment to our Lord. It is my prayer that they will walk with Biblical obedience and steadfast faith and not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by Christ to walk in the world as an example of God’s love.