I wonder how many people...
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I wonder how many people have heard the same type of story as this writer has. My
grandfather, in broken English, told this story. "Our ancestors responded to Catherine the
Great's call for farmers and left Germany to settle along the Black Sea in Bessarabia.
(This was in the early 1800s.) They went down, our grandparents, settled there, raised
families, and called it home. For many years they lived in Bessarabia, until the winds of
change swept through the area; German people lost many of the freedoms they were
promised; some lost their land. Your grandmother and I left Bessarabia in 1910 before
the war, leaving our parents and our brothers and sisters behind. We felt that with the
unrest in Europe, it might soon be impossible to leave. We came to Canada, took up a
homestead, and began a new life."
Grandpa's story, and I suspect many other similar stories, always talked about the faithfulness of God, who watched over them as they moved, as they settled, as they traveled, as they worked. Prized possessions for most of these people was their Bible and/or their hymnbook. In many ways, the story of our ancestors is that of Israel's ancestors: A wandering Aramean was my ancestor.
Grandpa's story, and I suspect many other similar stories, always talked about the faithfulness of God, who watched over them as they moved, as they settled, as they traveled, as they worked. Prized possessions for most of these people was their Bible and/or their hymnbook. In many ways, the story of our ancestors is that of Israel's ancestors: A wandering Aramean was my ancestor.
