The Anabaptist Voice 05

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The Anabaptist Voice
05/06/2009

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.

Dear friends,

     How are you? It’s been a long time since we wrote to you last. We pray you are well under our wonderful Heavenly Father’s love. God willing, we want to write once a month from now on. We are all fine. We are grateful for God who takes good care for us.
     It is already May, and the weather is getting quite hot, in the 90s. We have the air conditioner going for the past few days. The flowers in our yard are blooming so well, and we are enjoying them.
       Almost five years ago we moved here to Jim’s place from Washington state. When we moved here, the back yard was empty, just desert sand. No plants were planted, so we planted them with Jim. It is hard to believe it was empty, as some of the trees are about 25 feet tall. Here are photos of our back yard now including one with the lizard on the wall.
     Two of our sons in the Seattle area recently got laid off of their jobs. Mike, age 49, lost his job as an architect but quickly found another job. David, age 45, lost his job as a computer engineer at Microsoft and now is looking for work. Both received unusually good severance packages, both get a couple months salary so Mike is getting two salaries now and David is getting paid while looking for another job. And both just took vacations, Mike went on an ocean cruise to Mexico just after he was laid off and David went to Hawaii for a week just before he was laid off. Seattle has cool, rainy weather while Mexico and Hawaii has warm, sunny weather.
     On April 16^th, Alan and Kathy Lehman with four children came to visit us. Alan is the pastor of a Baptist church near Spokane, Washington. We became acquainted with them through our foster daughter, Stephanie. Her babies are cared for by Alan and Kathy. The four children they brought were not their own, three of them were adopted and Stephanie’s boy was their foster child. We enjoyed their fellowship and were blessed to observe the love they give to the children.
       Stephanie’s boy Shane is scheduled to be taken away from them by his biological father in a few days. We are praying that won’t be happen. Shane is so happy with Alan and Kathy, and he is being trained so well.
       Our friend Phyllis Hinkle came to visit us on Sunday as she was worried because she hadn’t been receiving the weekly newsletters from us. Our friend Donna Davis brought Naomi home on Monday from a visit to Mary Matchin’s home and she stayed for our daily 5 pm church service.
       Our friends Tony and Kris Brown came over yesterday afternoon and we had an enjoyable time, with lots of laugher, playing on the Wii Fit. They stayed for church and supper with us.
       Michi and Naomi attended as usual the three hour weekly Monday ladies worship meeting at Linda Dowdle’s home. Don attended the monthly Vineyard men’s prayer breakfast on Saturday.
       Michi is hard at work on our songbooks; we hope to have a song book with our favorite songs in it soon, maybe in a week or so. We want to produce three songbooks, one of just Anabaptist songs, one with our favorite songs (we sing after lunch each day and also before and after our daily 5 pm church service in our home) and a big one with all the songs in it.
     We’ve been attending a small Baptist church where the sermons tend to be aimed at improving the spiritual life of the listeners. Last Sunday morning the Sunday school class was on the subject of a godly lifestyle, the Sunday sermon was on the subject of knowing Christ, based on Philippians 3:7-14, and the Sunday evening sermon was on the subject of holiness, based on Hebrew 12:14 where it says that without holiness no one will see God. The Wednesday evening prayer meetings consist of a short sermon, such as on the subject of sanctification based on 1 Thessalonians 3:13, and then breaking up into groups of 2 or 3 and praying for the list of prayer needs.
        Someone recently posted the ‘Act of Kindness’ article below on the Hutterite Social Network (www.HutteriteNetwork.com).

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)

your brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org

Jesus said, "Do not store up wealth on earth… You can not serve both God and mammon.” (Mt 6:19)

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"THINGS HUTTERITE" DECEMBER, 2004
Newsletter of HUTTERITE STUDIES CENTRE (Manitoba and S. Dakota)

ACT OF KINDNESS: A true story from Wolf Creek:
by Tarryl (Terry) Miller, Fax 204.466.2950

       In the Spirit of Christmas, I share with you a true story about Christian kindness. The setting was old Wolf Creek, a Dariusleut colony of the Hutterian Brethren whose descendants are now scattered in the hundreds throughout Alberta, Montana, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Washington.

THE NEIGHBOUR IN NEED

       Not long after the Hutterites moved from Ukraine to Dakota Territory, well before the First World War, a neighbour "down on his luck" visited Wolf Creek Colony on the Jim River near Freeman. His wife had just given birth to a new baby boy, and the poor fella was in great poverty, and really needed some help. Times were hard, not just for the neighbour, but for the colony people too.
       "Well, let's see what we can do for you," said Darius Vetter, the preacher. They went over to the colony kitchen and got some fresh baked Hutterite buns from the bake house, and in the root cellar they gathered a large basket of vegetables and loaded everything into the neighbour's buggy.
       "Wait a minute," Darius Vetter said. By now several of the brothers and sisters were gathered around and he spoke with them in Hutterische (the Hutterite dialect) about the dire needs of their neighbour. At first some said there isn't anything else they could do because the colony itself was in great need, for times were indeed hard, but in the end all agreed the Christian thing to do is to share with your neighbour in times of difficulty, and to be generous.
       "Let's go over to the millhouse", said the preacher to the neighbour, "and see what we can find there.” Several colony members went along and children were in tow everywhere. From the dairy barn they took a milk cow that had recently calved and brought her over to the buggy, and tied her up to the back. "Here you go", said Darius Vetter, "she's all yours.” The neighbour graciously thanked them all, and went happily on his way home. The need had been ministered to, and had been generously met.
       That's a wonderful story, but the end is not yet. Many years later, during the First World War, when there was no legal provision for conscientious objectors, fifty-six young Hutterites, single and married, were conscripted. Since the taking of human life was contrary to Scripture, and the clear teachings of Jesus, as pacifist Christians they refused to carry a weapon or even put on the uniform, although they were more than willing to do hard, even dangerous, work in civilian service. This was not acceptable to the government of that time. Hutterite young men were terribly abused and mistreated and even thrown into cells in places like Alcatraz Island and Leavenworth. Two young married brothers from Rockport Colony who'd been held in solitary confinement died as martyrs because of their mistreatment. Joseph Hofer was only 24, and Michael Hofer was 25. Although they refused to put on a military uniform, the last time Joseph's wife saw him, he was in a government-issued coffin, dressed in a military uniform! They had made him in death what he refused to be in life, a soldier! These were terrible times, and these things happened right here in North America. They could happen again.
       The Wolf Creek boys were also called up for service, but when they went before the Draft Board, one of the men on the board asked who they were, and what colony they were from? When they said, "We're from Wolf Creek", he asked if they knew who he was? When they said, "no", he asked if they remembered the neighbour who years earlier was given a milk cow. They were only kids back then, but "yes" they knew all about it. "Well, I was that baby in need of milk. Now I'm working for the government as a member of this Draft Board. It's my job to decide who is supposed to go into the military, and when. Although I am only one member of the board, because of that act of kindness by your people, I will do everything I can to help you. Because I respect you and your belief, I will try to keep as many of you out of the military for as long as I possibly can.” He kept his word, and according to the records, only two men from Wolf Creek were ever conscripted, and then only when the war was nearly over.
       When Joseph and Michael Hofer, the martyrs from Rockport, died because of their abuse in detention, almost all of the colonies sold out and abandoned the old home places, fleeing to Manitoba and Alberta where the Canadian government assured them their beliefs would be respected. That is how the Hutterites came to Canada. By the end of the war in 1918, most South Dakota colonies were deserted and looked like ghost towns. Where once children laughed and played all that could be heard were cold howling winds blowing through hastily abandoned buildings. Only their dead were left behind.
       Although most Hutterites had left for Canada by the end of 1918, Wolf Creek managed to hold on until the Great Depression of the 1930s. "All because of that one act of kindness to a neighbour in need", some would say. Think about it.

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