36. Leaving Omsk

Peter and his brothers were being recruited by force to join the White Army.  Two brothers, Jacob and Henry, went missing in WWI and never returned.  Peter and his younger brother, John, who was not yet married, decided to evade the army and go to Ebenthal in Memrik Colony.  The letter from Agatha and the turmoil in Omsk were strong incentives for taking the long dangerous trip back to the Ukraine.  In May 1918 Peter and Anna Friesen, with two children, Elizabeth age 3 1/2 and Hänschen almost 2, and Peter's brother John, left Omsk on the Trans Siberian train for Ebentha, Ukraine.  Peter was 31, Anna was 29, and John was 23 when they said goodbye to the Friesens and Wienses in Omsk.  Would they ever see each other again?

   
Army trains were the only trains running and only box cars were available. As they journeyed west they were stopped many times because the railroad tracks had been destroyed.  There was no way of knowing what lay ahead, but once they started there was no turning back.  Refugees were fleeing east to escape the Bolsheviks, and they were travelling west to help Anna's mother in Memrik.
The 3 week journey spun into 3 months.  Peter and John helped wounded soldiers brought to the box cars.  Often trains could not move for a long time. Anna needed help with rambunctious little Betty who was very mischievous.  She loved running up and down the steps of the train cars and making friends with the soldiers.  She brought much joy to many soldiers who missed their own families.
Vanya became very ill with diarrhea and sadly died of cholera on July 12, 1918 at the age of 1 year, 11 months and 17 days.  Peter and John buried him in a Russian cemetery near the station.  It was heartbreaking to have to leave their precious boy in a grave in the middle of nowhere.
Then, on July 25 Anna gave birth to a baby girl in a small hospital near the train station of Walujka. (see note below) They named this precious new baby Mary, but would she live until they reached Ebenthal?  Peter and Anna must have been even more determined to get on with their journey.  When it seemed that the trains would not go any further they apparently purchased a one horse wagon for part of their trip.  At last, in the middle of August, they reached Ebenthal.  Baby Mary had not had a bath in the three weeks since she left the hospital, and she was emaciated and covered with a red rash.  When her Grandmother Agatha saw her she took over her care and soon nursed her to health.  Mary has always had wonderful warm feelings for this dear Grandmother.
It must have been a great relief when Anna and Peter finally arrived at Agatha's farm.  But Anna was in for another shock.  She had been looking forward to seeing her favorite sister Maria, but Maria and her baby had been buried three weeks before they arrived.
These were times of great trials.  Anne Friesen wrote: " When I heard all this from Betty, I came to understand why my mother (Anna) was such a patient person, and why she had such a deep faith in God, and why she could sing so much.  She had learned the secret joy of trusting God in good times and bad times!  She had given everything up to God.  She trusted in her Savior Jesus Christ.  I always knew mother as a gentle person with a deep faith in her heart."
Mary remembers her  Grandmother Agatha as a petite woman who was a very good housekeeper and cook.  She was 61 years old at the time they arrived in Ebenthal. The farm had a large fruit orchard, grain fields, cattle, chickens, and horses for working.  They had hired workers who did the manual labor.  Mary has very happy memories of her childhood on that farm.

Walujka can be found on the map today. Google search: Book is "Inventory of Foreign Seeds, US Dept. of Agriculture."  "From Walujka Experiment Station (in the dry steppes about 50 miles east of Rovnaya, south of Saratof on Volga River), Russia. 1899 - Agropyron cristatum, the crested wheat grass grown in US and Canadian prairies."