Letters from
Splavnucha ,
To George Niederhaus in
My
dear, dear unforgettable friend Georg Niederhaus!
I
apologize for hesitating so long with the answer to your letter. I wanted to waft
until we received the money you sent. But since we have not received it yet, I
decided to write anyway, even before the money reached us. From the Saratov post office I received 2 checks, one for 10 pounds
Sterling and one for 6 pounds Sterling; so, together 16 pounds Sterling. I
cannot tell, how much that sum is in Russian money,
according to the current exchange rate, because I am not familiar with the
daily rising exchange rate. If you had sent your money directly to Balzer, the withdrawal would be less complicated and
costly; and the money would already be in our hands. We already have had the
money from
Our hands cannot reach across in order to shake your
with thanks, but we place the feelings of our thankful hearts onto the paper so
that you can read it. We can see from your deeds that you are still interested
in the church community of your mother‑colony and that you have not
forgotten the place where once stood you cradle. You
probable still vividly remember the hours when you taught the salvation‑teachings
in your prayer house and made your (hot) promises at the altar of the Lord. May
the blessed impression you received here in this holy place never leave you for
the rest of your life! If you had shut your hearts against my request, then our
church would be in trouble; I think, because of lack of various things, all
church activities would have had to be
closed. Now a day our church is
in a very precarious situation anyway. It has to take care of itself without
any assistance and support and has to help itself. And since so many alienated the church, it is difficult
to keep it going. But it has the promise: that even the doors of
hell will not overcome it.
I speak in this letter to you, dear friend Niederhaus, about the thanklessness of those who earned it
because of their concern with others. It cannot be different in the bad world,
which is clearly and completely said in the saying: "
Thanklessness is the reward of the world".
Even I have received plenty of thanklessness for all
my work I have done for the Hucker Community. The
greatest ingratitude that was dished out to me in my old age is that my
community gave me the burden of taking care of the heating of the sacristan's
apartment myself. Two leaders were responsible for this. They thanked me for my
39 years of service and for the distinctions I received from my community, 2
reward papers and a golden chest medal, by putting me in the position to have
to stumble through the woods at age 64 to collect wood so that I will not
freeze to death But all of this should not stop us and make us lazy to continue
the work of the Lord and to stand up for the Good. It is not totally without
reason that many mistakes were made in the administration of various
distributions, but one should not measure all with the same stick. ‑ You
said in your letter that there should have been a shirt in the package to be
given to Nikolaus Hau.
There was a shirt but no instructions to whom to give it to. Was there a
mistake, then it is not my fault. There should have been a note taped to it
saying: To Nikolaus Hau.
God save me for embezzlement! My honor is worth more to me than a shirt. The same with the razors. I found 3 razors in the package
and did not think any different than that they were for me. Finally I found a
piece of paper stating: "I have filled your wish" next to the address
of Georg Hamzel. I could
not figure out what it meant. I took the paper and went to the first Georg Hamzel and asked him: Do
you have something sent from
Well, this brings my report to you to an end. Should
I have forgotten something or should I have not done something right, you
should be able to forgive me.
Otherwise,
everything is not necessarily good but bearable.
Whatever
the future may bring for us, happiness or suffering, good or bad, we do not
know. May come what will, we hold still and submit to God's will.
Your
son Johannes is preparing eagerly to leave. As I heard, he already has papers
taken care of. Soon you will be able to celebrate a happy reunion with your son
and brother. May the dear God keep you alive and let you have the joy to see
your son face to face soon.
Give
greetings to all friends and loved ones from me, also greetings to you son Johann Georg and his wife Eva Katharina. Also, my wife sends greetings especially to Eva Katharina. She thanks her again for the gifts.
Many greetings thankfully
yours J.
Rusche
Teacher