Remembering the Farm: Little Church on the Prairies

My sister, Evelyn, in front of the little church we attended from birth until we left home.

My sister sent me a picture taken this fall of the old church we used to attend and many of her memories of it. That got me thinking about the many years I attended services there.

My Grandfather Freke  Wolfe Hingston (who was also DC Power's grandfather) was a sincere man of God and minister of the gospel. He immigrated to Canada from Skibbereen County Cork Ireland in 1906 at the age of 21, settled on his homestead and then began holding church services in the Landis Saskatchewan area. A Pentecostal Church was established in Cavell in 1926 and the following year, my Grandfather took over as Pastor while continuing to farm on the home place two miles south of town.

Ad from The Landis Record c. 1910

In 1946 the building pictured above, a former butcher shop, was purchased and renovated and served the local assembly until 1987. The name Beulah Mission on the front was missing the first S for as long as I can remember. My grandfather retired in 1952 and my father took over in the position, as it was then called, of Elder, where he was later joined by Floyd Nasheim. The little flock, never numbering more than 20 to my recollection, which attended faithfully every Sunday, were now followers of the North Battleford based “Move of the Spirit” and that is the faith in which my brothers, sister and I grew up.

My father or Floyd led the services and along with my Uncle Cyril led the singing too. Hymns were all acapella as the old pump organ rarely had someone to play it. Dad would start on keys that were comfortable for him to sing and had a fine singing voice. Mostly we sang the old hymns, without aid of hymnal. At the Cross, It is Well with My Soul, The Old Rugged Cross, Great is Thy Faithfulness, I am Thine, Oh Lord and dozens and dozens of others.

Services were long for young kids and to pass time we would look out the window, trying not to get caught, and count the rail cars as the trains went by or watch the birds in the caragana hedge or anything that moved for that matter.

We looked forward to visitors, especially the “Traveling Ministries” who would come from North Battleford to minister to the little assemblies all over the country. One was Brother Hunt (we were all Brothers and Sisters in the Lord) who was a Greek scholar among other things and very interesting to listen to but also very long winded. Apparently I told him one Sunday that if I had known he was coming I’d have eaten a second bowl of cornflakes. He was the man who convinced me that education was important and that cattle were an integral part of a well managed farm environment. He set me on my life’s journey as a beef cattle specialist. I owe him for that.

Another favourite family was the Hinchliffs. Their son Mark was my age and we would always have a great time playing in the afternoons while the folks visited. And (my future in-laws) the Livingstons. They were Aunt and Uncle long before they became Mom and Dad. Ella came with them the first (and only?) time when she was seven and I was eight. I was smitten and she was less than impressed. Seventeen years later she married me anyway.

The last service was held in the old building in 1987. The young folks all moved away and the old folks either died or moved away. So Dad closed the building down and for the next 15 years drove the hour or so to North Battleford to attend church service. The old church and my grandfather’s old house are about the only two “original” buildings left standing of the little town where I went to school and to church.

Freedom's Just Another Word

The dogs went for a run tonight after dark.  They could have gone earlier, the turkeys were not out of their yard today.  I went out about 8:00 pm and whistled.  You could hear them galloping down the road as hard as they could go.  I had two wieners (they call them sausages here. Sausage is called kolbasa.) chopped up for their reward bribe.  I bought the cheapest ones I could find.  Package of 10 for about $0.75.  The brand is STUDENTSKI.  Fitting.  Tanya says they need a PENSIONAIRE brand too.

We have an unheated attic storeroom over our garage. Once in a long while during the night a sparrow or two will find their way under the eaves into the room and, of course, become trapped. Come morning they beat against the glass on the door from my office as it is the only light they see. This morning there were two birds again.  I opened the door and they immediately crashed into the windows in my office, one falling to the floor, the other fluttering in fear against the window.  I herded it into the bedroom and opened a window and screen for it but it had crashed into another window so hard it was just sitting also.  I picked it up and set it on the ledge by the open window, then went and got the other who was still just sitting on the floor.  I set it beside its friend and pulled the curtain across, leaving them to fly out when they chose.  When I came back in a few minutes they had regained strength and were gone out the window.

They were so scared and frantic, I felt so bad for them.  Life is hard enough for a sparrow but they were at least free to fly.  I don't like cages, or pens or chains or fences, though I recognize they are sometimes necessary.  I hate it when dogs are penned up, even my dogs with a big yard to run in.  There are too many big dogs here that spend their life on the end of a 4 meter chain.  For what I don't know, I guess the fear factor must act as a deterrent to people coming in to a yard.  I'd like to turn them all lose.

I hate prisons too, though they are also a necessary evil.  There should be fewer people in them if we spent more effort at the source of the problems, better safety nets and services to help people before they become criminals.  And fewer people if we had more intelligent laws.  We don't put kids in jail for smoking a cigarette, nor do we lock up the people who sold them the package.  We need fewer people in jail for the "non-crime" of possession and more Bernie Madoff's in jail for so-called white collar crime of fraud and related which cost society so much.

Herding Turkeys

The hounds have been confined to quarters this weekend. I can't even take them for a walk in daylight hours. Zhenia has decided to free range his turkeys on the street in front of our houses. Tanya and I would like nothing better than to turn the dogs loose to wreak havoc on those stupid gobbling birds. I doubt they would kill them but certainly would chase and frighten them to death. It is probably best for neighbourly relationships to just THINK about how much fun it would be.

Maybe they will be back in their pens Monday when Zhenia goes back to work.

More on Odessa Street Kids

Robert Gamble who left a large Presbyterian Church in Daytona Florda to work with street kids in Odessa Ukraine has just published his November Newsletter available on his blog here along with another wonderful sermon. My previous post about his work in Odessa is here. (Somehow I missed posting his blog link. Don't ask.)

Also for some reason his email showed up on my blog all funny. It is actually just robertgam@gmail.com

I read all his back newsletters and was struck by his June slide show sermon which you can watch here on Flickr.

This site is the story of a showing of his photographs in Italy and contains some amazing shots. His website http://www.thischildhere.org/ also has many photographs. The orphanage with which he works has a website http://www.wayhome.org.ua/ in Russian. And another partner NGO has this website also in Russian http://streetkids.ua/. I have a Google toolbar that translates websites. I have no idea where I got it but it appeared one day and made istself useful ever since.

Dr. Robert Gamble, D.Min. Th.M.
This Child Here,
C/O Doroga K Domy (The Way Home)
Str. Sofievskaya 10
Odessa, 65082
Ukrainian Mobile: +380 (63) 611-79-28
USA cellphone: +1 (828) 318-2149
Email: robertgam@gmail.com
Web: http://www.thischildhere.org

Under Masha's Spell

Masha was here this afternoon with her mom for a visit. We picked them up after grocery shopping and made a late lunch for the four of us. Then Masha and her Babushka played hide and seek for a while and did crafty things with oak leaves and acorns.


Masha is learning to spell. She has a set of interlocking blocks with letters on four sides. She spelled Bobik and Volk and Kuchma for us. Then she spelled out the name of the neighbour's cat (Moorka) by which time I had my camera ready.



At 6:00 I drove them home and en route was flagged over by the local traffic police on a routine check. Here they can stop anyone at any time for any reason. I hauled out my driver's licences (Saskatchewan and International). While I was rooting through the glove box for the registration card, Tanya explained that I was Canadian (and harmless) so he gave my licence a cursory glance and sent us on our way. Masha was asleep by the time we got to their apartment.


In daylight, I have to find that registration card. I know it is in there.

Will that be cash or...cash?

The other day in Kyiv a couple were robbed at gunpoint of $350,000 USD which they were carrying in a briefcase, just like in the movies. The gunmen knew they had just sold their house and would be leaving the real estate office, or more likely a lawyer's office, with cash. The police caught the men and retrieved the cash. That fact is more astounding than that the couple were carrying cash after selling their home but it is not the point of my story.

For purchases except at retail where they take credit cards, either money is deposited directly into a person's or firm's bank account or cash changes hands. Or both. That is how we bought our car, for example. Kia Motors gave us an account number good for two days into which we were to deposit the purchase price of the car. We took the receipt from the bank to the dealership and proceeded from there.

When Tanya and I bought her Ex's share of the house we were directed to deposit half the money into his bank and bring the other half in cash. We had a wad of $100's that would choke a horse and made me very nervous.

While mortgages are available I have no idea how one would get them following these business practices. To me it made sense to borrow the money to buy out Tanya's Ex by taking out a mortgage for his share, using her share as security. Wouldn't happen, Tanya said. No money no signee.

I tried to buy Lingvo dictionary on line to down load. I wanted to buy it as of Ukraine, not Canada as the cost was half and it came with Ukrainian in the bundle, not just Russian English. I wanted to pay for it with my Canadian credit card on line. That too was a non starter. Only credit cards from Ukrainian banks were accepted. We found a shop that carries ABBYY products in Dnipropetrovsk and we'll buy it there. For cash.

We live in a country where fraud could be an everyday occurance and property rights and contract law are pretty hazy concepts; with outcomes by no means predictable. Cash is safe.

A Fine Rain

No, not as in "Twas a foin rain, me lads. Aye, th' crops be needin' it".

But as in droplets so fine it is more like driving through thick mist. It has been raining all day and yesterday too. I doubt you could measure the actual precipitation without a very scientific device. I'm not very scientific. The dogs outside food dishes are empty of water.

If I wanted to live in Vancouver I'd have moved to Vancouver.

We took food up to Lena's Mother in the hospital as Lena has gone to Dnipropetrovsk for three days for work or for her doctorate dissertation, I don't know. The hospital is quarantined so Tanya could only take the food to the front desk and a nurse will take it to Lena's Mom. The circulation in her legs is so bad because of diabetes. She should have been in a year ago but... She was to the specialist in Krivii Rih yesterday and will go again Saturday. Andrei will drive, for which I am thankful.

The dogs took themselves for a walk today. They hang around the yard after a bit and don't go far. They wait for their "go back in your pen" treats. Good Ukrainian bureaucrats, they have to be bribed to do what they are supposed to do. Kuchma and Tanya are in conflict. She doesn't like muddy floors and he doesn't like getting his feet washed in the tub. Kuchma loses.

Because it was cold and damp, Tanya made chicken giblet soup for supper. Chicken hearts and minds, er gizzards are cheap and we like them, so bleah to you.

The news tonight says Ukraine will buy flu vaccine from Canada. And Russia. And Switzerland. And make it here in Ukraine. And... This I assume is for prevention of the next round scheduled for spring. the election will be over by then so maybe we won't have a flu epidemic.

They claim over 1 million sick and 90,000 in hospital (jumped from 60,000 fter the weekend) but fewer than 200 deaths. The only person acting intelligently at this point is the President who says the country is suffering more from political flu than the actual disease. The government has no money so they are demanding that the national bank finance both Euro 2012 and fighting the flu epidemic from reserves. Yushchenko has vetoed both, citing devaluation of the hrivna. No wonder the IMF have pulled out with parliament acting like idiots.

The Globe and Mail has a good report on the flu situation in Ukraine. It would be funny if it were not true.

"You catch it from imported food and clothing that isn't clean," said Mr. Barsadanyan, an 18-year-old first-year medical student. He is not worried because he heard that the Ministry of Health has "sprayed the city with the necessary products."

I don't know what you folks are doing, but I'm eating lemon, raw onion and garlic to keep my immune system healthy. In Canada it would also serve to keep other people away from you, so you would not catch germs.