Written Canada...
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>> Can you take us back to the
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miraculous story of your
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escape as a family?
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>> We need to lay plans to
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escape, but it was easier said
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than done.
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Had we been caught there, I
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would not be sitting here and
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telling my story.
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When we get to heaven we want
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to ask which one of the angels
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were sent.
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It'll be interesting.
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>> They wanted to take you
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back, but you were stuck.
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>> We had no country.
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¤¤
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>> Welcome to It Is Written
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Canada.
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Thank you for joining us.
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Our special guest this week
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again is Jacob Hiebert, a
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successful businessman,
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pastor, and administrator,
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who lived during World War II
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under the rule of communism,
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when being a Christian
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was illegal.
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>> Though it was illegal to
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practice Christianity, that
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did not stop Jacob and
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his family.
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We are so excited for Jacob to
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continue sharing his
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miraculous story with us.
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>> Jacob, welcome back to
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It Is Written Canada.
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>> I'm pleased to be with you
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again today.
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The next step was packing
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everything up and going to
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university.
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Now, I had been out of school
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for a number of years and I
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was not used to the university
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schedule.
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There was reading, my first
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class I had to read 40 pages,
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fine print every day and then
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came that first exam and I
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said, "Lord, you've gotta
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help me."
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I remember opening the text
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book and reading the 40 pages
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and I closed the book and I
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didn't remember a thing
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I had read.
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So I read the 40 pages again
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and closed the book.
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I couldn't tell you what
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I read.
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I said, "Lord, if this
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continues, there's no way I
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will make that exam."
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So I studied very hard 'til
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deep in the night and the next
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morning I got up at 4:00 and I
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studied and studied
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and studied.
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This was a history class.
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I mixed up some of the dates
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with events and I said,
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"This is hopeless."
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But I prayed and I said,
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"Lord, I have done my best,
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I couldn't do anything more.
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You've gotta help me."
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So as I went into the class,
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just before we knelt down and
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prayed, we said, "Lord, it's
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all up to You."
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So I went to the class, I
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looked at the paper and I
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remember the teacher saying,
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"We're going to have a word of
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prayer before you start.
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For those of you who have
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studied, we will ask the Lord
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to help you remember what you
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studied, for those of you who
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didn't, there's no hope."
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Well, I knew I had studied and
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so the exam papers were
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passed out.
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As I looked at the first
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question, the answer came just
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like a flash, the second
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question likewise, and the
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third and so forth and I was
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just amazed.
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And needless to say, at the
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end when I got my results
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back, I was at the top end of
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a class of a hundred students.
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God had certainly performed a
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miracle and the start has been
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made and now I was ready
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to go on.
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>> Jacob, I just loved your
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book, we have a copy of it
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right here with us, Freedom's
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Journey, and when I started
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reading it, I had a real hard
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time putting it down.
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So can you tell us what
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prompted you to write
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this book?
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>> As a minister, I would
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share several parts of this
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experience in my sermons and
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quite often people would say,
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"You've gotta write this
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in a book."
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One of the motivating factors
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was my children and my family.
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There were many who were
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discouraged quite often and
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they felt, "Does God really
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care?
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Does He-- will He always
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answer us?
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How will it fair for us in the
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end time and before Jesus
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comes," and so forth.
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And so I felt that I needed to
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share this with our believers.
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And so I started writing the
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book, I wrote about three
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chapters and then last year in
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the winter time, I decided,
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"This is it, I have to finish
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the book."
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So I finished it in 2020 and
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this year in January it came
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off the press and I was
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delighted to do that and since
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that time, I want you to know
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that I do not feel that I am
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the hero of the book.
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As I was writing the book, the
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writing flowed and I knew that
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God was leading.
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And so I take no credit for
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this book and I feel that the
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experiences we went through
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were life-changing for me and
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I hope that those who read the
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book will experience the
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same thing.
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>> The book is entitled,
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Freedom's Journey.
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Why did you choose that title?
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[JACOB] Freedom is relative.
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I was born in a country where
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there was no freedom.
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In Canada we have quite a bit
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of freedom.
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There are many countries that
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have limited freedom.
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But I believe that all of us
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are on a journey of freedom.
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And there are two aspects of
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this; we want freedom in this
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world, but true freedom
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actually is in God's kingdom.
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In John 8:32 Jesus said He
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wants us to know the truth and
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the truth shall make you free.
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>> Jacob, you came to Canada,
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experienced freedom and it was
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spiritual freedom, but it was
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also political freedom that
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you had experienced coming
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here, but it was very
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different from what the
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Canadian kids experienced.
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They went through a war, but
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they didn't see war.
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You saw war.
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What was that like?
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>> War was all around us and
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every night when we went to
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bed, we would not sure whether
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we would be struck by bombs or
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whatever happened.
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And so one time a big bomb
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fell just some feet from where
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our house was.
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All the windows were knocked
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out and the crater was about
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six feet deep.
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Had this hit where we were, I
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wouldn't be telling the
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story here.
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Later, when I came to Canada
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and a plane would go overhead,
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I would kind of shrug back and
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my friends, they laughed at
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me, they said, "What's the
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matter with you?
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Have you never seen a plane?"
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The fact was I saw more planes
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than they had and more
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dangerous planes, but after a
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few years my nerves healed and
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I did not respond quite that
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way anymore.
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>> So, Jacob, can you tell us
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a little bit more about your
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early years living in a
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communist country?
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>> Yes, war was all around.
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We were refugees and if you
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understand the life of a
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refugee, you never know, you
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don't have money, you never
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know where your next meal
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comes from, if you had money,
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most of the stores were not
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open, at that time you
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couldn't buy.
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There were many times where we
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had to resort to a very
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humiliating experience of
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begging for food.
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And us children, we were the
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best in doing that because the
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people would not give to adults,
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but they could not refuse
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children, even the Russian
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soldiers were kind many times,
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much kinder to children than
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they were to the adults.
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And so we went through that.
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I remember on this occasion
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my aunt became desperately
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sick and she was bed-ridden
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for a couple weeks.
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We were so thankful that we
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did not have to move on on the
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journey because many times we
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would travel 30 kilometres
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a day.
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Our heals would be full of
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blisters and we just-- I asked
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my mother at this time, I
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said, "Mother, when is God
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ever going to give us a home
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again of our own?"
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My father-- my brother found a
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little wagon and he fixed it
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up and as we were going along,
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every one of us had a little
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bundle to carry and so I was
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able to place that bundle on
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the wagon and I had renewed
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excitement and strength and
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carried on, was way ahead of
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the rest.
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But every day was a new
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experience and we were
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fearful, yes, we trusted in
00:10:13.71\00:10:15.51
God, but fear was everywhere.
00:10:15.51\00:10:18.85
We could not trust anyone.
00:10:18.85\00:10:20.85
We had to be careful of what
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we said because people at that
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time quite often reported one
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another for benefits with the
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Russians and we did not wanna
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go there, but God was so
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wonderful in bringing us
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through this entire experience.
00:10:36.73\00:10:38.60
My mother was, as I look back
00:10:39.93\00:10:43.14
on that now as an adult, my
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mother was just fantastic.
00:10:45.64\00:10:48.41
Her strength never gave out
00:10:48.41\00:10:50.68
and she was a very small,
00:10:50.68\00:10:52.48
frail woman, my dad was a big
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man like myself, but my mother
00:10:54.78\00:10:57.15
was frail and small.
00:10:57.15\00:10:59.39
But her faith in God and she
00:10:59.39\00:11:01.29
was a giant.
00:11:01.29\00:11:02.79
And so I owe a lot to her-- my
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mother at that time.
00:11:06.70\00:11:08.60
She saw us through these hard
00:11:09.46\00:11:11.70
times and there's so much more
00:11:11.70\00:11:14.40
that could be said there, but...
00:11:14.40\00:11:16.20
...war cannot be explained,
00:11:17.57\00:11:19.77
it has to be experienced.
00:11:19.77\00:11:21.84
It was after that that we were
00:11:23.41\00:11:26.41
getting close to Poland and,
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again, I'd like to mention
00:11:29.75\00:11:32.29
that we never knew when we
00:11:32.29\00:11:34.46
would have to walk and travel
00:11:34.46\00:11:36.93
on and when we could stay.
00:11:36.93\00:11:39.43
That was never our choice.
00:11:39.43\00:11:41.13
The Russian soldiers might
00:11:41.13\00:11:42.50
come along and say, "It's time
00:11:42.50\00:11:44.20
to move on, you're in our road
00:11:44.20\00:11:45.70
here, the battle is coming,
00:11:45.70\00:11:47.34
you need to move."
00:11:47.34\00:11:49.07
And as we would go, it was
00:11:49.07\00:11:50.57
very interesting, we would
00:11:50.57\00:11:52.61
take shelter in the evening
00:11:52.61\00:11:54.74
wherever we could find it.
00:11:54.74\00:11:56.68
Many of the refugees were
00:11:56.68\00:11:58.65
forced to leave their home and
00:11:58.65\00:12:00.55
in one case they had to leave
00:12:00.55\00:12:02.25
their home while they were
00:12:02.25\00:12:03.85
eating and the soup was still
00:12:03.85\00:12:05.92
on the table and warm and we
00:12:05.92\00:12:07.46
were the next one that
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followed, we were hungry and
00:12:09.19\00:12:10.93
we ate the soup.
00:12:10.93\00:12:13.46
So it's amazing how God
00:12:13.46\00:12:15.26
watched over us.
00:12:15.26\00:12:16.93
And as we travelled, rain or
00:12:16.93\00:12:18.77
shine, many times it rained
00:12:18.77\00:12:22.37
like it did here yesterday and
00:12:22.37\00:12:25.24
we were wet.
00:12:25.24\00:12:26.78
We had our clothes on and a
00:12:26.78\00:12:28.94
few other clothes to change in
00:12:28.94\00:12:30.51
a little bundle that we
00:12:30.51\00:12:32.21
carried and so what would
00:12:32.21\00:12:34.62
happen is as soon as the sun
00:12:34.62\00:12:36.69
came out, we would take off
00:12:36.69\00:12:38.59
our wet clothes, we went in a
00:12:38.59\00:12:40.22
ditch, took off the wet
00:12:40.22\00:12:41.79
clothes, took the dry clothes
00:12:41.79\00:12:43.63
out of the bundle, and the wet
00:12:43.63\00:12:45.73
clothes we hung on a fence and
00:12:45.73\00:12:48.03
the refugees that came
00:12:48.03\00:12:49.66
afterwards, they took our dry
00:12:49.66\00:12:51.57
clothes that we had left there.
00:12:51.57\00:12:53.87
Life was interesting, it was
00:12:53.87\00:12:55.70
the survival of the fittest,
00:12:55.70\00:12:57.31
but God saw us through in a
00:12:57.31\00:12:58.64
marvellous way.
00:12:58.64\00:12:59.77
At this time my father was not
00:12:59.77\00:13:01.48
with us, we were separated
00:13:01.48\00:13:02.91
from him, not because of our
00:13:02.91\00:13:04.51
choice, but because of the
00:13:04.51\00:13:06.05
communist leaders.
00:13:06.05\00:13:08.22
The first time he was gone
00:13:08.22\00:13:09.82
from us for six months and the
00:13:09.82\00:13:11.89
second time he was gone from
00:13:11.89\00:13:13.79
us for a year and three months.
00:13:13.79\00:13:16.42
At this time we did not know
00:13:16.42\00:13:18.26
whether he was alive, where he
00:13:18.26\00:13:20.36
was, or anything about him and
00:13:20.36\00:13:22.86
it was especially hard for my
00:13:22.86\00:13:24.93
mother since she took up the
00:13:24.93\00:13:26.80
challenge of being the head of
00:13:26.80\00:13:28.30
the household.
00:13:28.30\00:13:29.40
>> Jacob, it must have been so
00:13:30.57\00:13:32.41
terrible for your family to be
00:13:32.41\00:13:34.21
separated from your father.
00:13:34.21\00:13:36.41
Can you please share with us
00:13:36.41\00:13:38.08
some experiences of your
00:13:38.08\00:13:39.95
heavenly Father taking care of
00:13:39.95\00:13:41.92
your family while your earthly
00:13:41.92\00:13:43.59
father was away?
00:13:43.59\00:13:45.25
>> Yes, there were challenges,
00:13:46.42\00:13:48.52
but God came through us every
00:13:48.52\00:13:50.86
day and I must say that God's
00:13:50.86\00:13:53.63
timing was precise.
00:13:53.63\00:13:56.26
We were hungry, yes, but we
00:13:56.26\00:13:59.20
were never-- we never did
00:13:59.20\00:14:01.60
starve and we might not have
00:14:01.60\00:14:04.61
had a choice of certain foods,
00:14:04.61\00:14:07.31
but we always survived and God
00:14:07.31\00:14:09.34
took care of us.
00:14:09.34\00:14:11.55
And my mother did a tremendous
00:14:11.55\00:14:13.52
job in caring for us.
00:14:13.52\00:14:16.58
One of the greatest challenges
00:14:16.58\00:14:18.29
was my sister and her welfare.
00:14:18.29\00:14:21.26
The Russian soldiers did not
00:14:21.26\00:14:22.99
have any concern about life in
00:14:22.99\00:14:27.60
general or concerns of people
00:14:27.60\00:14:31.67
and a lot of the ladies, girls
00:14:31.67\00:14:35.97
in that area were mistreated.
00:14:35.97\00:14:39.41
And so my mother prayed and
00:14:39.41\00:14:41.84
she said, "Lord, save my only
00:14:41.84\00:14:44.31
daughter that nothing would
00:14:44.31\00:14:46.18
happen to her."
00:14:46.18\00:14:47.85
And so on one occasion as she
00:14:47.85\00:14:50.69
was there with these burdens,
00:14:50.69\00:14:55.32
one of the soldiers came along
00:14:55.32\00:14:58.26
and he wanted to know whether
00:14:58.26\00:15:01.23
there were girls there and in
00:15:01.23\00:15:02.93
this home that we stayed at,
00:15:02.93\00:15:05.87
there were several families.
00:15:05.87\00:15:07.64
Quite often if we had a bigger
00:15:07.64\00:15:09.44
home there would be several
00:15:09.44\00:15:12.94
families that would live there,
00:15:12.94\00:15:15.18
some would have one room,
00:15:15.18\00:15:16.58
others two, and so forth.
00:15:16.58\00:15:18.28
And so many times as the
00:15:18.28\00:15:21.58
soldiers came to molest the
00:15:21.58\00:15:23.42
girls, the older ladies would
00:15:23.42\00:15:28.56
sleep in front and have the
00:15:28.56\00:15:30.69
young girls in the back and
00:15:30.69\00:15:33.86
many of the girls resorted to
00:15:33.86\00:15:35.90
putting some ashes on their
00:15:35.90\00:15:37.57
face to make them look a little
00:15:37.57\00:15:39.17
older and that saved in
00:15:39.17\00:15:41.77
some cases.
00:15:41.77\00:15:43.20
One time a soldier came while
00:15:44.17\00:15:46.61
my mother was in charge there
00:15:46.61\00:15:48.41
and, actually, there were a
00:15:48.41\00:15:50.55
couple soldiers that came, and
00:15:50.55\00:15:52.65
they insisted that they would
00:15:52.65\00:15:55.62
see the girls that are there.
00:15:55.62\00:15:57.39
Now, there were about five
00:15:57.39\00:15:59.49
girls in that area and what we
00:15:59.49\00:16:01.59
found out later was that a
00:16:01.59\00:16:04.43
lady, well in her years,
00:16:04.43\00:16:08.36
across the road, decided that
00:16:08.36\00:16:10.27
she needed to have some
00:16:10.27\00:16:11.73
favours from the Russians.
00:16:11.73\00:16:13.47
So she told on us and said,
00:16:13.47\00:16:16.30
"In that house over there,
00:16:16.30\00:16:17.81
there are at least six girls,
00:16:17.81\00:16:19.37
young girls."
00:16:19.37\00:16:20.81
And so the soldiers came and,
00:16:20.81\00:16:23.81
of course, by this time we had
00:16:23.81\00:16:25.71
hidden my sister and the other
00:16:25.71\00:16:27.62
girls up in the attic and
00:16:27.62\00:16:29.52
there was only a ladder going
00:16:29.52\00:16:31.39
straight up to the attic and a
00:16:31.39\00:16:33.19
trap door and as long as the
00:16:33.19\00:16:34.72
soldiers didn't detect
00:16:34.72\00:16:36.59
anything, nobody one would
00:16:36.59\00:16:38.39
know that the girls were there.
00:16:38.39\00:16:40.30
And so they searched
00:16:40.30\00:16:41.66
everything and found no girls.
00:16:41.66\00:16:44.43
Then they left and went back
00:16:44.43\00:16:46.30
to this lady and said, "You
00:16:46.30\00:16:47.57
lied, you told us that there
00:16:47.57\00:16:48.87
are girls there, there are no
00:16:48.87\00:16:50.11
girls there."
00:16:50.11\00:16:51.21
She said, "You go back.
00:16:51.21\00:16:52.87
They are there."
00:16:52.87\00:16:55.18
And so they came back and they
00:16:55.18\00:16:57.38
shot with their guns in the
00:16:57.38\00:16:58.88
ceiling and, of course, the
00:16:58.88\00:17:00.72
girls screamed and then they
00:17:00.72\00:17:02.72
realized the girls were up
00:17:02.72\00:17:04.39
there and they ordered all of
00:17:04.39\00:17:06.15
the girls to come down, to
00:17:06.15\00:17:08.22
drop down.
00:17:08.22\00:17:10.33
They took the ladder away and
00:17:10.33\00:17:12.49
my sister was one that dropped
00:17:12.49\00:17:14.36
down and there was a crate and
00:17:14.36\00:17:16.30
she hit that crate with her
00:17:16.30\00:17:18.60
back and she has, throughout
00:17:18.60\00:17:20.27
her lifetime, she's had a
00:17:20.27\00:17:21.67
problem with her back.
00:17:21.67\00:17:23.91
But as that happened, then of
00:17:23.91\00:17:26.47
course, again, it was God's
00:17:26.47\00:17:28.61
leading, my sister was very
00:17:28.61\00:17:30.88
sick after that, they took the
00:17:30.88\00:17:32.78
other girls and dear knows
00:17:32.78\00:17:34.72
whatever happened with them.
00:17:34.72\00:17:36.65
But my sister was in pain and
00:17:36.65\00:17:38.95
the Russians had no sense for
00:17:38.95\00:17:42.22
that so they left her alone.
00:17:42.22\00:17:44.79
But afterwards they came back
00:17:44.79\00:17:46.76
and checked on her and one
00:17:46.76\00:17:48.50
soldier in particular came
00:17:48.50\00:17:51.50
and he-- it was obvious what
00:17:51.50\00:17:53.80
he had in mind and my sister
00:17:53.80\00:17:56.74
then, I think God gave her the
00:17:56.74\00:17:58.64
words to speak, my sister
00:17:58.64\00:18:00.61
said, "You know, I have read
00:18:00.61\00:18:02.74
about Mr. Stalin and Mr. Stalin
00:18:02.74\00:18:05.71
loves children and if he knew
00:18:05.71\00:18:08.22
what was in your mind today,
00:18:08.22\00:18:10.52
he would not approve of this
00:18:10.52\00:18:12.42
and you should be ashamed of
00:18:12.42\00:18:14.22
yourself to do this."
00:18:14.22\00:18:16.32
Well, he listened to that and
00:18:16.32\00:18:17.96
he then turned his mind around
00:18:17.96\00:18:21.46
and he said, "Oh," he said,
00:18:21.46\00:18:23.26
"I will protect you."
00:18:23.26\00:18:25.27
And so, as he stayed there, my
00:18:25.27\00:18:27.27
sister came up with a plan
00:18:27.27\00:18:28.67
that I thought was really
00:18:28.67\00:18:30.31
unique, she gave him a Bible
00:18:30.31\00:18:32.21
study and he listened and my
00:18:32.21\00:18:35.38
sister was waxing eloquently
00:18:35.38\00:18:38.38
in her Bible study and so as a
00:18:38.38\00:18:40.78
result of this, the soldier
00:18:40.78\00:18:43.22
made a complete turn-around,
00:18:43.22\00:18:44.85
he said, "Look, I'm sorry.
00:18:44.85\00:18:47.26
We will not hurt you and I
00:18:47.26\00:18:48.89
promise I will protect you."
00:18:48.89\00:18:51.69
And after that, several
00:18:51.69\00:18:53.76
soldiers came and he made sure
00:18:53.76\00:18:56.10
that they did not molest
00:18:56.10\00:18:57.63
my sister.
00:18:57.63\00:18:59.23
And so it's marvellous how God
00:19:00.34\00:19:03.77
led in this experience.
00:19:03.77\00:19:06.31
Shortly after this, we were in
00:19:07.51\00:19:09.81
the area of Poland, we were
00:19:09.81\00:19:11.65
getting close to the East
00:19:11.65\00:19:13.98
German border and we had a
00:19:13.98\00:19:16.95
remarkable experience that
00:19:16.95\00:19:18.79
pertained to my sister in
00:19:18.79\00:19:20.12
particular.
00:19:20.12\00:19:21.56
For some reason or other, two
00:19:21.56\00:19:23.93
large sores developed on her
00:19:23.93\00:19:26.43
leg and her shin and they
00:19:26.43\00:19:28.73
became putrefying and they
00:19:28.73\00:19:30.63
were deep, right into the bone.
00:19:30.63\00:19:33.30
We managed to find a doctor to
00:19:33.30\00:19:35.90
check her out and he said, "We
00:19:35.90\00:19:37.84
may have to amputate her leg
00:19:37.84\00:19:39.77
because the sores are so bad,
00:19:39.77\00:19:42.81
in order to save her life, we
00:19:42.81\00:19:44.38
may have to amputate."
00:19:44.38\00:19:45.58
Well, we didn't want to
00:19:45.58\00:19:46.82
hear that.
00:19:46.82\00:19:47.85
And so around that same time,
00:19:47.85\00:19:51.72
we found ourselves, of course,
00:19:51.72\00:19:53.79
in German occupation at this
00:19:53.79\00:19:55.76
time so Hitler and his
00:19:55.76\00:19:57.59
soldiers were in charge and
00:19:57.59\00:19:59.59
you might say that we should
00:19:59.59\00:20:01.40
have had nothing to fear from,
00:20:01.40\00:20:03.43
but war is bad no matter who's
00:20:03.43\00:20:05.27
in charge, whether it's the
00:20:05.27\00:20:06.74
Germans or the Russians, war
00:20:06.74\00:20:08.44
is hell, as they say.
00:20:08.44\00:20:10.51
And so the Germans had a rule
00:20:11.67\00:20:13.64
that they needed to uplift the
00:20:13.64\00:20:16.51
Führer, Adolph Hitler.
00:20:16.51\00:20:18.95
And so in order to do that,
00:20:18.95\00:20:21.22
they organized classes.
00:20:21.22\00:20:22.78
All the youth were required to
00:20:22.78\00:20:24.89
attend these classes and my
00:20:24.89\00:20:26.72
sister was of the age that she
00:20:26.72\00:20:29.42
had to be one of them that
00:20:29.42\00:20:31.09
would attend.
00:20:31.09\00:20:32.26
In these classes they would
00:20:33.23\00:20:34.73
promote the leader, which was
00:20:34.73\00:20:36.80
Hitler, and they put Hitler
00:20:36.80\00:20:38.60
above God.
00:20:38.60\00:20:40.54
In this time we were always,
00:20:40.54\00:20:43.71
as it is customary, you would
00:20:43.71\00:20:45.44
greet each other "Good
00:20:45.44\00:20:46.81
morning," but not so, your
00:20:46.81\00:20:49.11
first greeting was, "Heil
00:20:49.11\00:20:51.18
Hitler" and the second
00:20:51.18\00:20:53.18
greeting was "Good morning."
00:20:53.18\00:20:55.52
And so in these classes they--
00:20:55.52\00:21:00.49
there was a lot of propaganda
00:21:00.49\00:21:02.26
there about Germany, Germany
00:21:02.26\00:21:04.39
would win the war and they
00:21:04.39\00:21:06.59
even had a song, "Today
00:21:06.59\00:21:08.86
Germany, tomorrow the world."
00:21:08.86\00:21:11.57
And so the young people were
00:21:11.57\00:21:14.34
psyched up that Germany would
00:21:14.34\00:21:16.34
win the war.
00:21:16.34\00:21:18.54
My sister, of course, couldn't
00:21:18.54\00:21:20.41
attend and the S.S. officers
00:21:20.41\00:21:23.08
came to check on why she
00:21:23.08\00:21:24.91
wasn't there.
00:21:24.91\00:21:26.21
Well, they looked at her leg,
00:21:26.21\00:21:27.92
"Oh, that's no excuse, you
00:21:27.92\00:21:29.68
have to come no matter what
00:21:29.68\00:21:31.99
unless you have a certificate
00:21:31.99\00:21:33.79
from the doctor, you are
00:21:33.79\00:21:35.16
not excused."
00:21:35.16\00:21:36.49
Well, we quickly talked to the
00:21:36.49\00:21:38.39
doctor again and he said,
00:21:38.39\00:21:40.00
"This is serious, I will give
00:21:40.00\00:21:42.23
you a certificate."
00:21:42.23\00:21:44.47
So because of the certificate
00:21:44.47\00:21:46.13
from the doctor and my
00:21:46.13\00:21:47.60
sister's sores on her leg,
00:21:47.60\00:21:49.60
she did not attend one of
00:21:49.60\00:21:51.44
those classes.
00:21:51.44\00:21:53.74
Well, suddenly, almost without
00:21:53.74\00:21:55.71
notice, the Russians regrouped
00:21:55.71\00:21:58.11
themselves and chased the
00:21:58.11\00:21:59.65
Germans out and the war at
00:21:59.65\00:22:02.52
that point was almost at an
00:22:02.52\00:22:04.39
end and all of a sudden then,
00:22:04.39\00:22:08.66
as the Russians came in, they
00:22:08.66\00:22:10.99
had been told about the Hitler
00:22:10.99\00:22:12.93
youth and how these Hitler
00:22:12.93\00:22:14.66
youth were all for Hitler.
00:22:14.66\00:22:17.40
And so they decided they would
00:22:17.40\00:22:19.30
make short work of that so
00:22:19.30\00:22:21.24
they rounded up all the young
00:22:21.24\00:22:22.80
people that were in the Hitler
00:22:22.80\00:22:24.54
youth class and sent them
00:22:24.54\00:22:26.04
to Siberia.
00:22:26.04\00:22:27.78
My father heard about this,
00:22:27.78\00:22:29.91
but he didn't know where we
00:22:29.91\00:22:31.48
were and he heard about all
00:22:31.48\00:22:32.95
these young people being sent
00:22:32.95\00:22:34.78
to Siberia and he was afraid.
00:22:34.78\00:22:36.65
He said, "Lord, I hope my
00:22:36.65\00:22:38.29
daughter, my only daughter, is
00:22:38.29\00:22:39.65
not amongst them."
00:22:39.65\00:22:41.92
It was within days, literally,
00:22:41.92\00:22:45.46
that the sores on my sister's
00:22:45.46\00:22:49.33
leg were healed, dried up, and
00:22:49.33\00:22:52.60
today you can still see them,
00:22:52.60\00:22:54.57
she's 94 years old today, but
00:22:54.57\00:22:56.34
you can still see those marks
00:22:56.34\00:22:58.01
on her foot.
00:22:58.01\00:22:59.71
But everything healed up and
00:22:59.71\00:23:01.68
there was no more problem and
00:23:01.68\00:23:03.38
she still has both of her legs.
00:23:03.38\00:23:05.51
>> God protected her life by
00:23:05.51\00:23:07.82
giving her those sores on her
00:23:07.82\00:23:09.32
legs so that she didn't
00:23:09.32\00:23:10.92
actually go to Siberia...
00:23:10.92\00:23:12.19
[JACOB] Yes.
00:23:12.19\00:23:13.29
>> ...and she didn't attend
00:23:13.29\00:23:14.42
the Hitler youth classes.
00:23:14.42\00:23:15.69
>> This is why I say God's
00:23:15.69\00:23:17.46
timing is just fantastic.
00:23:17.46\00:23:19.69
>> So another miracle God
00:23:20.93\00:23:24.27
performed for you.
00:23:24.27\00:23:26.33
Jacob, can you share with us
00:23:26.33\00:23:28.57
another miraculous story of
00:23:28.57\00:23:31.41
how God reunited your family
00:23:31.41\00:23:34.44
with your father again?
00:23:34.44\00:23:36.24
>> Yes, this happened in 1946,
00:23:37.55\00:23:40.22
the war was over and it was a
00:23:40.22\00:23:44.85
real burden for my father to
00:23:44.85\00:23:47.06
find out where are we.
00:23:47.06\00:23:48.92
And, of course, as I mentioned
00:23:48.92\00:23:50.63
before, we had a plan that we
00:23:50.63\00:23:52.26
would write to our
00:23:52.26\00:23:53.90
headquarters office and so my
00:23:53.90\00:23:55.66
father decided to implement
00:23:55.66\00:23:57.43
that at this point and my
00:23:57.43\00:24:00.94
mother decided to do the same,
00:24:00.94\00:24:03.84
but somehow nothing happened.
00:24:03.84\00:24:06.41
The letters did not seem to
00:24:06.41\00:24:09.28
get there and we didn't hear
00:24:09.28\00:24:10.68
anything about what happened
00:24:10.68\00:24:12.51
to my father and some of us,
00:24:12.51\00:24:14.82
my brother said, "Well, maybe
00:24:14.82\00:24:16.38
he's not alive anymore.
00:24:16.38\00:24:17.89
How do we know where he is?"
00:24:17.89\00:24:20.32
But anyway, one day my father
00:24:20.32\00:24:25.43
decided that he needs to go in
00:24:25.43\00:24:28.50
earnest to look for his family.
00:24:28.50\00:24:30.70
Now, at this point, after the
00:24:30.70\00:24:32.50
war, a year after the war, the
00:24:32.50\00:24:34.60
Russians being in charge, they
00:24:34.60\00:24:36.94
assigned everyone to a job and
00:24:36.94\00:24:40.31
my father was assigned to a
00:24:40.31\00:24:41.91
certain job as well and it was
00:24:41.91\00:24:44.05
miraculous, it was God's
00:24:44.05\00:24:45.71
leading where he was placed.
00:24:45.71\00:24:48.12
He was placed by a factory
00:24:48.12\00:24:49.75
owner that had a factory that
00:24:49.75\00:24:54.86
made chocolates and jams.
00:24:54.86\00:24:58.79
But during the war, it was a
00:24:58.79\00:25:01.30
free-for-all and so they had
00:25:01.30\00:25:03.47
to be very secret because some
00:25:03.47\00:25:05.57
of the Russian soldiers would
00:25:05.57\00:25:07.77
come and they would help
00:25:07.77\00:25:09.17
themselves to some of
00:25:09.17\00:25:10.37
these things.
00:25:10.37\00:25:11.64
So when my dad was assigned to
00:25:11.64\00:25:13.94
this place only to find out
00:25:13.94\00:25:16.68
later on that this was also a
00:25:16.68\00:25:19.38
Christian, a Seventh-day
00:25:19.38\00:25:20.95
Adventist Christian that-- the
00:25:20.95\00:25:23.02
factory owner.
00:25:23.02\00:25:24.49
And so when he found out who
00:25:24.49\00:25:26.86
my dad was and everything, he
00:25:26.86\00:25:28.79
said, "I think you are like an
00:25:28.79\00:25:30.63
angel, God sent you to me."
00:25:30.63\00:25:32.69
And so he gave him the keys of
00:25:32.69\00:25:34.63
the whole operation there and
00:25:34.63\00:25:36.90
he did his work and everything
00:25:36.90\00:25:38.80
went well for a while, but
00:25:38.80\00:25:40.90
finally one day my father said
00:25:40.90\00:25:43.81
to the factory owner, "Look,
00:25:43.81\00:25:45.81
I'm not happy here, I need to
00:25:45.81\00:25:47.78
find my family.
00:25:47.78\00:25:49.18
The war is over, I need to
00:25:49.18\00:25:50.61
know where they are."
00:25:50.61\00:25:52.68
And so he had written to
00:25:52.68\00:25:54.65
Berlin and my mother had
00:25:54.65\00:25:57.52
written to Berlin without any
00:25:57.52\00:25:59.59
results, but then my father--
00:25:59.59\00:26:03.46
my sister decided one day, she
00:26:03.46\00:26:06.23
came from the field at work,
00:26:06.23\00:26:09.53
and she said, "Mother, today
00:26:09.53\00:26:11.50
I'm gonna write to Dad and Dad
00:26:11.50\00:26:13.54
is gonna write, too, we're
00:26:13.54\00:26:15.24
going to-- both letters will
00:26:15.24\00:26:16.60
arrive at the church
00:26:16.60\00:26:18.64
headquarters office in Berlin
00:26:18.64\00:26:20.41
and Dad will know where we are
00:26:20.41\00:26:21.64
and we're going to find
00:26:21.64\00:26:23.01
each other."
00:26:23.01\00:26:24.25
>> Jacob, unfortunately I'm
00:26:24.25\00:26:25.91
gonna have to stop you, we've
00:26:25.91\00:26:27.58
come to the end of our program
00:26:27.58\00:26:29.35
and we've run out of time.
00:26:29.35\00:26:31.32
Mike, I wonder if you can
00:26:31.32\00:26:32.55
please pray for us?
00:26:32.55\00:26:33.76
>> Oh, sure, absolutely.
00:26:33.76\00:26:35.26
Let's pray.
00:26:35.26\00:26:36.73
Father in heaven, we wanna
00:26:36.73\00:26:38.43
thank You for the way You
00:26:38.43\00:26:41.20
blessed Jacob's life, his
00:26:41.20\00:26:43.10
entire family, leading them
00:26:43.10\00:26:45.47
through a time of war, through
00:26:45.47\00:26:48.17
a time when they were under
00:26:48.17\00:26:50.51
persecution for their faith
00:26:50.51\00:26:52.57
and just showing them Your
00:26:52.57\00:26:55.28
freedom, the freedom that
00:26:55.28\00:26:56.81
comes from trusting in You.
00:26:56.81\00:26:58.61
Thank You for his life, for
00:26:58.61\00:27:00.38
the way You have led him as a
00:27:00.38\00:27:02.18
pastor and his brother as a
00:27:02.18\00:27:04.29
pastor, his father and just
00:27:04.29\00:27:06.19
being a blessing to so many
00:27:06.19\00:27:07.62
people through their lives and
00:27:07.62\00:27:09.39
we thank You, in Jesus' name,
00:27:09.39\00:27:11.46
amen.
00:27:11.46\00:27:12.43
Jacob, thank you so much for
00:27:13.93\00:27:16.30
joining us again on It Is
00:27:16.30\00:27:17.53
Written Canada to share your
00:27:17.53\00:27:19.00
story with us.
00:27:19.00\00:27:20.40
>> It's been an honour for me
00:27:20.40\00:27:21.54
to be with you.
00:27:21.54\00:27:22.74
>> Friends, our free offer
00:27:25.21\00:27:26.84
today was written by Pastor
00:27:26.84\00:27:29.11
Jacob Hiebert.
00:27:29.11\00:27:30.45
It is his story entitled,
00:27:30.45\00:27:32.58
Freedom's Journey.
00:27:32.58\00:27:34.28
This book details the full
00:27:34.28\00:27:36.48
story of how Jacob and his
00:27:36.48\00:27:38.82
family were determined to
00:27:38.82\00:27:40.69
follow God, no matter what.
00:27:40.69\00:27:43.32
>> Their heart-stopping
00:27:43.32\00:27:44.93
journey displays the signs of
00:27:44.93\00:27:47.03
God's hand leading His
00:27:47.03\00:27:48.50
children in such a
00:27:48.50\00:27:50.67
faith-building story.
00:27:50.67\00:27:52.83
Freedom's Journey reveals how
00:27:54.17\00:27:56.24
we serve a great God who is
00:27:56.24\00:27:58.37
able to lead you, too, when
00:27:58.37\00:28:00.51
you put your trust in Him.
00:28:00.51\00:28:02.64
>> We want you to experience
00:28:03.38\00:28:04.85
the truth that is found in the
00:28:04.85\00:28:06.65
words of Jesus when He said,
00:28:06.65\00:28:08.82
"It is written, 'man shall not
00:28:08.82\00:28:10.89
live by bread alone, but by
00:28:10.89\00:28:12.85
every word that proceeds out
00:28:12.85\00:28:14.59
of the mouth of God.'"
00:28:14.59\00:28:16.73
¤¤
00:28:16.73\00:28:46.92