Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

Old Colony delegates to Mexico in the 1920s. Photo credit: Leonard Doell.
returning home, which gave me some concern,
because I didn’t want to be the only one from
our congregation. The trip was too important.
We encouraged him to travel one more day to
Kansas City, with the hopes that he would feel
better then. Uncle Johan Wiebe bought a cane
for him and he agreed to continue travelling.
We left the next day at 2:55 p.m.
On the train, Uncle Heide was greatly concerned
about Mr. Goertzen’s leg. He doctored it
by massaging it, and washed it with medicine.
When I think of these men, with their fatherly
concern they helped out so Mr. Goertzen could
stay with us. They showed their love as best
they could, but where was our returned love?
We travelled all night and arrived in Kansas
City, Kansas at 7:00 a.m. Our Deacon felt much
better, having slept somewhat. His leg didn’t
hurt as much now. We were all in better spirits
and we again felt our prayers were answered.
Praise the Lord and forget not all the good
He has done for thee. He who forgives all our
sins, heals all our wounds, both in the flesh
and in the soul. He has saved our lives through
redemption and through Grace he has given us
health, Psalm 103. The Deacon really enjoyed
his breakfast with us the next morning.
We left again on the train at 9:25 a.m.
Slowly the train started, travelling south
west. We were now far from home, and our
thoughts were often with our loved ones we
had left behind. Our trip continued, closer and
closer to Mexico. We travelled all day, without
many stops, and arrived at the border city, El
Paso, Texas, on January 29 at 1:05 p.m. I was
amazed to see such a big city so far south. I
had also been amazed at the huge mountains
we had seen in Texas. The earth was very red
and nothing grew but cactus. It was strange for
us from the cold north to see the warm south.
The cattle were so thin and wandered among
the cactus. The weather was beautiful and then
we met with snow. It got colder; we even saw
snow fences. We were higher than sea level,
but before we reached El Paso, the snow was
all gone and it was warm again.
Arriving in El Paso, we looked for quarters
to stay in so we could rest after our long trip.
Evening came shortly, and our thoughts again
wandered over hills and mountains, as though
on the wings of an eagle, to our beloved ones
at home, including our dear congregation. In
fellowship we all sang, prayed and praised
Him who had so graciously helped us thus far.
To him be honour and praise from now until
eternity. When we went to bed the deacon was
feeling much better.
It was 5 degrees fahrenheit on the morning
of January 29 th . After we went for breakfast,
we wanted to get our passports stamped. Arriving
at the Mexican Consul, we saw a long
line of people. We didn’t know what to do,
because we could not enter the Consul. If we
stayed we would have to join the line, instead
we agreed to go back to our quarters. Once
there, we talked about many things, including
the papers we had brought with us to present
to the Mexican Government. It was agreed to
send a copy of our requested privileges from El
Paso to Mexico City, so that they could there
read and approve our requests, as we wanted
to travel on to the west coast of Mexico to
look at land. Uncle Johan Wiebe studied the
papers to make sure there were no mistakes.
His English was better than his German. Some
papers had been written in English at home. Mr.
Wiebe said that some wording was not properly
translated and the meaning was different
from what was intended. He thought it would
be wiser to hand them our papers in English
so they could translate them into Spanish. We
had copies made, and sent one to the Mexican
Government.
When we were almost finished with our
papers, the Deacon, Mr. Wiebe, and myself,
saw Mr. Rempel and the others coming for
us. They had been looking for us, because the
line-up was gone and now it was time to go to
the Consul. It was only a short while, and we
were finished. Our plans were to leave today,
but Mr. Wiebe had sent a telegram to Mexico
City, to a man named Arthur J. Bronof. Mr.
Bronof sent another man named Daniel Solis
Lopez, to give us free tickets or make arrangements
for the same at the border. Mr. Lopez
arrived, greeted us heartily, and was ready to
take us to Mexico City. Back home, however,
we had planned to go to see the land named
Culiacan, on Mexico’s west coast. By now it
was evening, so we all went to bed.
January 31, 1921 at 1 p.m. the train was
supposed to leave for Tuscon, Arizona. It was
a very long day. We went into the park, and saw
many animals we had never seen before, at least
not by my inexperienced eyes. We also saw a
huge camp of soldiers on the border. We asked
whether the Mexicans were such a dangerous
group of people. We were told “no, but the
United States fears Japan will invade through
Mexico”. That evening, ready for departure,
we were told the train was over crowded and
it would be best to wait until the next morning.
More patience. To us it seemed like a long wait,
but on such a long trip you encounter many
things, and so once again we went to bed.
February 1, 1921
Today at 1:20 p.m. we again boarded the
train. We travelled all day and through God’s
help arrived in Tucson at 6:00 p.m. The summer
weather was beautiful. We have now travelled
some 312 miles on this trip, through many
different kinds of land, hills and valleys, and
seen many cactus. Once again a place to sleep
and rest was sought.
February 2, 1921
Today, we went with two automobiles to a
border city named Nogales. Mr. Enlaf, a land
agent, met us in Tucson, and wanted to trade
or sell us land in Culiacan. He gave us free
tickets on the Southern P.C. Railroad. This
railroad goes through Mexico to Rinz where
we planned to go later. On our trip to Nogales
we saw modern irrigation, and huge fields of
rubber plants, which I had never seen before.
We saw some Mennonite farmers, but spoke
to none. Arriving in Nogales we went through
customs again to get our passports stamped. It
was time again to go to our hotel.
February 3, At 7:00 a.m. we again boarded
the train and travelled south. We saw orange
gardens and many different kinds of fruit trees.
The people seemed strange, for as soon as the
train came to a stop, there were people on
both sides selling food and other things, some
of them making themselves loudly heard. The
rich and the beggars are all mixed. The pigs are
around also, and wait for any bit of food which
may drop by the wayside. These pigs seemed
very skinny, which we were not used to seeing
back home. We travelled until 6:30 p.m. and
arrived safely in the city of Guaymas. Here we
saw a bit of the ocean and our hotel was only
a few steps away from the water.
A wondrous place for a city, but in the
world there are also many other wondrous or
miraculous places. We arrived at our destination
in the evening and stayed overnight. All
Preservings No. 26, 2006 - 39