Isabella stood beside the cart, watching Magda’s brother arrange the old woman’s few worldly possessions in the back. The day was so cold that her breath seemed to crystallize in the air. Johan was busy packing their own cart as Menno carried his precious books from the house. When Maarten finished, he slapped his gloved hands together. “Are you ready, Magda?”
The horse snorted.
Maarten laughed. “Sofie here is as eager to return to a warm stable as I am to hurry home to a warm fire.”
“Give us a moment, please.” Magna wrapped her arms around Isabella, and they embraced for a long time, Isabella crying into the older woman’s shoulder.
At last Magda stepped back and held her by the shoulders.
Isabella looked at her beloved mentor one last time, burning every line and wrinkle into her memory. “You have been like a mother Magda—the one my mother could never be. I will miss you as I miss Frederich.”
“Ah, my little one…” Magda opened her coat and lifted her apron to dab at her cheeks. “You have been the daughter I never had. When you and Johan wandered into Michael’s camp that day, I knew you were special, but I didn’t realize God would entwine our lives in such a wonderful way.”
Isabella wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “Will you be all right?”
“Maarten and Annika will take good care of me. We belong together, the de Jonges of Pingjum, three old buzzards who will live out our years croaking at each other.”
She smiled, but then she grew serious. “I fear for you, Isabella. Frederich recognized who you were the first time he saw your horse. And I saw you were no common girl, but a lady of quality, a princess. You need to be very careful. I know your father is still looking for you. God has hidden us here. By going across the border you will be closer to Poland. Be careful when you travel, stay close to Menno—don’t strike up easy acquaintances. Do nothing to draw attention to yourself.”
“We will be careful, Magda. And we will take care of Menno. The Lord knows he needs it.”
"His head is in the clouds," Magda whispered. “But his heart is always pure.”
“His friendship has changed my Johan. My husband has always been gentle and kind, but tucked away in his heart was rage against those who hurt his loved ones. In Münster, he was eager to kill Catholics and Lutherans. He wanted to pay them back for all they had done. But when he killed that boy in the battle, he saw how wrong the hate was—and now that he has met Menno he is shedding that hate a little at a time. I don’t like this uprooting.” Isabella looked around at the beloved place, the house, the fields, and a tear trickled from her eye. She brushed it away. “I know the Lord has something for us all to discover—a message from heaven that will change our lives once again.”
Johan called. "Come, Isabella, we are ready." He brought Abel to Magda. The old woman took the toddler in her arms. She kissed his face many times and wept. Then she gave him to Johan and took Isabella into one more embrace and whispered to her, “You are right, Isabella, and somehow that message will reach out to touch our world. The peace of God go with you, my darling.”
Once they arrived in Gröningen, a day’s journey across the border into Germany, they moved into a cottage with two bedrooms behind the house of an Anabaptist believer named Adelbert Beenhouwer. Johan continued as Menno’s helper, driver and confidant, while Isabella took over the cooking and cleaning. Menno worked ceaselessly on the writings he had started in Witmarsum, titled The Spiritual Resurrection, The New Birth, and Meditations on the Twenty-Fifth Psalm.
Johan marveled at the times when Menno spent days in prayer, seeking to find precisely the right words. "My work must be perfect, Johan,” he would say. “If I lead just one of these little ones astray, I will suffer for it.” When he was not writing, Johan would take him to seek those who maintained the truth. Often people came to them for help—the erring and the misguided—and together Johan and Menno reclaimed them from the snares of damnation and brought them to Christ.
Johan especially loved the times during the following months when they crossed back into Friesland, taking with them the pamphlets that Menno had produced. Johan had grown to love the sea and when their travels took them to Zurich or other coastal towns, he would take time to walk along the shore, listening to the cries of the gulls and watching the endless waves. Once, when they walked together by the sea, Johan turned to his friend.
“Julius once told me something that Pieter said—that the people of the world are like this ocean, tossing and turning in their unrest because they do not know the kindness and love of our great Savior. It is a sad picture.”
Menno smiled. “Ah, Johan remember the scripture that says, ‘Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.’ God has sent us to cast his bread on the troubled waters of the world.”
Johan looked at the kindly face of Menno Simons and nodded. “To be with you is to see things with clarity, and I thank you for it.”
With Johan’s help, Menno soon became known among the Anabaptists as a capable and devoted leader. One night, as they were visiting with Adelbert, someone knocked on the front door. Adelbert left the room to answer it, and when he returned, a man followed him in.
Johan started up from his chair, but Adelbert waved him back.
“It’s all right, Johan. This man and his companions are here to see Menno, but do not fear, for I know him and he is a true believer.” He nodded to Menno. “They all wish to speak with you.”
Menno stood and held out his hand to greet the stranger. “By all means, Adelbert, bring the rest in.”
Adelbert left and returned with seven men who appeared by their clothing to be farmers and craftsmen. Holding their hats in their hands, they waited while their leader spoke.
“I am Herbert Braam,” the man said. “These are my brothers in Christ. We are of one heart and one soul in our desire to follow Christ. We try to live our lives beyond reproach as far as a man can judge in doctrine and life, but we cannot do it alone.”
Johan approached the man. “Where do you stand on the Münster rebellion?”
“We…” Herbert glanced at the others. “We abhor the errors of Münster. God does not bring his kingdom at the point of a sword as do the Moslems.”
“And why do you come?” Menno rose from his chair. “What is it you wish of me?”
Herbert held out a hand. “We have read your writings and believe God has given you a clear message for all true believers. Please use the talents you have received from God—put them to work in his vineyard. We, like many others, need an able pastor. Our hunger is so great but faithful stewards so few.”
Menno put his head in his hands. "Your request troubles me. I have limited talents, a weak nature and a timid spirit, and the wickedness and tyranny of the world are great. Like the apostle Paul, I struggle to keep my life in line with God’s Word. How can you ask this of one such as I?”
Herbert took Menno’s hand. “There is great hunger and need among the God-fearing, but we are sheep who have no shepherd. I beg of you; please come."
Menno looked over at Johan. “What do you think, my son?”
Johan was silent for a long time, head bowed. Then he spoke. “For many years, I wondered what my destiny was to be. When I met you, I found the answer. When I heard your vision for a world where each man and woman displays the love of Christ, revealing God in words and deeds, I knew it was right. These teachings soothe me. The hatred I harbored in my heart is giving place to a desire to see Christ glorified. I believe these men are God’s messengers to you. I think you should consider their request.”
Menno looked at Herbert. “I will pray about this matter for a season, as I hope you will also do.”
The visitors nodded their assent. “We will.”
“Come again in one week, and I will give you my answer. Now, before you go, break bread with us.”
One week later, they met again. Johan ushered them into the room where Menno sat. He stood and greeted the men, who stood silently, awaiting Menno’s words. “Johan and I have prayed over this matter and discussed the need. And God has answered. From this time forward, I surrender my soul to the Lord and my body to his work. I will teach and baptize, until the vineyard of the Lord, build up his holy city and temple and repair the tumbled-down walls."
“And I will be your right hand,” Johan said.
The faces of the men broke wide in smiles of quiet joy. One man raised his hands in praise while another wept.
Now began the days of toil in the vineyard. Isabella marveled as God opened doors and led Johan and Menno by his Spirit. Often they returned to Gröningen exhausted for, though the fields were white for harvest, the workers were few. At these times, Isabella exercised a newfound gift of nurture and care and the two men thrived under it.
For Isabella, the times were not without worry, for the knowledge of Menno’s work had come before the leaders of the Catholic and Lutheran churches. The churches worked with the secular authorities to find Menno and bring him to them for examination and punishment. When they were away, Isabella spent many hours in prayer for their safety. During this time she learned to place her trust in her God and as the work and influence of the two men spread, Isabella’s faith grew strong.
So for Isabella, the season in Germany was the most unsettled time of her life and yet the most rewarding. Often, as she cooked or cared for the mundane chores, Menno would call her to him. “Isabella, you work at many things, but as our Lord said to Martha, ‘You need only one thing.’” He would open his Bible and motion for her to sit next to him. “Choose as Mary chose—that which is better, and no one can take it away from you.”
Like Mary, Isabella pondered these things and took great comfort in remembering those times sitting with Menno Simons and listening as he broke the bread of God’s Word and then taught her the meaning. Often, he would say, “For man can lay only Christ Jesus as the foundation for all things.” She listened in awestruck silence as he spoke to her of the Trinity of God, the incarnation, the work of the Holy Ghost, faith, and so much more.
Once as he was speaking to her and Johan, he stopped in the middle of what he was teaching and a great light came into his eyes. “Our weapons are not swords and spears, but patience, silence, hope and the Word of God. With these, we must maintain and defend our cause. Paul says, ‘The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.’ With these, we resist the kingdom of the devil, not with swords, spears, cannons and coats of mail.”
“If, in the rest of my life I only remember one thing,” Johan whispered, tears in his eyes, “it will be these words. I thank you, for as you spoke, I felt the Holy Spirit lift the last of the burden of my anger and hate and set me free.”
Isabella rose and went to her husband’s side. “Now we know why God sent us to you. In the years to come, we will always have tonight to look back on, and we will remember our friend and how he taught us of the only God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his way of peace.”