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1879
ABIGAEL AND HER SONS were leaving. The Thoresens and other neighbors helped them prepare for their journey back to Illinois. Abigael was taking little beyond their personal belongings; she sold their stock and gave away their household effects.
Amalie and Abigael embraced for a long moment. “I will miss you,” Amalie sobbed. “I will never forget how you and your Henrik welcomed us when we first came here, how you helped us when we were in such need.”
“I thank you for your friendship,” Abigael choked on her words. “Please . . .”
Amalie knew the assurances Abigael needed to hear. “You will not worry, dear one. We will tend Henrik’s grave as one of our own.”
Jan and Søren drove Abigael and her boys into RiverBend to the train. When it arrived, Mr. Bailey helped them aboard. Jan, Søren, and the Baileys waved goodbye to Abigael and her sons as the train eased away from the station.
Later as Jan looked across the creek it grieved his heart to see their small house abandoned. “The bank will sell it for us,” Abigael had told him.
Jan turned away. I cannot believe I once coveted Henrik’s homestead.
—
1880
NORVALD WAS THE FIRST to tell Jan. “A new minister and his wife have come to RiverBend! He intends to start a church there.” He grinned. “You know none of us Svenska are preachers, so we asked him to come and bring the word next Sunday.”
“Gud!” Jan agreed. “That is gud. I, too, am hungry for a real man of God’s word.”
Jan thought for a moment about another minister who had tried to plant a church in RiverBend. The man had not been prepared for the hardships he encountered and had become discouraged. He left after less than a year. “Does this new minister know that another tried to start a church in town three years ago?”
“Ja, he does. This minister, I think, is made of better stuff than the last one.”
Jan tapped his chin. “If he is a good man and teaches the whole of God’s Skriften, I will pray and get behind his efforts. We need an established church in town, ja? Our community needs it. And I do not wish to see another church fail here.”
“I agree with you, Jan. I will pray also. If the Lord leads us to support the new minister, I will stop holding meetings in my barn and encourage our friends to pray about joining, too.”
—
WITH IVAN TRANSLATING English to Swedish, the young minister—Jacob Medford—preached in Norvald and Inge’s barn that Sunday.
He is very young, Jan smiled to himself, but, oh! I can feel his love for God. This is a man I can have real fellowship with.
Ah. He is a newlywed, too, Jan noted, and his wife is even younger than he is. Tall, slender, with a sweet expression, the minister’s wife shone with love and admiration as she listened to her husband teach on Philippians 1:3-6.
I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you,
Always in every prayer
of mine for you all,
making request with joy,
For your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now;
Being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun
a good work in you
will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ.
Jan felt his heart expand to receive the word. Ah, Lord! I need this, ja? He and Norvald exchanged approving glances, and Jan noted that Søren and Amalie were fully engrossed in the message.
After the meal, the men of the church invited Jacob Medford to visit privately with them. “We would know more about you,” Norvald explained, “and more of what you believe and teach.”
The young man smiled. “I would like that, too.”
He spoke of himself, his walk with God, and the call he felt to pastor. For an hour or longer the men of the church asked him questions. Jan was impressed that the minister, inexperienced as he was, was humble but not insecure.
Norvald looked about the circle and received nods. “We would have you come and preach again, Mr. Medford,” he said. “Are you willing to fill our pulpit while we pray about God’s direction for our church?”
“I would be honored,” Jacob answered. “I will seek the Lord for his direction, too. I should tell you this, though: It is in my heart to establish a church open to the whole community. If we find it is not the Lord’s will that I remain with you, I pray our fellowship will remain unbroken and as sweet as it has been so far.”
Ah, Lord, Jan marveled. This is a good man you have brought us. As young as he is, he is already a mature man of yours.
—
OVER THE NEXT MONTH Jacob and Vera Medford became fixtures in the Swedish church. As news of his preaching filtered through the little town and surrounding neighborhood, others came to worship in the Bruntrüllsen barn, including a few members of the German church.
They greeted Jan with unexpected warmth. Jan was touched that these families still thought highly of him after his conflicts with Adolphe Veicht.
On a Sunday in mid-November, Søren nudged his father. “Look, Pappa!”
There, just inside the doorway of the barn, stood Rikkert and Duna Kappel and their family.
Jan rushed to greet them. “My friends! I am so happy to see you.” Jan shook Rikkert’s hand and then—spontaneously—they embraced.
Rikkert, still holding Jan’s forearms, studied him closely. “I have missed our fellowship, yours and mine, Jan Thoresen.”
“As have I,” Jan returned, his heart full. “So. Will you come and worship with us?”
—
THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY, the church formally invited Jacob Medford to pastor the church. Jacob, his expression solemn but filled with joy, spoke of his vision for a church open to all the community. As he talked, Matthias Comer, a farmer living close to town, stood up.
“I wish to give one acre of my land to the church for a meeting place,” he declared. “The land I give is not far from the town. We can build a meeting place there, ja?”
An approving roar was his answer.
~~**~~
