NotesTranscript

Notes

Family history reflections

Mon, 29 Jun 26

Birth and Origins

• Born June 25th, 1945, in Chaco, Paraguay
  • Chaco is a large state (comparable to a province)
• Born in a farm village called Eggenhof

Family History

• Family had two oxen and a wagon
  • These belonged to their own family, not a passed-down settler story

The President and the Mennonites

• Paraguayan president learned German at night school to welcome Mennonite settlers
  • Speaker B’s father told him this; widely known among Mennonites at the time
  • President followed the Mennonites when they moved to Paraguay and studied German to greet them

The Native Boy’s Question

• One evening in Paraguay, while visiting with his uncle, a 16-year-old native boy approached them
  • The boy spoke Low German fluently, despite being a native
  • He asked the uncle: why hadn’t God sent the Mennonites sooner, so his parents could have known about Jesus
• Speaker B used this story as a charge: “Lincoln, you better get ready, go preach the gospel”
  • “That’s more important than baseball”

Transcript

Speaker AThere's more in the fridge if you want.

Speaker BOh, yeah.

Speaker AOkay. Chris is asking me to ask some questions, too. I told him I was talking about some stuff with you guys, and he's like, oh, ask these questions. Okay. Oh, let's see. Do you actually know where you were born, what village, or where you were born?

Speaker BI was born in a Chaco, Paraguay.

Speaker AIn a Chaco?

Speaker BYeah. That's like a state.

Speaker AOh.

Speaker BLike I would say B.C. okay. Oh, and that's just called Chaco.

Speaker AChaco.

Speaker BIt's a big, big state.

Speaker AAh, I didn't know that. Okay. And do you know what year?

Speaker BWhat year? 1945.

Speaker A1945. Well, good. You know what year? That's good. That's an EAS, wasn't it? Yeah. June 25th. Okay. All right.

Speaker BI was born in a farm village called Eggenhof.

Speaker AOkay. In the village. Okay. A farm village. That's cool. I didn't know that either. Okay. All right, now, next question. The two oxen and the wagon. All right. Also, was that.

Speaker BWe also had two options. I also cloud a couple years.

Speaker AYeah. So were they your own families or the first settler's story passed down to you? No, they were your own. They were your own families. Yeah.

Speaker BYeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker AOkay. Okay. All right. Here's another one that I don't understand. So maybe you will a little harder. Maybe the president learning German at night school. And the 50 years free, no army contract. Who told you? Those growing up. Who told you? Those growing up.

Speaker BDo you know who told me?

Speaker AYeah, it says the president. The president.

Speaker BMy dad always said that.

Speaker AOh, your dad always said that to you? Oh, interesting.

Speaker BLearned when he followed the Marinettes were moved to Paraguay.

Speaker AOkay.

Speaker BHe went to night school learning German to welcome the people in German.

Speaker AThe. The president did?

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker AAnd so your dad told you. The dad. Your dad told you about that?

Speaker BYeah, my dad. Well, Maronites all knew about it.

Speaker AOh, it was just a thing that everyone talked about.

Speaker BI don't know.

Speaker ASomething like that's just like it was something known. Okay. All right. You ready for another hard one? Are you ready?

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker AOkay. The native man who asked your uncle why God hadn't sent the Mennonites sooner, who was he, and where were you standing when you heard it?

Speaker BHe was a native boy.

Speaker AA native boy. Was he like, your age?

Speaker BLike, here we have natives. Our natives?

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BWe call them Indians. Yeah. It was a native boy.

Speaker AYeah. Okay. Where were you standing?

Speaker BWell, I was very close by. Me and my uncle were visiting, and we were there, too. So here was it in the evening. I was in Paraguay.

Speaker AOh, it's in Paraguay. It's just an evening. And so this random. This random guy comes up.

Speaker B16 years old.

Speaker A16, okay.

Speaker BYeah. My uncle, I was with. Where? I was with my uncle.

Speaker AOkay.

Speaker BAnd that boy spoke low German too.

Speaker AYou know he did.

Speaker BHe have learned German. You know, he spoke load German just like I do. Even yet he was a native.

Speaker ABut he just came over just to talk to you.

Speaker BWell, he was there. I don't know how that. I don't know how. All I know is he was there and talked to us and. And he was telling my uncle, why didn't God send the men like people love sooner? The paragraph said that his parents would know about Jesus. Really say a lot of people. Okay, okay.

Speaker AOh, I didn't know.

Speaker BThere's still millions of people. People in the world don't know about.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BJesus, you know?

Speaker AYeah. Yeah.

Speaker BSo, Lincoln, you better get ready. Go preach the gospel.

Speaker AOkay, okay.

Speaker BTell people about Jesus. That's more important. That's more important than baseball. Okay.

Speaker AIt is so important. You got sweaty over there. We were so exhausted, but we kept saying more.