"I had a wonderful week at my sister's as always...until Friday night. I was sharing a bed with my little nephew and he was saying his prayers: 'If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take'. I felt a stab of foreboding in my spirit..."

In this tragic experience, no real support was given in the Old Colony Mennonite village where they lived. Instead, there was blame and shunning. Mari learned more about the "whys" of such treatment; she also found others who had similar experiences. Conversely, she heard of the wise ways of her grandfather, the Bishop, who had died long before this all had happened.

As her brother Isaac would say: "How we longed for the gentle and compassionate presence of our Grandfather."