Canadian Mennonite
Volume 9, No. 04
February 21, 2005

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Finding peace in a desperate life

Floradale, Ont.


Elizabeth Elias, who has experienced desperate times in her life, believes in the power of prayer. On January 17 she told her life story to a women’s meeting at Floradale Mennonite Church.

Elizabeth had a very difficult childhood. She was born in a Mennonite colony in Mexico, and her family moved to Bolivia when she was very young. In the new colony her father suffered serious ill health.
Elizabeth Elias shared her life story at a women’s meeting at Floradale Mennonite Church.
“We were dogs on the street,” said Elizabeth, describing how it felt to be the poorest of the poor. “My heart breaks when I think about it,” she said, imagining how her mother must have felt as she watched her children go hungry.

Elizabeth remembers being sent to a neighbour to ask for the slop pail. The woman gruffly agreed she could have it, but then sent the dog after her. Ignoring the dog, Elizabeth scooped an orange peel out of the slop pail and ate it.

“It was good,” she said. “I couldn’t remember ever having an orange before.” She also remembers walking a mile to school on the hot, sandy road with no shoes and no hat. It was so hot that an egg would cook by itself in half a day.

Elizabeth is no longer bitter about the Old Colony Mennonite church that ruled their lives. Since she has found forgiveness for her sins, she has also forgiven everyone who made her life so difficult. She remembers her younger brother coming to the breaking point where he was so sick of living with nothing that he disobeyed the church and went to work for Spanish people.

Some of Elizabeth’s worst memories came during a six-month drought. There was no water and the cows began to die. Her father was in jail for debt because he had co-signed a loan for a “friend” who wasted the money. One day she found a small green peach with a bite out of it. She carefully took it home and divided it into 11 pieces for her 10 siblings and her mother. She herself sucked on the pit.

That Christmas there had been nothing to eat for several days and the children became lethargic. That evening, someone brought a small pail of pluma moos (fruit soup), a bag of sausage and about two pounds of potatoes. Her mother carefully divided the food so that it lasted for two weeks.

“When I think back, it almost seems like a dream,” said Elizabeth. She remembers feeling resentful that in jail her father had food while the family went hungry.

She was 23 when she married Peter Elias. She was surprised when shortly after their marriage he said he would like to have a Canadian passport one day. He didn’t know that she had Canadian citizenship papers. When one of Elizabeth’s uncles visited, he offered to take the young couple to Canada. In a week and two days they had their papers.

Elizabeth and Peter came to Canada in 1990. She believes that God intervened to help them, even though they weren’t Christians at the time.

Starting with nothing in their new country wasn’t easy, but Peter found work on a farm near St. Jacobs, Ontario, and soon they were expecting their first child. The baby was stillborn, and Peter was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Over the next few years Elizabeth learned English, made new friends and welcomed more children, but Peter was drinking heavily.

“They were the worst years of my life,” she said. Elizabeth vividly recalls two incidents when Peter threatened to put an end to their lives, driving very fast and planning to crash the car. In each case, Elizabeth prayed to God and she believes that God answered her prayer. The second time it happened, Elizabeth prayed that if God would show her how, she would live for him. Soon after her husband stopped beside the road and told her to drive.

“I was shaking and I cried. I knew the Lord was there,” she said.

Things began to change after a final drinking binge when Elizabeth grabbed the children and ran to a neighbour’s apartment. One neighbour called the police. Another neighbour called her minister and through that intervention Elizabeth and Peter were able to get the help they needed and they committed their lives to God.

“We are not rich, but we are forgiven,” said Elizabeth.

Today Elizabeth and Peter have five healthy children who are no longer afraid of their father’s drinking binges. They attend the New Hamburg Conservative Mennonite Church.

Elizabeth is a model of how peacemaking happens. In spite of all the anger and hurt carried from childhood, she and her sisters were able in recent years to tell their father that they love him and have forgiven him.

“He broke down,” said Elizabeth. They were surprised because they thought he was a very hard man.

Elizabeth tries to share her love with others. She helps Low German-speaking immigrants get settled in Canada by collecting furniture and other material aid. She tells others about how God has blessed her.
—Barb Draper






Anonymous gift benefits CBC student

Abbotsford, B.C.


Stephen Balzer is a hard-working guy. In his final year in the biblical studies program at Columbia Bible College (CBC), Stephen has always worked to pay his way through school. His job of choice was tree-planting—good money but hard work indeed. So when a sudden injury to his wrists cut short his ability to work and to earn money, he thought his dream of completing his education was over.

Stephen Balzer is enjoying his final year at Columbia Bible College—made possible by an alumnus who made an anonymous contribution.
It’s been a long journey for Balzer to get to this year. He began his educational career as a missions major, but chose to switch to biblical studies part way through, as it would give him more options in the future. Unfortunately, not all of his courses transferred to this program and so he was left having to do a fifth year of schooling, which meant having to find money to cover his school fees. He started tree planting and also applied for bursaries. First his injury cut short his earning potential and then he found out that he wouldn’t receive the bursary money he’d been counting on either. He thought of living at home for the year, but his internship required him to live on campus; the whole situation was just frustrating.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he remembers. “I kept thinking I should have graduated last year. I’ve spent all this time and money already, I’ve always had hard physical jobs, but now I’ve got this injury, and now this!”

However, Balzer had come too far not to finish, so he registered for school and prayed that God would help him find a way to pay for it.

Unbeknownst to Balzer, God would work a small miracle or two in his life using the lives of others as his vehicle.

First, his father offered to pay a portion of his school fees. Balzer had never asked his parents for money and never expected them to do so, so this offer was moving.

“It was an awesome gesture,” he says. “I cried. He never does this kind of thing. I’ve always paid for my education myself, so this was awesome.”

At the same time, in another province, Bill, a CBC alumnus, and his wife Linda (not their real names) were praying and considering giving a gift to the college. Bill had enjoyed his experience at CBC and was looking for a way to give back to the college.

“The people I met while attending [CBC] left an impact on my life,” Bill says. “We have been financially blessed and have been seeking an avenue outside of regular giving. Providing someone the opportunity to attend or remain seemed a proper way to recognize the benefits I received from CBC.”

They sent a donation to Paul Wartman, CBC president, only saying that they wanted to money to benefit a student in need. Stephen’s predicament had come to Wartman’s attention just as he received their gift. He summoned Stephen to his office.

“So I go to Paul’s office and he hands me this cheque for $2,000 and says, ‘This is God answering your prayer.’ I just started crying,” Stephen says, now laughing.

Together with his father’s gift, Balzer had enough to cover his costs for the semester—his prayers had been answered. But, he says, the story doesn’t really end there.

“Still thinking that he needed a job, Balzer applied to Mennonite Central Committee Supportive Care Services, to work as a support worker in one of their homes for those with mental and physical challenges.

“It’s awesome!” Balzer exclaims. “I wake up wondering what God’s gonna do today. It’s like now the more dependent I am, the more down and out, the more I come out thinking God’s got a plan, you know? Coming from such a low to now—where I have a job, I’m going to graduate, there’s hope!”

Balzer hopes to work for awhile and eventually complete a masters degree. He wants to work with people in a church setting and feels that he’s gifted for this ministry.

His anonymous benefactors are grateful that God was able to use their gift in such a wonderful way. “We believed that a good decision would be made, and by the reaction we are confident that Stephen fit the criteria we provided,” Bill says. “It is always hoped that there can be multiple benefits from one action. It seems there are to be many benifits as a result of our small contribution. For this, we are grateful.”
—Columbia Bible College release

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