Memory of "Kicking Out Winter"

                 One morning the final week of subfreezing weather of February 2021, I awoke with a memory of one of the teachers whom I taught in Kandalaksha, Russia, during a short character teaching convocation in 1995. Kandalaksha is located north of the Arctic Circle. The Polar day is a 24-hour day when the sun never sets. The polar days are experienced from mid-May until mid-July. Fortunately, I was there during their Polar days. Yet most mornings in late May found me wearing a coat as we walked to the school where our conference was held.

                This time of year, Kandalaksha is snow-covered, with temperatures below freezing for the whole month of February. The residents have emerged from the polar nights, 24-hour periods when the sun seems to never rise. The polar nights last about six weeks from early December until mid-January.

                In 1995, I met Marina, a “first former” or first grade teacher, in the group of elementary teachers I led. She insisted I visit her school. The last day of the convocation was festive in nature. Kandalaksha students performed. Marina arrived with her younger son, Pavel.

Photo of the final day with Marina, 
Tanya, and me standing. Seated are
Nadya and Marina's son, Pavel

This is Marina on the right of the stage with her
colleagues portraying Baba Yaga, Kikimora,and
Leshyi, all Slavic spirits while "kicking out 
winter" (This year Maslenitsa will be observed
March 8-14.)

                 Marina, the first grade teacher from Russia, came to mind in our unusually cold weather. My mind rolled back to a photo Marina insisted I take with me. It had been taken many years earlier. The photograph she  gave was taken during a Russian week-long festival much akin to Mardi Gras. Our interpreter, Olya described it as "kicking out winter." (How ready I was to see winter go myself last week!) They call it Maslenitsa. It has its origins in pagan rituals. Many of the activities from eating all sorts of blini, a Russian pancake, to skating, skiing, culminate in burning an enormous straw figure symbolic of bidding goodbye to winter and welcoming spring. Interestingly, one of the first activities of the week-long festival has individuals burning a straw doll in an attempt to forgive the wrongs committed against them. 

                Our group had been invited by the minister of education to the city of Kandalaksha to teach character training to the Russian teachers using the Bible. One of my journal entries mentioned the mayor of the city encouraged the participants to work hard during the difficult era in Russia - it had only been four years since the Soviet Union dissolved. He concluded with “but we know God has His part.”

                In 2007, I received an envelope letter with everything in Russian except my name and address. The letter inside was in Russian, too. The Ponca City Library connected me with Marina Mayer, a well-educated, delightful engineer who immigrated with her husband and son from Uzbekistan to Ponca City. She translated the letter from Marina Vahrusheva, the first grade teacher from Kandalaksha. The highlight of her letter revealed two years after we met she “professed Jesus Christ as my Lord.” Then the following year, the husband, Misha,"followed the same way and we don’t desire another life anymore."             

                Isn’t it interesting that the initial activity of Maslenitsa (kicking out winter) involved festival goers burning the small straw doll to try to forgive? Yet Marina and Misha found Jesus forgave them and gave their life meaning and purpose. For over 20 years, Marina and Misha have worked in their church with children and young people.

Some of the youth Marina and Misha work with in their church in Kandalaksha.
This was taken a few years ago. Marina is standing on the far right.

After awakening with her photo on my mind, I contacted her via email about a week ago. She quickly replied. Marina began her email with her concern about “events in the United States.” Then she closed with these words: Today in a meeting in the church I told about you and your mission in Kandalaksha. Now our entire church is praying for you and your country. Hold on, the Lord is merciful!

                I treasure the prayers from that Russian church north of the Arctic Circle. Marina, just like the other teachers I taught, grew up in a country, as one of them said, “without God for 70 years.” Could we find better Christians to pray for us?

                In May of 1995, I prayed fervently as I taught those five days, but never did I imagine the impact less than a week would have in spreading the gospel. Paul's words to the Thessalonians who were saved during his ministry in their area ring true and strong as I think about Marina and her influence for Christ. I pray to be spurred to continue to asked God for open doors of opportunity to share the gospel right here in our own country.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy. I Thessalonians 2:19-20

The Difference a Woodland Sweatshirt Made

            One of the February mornings with single digit temperatures found me driving to check the level of water at the livestock tank. Even on those bitterly cold days, I seldom felt noticeable cold except on one morning when I returned from monitoring the livestock water.

As I took off the outerwear, I spotted the tan Woodland sweatshirt. Maybe that sweatshirt made the difference. I had failed to pull it on between my two turtlenecks and hoodie. I never forgot it again during the frigidly cold days.

The Tan Woodland Sweatshirt that I've Come to
Love this Winter from Carolyn and Don Hicks

I remembered the day I had gone to visit Carolyn and Don Hicks after they both retired and prepared to move to a new home in Broken Arrow. Soon after I arrived, Don presented me with two Woodland sweatshirts. He was desperately trying to reduce Carolyn’s massive collection of so many things. I initially liked the traditional Woodland blue one better, but the tan one has served as a much-appreciated layer on several chore times this month.

Carolyn, a collector especially of books, delighted telling how the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation set a limit on the amount they would move for their employees’ relocation. That new rule tied directly to the enormous poundage of books they moved for Carolyn and Don when he was transferred from western Oklahoma to his new position at the ODWC office on Kaw Lake. Based on Carolyn’s history, Don was taking control of limiting what was being moved to Broken Arrow.

As I wore her sweatshirt this February, I was thankful for Carolyn, my red-haired friend and fellow educator. She often said, “I don’t have this red hair for nothing!” We were different in many ways, but she and I shared a love of classical music and love of learning. As her son eulogized her at her funeral in 2015, this phrase jumped out - “She was wickedly smart!”

When her mother died in a car accident, Carolyn not only lost her mother, but her community concert partner. She asked me to accompany her to each concert during the community concert season. She insisted on providing the membership fee for me. We enjoyed many years of evening concerts of beautifully performed music.

Following Carolyn’s health issues, including surviving a brain hemorrhage, she and I attended some Singing Churchmen concerts in Ponca City, as well a Singing Churchwomen concert, too. After the first one we attended following her life-threatening emergency hospitalization, she said, “I guess my being here is a miracle.” I strongly affirmed God’s hand in preserving her life. We both gave thanks to Him for His mercy and grace to heal her.

Carolyn and I at my parents' 50th wedding 
anniversary celebration in March of 1998

When writing this article, Paul’s request of Timothy in the final letter he wrote prior to his execution in Rome came into my thoughts. Paul was no longer under house arrest. He was in a Roman dungeon when he made this request for additional warmth and God’s Word in 2 Timothy 4:13 –

When you come, bring the warm coat I left with Carpus in the city of Troas. Also bring the scrolls and especially the parchments.

Most of the month of February, I have been sustained with warm clothing and by encouragement from the scripture. Over and over Mother and I have strengthened each other as we have faced difficulties and various challenges this month. As spring eventually comes, may each of us continue relying on the power of the Word of God every day to bolster us through successes and troubles that come our way.

Wading High Water

                Alice Vertle Rainey was born on February 14, 1902, so when Mother shared this memory snippet from her time with her dearly loved aunt, today seemed a perfect time to share it. 

Alice Vertle Rainey as a teen

                Mother’s earliest memories were made with her parents on the Oliver Morton place* here in the Bend. When she turned six years old, she visited Belford Grade School, but her parents felt over three miles were too great a distance for her to walk by herself.

                Her parents relocated so their bright, little daughter could attend school daily. My grandparents and Mother moved from the Morton place to the Betts place. Instead of being over three miles away, they were less than a half mile from Belford Grade School.

                My mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, thrilled at the thought of living so close to her beloved maternal grandma, Rosa Jarrell Rainey, and her treasured aunt, Alice Vertle Rainey. Their home could be reached with a hike of well under a half mile for my mother.

                Alice suffered with visual impairment due to complications from a case of Rubeola measles as a young child. For this reason, my mother questioned the sanity of anyone rejecting immunization for a child from this awful disease. She confided to me how she ensured Angie get the inoculation as soon as could. Mother indicated how she agonized watching me suffer from my case of the “red” measles as a preschooler prior to the vaccine’s release in 1963. Now the second and final dose of MMR vaccinations protecting against measles (Rubeola), mumps, and Rubella (three-day measles) are administered to children before entrance into school.

                Even though Mother’s beloved Aunt Alice suffered from visual impairment, she and Mother cooked, cleaned, and even hiked back and forth between their homes. Mother rewrote Alice’s favorite recipes in large print. Alice prided herself on keeping a clean house, being especially fastidious about the kitchen, where she baked delicious desserts.

                Recently, Mother recounted a memory I had never heard. She began speaking about the flooding of the creek south of their home when they lived on the Betts place, now owned by the descendants of Lora Kirk Betts. She recalled the width of the little creek being only about eight feet. Most of the time, its flow just trickled, but rain transformed the little stream into a rapid flowing menace. When flooding, it rose quickly but went down just as rapidly.**

                As a kid, Mother exhibited gutsy behavior based on stories told about her. She and her dear Aunt Alice always walked to and from her home and the Rainey home. Their preferred and closest route was less than half a mile northwest of the twin bridges directly south of the house. Mother chuckled a bit as she recalled a time when she was around ten years old. She and Alice embarked on their trek from Mother’s home to the home Alice shared with Mother’s grandma. Mother said, “That day the creek water was up to our waists and flowing swiftly, but we made it across.” It seemed unnecessary to mention it was not cold weather since they arrived soaked from their waists down at her grandma’s house after wading high water! 

                As I reflect on the life of Alice Rainey, much of her life found her “in high water” beginning with the disease that debilitated her vision. In those days, her impaired vision took away her opportunity for further education like my grandma, Gladys Rainey Smith, who attended the summer session at Oklahoma A and M to receive certification as a schoolteacher. Neither did Alice have the chance to train in the field of business like her youngest sister, Emma Rainey Buckley, who went on to a multi-decade career in Washington, D.C. Even though her nieces and nephews told of how loving she was to them as children, Alice never married and had children as her oldest sister, Daisy Dean Rainey Rice, did.

                Yet especially after her spiritual conversion in the fall of 1931, she found the strength and desire to live a life of purpose and giving to others, especially her own mother. The words from the very mouth of God that Isaiah dictated in the book bearing his name in chapter 43, verse 2 came to mind. Here are the powerful words that grounded Alice and all who have received Jesus as Savior. Having been transformed from death into life, they can attest to His tried-and-true promises as they walk with Him as Lord, the “boss” of their daily existence, 

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.(The Living Translation)

*To see a photograph of Mother’s first home at the Oliver Morton place, go to: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2014/07/miracles-at-little-house.html

**To read a blog posting about the prevalent flooding of this creek and its impact on Mamie Irene Tripp Gates, my paternal grandma, click on: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/07/she-wouldnt-turn-around-or-wait.html

      

Thankful Heart on a Cold Winter Day

With reluctance, I post this musing about care for our small herd. As I think of many ranchers with many more livestock than we have, I reflect on the looming prediction of possibly the coldest periods of winter in decades. My dear friend, Debbie Hightower Ballinger, reminded of our need to pray for the many essential workers in diverse careers in urban and rural areas who must work in these frigid temperatures. May God grant strength from a deep-seated love that finds reasons for faithfulness and thankfulness.

I am sure I am not the only one who awakened in the wee hours of the morning with concerning thoughts that quickly turn to worries. I should have put out a bale. It is so cold for the cattle. I will put out a bale early when I have frozen ground, “a poor man’s cement,” instead of the messy mud, but what if the pickup will not start?  Of course, I did not fall back to sleep quickly since other similar concerns crowded my mind.

I began praying and saying scripture verses such as What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. (Psalm 56:3) and Trust in Him at all times… (Psalm 62:8). Then being convicted of committing the sin of worry when I should be sleeping, I recalled the Philippians 4:6-7 passage with these words, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Finally, I prayed myself back to sleep as I prayed for the many people for whom our online prayer group was praying.

Soon I was hopping out of bed. As I struggled into feeding clothes, I flipped open the blinds and thanked the Lord for no snow and a clear windshield on the truck. The sub-freezing temperatures required my warmest outerwear. I grabbed a Woodland sweatshirt that Don Hicks insisted I take when he and Carolyn, my friend and former colleague, moved. I put on my warm, new compression socks. Last of all, I stepped into my boots and pulled them securely on. My Plainsman-gloved hand shoved the truck's keys into my pocket.

Some of my work wear for Winter Days

Stepping out the back door, I thanked the Lord that the wind at sunrise was minimal. The cats met me at the back door. Even though it had been a bitterly cold night, they survived and eagerly anticipated eating.

When I turned the key in the ignition, I thought of Dad, quite an optimist. He would have said, “Honey, it fired off like a shot!” I eased the truck across the frozen ground and backed up to exactly the bale I wanted, forked it, lifted it, and drove to put it out. No problems with the gate or driving through the pasture. Thankful prayers were going up from my heart.

I approached where I wanted to place the bale and another thank-you came from my lips, as I glimpsed the tiniest black heifer calf nestled in some hay. A little glitch occurred when the bale broke apart as I pulled forward. But I quickly said, “Thank you, Lord, because they can comfortably eat the hay!”

Walking to the stock tank, I could tell they had not drunk much water during the night. A thought of thankfulness crossed my mind as I realized I could quickly get the tank filled back to the brim.

 I maneuvered the truck slowly back to the house, and I thanked the Lord for the success of the cold morning mission. How thankful I was for the four-wheel drive of the truck! With gratitude, I looked at the cattle eating the hay, but had to be thankful that they were calmly grazing even before I put out the bale.

                The scripture commands in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians in chapter 5, verse 18, Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. May we live in a spirit of thankfulness to God – no matter the weather.