1/10/2023 0 Comments Have a cuppa![]() Although the years spent on the Canadian prairie were some of the hardest years, Ella and her children looked back on them as some of the most wonderful. Instead she praised the Lord for providing and instilled in her children a joy of the great beauty around them and the simplicity of life that the Lord had given them which allowed them to spend time serving others. ![]() Ella never complained no matter how old and worn the items were that came in the missionary barrels that arrived every once in a while, and she made sure her children didn’t complain either. Ella often had to deal with meager funds and a low food supply, but she refused to let the burdens of life overcome her and turned to God for strength during these difficult times. The family often referred to this time as the “Prairie Years.” It was a hard life with Ella’s husband gone for long periods of time on the preaching circuit. For the first time they were able to purchase a house, and they immediately opened it up to neighbors and strangers alike. Her mother was waiting for her when she disembarked the ship and for the first time Elvine learned the truth of her mother’s love and that she hadn’t been abandoned all those year ago.Īfter a period of time, the Norwegian Baptist Conference asked the Twetens if they’d be willing to be missionaries to the Scandinavian newcomers in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and they agreed to go. The following year at the age of 15, Elvine also escaped to America. When Elvine’s brother was but 15 he went to America to find his mother. Elvine and her brother grew up feeling that their parents had abandoned them and that there was some mysterious tragedy being kept secret from them. When Elvine’s father returned home from sea, he believed the lies about his wife that his brother told him. Stunned and feeling she couldn’t face more shame, Elvine’s mother fled to America instead of asking her family for help. Elvine’s father was often away at sea, and one day when she was only four years old and her brother, Joseph, five, her childless aunt and uncle on her father's side had Elvine’s mother declared incompetent because they didn’t like her and snatched the children away. Elvine’s mother was from the rich and powerful Lund family and at the age of sixteen was disinherited because she married a lowly seaman. ![]() ![]() Elvine “Ella” Johannessen was born on March 3, 1894, in Norway to Ole and Bertilda (Lund) Johannessen. ![]()
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