I haven't posted in a long time, but on this rainy Sunday afternoon in September, I thought it was time for some more of my good memories to surface.
Long time friends of my parents, Dick and Sara Neufeld, surely bring back many happy memories for me. They lived up the street on Monmouth Avenue at 3338. Their house was only the third one from the top of the hill, where Sir Wilfred Grenfell school was located, so we passed by it whenever we went to and from school, twice each day. Sometimes Sara would wave out the window to us.
I've scanned in the photo from the old church directory and I edited the top one so that the grainy texture was gone, but then Dick and Sara nearly fade away, so here is the grainy one too.
Dick Neufeld was born May 9, 1913 in Hebert, Saskatchewan. He died on February 24, 1993 in New Westminster, BC. He was 79.
I remember him very well. He had a great sense of humour and was always cracking a joke, especially with one of his missing fingers! It was accidentally sawed off long before I met him, but he made a joke out of it, pretending to pop it off by manipulating his other fingers so it looked like he had a full finger. It always impressed the kids!
He and Sara moved from Saskatchewan in the 1940's to help with the building of the Apostolic Faith Church in Vancouver BC. They moved out to the West Coast along with others from the prairies.
Dick and Sara were very hospitable and I visited their home on Monmouth Avenue often, after church meetings. They had a small kitchen, but after coffee or tea we'd sit in the living room and visit.
Dick played a banjo, and somewhere I have a photo of him. He loved to sing and often was asked to sing solos in church for Sunday or Wednesday evenings. One time he and Sara visited Newfoundland and they learned many short choruses that the "Newfies" loved to sing, so Dick taught us those in church. Both of them loved to spend time in prayer at the altars and would often help people "pray through".
Dick and Sara were both whole hearted Christians.
Here is her testimony, written in July 1984 for the "Vancouver Lighthouse" paper:
"There is joy in serving the Lord! I found this out when I was just thirteen years old. I had been sent to Sunday School as far back as I can remember. I heard there that Jesus was coming again, and I knew I wasn't ready. Many nights I cried myself asleep, wondering if I should die, where would I spend eternity. Then one day my friend asked me to come to her house. There were people visiting from Oregon, holding cottage meetings. While I was there I heard a sister testify that she had such hunger in her heart to know that she was ready for heaven.
I came forward the very first meeting I was in, and told the Lord I was sorry for all my sin, and if He would forgive me and come into my heart, I would live for Him the rest of my life. In just a moment of time, I knew my sins were forgiven and now I was heaven bound.
I am praising the Lord for that happy day. I have never been out in the so called pleasures of this world, but I've missed nothing but a lot of heart aches. I've had the joy of serving the Lord. Today my favourite song is "Higher Ground". I am still climbing higher. One day, maybe soon, I'll reach that Home on higher ground.
"For faith has caught the joyful sound, the song of saints on higher ground."
My life has not always been a bed of roses, but I've had a burden bearer, One that always takes the heavy end. When I see Jesus, I will praise Him for ever and ever without a time limit. I love Him with all my heart."
By Loretta Houben
