Dear Grandchildren, It was December 11, 1936, when I left Poland for good. The ground there at that time was all white with freshly fallen snow. Konstancin looked like a fairyland when everything turned white. The snow always looked clean and glistening. I will always remember the nights when I watched the snow fall from my bedroom window. The streetlight on the corner made it look so very mysterious, and, watching it, my thoughts would travel far away to an unknown destination. Somehow I felt that there would come a drastic change in my life: that someday I would be going to a faraway country. And it really happened. For a long time it had been only a feeling, but it became a reality.

Our ship sailed from Gdansk on the evening of December 11. We traveled tourist class, which was the first and second class combined. Before launching out into the Atlantic Ocean, we made two stops: one in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the other in England. Since we could only see those two countries from the deck of our ship, all I remember about them were the lights reflected in the water.

By morning, many of the people on the ship were getting very seasick and could not at all enjoy the voyage on the ocean. I was slightly sick, but I was determined to enjoy every minute of my trip. Many were homesick for their loved ones, and the combination of seasickness and heartsickness was disastrous for them. But I knew that I had no one left in Poland since my mother and my sister left for South America several weeks ahead of me. I was looking forward to my new country with a great anticipation. I was sure that the Lord had answered my prayer and that His love for me was very sure. My heart was singing all the time and I expressed that joy without even being aware of it.

One morning, as I was passing several cabins on the way to breakfast, one young Jewish man begged me to come and tell him the secret of my feeling so well. He himself was looking ashen-green from sickness. I said to him, “I guess I am so happy to be going to America, that I didn’t notice anything else.”

There were very few people who made it to the dining room for their meals, and oh, the meals were so scrumptious. I could have all that I wanted of all the good things, but I remembered to act like a lady and not to take any more than just enough.

After five days on the Atlantic Ocean, at the middle of our voyage, our ship stopped, and we were asked to come up on the deck. Right across from us was another ship going to Poland on its return trip from the U.S. We were close enough that we could hear both captains sending greetings from one ship to the other. Both of our ships stopped to pray and then all of us sang the Polish national anthem. I was so impressed by this moment that tears came to my eyes. All around us was water and only two ships with living souls in them. This little ceremony brought hope and assurance to us in the middle of the ocean. —Grandma Nadzia

QUESTIONS:

*Have you ever been in a boat or ship? Was it fun or were you scared?

*Look on a map to see where the Atlantic Ocean is. Is it bigger or smaller than you expected?

*How did God show Nadzia that He was with her, even in the middle of the big ocean?

MEMORY VERSE:

“They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.” —Psalm 107:24