Page 315 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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Matthew 19
Father was completely in his element here, this is how he wanted to live: work from morning until night. He lived completely in his mission work, this is what he had left everything behind for, for the sake of the gospel. He was a missionary through and through and had his joy in the church and in the school. Missionary Chr. Müller once said to me, “Your father is working more than all of us!” And I could work alongside him for 20 years, from 1880 until 1900, and I gladly did so in the second line. Father was also practically inclined: he thatched houses, he laid bricks, he planned a village with the roads and he also taught people earthly things. He bought farms and set up laws and rules for them, he appointed watchmen and kept the books of everything. He loved music, translated hymns himself and singing was his great joy. Although he could only play his little hand-organ, he practised on it until he could play, for example the Great Hallelujah, with four voices, and many other pieces so that he eventually published and printed the “Harfe” with many spiritual songs and canons. Father with his singers and I with my brass band that once had 44 players with uniform, instruments, flags etc. brought life into the people.