Page 317 - The Diary of A. H. W. Behrens

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Father was the chairperson of the Bechuana Mission from 1864 to 1882, started more and more stations, appointed people for them and visited them according to regulations.
The trek in 1866 from Natal on 10 ox wagons with a number of missionaries and their brides that had just arrived on the Candace is well documented. Father’s rich work was his joy and he found fulfilment in it for all that he had left behind
in Germany. He also never returned to Germany. He almost succeeded to do so once in 1882. But this plan was thwarted by certain missionaries (I do not want to mention their names, they are no longer alive) and it went so far that father and I would almost have been dismissed from the Hermannsburg Mission. But we stayed when someone intervened. So, no more about this. Enough. Would the Lord of the church
have asked my old father whether he was satisfied with the exchange of having left behind his farm and work and all friends in return for doing his work for the people in Bethanie with a church and school or whether he desired to return as a farmer to Hermannsburg, he would definitely have said: Never, never! I shall stay where I am and shall work for the kingdom of God to my very end. I do not regret having left everything behind!!!