Pilgrims Searching for a Home

In this biographical sketch, the author traces the extraordinary life pilgrimage of his grandparents.


In the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution, Jacob and Justina Friesen started their family in Ischalka, Samara, Russia, enduring the turmoil and terror of the disastrous civil war and the famine that followed. This ordinary Christian family, leaving behind home, loved ones, culture, and all that was familiar, and, as pilgrims, fled from their motherland in search of a better home in western Canada.


Adjusting as pioneers to their new life on the prairies was not easy either. Learning a new language and culture while moving from place to place, it took a few years to get settled. Then, just as they were settling, the Great Depression with its “dust bowl” years set in. Struggling and losing their farm twice while the family expanded to fourteen children was a test of faith like no other. This is a story of faith and hope amid disappointment and despair. They realized that in this life, we are but pilgrims passing through, seeking the permanent “city” that has everlasting foundations, whose builder and maker is God.