“But the Lord has never forsaken us”:  Maria Bergen’s Life Story
by Wanda Derksen-Bergen

 If you asked one of Maria (Mika) Bergen’s great grandchildren to say “Molotschna,” they’d probably think it was a funny word and would have the rest of the adults in the family laughing at their efforts.  This was the place where in another time, a sweet little girl entered the Goerzen family, bringing smiles and warmth to those who surrounded her.

 Maria Goerzen was born in the village of Paulsheim, Molotschna, Ukraine on September 10th, 1925 to Johann and Katharina Heidebrecht Goerzen.  She was the third child in a family of four children, two boys and two girls, and was affectionately known as Mika.  She herself writes that her childhood was a happy time and they were blessed, but there were tough times ahead.  On October 24, 1937, her father was taken from the family along with many other men.  Maria was only 12 years old when her mother was left alone with four children to raise, and in spite of the hardship they had to endure, it was accompanied by the assurance of God’s presence.  In Mika’s words, “Aber der Herr hat uns nie verlassen,” meaning “but God never forsook us.”

 More ominous dates were etched in Maria’s memory – on June 22, 1941, Germany declared war on Russia and on September 3 of that year, her brother, Heinz, was taken. Her oldest brother, Hans, had been teaching in the Volga and he, too, disappeared, leaving only the women in the family. Again she writes, “Aber der Herr hat uns nie verlassen.”

 A day after her eighteenth birthday, 1943, Maria, her younger sister, Katie, and her mother left their home with two horses and a wagon packed with their few belongings.  The harshness of winter made traveling treacherous, and they faced the realities of cold, hunger and thirst.  By March 11, 1944, they arrived in Warthegau where they boarded a train for the remainder of the trip.  Miraculously, they experienced divine protection and in God’s own mysterious ways, it was the Germans who helped them out of Russia.

 They spent one year in Poland, one in Germany, and one year in Holland before boarding the Volendam in 1947 to cross the big ocean to yet another home.  Unbeknownst to her, Maria’s future husband, Gerhard Bergen, was also on that ship.

 Creating a new home in Paraguay was a huge challenge, and the image of Maria and Katie on each end of a large saw with a giant log in between is a small testament to their hard work.  Amidst the onerous task of blazing a new trail, there was always the assurance of God’s presence and help in time of need.  Maria’s strong faith in Christ led to her baptism on January 18, 1948 in the Volendam Mennonite Gemeinde.

 One of the biggest blessings in Mika’s life came when she met and married her life partner, Gerhard/George Bergen.  They married in Volendam on December 3, 1949 and the family can attest to their married bliss.  Their wedding invitation read, “Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not the good things He has done.”  They truly shared a strong faith, were deeply committed to each other, cared for one another oh so tenderly, and stood by each other through good times and hard times.

Gerhard and Maria  celebrated their love with a growing family – Martha, George and Bruno were born in Paraguay--and then the family uprooted once again, this time to the Fraser Valley in 1955.   On April 27, 1959, heartbreak struck as they gave birth to a stillborn daughter, but the shadows of those clouds were to be somewhat broken by the arrival of Marlene, their bright sunshine!  The children’s memories of playing with all the Siemens cousins on Townline Road are still alive and well, and Maria used to say  how simple and happy those times were.  There were jobs to do – berries to pick, pigs to butcher, meals to organize and cook at the Menno Home, as well as children to raise and send off to school, but rarely did a day pass without making time to gather together to share a drink of Mate.
Maria cared for both her own mother and her mother-in-law until they passed away.  Katie, her sister, continued to be a treasure in her life, and even though she was the younger sister, Katie predicted that Mika would outlive her.  The tears flowed long and hard when Katie passed away almost five years ago.

However, the devastation of losing family was accompanied by the joy of welcoming new family members.  Over the years, all four children found special life partners, and, as they each started families of their own, grandchildren opened a wonderful chapter in the lives of Gerhard and Maria and inspired them with new energy.

Mika had a special way of creating a comfort zone for her children and grandchildren, whether it was with her hug, kiss and smile or by all the favourite foods she cooked and baked.  Her zwieback were a standby for everyone in the family, symbolic of her own steady presence in each of our lives.  The vereniki were the best ever, her cabbage rolls converted those who thought they didn’t like them, her meat piroschke were always passed to the grandkids who devoured them.  She warmed our hearts with her borscht and bean soups, and taught her kids and grandkids how to ‘make it’ by adding a little bit of this, tasting this to see if it had enough salt, maybe a little more of this, leaving everyone a bit bewildered on how to carry on this rich tradition.  Her sewing expertise wrapped each grandchild in the comfort of a blanket and when a patch was needed, she was always more than willing.  When the great grandkids, were born, she knit special comfort wraps for them, too.

That comfort zone extended past the immediate family to the many visitors she welcomed in her home.  She had a way of putting newcomers at ease, and when at a dinner conversation someone would be a bit critical, her response was always, “Everybody has something!”

In April of 1997, after Gerhard had survived one bout of cancer, the doctor gave Maria and the family the stunning news that the cancer was back.  Although loneliness had been a part of her early life, the biggest challenge came after Gerhard passed away on August 6, 1997.  The next ten years would be some of her loneliest and even though her children and grandchildren were all relatively close by, there was no filling that empty ache.

Her church family and friends were a huge support to her, as they always had been.  Ebenezer was a place of spiritual fellowship and inspiration for her through the years.  Her coffee times and evenings of playing dominoes with her special friends kept her going, as did the sharing of all the latest news over the phone lines.

Maria was not without health issues that came with her years of growing older, and in May of last year, she was hospitalized with serious heart concerns.  After recovering, she claimed she hadn’t felt better in a long time;  to her children, she seemed a bit invincible.  When she fell ill at the family Easter dinner everyone trusted it would be another bout for her to survive.  She’d been in the hospital less than a day when the doctor called to say the family needed to make some important decisions.  Little did they know it was time to say goodbye.  After a time of physical struggle, her body relaxed and she spent her last few hours peacefully, with family at her side, holding her hands, stroking her face, showering her with tears and kisses.  Patience was not one of Maria’s strongest virtues – when she wanted to accomplish something, she wanted it now, and it appears she approached her death the same way she did her life, with no time to lose.  In the end, she suffered little, she never had to move out of her own home, and no doubt, she was welcomed in heaven by not only her Divine Creator but also by her husband, Gerhard, her sister, Katie, and many other loved ones.