On returning from our tree planting adventure, a letter from Thomas’ mother in West Berlin, was waiting for us. He had written her a letter about our new baby, and our new life at the ranch. Maybe you remember in Episode 23, I had translated some of his letter. Now we had her response! It was full of questions, and her defences about her religious beliefs. He had been exchanging letters with her on these topics ever since we came to California. At that time they were both, on the same wave length.
I only started reading these letters in the past few months. I had no idea what was in them. She had carefully filed them away in a binder and given them to me a long time ago. They were valuable to her, especially because she missed her son, who had taken off for California. I found a letter that she wrote, in response to Thomas’ letter. He had gone through it and written numbers on her points, and sent it back to her with his responses.
Comparing their letters now, written in the summer of 1973, it almost feels like eavesdropping on their personal discussion. I think on many levels, we can relate to their way of thinking, and what they understood about the purpose of life.
Their correspondence is intriguing, it’s all about comparing religious beliefs. Not only, is it their experience at the time, but the topics are still relevant today.
You would never know that they were written almost 50 years ago, and the discussions were being exchanged, between two different countries. Thomas was 23, his mom was in her early 40s and his grandmother, in her early 60s. The desire to find God was something they all had in common.
Thomas and I, had been on a search for God and a spiritual way of living. We were young and adventurous. Nadja and Omi, on the other hand, were already set in their ways. Amd then all of a sudden, they got a letter from Thomas, talking about the Bible and following Jesus. I think at first, they thought, this is just another fad of our youth. But in reality, his letters were preparing the way for both of them, to turn from their old ways, and find the real truth.
I can imagine him in the prayer cabin up on the hill. It was a Saturday, in August of 73. He was probably sitting cross legged on the wooden floor, with her letter and his Bibles spread out in front of him. He was there for a few hours, while I was back at the tipi with Nomtini. He wrote 10 full pages in German and I am sure glad, that it is easy for me to read his handwriting.
Here is his introduction, that leads up to responding to her first point.
It is so sweet how he begins, with a greeting in the name of our Lord, like the example of the letters in the NT. And then he talks about our baby, that she is growing, just like we are, in our new life.
