Deepening Roots—and Faith—in Canada (Continued)

Making a Living
Shortly after arriving in the spring, the Reimers looked for jobs. Agatha worked long tedious hours in canola fields, helping to separate male from female plants. Later, she graded potatoes during the fall harvest. These days, she drives a school bus part time.

David worked as a hired hand on the Skiff-area farm of George Hildebrand, who grows wheat, peas, mustard and canola. George's Mennonite father started the farm in Alberta in 1927, after moving from Ontario.

Then David tried carpentry for three months. "For some reason it didn't work out."

The Hildebrands offered David his old job back and he has been there ever since, driving an hour each way to and from work.

At the Hildebrand farm, while David and another Plautdietsch-speaking co-worker get set to service a bailer in a barn on a rainy day, George explains that he gives jobs to Mennonites with Old Colony backgrounds because they are so dependable.

David is proof of that. "He's a good worker," says the soft-spoken Hildebrand, whose son Brian is taking over running the seven sections of family-owned land.

"I hope I'm good to him."

As David and another Plautdietsch-speaking co-worker hook up a monitor that is used to operate the bailer when it's pulled behind a tractor, the lanky farmhand explains that he has needed to adapt, since coming from Mexico, to using larger Canadian farm machinery by experience alone.

"I had to learn new things, bigger things, here."

Future Plans
While David can do virtually everything around the farm, he doesn't have any illusions about owning his own place.

"To own a farm here, a guy needs to have quite a bit of education in order to be able to run that. No, I will not be able to run a farm here. It would not work."

David and Agatha expect their six children (who mostly speak Plautdietsch at home), to have much greater opportunities in the family's new homeland, and they encourage them to pursue their interests during and after graduating from the local public school.

"I guess they can look around this country and see what they can find," says David.

For example, Ben is studying at Prairie Bible College in Three Hills, Alberta; son John wants to pursue music at Red Deer College; Paulina would like to go on a short-term mission in South America; and continuously smiling Trudy plays piano, (earning her Grade 6 certificate in just three years). She wants to be a teacher.

Do the Reimers ever wish they were back in Mexico?
"Well, there are things that I really miss, you know," replies Dave. "I had my property . . . but now if we look out there, it's changing. Anywhere in the world you have to be big [farm operators], in order to survive, and [then there] was that drought that came."

Considering everything, David views the family's relocation to Canada with thankfulness and contentment.

"It's probably the best choice that we have made."