June 2022

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

“Many years ago, back in Ukraine, from a basket on a shelf, my grandfather watched the blood drain from her face as his mother died giving birth.” Murray Sankey recalled the story of the trauma his grandfather endured, which eventually stirred him to flee to Canada. “Not long after his mother died, my grandfather’s dad also passed away, so my grandfather ended up with his abusive uncle. Today, I thank God because that uncle’s harsh treatment caused my grandfather to get his tail out of the Ukraine as quickly as he could.

“He was just like Jack in the movie Titanic; at the age of 18, he jumped a ship as a stowaway, landed in Montreal, got a job on a dairy farm for five or six months, and quickly learned French. Thank the Lord, they didn’t send him back to Ukraine.

“From that dairy farm, he made his way west, and then worked for an American rancher north of Consort. When my grandfather found a Ukrainian community near Hemaruka, he staked a claim on some land.”

“Just like Murray’s grandparents, mine both emigrated from the Ukrainian, except they came to eastern Saskatchewan.” Elaine Sankey explains. “That’s where they homesteaded and raised their family, all of us speaking Ukrainian.”

The seeds of Murray’s grandfather’s faith started growing one Friday night when he was on his way to Hemaruka. “He saw a light, south of Loyalist, knocked on the door, and here he meets this family from North Dakota having a Bible study. They invited him in and continued their Bible study with him listening and asking questions.

“When he left in the morning, he said he was walking on air. He said, ‘I found out that I could be forgiven without going to the priest. I could go directly to my knees and ask Jesus to forgive me.’ They taught him the song, ‘Whiter Than Snow,’ so can you imagine him waking up that Saturday morning, walking down the road to Hemaruka to play the music for the Ukrainian community’s dances and drink their whisky, and he was playing his squeeze box, singing, ‘Whiter Than Snow’?!”

When a Ukrainian pastor named Babienko came through their area, he nourished that seed of the gospel planted in Murray’s grandfather’s heart. “In the daytime, Pastor Babienko would help the homesteaders build their houses and their barns, and in the evenings, he would preach to them. He raised a church of about 70 members, and my grandparents were baptized into that church in 1914.”

“It’s fascinating to see the parallels in our two families,” Elaine adds, “because this same preacher, Pastor Babianko, worked his way across the prairies, and in the late 30’s he was in eastern Saskatchewan, where my grandparents homesteaded. Both my father’s grandparents and my mother and father and his sister and brother were baptized by the same preacher. It’s amazing how a seed planted by a North Dakota family on the prairies of Alberta was nurtured by a preacher who influenced both our families, not only our grandparents but how it has come down through the generations to our parents, to us, and to our children.”

Thanks to your generous contributions, It Is Written Canada’s film crew was able to visit the Sankey’s home and capture their story.

If you wish to watch the Sankey’s entire captivating story, you can see it on It Is Written Canada this month on CTV, 3ABN, Hope Channel, Yes-TV, Miracle Channel or many of the other networks across Canada and around the world where It Is Written Canada is featured. Or simply go to itiswrittencanada.ca or It Is Written Canada’s YouTube videos and click on the programs entitled: “Faith of Our Fathers – Part 1 & 2.”

~ Mike Lemon