From: Emmental, Bessarabia
28 April 1921

Honored Mr. Editor!

I do not know why several of my correspondences did not appear in the paper. Of the many reports I had sent to you in the previous year, only three have been published. The rest must have gotten lost due to the bad postal connections. I regret this very much, since I spent all that money on stamps for nothing.

The health conditions are good right now. The only thing we don’t like is the weather. It is still too dry. Even though a few days ago we had a little rain, the storm that is blowing has already dried up the moisture so that it is dusty and blowing all over. Even straw and hay is picked up by the wind and blown onto the fields.

I want to inform Mr. Adam Moldenhauer in Canada that I received his letter through his mother. I don’t know him personally but Elias Moldenhauer is my friend. We are always together and often talk about America. We also would very much like to go over there, so that we wouldn’t have to play soldier here, which is no fun and games at all.

First of all, the food is not the way we are used to. Three times a day mamolika [mámlik] and beans are served. This is not to our liking. Only those who grew up with it can handle it for any length of time. We wouldn’t be able to stand it for three days.

You are also always getting beat in the military. That is why we often had the idea to get away before hand and go to America. Elias has been offered a free ticket to America more than once, but he doesn’t dare go by himself. I almost feel inclined to go with him.

Adam Moldenhauer is being asked to write more often. We are always happy to hear something from someone who emigrated from here.

Daniel Kopp is my friend and also my godfather. He is still healthy and happy and plays many cheerful melodies on his harmonica.

In closing, I am sending a greeting to my friends Georg Kuhn, Aloisius Neubauer and to Franz and Katharina Kuhn in the cloister, as well as to Adam Moldenhauer.

Aloisius Deichert