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I'm 64 as I write this and I know the answer to the Beatles song.
I am still needed and loved!
Susie queueing songs on the karaoke machine
for the residents to sing and to dance at Valle Vista in Lewistown, Montana
Susie next to a map of Israel and the Middle East
I was born in Lewistown, MT in 1946 at St. Joseph's Hospital. My Dad said that the only concern was how to pay the hospital bill. They charged $2.00 a day, at that time they had the mom's stay longer then they do now. She got out in 8 days and everyone was surprised that she didn't have to stay 10 days as that was the normal length of stay then.
My Dad said that when he first saw me he was really afraid because I was in an incubator and getting oxygen. That was standard for then. He had a cousin and he and his wife had lost their first baby to heart disease. At that time they called them blue babies. Mom and Dad said that I looked so much like this baby that they were really startled.
The three of us made a move to North Hollywood, CA when I was six weeks old. My first trip was on board a train. My Dad had gotten a job with his Uncle Barney helping in the plumbing shop. He did that for a while and then was called back into the Navy.
I remember when I was about 5 we were playing in a playground in Military Housing. A little, black woman came up and started to talk with us and telling us about Jesus. She said if we had Jesus in our hearts we would have his light in our heart. Right then I decided that I wanted that light in me. I received Him right there in that playground.
Everywhere we moved from then on Mom would take us to the closest church and we would go to Sunday School.
From then on my life and that of our family was a series of moves to different places that Dad was stationed at. One adventure after another.
2012 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act
http://glorecords.blm.gov/ (choose Montana, Fergus County, Hogeland for my family homestead patents in central Montana)
When I was in third grade we came back to Lewistown as Dad was going to be overseas. We went to school and lived there until his return at the end of summer. The Assembly of God church was right behind the house at 620 W. Montana St. and so we went to Children's Bible School on Wednesday and Sunday School on Sunday.
Susie at age 8
After Dad came home we took off to Washington DC where we lived for 3 years.
My parents divorced later and we went to live with my Mom's parents. That was a difficult time for all three of us kids. We loved our Grandparents, but wanted to be with our parents. My Grandparents did not attend church and so we did not either. I never gave up my belief in my Savior.
My life from early adulthood was very mixed up. I married my first husband in 1968 and we were very active in the LDS church. After nearly 8 years we divorced and my time in the LDS church ended along with my marriage.
My second husband and I started attending an Assembly of God church about 4 years into our marriage. We both found a relationship with our Lord. We were quite happy on our path with the Lord. We had been married almost 6 years when he passed away.
The next 14 years was my personal journey with the Lord. I went through many times of growth. I began to realize how much He loved me. I did not feel worthy of Him and could not understand how He could possibly love me. One night I dreamed that I was on a donkey on the streets of Jerusalem and He had His arms around me and He was speaking to my heart and telling me that He loved me and always would. I woke up singing "I was born to love You." After that I never doubted His love for me or mine for Him.
All this time He was drawing me to the Jewish people. I had hands laid on me in prayer and He told me that the call on my life was to do all He tells me to do for the Jewish people.
In 1993 I moved to Milwaukee, WI and became part of a Messianic Fellowship. I felt that at last I had come home. I started learning all that I could about the Hebrew Faith and my own Hebrew roots.
I found that my 9th Great Grandmother on my Dad's side was Jewish and that the family names on my Mom's side were listed in the synagogues of Europe.
Achim and Susie under the Chuppah April 5, 1996
In that fellowship I met my late husband Achim Kurzawa. We started a courtship that lasted a little over a year and we were married in a Jewish Wedding on April 5, 1996. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He had a Hebrew heritage too. His Father and Grandfather helped the Jewish People get out of Germany. When they were asked to go they said no.
He was my teacher and helpmate. He taught me to read Hebrew and we had many discussions on our faith. We were best friends as well as husband and wife. You can read his story too.
We made our move to Lewistown in 2003. We worked together to learn all we could on our walk with our Messiah, Yeshua.
While in Lewistown I joined Daughters of The American Revolution. The past few years they have given me the opportunity to do a Chanukah presentation. I have researched this and know that it is true:
The U.S. Dollar bill honors someone who stepped in and
helped George Washington and the Continental Army
The Chanuka Candle that inspired George Washington
Photo courtesy of
fotosearch.com
Achim passed away in November 2010. He is buried here in Lewistown, where he wanted to be.
Achim at rest
I am still on my journey with Messiah Yeshua and the adventure continues....
Last Updated: 01/23/2015