The Mysterious Isle
| In my younger years I noticed a little painting perched
on a miniature stand. (picture). It is an island in the middle of the sea,
with a Swiss alp in the background. It is not very good and looks a bit
cheap like a souvenir you buy with on-the-spot-enthusiasm but throw away
when you get home (or at least some time later).
This thing I think was standing somewhere
in my grandparents' flat in Stockholm after their retirement. As a young
lad I looked at it and I must have asked about it. But I only received
the answer that this was Isle de Salagnon in the Lake of Geneva
and the alp was Dent du Midi. End of interest.
When David and Betty were gone, the little souvenir found it's way into
our house. I did wonder why my Dad Erik kept it, but I do not think I ever
asked. |
 |
Later in life, when I was 18, I had just graduated from school in Sweden.
Between the end of school and the beginning of my compulsory military
service I was visiting my parents, who had recently been posted in Switzerland.
My father arranged for me to make a short tour through the lovely Swiss
country. On my way I was to see one or two friends of the family (unknown
to me up to that time).
I was scheduled to go to Clarens, near Montreux and the Lake of Geneva,
and see Madame Perret. Dad explained carefully how to get there: From the
railway station at Lausanne, you go down to the lakeside and catch the
tramway to the left. Get off at Saint Gingeorge and continue in
the same direction until you see the steep road up to the left. Go there
to the first house. That is Pre Boisé, Madame Perret's house..
I did exactly as I was told: took the tram, got off and strolled on
in the same direction. And suddenly at a turn of the road I stood petrified.
What did I see? Exactly the picture of Isle de Salagnon although
the island was not in the middle of the sea but very near the shore (still
you needed a boat to get there). And of course with the mighty Dent
du Midi in the background.
So this was the place! But why was it so special to my grandparents
and, at least, to my Dad? Only in these last years did I receive the
answer, and here it comes...
How Leonarda and Frieda (Unknowingly) Took Care of Me even Before I was
Born
Madame Perret was a charming "old" lady I was 18 so everybody over 30
was "old" to me and she told me she remembered my mother (Frieda). She
showed a very big interest in me and asked me much about what I was going
to do now that I had finished school etc. I did not have many answers,
only that I was going into the military for some time, a year or perhaps
two, and then I'd have to see...
Ironically, during this same visit, she arranged for me to visit Mountain
House, Caux a stately hotel up the hillside, visible and not very far
from her house. There I met with a lot of people at a conference arranged
by Moral Re-Armament (MRA). In those days it was a very active movement
that owned and used the hotel for big international conferences. On my
way to Switzerland I had read a book about the MRA (Peter Howard's, Ideas
Have Legs) and I was very keen to see and hear about the MRA for myself.
They had a "method" of "listening to God" that I was very curious about.
I was very surprised, but delighted, that Madame had good contacts with
Caux and could arrange this visit for me.
I only stayed over the day, but I really did learn about "listening
to God". Howard's book and this meeting with the movement made a profound
impact on me. It came to confront me with God's challenge to my life, and
most likely set me on a completely different course. (That story is dealt
with in another section...if I get to it in time...:-)
|
A year later I was released from the military
aspect and had decided to start at the university (although I did not yet
know how to pay for my studies).
Actually I was very angry with God at the time. I felt He had let me
down. The new plans for my life I had thought He had given me at Caux the
previous year had broken down. I was very confused. So if God meant business
it was up to Him to prove Himself to me..:-) |
And so He did! Our entire family had been invited to visit Madame Perret
for a few days. One day she told me and my father that she felt God had
told her to pay for my studies. How much would that cost? Hmm... I told
her that tuition in a Swedish university was free, but that you had to
pay for your keep, which the authorities had pointed out would cost some
3,500 Swedish Krona a year. She answered that this was a little more than
she had expected, but she was willing to pay for my first year to begin
with. And so we received a check for 3,000 Swiss Francs. (Yes, Krona was
a hard currency in 1950!)
(It later turned out that from the second year I was able to pay my
own way, since I obtained a position as parliamentary stenographer, but
that is also pushed over to another section...).
Now: Why would this lady Perret, who was quite unknown to me, want
to do such a thing?
The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways
My grandmother Leonarda de Groot developed cancer during her stay in Japan
(1920). Perhaps she did not know then that is was cancer. But the doctors
in Japan had told her there was no cure. She became weaker and could not
keep up with the strenuous work among the women and children that she had
undertaken. It says in the book about her (Leonarda de Groot, Ein Lebensbild),
issued some years after her death, that she did not tell her family what
the doctors had said, since she didn't want to hinder her husband from
continuing his work as Territorial Commander.
| Johann de Groot, however, applied for a less strenuous appointment
and was sent to Switzerland as Territorial Commander. In Switzerland Leonarda
consulted the best doctors she could find. One of them was Professor Niehans
in Clarens. Perhaps he was not a professor at that time (1920). In the
fifties or sixties he became very famous for giving special injections
that were alleged to keep people healthy and give them a prolonged life.
Whether his treatment prolonged the life of Leonarda we do not know. She
died in 1924 of her cancer.
Picture shows Château de Chillon, famous
old fortress, near Montreux (and Clarens, and Caux!) on the Lake of Geneva.
(A hundred years ago it was used as a prison. Incidentally, one of the
early Salvation Army officers in Switzerland was imprisoned here.)
The snowy mountain is Dent du Midi.
|
 |
But during her treatment she seemed to have made a deep impression on Dr
Niehans and his sister who was, or later became the wife of another doctor:
Perret!
Frieda accompanied her mother on these curative journeys and likewise made
a deep impression on Madame Perret.
 |
In fact it made her try to recruit Frieda for her charity
work. Frieda declined. Many years later my father showed me a notation
in one of Frieda's diaries were she had written:
"I am glad I told Mrs.P. that leaving the Army
would mean leaving God."
However when Frieda some five years later married Erik, they were invited
to spend part of their honeymoon at Madame's house. which they did. I have
a lot of photos from this occasion. Among them was the opening
picture of Frieda, taken in a window at Château de Chillon!
And Madame's interest in Frieda remained even after Frieda's death,
to be focused on me, Frieda's son.
(Picture shows Erik and Frieda, front row,
and M. et Mme. Perret) |
Perhaps that is why Dad kept the poor old souvenir from Clarens?
Maybe it silently reminded him of the strong feelings of love and compassion
that Leonarda (the Saint) and her daughter (his beloved Frieda) had felt
and displayed for people they met, and how this, long afterwards, became
a blessing for still more people. My case was perhaps the last, but not
the first.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for though shalt find it after many
days." (Eccl. 11:1)
"He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (II Corinthians
9:6)
1994 06 11 sw Last update: 1999 04 21 sw
webmaster: sw@abc.se
Slightly revised: 2001 11 15, 2003 05 02 (Bible)
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