Resource Leaders: 2008 Mennonite Heritage Cruise
Paul Toews and Rudy Friesen are founding & continuing leaders of the cruise
Additional Resource Leaders: Alan Peters is the leading Mennonite genealogist
Plant scientist John Martens continues as Resource Leader
Rudy Baerg returns as Music Leader

Rudy Friesen in the Mennonite Villages - 1996 - a gathering of serious reseachers
(link to Rudy's Web Site)
The two Wiebe brothers (left) helped their historian sister Leona (Gislason) to the definitive Rueckenau history,  Medical Doctor & genealogist Tim Janzen (just right of Friesen) has since significantly added to the Mennonite archival  record in Crimea and other places.

Rudy Friesen is a practising and award-winning architect in Winnipeg. His parents immigrated to Canada from Russia in 1926. He received his architectural training at the University of Manitoba and has been active in numerous professional organizations.

Rudy Friesen is the author of the important 1996 Mennonite book, INTO THE PAST: Buildings of the Mennonite Commonwealth. An even more popular version of the book BUILDING ON THE PAST was published in Spring, 2004. It is currently being translated into Ukrainian. He has written over a hundred articles on Russian Mennonite architecture and visits to the area for Der Bote. On the most recent cruises Rudy presented a series of definitive illustrated lectures on northern European Mennonite architecture, having also traveled to the Netherlands and Poland. He has since given versions of these lectures to various Mennonite Colleges and Universities in Canada and the USA.  He is a founding board member of the Friends of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine, having himself supervised the renovation of the historic schoolhouse which houses the centre.

Paul Toews (link to Center for M B Studies)

Paul Toews is Professor of History, Fresno Pacific University. He is also Director of the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and Fresno Pacific University. He is the author of many articles and books on diverse aspects of Mennonite History including Mennonites in American Society, 1930-1970: Modernity and the Persistance of Religious Community, published in 1996. Like other leading Mennonite scholars today, he is involved in archival research projects in Ukraine and Russia. Currently he is leader of the international team which is creating the new Siberia Mennonite Archive and will supervise a major international scholarly symposium in Siberia in 2010, in association with the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has spent a year in Ukraine as a Fullbright exchange scholar. Dr. Toews gives four major illustrated lectures and hosts other significant cruise events. His presence on the cruise is much respected and universally loved. Passengers often comment that he uniquely symbolizes the spirit and excellence of the cruise.

On the last seven cruises Alan has presented computer-assisted seminars on genealogy that had passengers riveted for two hours, thanks to his profound knowledge of Mennonite genealogy and familiarity with genealogical software. Alan is an accomplished litanist and has helped shape many of the reflective occasions on the cruise. Genealogy has become a mainstream interest for many people and Alan has always been "ahead of the wave".

Having retired after a distinguished career in California Social Services, Alan is much sought after for workshops in genealogy.

John Martens

 John Martens - far right- with 1998 passengers, telling the Eichenfeld story on site

John Martens is a native of Manitoba. His career was devoted to agriculture, first as a farmer, then as a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, working on cereal improvement and then as national coordinator for cereals and oilseeds research. He is also a field naturalist and backpacker with a strong attraction to the Arctic.

John has a strong affinity to Ukraine and has visited there twice with the Mennonite Heritage Cruise before he became a Resource Leader and Cruise Administrative Assistant in 2001. His family comes from Schlachtin Baratov and Yazykovo, and his father was an agronomist in Ukraine in the 1920s. The home his grandparents built in 1910 in Kamenka (Steinfeld) still stands and now serves as a school.

Rudy Baerg retuns as musician in 2008

Rudy and Hildegarde Baerg on a short break at Berdyansk, Sea of Azov, during a recent  volunteer term at the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine

Rudy Baerg returns as musician on the 2008 cruise. He has played this role successfully on two previous occasions. He is a well-known Fraser Valley, BC  soloist, voice teacher, clinician and director of church, school and community choirs. Based at Columbia Bible College for most of his career, he has studied choral directing under James Frankhauser, Robert Shaw and Helmuth Rilling.

Rudy and Hildegarde have served two summer terms as volunteer administrators at the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine, where Rudy is much respected by Ukrainian music educators. Although retired, he continues actively to support and promote the arts in his community and beyond.

                                            Volodymyr Kuzyk, videographer; Olga Shmakina, sr. guide          Lyudmilla Karyaka, sr. guide; Irina Kuzyk, videographer; Larissa Goryacheva, trip mgr; Galyna Zadorowska, cruise director

The success of the Mennonite Heritage Cruise has depended largely on the excellence of its Ukrainian partners. Here key members are on the ship sundeck as it sailed from Odessa on the Black Sea in early October 2006. Along with colleagues, they have all been involved in the cruise since its inception back in 1995.