ABSTRACT
We were expecting the birth of our second child six months after my arrest. As the weeks passed in prison, and as hope for my survival diminished, I prayed every day, “My God, if it is Thy will, please grant us a son so that the Jernazian name may not be lost.” The news for which I was waiting finally came toward the end of August of 1921. Marie wrote, “The Lord gave us a beautiful, healthy son. What shall we name him?” I immediately thought of Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel. When God granted her wish and gave her a son, she called him Samuel, which in Hebrew means “God heard my voice.” I wrote a letter to my newborn son:
