THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9506300211
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Mr. Roberts' Neighborhood
SOURCE: Frank Roberts
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
The doctors didn't think she'd live. Julia proved them wrong.
Then, they said she would never walk. Julia proved them wrong.
The 5-year-old with the cancerous brain tumor is not a medical miracle but an illustration that faith can heal.
I met Julia Wolf, her parents and siblings at an outdoor gospel sing in Fredericksburg, Pa., about seven miles from Hershey.
The mother, Janice, was dressed in attire normally associated with Mennonites, but the family are members of the Church of the Brethren.
The styles of worship are similar, the only difference being the method of baptism - Brethren immerse, Mennonites sprinkle.
Both were at the gospel gathering.
Jonathan and Janice, both 28, sat with their handsome, blue-eyed, eye-catching children, 5-year-old Jonathan Jr., Julia and 7-year-old Jessica, the girls wearing homemade long dresses, their hair in braids.
Amazingly, the youngsters sat happily, contentedly, for about 12 hours, listening to the Southern gospel music.
They never seemed to have the urge to run around; they never became restless or bothersome.
Their dad explained the children's exemplary behavior: ``They were born at home. The music was playing as they were born and it is just about all we've listened to, since.''
The radio is tuned, constantly, to WABB, a local station which plays nothing but Southern gospel.
``We don't have television,'' Janice said. ``Sitting in front of it takes time away - we prefer camping, living in the wild, going to parks, working in the garden.
``We talk about different things,'' she said. ``It's exciting - the things they discuss - what happened at church, things they learned in Bible school.''
Jessica goes to a private school. But Janice, who recently received her high school equivalency diploma, expects to home school the children.
``Teaching them about the Lord is most important,'' she said. ``So is seeing how my husband and I relate to each other. Broken homes - marriages under stress - there is no leadership to help the children see where they should be.''
Julia should be incapacitated, according to her doctors.
A cancerous brain tumor was discovered March 9, 1993.
``Two days later, we had her anointed - hands on,'' Janice said.
Julia was anointed with a light application of olive oil, a heavy application of prayer.
``Since then,'' Janice said, ``she's done better.''
The anointing was done following surgery at the Hershey Medical Center, an effort to relieve Julia's pain.
``A week later, she walked out of the hospital in no pain,'' Janice said. ``That was after the doctors said she wouldn't walk. They still don't know how she's walking.''
The pain was gone, but not the tumor.
A second anointing took place July 4. After Julia had been put through three chemotherapy treatments doctors felt it necessary to put her on a kidney machine because her kidneys were hurting from the treatments.
``We decided to take her off chemotherapy and have her anointed,'' Janice said.
Three preachers, her father and grandfather did the prayerful honors.
``A month or two later the growth had slowed. It continues to slow,'' Janice said. ``Now, we just wait.''
They did not have to wait for another kind of healing.
Janice was a Mennonite, her husband a member of the Church of the Brethren which she has joined.
``My parents had a hard time accepting this. They felt they lost me to my husband's church,'' she said. ``My daughter's illness brought them around.''
The family talked to me about many other things, including why the women's heads are covered, the power of the angels, subjection to men, remarriage.
I don't usually do a ``to be continued'' column, but allow me to make an exception this time.
There are more fascinating and inspiring stories of the strength of Mennonite and Church of Brethren faith and love, as well as stories of hardship that are part of the religion.
In two weeks, as Paul Harvey says, you'll know - the rest of the story. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by BETH EBRGMAN
A young Memmonite girl holds her doll after attending a Southern
gospel concert.
Julia Wolf, center, sits with her mother Janice, left to right,
sister Jessica and another relative at an outdoor gospel sing in
Fredericksburg, Pa. Doctors had predicted two years ago that Julia,
who has a brain tumor, would not live without pain or walk.
by CNB