Edna Swartzentruber (22 May 1901-11 December 1976) and her husband Amos were the first Canadian Amish Mennonite missionaries. Edna was born at St. Agatha, Ont., an older sister of Nelson Litwiller. She studied at Bethany Bible Training School (Church of the Brethren) in Chicago. Amos Swartzentruber subsequently enrolled at the same school. They were married on 23 June 1920, at the Steinmann (Amish) Mennonite Church, Baden, Ont. After farming briefly, the couple entered service with Mennonite Board of Missions (MC), Elkhart, IN, first evaluating and closing its institutional mission at Youngstown, Ohio (1923), and then as missionaries to Argentina (1924-63). They had three children, Doris, A. Orley, and Anita. In Argentina Edna taught the daily lessons for Bible readers, who in turn did home visitation. She was a good teacher and public speaker, a stern disciplinarian, and had a good sense of humor. While her main role was to manage the home, her oldest daughter comments, "I am sure that in this day she would qualify as a minister." After her husband's death in 1966 she moved back to Argentina and lived close to her youngest daughter and son-in-law, Anita and Raul Garcia, until her death.

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