View source for Fast, Johann (1861-1941)

[[File:Johann Fast 044-531.jpg|300px|thumb|right|J''akoba A. M. and Johann Fast, 1906.<br>Photo: Mennonite Heritage Archives (44-531).'']]
Johann Fast, a Mennonite missionary, was born 23 January 1861 at Ohrloff in the [[Molotschna Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Molotschna]] Mennonite settlement, [[Russia|Russia]], the son of Gerhard Fast. He attended the [[Ohrloff Mennonitische Zentralschule (Ohrloff, Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Zentralschule at Ohrloff]] and the Teacher's College at [[Berdyansk (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Berdyansk]]. After teaching in the [[Crimea (Ukraine)|Crimea]] for a time, he attended Chrischona Bible School near [[Basel (Switzerland)|Basel]] for two years and entered the [[Doopsgezinde Zendingsraad|Dutch Mennonite mission]] of [[Java (Indonesia)|Java]] in 1888. In 1890 he married Jakoba A. M. Jansz, the daughter of missionary [[Jansz, Pieter (1820-1904)|Pieter Jansz]]. They had five children, two boys and three girls. The oldest, Johann, became a medical missionary of the Neukirchen mission 1928-1936, after which time he had a private practice. He died in a Japanese camp at Tjimahi, Java, on 4 January 1945.

The missionary Johann Fast returned to Russia in 1898 for a furlough and spent another term, 1901-1909, on the mission field, and then returned to Russia because of poor health. Here he promoted missions, taught Bible in the Zentralschule of Spat, Crimea, and after the Revolution worked in a dairy. In 1920 he returned to Java via [[Netherlands|Holland]] as a missionary at Kaju Apu until 1928, after which he lived in retirement at Salatiga, and died 15 October 1941.
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