Learning Generosity in Moldova

I have been moved to tears more times in the last few days than in a long time. We have been in Moldova for several days, and I have been overwhelmed by kindness time after time since the moment that we arrived. The kindness that I have experienced here reminds me of the story Jesus told about the widows mite. Most of you probably know the story of the poor widow that gave a very small coin and Jesus recognized her as giving everything she had. His emphasis was not on the amount she gave but on the amount she gave compared to what she had to give and her apparent motives in doing so.

We arrived in Moldova completely exhausted, hungry and smelling rather "stinky." We had started out from Budapest, Hungary on Thursday morning and started out for Romania. We travelled all day to Romania by way of a detour to Serbia (and that's another long story about how we ended up in Serbia) and arrived at our church service there. Immediately after Rick spoke, we got something to eat and found out that instead of going to bed we were going to have so start our trip for Moldova that night without sleepiis any. It didn't look that far on the map, but we had adequate warning that it was going to be some tough travelling roadwise and that we needed to start right away if we were going to get there in time for our service the next evening. I must say that I reluctantly got back in the car because by this time we just wanted to go to bed.

Anyway, to make a long long long story short, we drove all night and all the next day until about 5 in the evening to get to Moldova stopping only to have a picnic and get gas. Rick slept a little bit while the rest of us ate. Not only was the trip grueling in terms of hours in a vehicle, but the roads were well, we'll say it nicely,--they were not good roads. They were either winding through the mountains or Rick spent his time dodging huge pot holes. Not only that, but our air contitioner decided to become very anemic on a baking hot day.

There were so many little kindnesses the people showed toward us every day, and we were so touched by how well they treated us especially when you consider how little they have. Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and the average wage in 250-300 dollars a month. That's the average wage. A lot of the common people make 30 a month. After we spent three days doing seminars for them, they secretly took up an offering for us. The pastor came to the back of the church and handed us this wad of bills. This was the first time there in Moldova that I just felt like crying. We insisted that we did not want the money, but he would not hear it. They insisted and we went away feeling like they had just taught us what generosity was. The amount of money they gave us was not large at all by our standards, but it was a huge amount to them, and we were very humbled by their sacrifice.

Yesterday was another case where I felt very humbled. We were invited to speak for staff devotions at the local medical clinic. There were about 15 doctors and medical personnel there. The building was very clean and pleasant, but it was very simple and bore no exterior resemblance to the hospitals in the United States. It was painted concrete or plaster, and there were no comforts at all visible--just hard beds and stark walls. Inside, though, the people were so glad to have us come and listened attentively while Rick spoke. When he was finished, the director of the clinic called me forward and said he wanted to give us a gift of appreciation. He very movingly presented a beautiful wall hanging to us. Again, I was moved to tears because of their desire to be generous, and they were the ones that needed so much. On the way out of the building, one of the doctors came to me and asked us if they could give us any medicines (like ibuprofen) for the children. This time, I flatly refused because there was no way I was going to take their limited supplies of medicine when in a few months, I can just walk into Walmart and buy ours. In the end, we compromised ,and I walked out with two boxes of Rolaids which I will leave with a missionary in Romania.

However, the most touching incident of generosity came later that same day. We were about to leave Moldova, so we wanted to buy a few souvenirs. All along the trip we have bought little things, but when we got to the open air market with a lot of older people selling little hand made items, I told the kids to go ahead and buy what they wanted because it was obvious these people needed the money that our purchases would bring. There was one lady that told us that she would give us good prices, so we decided to buy several of our souvenirs from her. While we stood there looking at her items, she was watching us and smiling and Paul was happily sitting in his stroller. One of the main items that she was selling was little stackable Russian dolls that are popular in this part of the world. She had very inexpensive ones and mid priced ones, and then she had large ones.

I wasn't paying a lot of attention to Paul so when we were about finished buying, I looked at him in his stroller and there he was, holding one of these large doll sets--the largest set she had. I didn't know what had happened so I asked through the translator. He said, "No, she wants to give this to Paul." Right then, I lost my composure. Here we were coming from the richest country of the world buying souvenirs of our time in one of the poorest countries of the world. There she was sitting on the side of the road selling little hand made items that kept her from starving, and she chose to give it to a little baby who smiled at the whole situation. When we realized that she ws not going to take it back, I looked over and realized I wasn't the only one touched. Rick was looking away from her and was sniffling too.This was another big lesson to me in what real generosity is.

Rick spoke at a church on Sunday night, and the people were so appreciative and wanted to talk for a long time after the service. One elderly man came up at the end and spoke eight words in English very movingly. He could not communicate much in our language, but he stood in front of us and with tears in his eyes, said, "You are my brothers, and I love you." I can tell you that we have spent a lot of money and energy going a lot of places where people just quickly file out afterwards, and often there didn't seem to be a lot of appreciation, but this elderly gentleman made up for it all. It seems like the least among us often can teach us the most and set the example for us all.

These are just a few of the most poignant memories that I carry with me of our time in Moldova. I'll blog a little later about some of our day to day experiences there.

Criminals Incorporated

Anyone ever heard of "Monster's Incorporated"? Well, we recently ran into their close cousins in the Czech Republic. I named them "Criminals Incorporated." Here's what happened…

About two weeks ago, I saw in Rick's journal where he had written that he was expecting something very difficult and challenging to happen. In his private devotional time, he felt like God had shown him that we were going to experience some difficulties soon. About a week later, Rick was talking about it to the children during our family devotional time, and I told him privately later that I didn't like him saying such things as it alarmed me.

Two days later, we were on our way to Hungary and were still in the Czech Republic. Everyone was happy and I was sitting in the back working on the computer when I heard a noise and then right after Rick pulled off the road and said, "This doesn't look good." The oil light was on and the engine had shut off and was very hot. We obviously couldn't go anywhere so we decided what our next step should be. We could see a village in the distance sou our first thought was to walk there and try to find an auto mechanic, however, we looked in our tour book and found the emergency roadside number so Rick called it. Suprisingly, the operator spoke English so he was able to easily tell them where we were at. Before long, they said a tow truck was on the way, and the price seemed quite inexpensive to have our vehicle towed to the nearest mechanic.

After some time, the tow truck driver arrived and wanted to know what we were going to do with the children, and I told him we were going to walk to the village and wait on Rick there. That wasn't ideal since it was quite a ways, so eventually, the tow truck driver put our 15 passenger van up on the tow truck (the platform type) and told us to hop inside.

Now I don't know about you, but I am a very safety conscious person and riding on the back of a tow truck in a van high above the ground is not my idea of safety. However, the kids thought it was a great ride and it was quite humorous to see us riding along on the back of the tow truck. Perhaps my finger nail marks are still on the head rest in front of me! Anyway, he slowly lowered us down and said he was leaving us with "his friend" at this auto service who could fix our van right away today.

Well, it didn't take us too long to discover that we had landed at "Criminals Incorporated." They handed us the bill for towing and discovered that had attached on every imaginable fee. They had our van there which we couldn't move and they proceede to attempt to advantage of us in every way possible.

After about four to six hours of sitting there, we finally realized that the engine was ruined and would have to be replaced or rebuilt. Of course, they had a nice fee for that and who knows that they would have done if we had agreed. Besides that, they said it would take most of the week to get it done.

At this point, Rick called our friend in Romania and asked his advice since we were getting ready to spend the month with him. He made some calls and called back and told us to catch the next available train to Romania, leave the van with the crooks and he would send a tow truck to get it. Basically, we could have the van towed 10 hours one way across four countries, and get it fixed faster and still come out cheaper than "Criminals Incorporated" were giving us a price for.

We asked Criminals Incorporated (afterward referred to as CI) if we could park the van there until we could make other plans and they agreed to do it—for a fee. We didn't tell them we were sending someone to get it because we figured they would make it disappear. However, if they were receiving parking rent, they would probably keep it for a short time.

We only had a few minutes to gather a few things out of the van so I started dumping bags and frantically sorting out just the essentials we would need for a week or so. Then we had the criminals take us to the bus station—for a fee-- and headed on our way. We travelled all night on various trains and finally arrived in Oradea, Romania about 9 in the morning.

At midnight we had our plans laid and our Romanian friend took off with the tow truck driver for the Czech Republic to try and get our van back. Of course, there were a lot of prayers going on during this whole episode and we prayed through the night while they were travelling. Sometimes, I was tempted to pray "imprecatory prayers" if you know what I mean, but God helped me to "bless them that curse you" and we were thankful for the kindness of so many people in Romania who helped us out with meals and a place to stay.

To make a very long and tiring story short, two mornings later, I woke up to the sound of a diesel engine outside our window and the tow truck driver had arrived with our van. Thank the Lord that CI had been thwarted at least from stealing or damaging our van. We had our van back with several more fees attached so it was being taken to another mechanic in Romania.

Well, that's the story of Criminals Incorporated. We believe that nothing happens to us without God knowing it and allowing it. We knew that all of this was in His plan so we did not have to worry about it. We got to see God work in so many ways especially in working it out for our van to be repaired at a Ford mechanic in Romania rather than at the CI place.

Another thing that really encouraged me was in how God watched over our every need. When was the last time that you needed food? We don't have to pray for food because we usually have all the money we need and a Super Walmart down the road. In our situation, we had just a few minutes to grab things from our van so we didn't have much food to take with us. We knew from our experience in Europe before that we needed to take food and water on the trains, but in this case, it was all we could do to just get to the train station in time let alone stop and buy necessary food. We had water in the van so I grabbed that, but food was in short supply.

We travelled for hours and everyone started to get hungry. We had a lay over at a dumpy little train station in Arad, Romania in the early morning hours. I took the little ones inside the train station to keep them warm and had not been in the station long when an old lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious candy. I told her "Thank you" in English since I know no Romanian. A few minutes later a young lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious sandwiches and said, "Eat." I guess she heard my English and knew at least one word.

Let me say this—we were not dying of malnutrition as most of us have enough spare fat to survive for quite a while, but food was getting to be on our minds. The children were not acting hungry where people would know that we had not eaten—it was God who was prompting these people to do this. After a while, someone else walked by and handed Paul a banana. Before we got where we were going, we were all sitting in the train station talking with our Romanian friend when an old lady got up from across the station and walked over and handed us a whole bag of baked cakes—similar to pancakes. We wanted to thank her so our Romanian friend went to speak with her. She said that she didn't know why, but she made extra that morning and brought them with her.

This was all quite amazing to me because no one knew that we hadn't eaten and no one knew our situation. When was the last time some one just walked up to you and handed you food? I don't know when it has ever happened to me like this before, but maybe it was because I never needed it. Anyway, it was such a blessing to see how God took care of everything we needed. Criminals Incorporated may have looked like they were winning for a while, but God was never very far away. What an encouragement to know that God is never very far away.

Goodbye (for a while) to Grandpa

Tonight I received the news that my grandfather had passed away. I'm in Romania tonight so my thoughts have been on the many, many wonderful memories that my grandfather gave me. Just the fact that I am here in Romania is to his credit because ever since I can remember, my grandfather has inspired me to do right and to follow the Lord.

I knew before we ever came over here that there was the possibility that he would pass away and we would not be able to attend his funeral. Although I knew this, we knew that we were doing what God wanted us to do, and we knew that we were doing what grandpa would want us to do. Tonight in heaven, I think that grandpa knows where we are and he is glad. The fact that we cannot attend the funeral means nothing to him now because he sees the bigger picture—while funerals are a way for us to express our human grief, a funeral is just an unnecessary formality for one who is already in heaven! This Thursday, I will be very sorry that I had to miss such a special event, but I know that seeing him in heaven will be a much more joyful occasion and just a little more reason to look forward to getting there.

When I think about my grandfather, there are lots of memories that come to mind because he always invested so much time with his grandchildren. He and grandma always made it a high priority to be at any special event in our lives, and many years of photographs show them always there for us. My grandfather loved me a lot, and I always knew it. Because he was a tall man, his hugs were always lopsided, but they were always there. Whenever we arrived at his house, he was already coming to meet us part way and give us one of his "behr hugs" and welcome us to the Bear's den. For those who knew him very long, you will know that his mother was a "brown bear."

Grandpa sent us birthday checks in the mail, gave us educational games at Christmas, sent us big blocks of cheese in the mail, took us on hikes through the woods, took us fishing, played "skin the cat" and made a loud train noise with his mouth. He drove excrutiatingly slowly so that he never broke the speed limit, and always kept his gas tank at half a tank. Before we left his house he would casually walk around the car to inspect the tires and think of some tactful way to tell us if they needed attention. In the days when Brach's pick a mix candy was popular, grandpa would always show up at our house with a bag of sweets. I still can't pass Brach's candy without bringing back memories.

Grandpa loved ice cream and passed that love on to me. Grandpa owned a big green recliner and some of my earliest memories are of being with him at that chair. Grandpa's house was never scarey because something about him sleeping down the hall made everything calm and cozy.

Grandpa always said something good about the worst situations. My first year of marriage, we began the tradition of inviting grandpa and grandma to our home for Thanksgiving. We kept that tradition for years until they moved away. That first year, I was so excited to have them come that I cooked enough food for an army and left out off the seasonings for the stuffing. They never said a word about how terrible that stuffing tasted, and I didn't even discover it wasn't good until later. Grandpa's "get along" spirit was perhaps best shown by turning off his hearing aid at the church when either the music got too loud for him or else he didn't like the music—I never figured out which one it was! Later, when he came to our house and our children asked him to go to the Thanksgiving parade, he went along although I knew that at his age, it wasn't really something that he would normally do. When the children had collected too much candy to handle, he promptly took off his baseball cap and allowed them to fill it.

Grandpa was generous with his grandchildren. Not only did he send me a yearly birthday check, but if he knew I needed something, he just got it for me. When I went away to college, he knew I needed a typewriter, so he just went in the store with me and got it for me.

Grandpa was a precise person. His hair was always neat (by the way, he never colored it). Grandpa always dressed neatly. Anyone remember his rainbow shirt? Grandpa always thought ahead to get his hat, jacket, bug spray, and umbrella before heading out and he always reminded me to do so. It took over thirty years for me to catch on and think about these things ahead of time, but now I am finally grown up enough to remember to grab a jacket. Thanks for teaching me that, grandpa! Grandpa always neatly opened his mail with a letter opener and always sat in his recliner to do it.

We always looked forward to grandpa and grandma coming to visit us. It was a strict rule at our house to have evening devotions no matter what so my dad would always read a passage of Scripture and then pray. However, when grandpa came, things changed! Grandpa never knew it, but after reading the Bible, my dad would ask for "comments" and grandpa always had one!

Grandpa always respected grandma. I never once saw him disrespect her and we always knew that he believed marriage was very sacred. I remember sitting in the living room of their house and grandma got out her marriage license and showed it to me.

Rick and I spent much of our time dating in grandpa and grandma's house. They always welcomed us even though in those days, we had more interest in spending time as a couple than as a foursome. We would go to their place for a weekend away from college, and then spend the days exploring a park or other tourist site, and then get back to grandpa's at bedtime.

Grandpa was the only grandfather that Rick ever knew and they treated him just as a natural born grandchild. They were always there for a hug and handshake for him and regularly told us that they were proud of us. It meant a lot to Rick to be treated so lovingly as he had always missed having grandparents. It meant so much to me to hear them say that they were proud of my choice for a husband and that they appreciated my children and enjoyed having them around.

I remember being with grandpa for the days following his open heart surgery. Although he was in a lot of pain, I never remember hearing him complain or have a bad attitude.

My grandfather left priceless memories with me of unequivocal love. He motivated me to do right, and I always knew that if I did wrong, he would be disappointed, and that helped me to choose the right way. They were so proud of me at so many special occasions, and they were never afraid to say so. Thank you, grandpa, for giving me so many wonderful memories. I will always be grateful to God for giving you to me. I will look forward to seeing you in heaven

Sunday in Romania

We have had a very busy day here in Alba Iulio, Romania. Rick spoke three times today and the cihldren sang twice. We got here on the train last night after midnight so we are a little tired, but do not have a schedule tomorrow so we should be able to get caught up on sleep. Here are some pictures from our day. As you can tell, the grandmothers love Paul and Precious. Precious enjoyed having a little extra attention when she was spoon fed her lunch today!

Rick recording at Christian Radio Station

Rick spent a good part of a day recording at a Christian Radio Station in Oradea, Romania.

Random pictures of our time in the Czech Republic and Romania

Here are a few random pictures of our time in the Czech Republic and Romania. These may not be in order but you can probably figure it out.

Christian and Precious outside a church in Vyskov, Czech Republic.

Paul enjoying sitting outside.

Christian found a familiar friend at McDonalds.

The boys entertained themselves with clothespins on a rainy day.

This old military bunker was outside our house in the Czech Republic. The kids had lots of fun imagining stories about it.

Sunshine and Alex Birnbaum on Charles Bridge in Prague.


Royal with grilled piglet livers sign.

Me and my long lost twin sister in Prague


The kids enjoyed a wagon ride with new friends.

Crippled Caleb and Toothless Christian

During our time in Czech we had two incidents where we needed medical help so we experienced excellent care in the Czech medical system. It was quite different than we are used to, but we certainly have no complaints about the type of care we received as well as the friendliness of those who helped the "foreigners."

First, Christian was with us as we took a walk into town. He was bouncing along as usual and was smiling happily when he suddenly demonstrated why they don't give four year olds drivers' licenses. He quickly cut right in front of someone else leaving only an inch for them to stop. They didn't stop and he fell to the ground and got up with a seriously cracked front tooth. We didn't want to take him to the dentist as we have all enjoyed his joyful baby tooth smile, but nothing could be done about it. Rick found out where the dentist lived and knocked on her door. She told him to come in and looked at his tooth and knew she couldn't do anything for it besides pull it as he would have lost it before long anyway. She had Rick hold him in the dentist chair and then gave Christian a shot without him even knowing it and pulled the tooth. When she was finished, she gave Christian a little Czech truck and then charged us a grand total of about nine dollars. She did excellent work in a clean office and we were grateful for her helpfulness.

A few days later Caleb came to me and said, "Mommy, I'm bleeding a lot," and he was as he was leaving a trail of blood behind him. He had stepped on a sharp rock and left a big gash in his foot. When we got the bleeding under control, we started for the hospital and put him in the stroller as we headed for where the lady at information told us to go. It was a plain concrete block building that said something that we could understand as being "orthopedics." Here we knocked on a door again and a nurse appeared. She asked us if we had the Czech medical card and when we said "No" and explained our situation, she said, "well, it doesn't matter anyway" and took us into a room. A doctor joined us with another nurse and they proceeded to quickly clean and glue his foot back together rather than using stiches. The room was very plain and looked like something from the 50's, but it was very clean and the staff was very careful to keep things clean and be friendly.

In probably less than half an hour from the time we walked into the information desk, we were walking back out with Caleb bandaged and happy and the doctor said we didn't owe him anything. I must say that although the room was old, plain and didn't look at all like our hospitals, they certainly not lacking at all—and we didn't have to fill out any Hippa forms. For that matter, they never even asked our name or address or had us fill out any form. Oh, for the days when life was that simple!

Friends in Czech Republic

Today we are on our way to Prague. We are on our way to see friends that we already know and to see new friends that we are eager to get to know. We have met so many wonderful people on this trip, but once in a while, it just seems that there are people that just seem to rise just a little bit above the rest of us and I view them as treasures that are here on earth for a while before they go to heaven where they belong. Let me tell you about two of the treasures that we visited with in the Czech Republic.

First, let me honor Pastor and Mrs. Fojtu. We have known them since we lived here in Czech seventeen years ago and my esteem for them has only grown over the years. We travelled about two hours from our place in the Czech Republic to the little village where they live. We visited with them for about five hours and in that time, they insisted on us eating three different times! They were so pleased that we had come by that they welcomed us with lots of food. This was just one example of how they have been giving people over the years. After one of our meals, Pastor Fojtu (who is now 75 years old), took us way up high in the mountains and picked mushrooms and wild blueberries. When we returned to the house, Mrs. Fojtu (who had stayed behind to cook more food), cooked these delicious mushrooms and we sat down to another meal.

What is so special about this couple is their grateful and servant attitude. What a person would assume if they didn't know better was that this couple has enjoyed a typical life for a couple married over fifty years. Instead, if you can get him to tell you so, this couple has suffered more for their faith than probably anyone else that I know personally. Under communism, as a young pastor and father, Mr. Fojtu continued to pastor his church there in Czech until he was put on the Russian's "black list" as he termed it. Because they found him with a Russian Bible twice, he was put on their hate list and removed from his pulpit. They then sent him to work in a chemical factory. Other friends of his were imprisoned, one for a very long time, while he was sent to work in difficult and unsafe conditions.

It was such an inspiration to sit and talk to him and never hear one word of bitterness or hatred toward those who took so much of his lifetime from him. Although we asked questions about the conditions he suffered under, it was very rare for him to say much more than, "it was difficult at times" or "it damaged my health some," the rest of the time, he was always telling ways that God had been good to him and helped him through it all. I would like to honor a gentle elderly pastor and his wife living in obscurity in a little village in the Czech Republic as a couple that have immeasureably inspired my life!

Another jewel in our lives we also have known since we lived in Czech before is Milada Birnbaum. Some people seek for great things and positions and only want to do things that other people see. Then there are those like Milada who love those around her in so many humble ways and seem to think nothing of it.

Milada is the mother of Alex Birnbaum who attended Hobe Sound Christian Academy after we returned from Czech. She was diagnosed with cancer eight months ago and was given six months to live. Even though her strength is waning and she endures much pain, she insisted on doing our laundry for us a couple of times during our stay in Czech. Have you ever seen laundry done with love? When she returned it to us, I could see that she had done each piece of clothing with love. Every piece of clothing was carefully washed, folded and lovingly thought over. How do I know this? Because I know Milada and even though I can speak very little with her because of our language differences, I have no doubts about her love for me, and I hope she knows that we love her in return.

When we saw her for the last time today, I knew that she would not want her picture taken as today was not a good day for her, but I took a very special gift to her—to a lady that I have adopted as my Czech mother. I took some roses in and two coffee mugs. One coffee mug said "to the best mother" and the other one said "daughter." In my very limited Czech I told her that I would take the daughter mug home and think and pray for her when I use it, and I would leave the "mother" mug for her to remember me by. I don't know why we don't have the custom of stroking the face of someone you love very much, but when she stroked my face and spoke to me, I felt her love and cried with her. I want to honor my Czech mother in this blog today. God bless you Mother Milada and may God's love be with you as you face difficult days ahead. Perhaps the words of a song are best to express my prayer to God for her…

His (God's) strength is perfect when our strength is gone
He'll carry us when we can't carry on,
Raised in His power, the weak become strong
His strength is perfect, his strength is perfect.

We love you!