new updates

July 7th, 2007

There have been some wonderful things that have happened since the last time I wrote 2 1/2 years ago. The Berean prison ministry has built on the Bible study that Fedi and John had 1 time a week in the prison in Csikzereda. They sponsored a group of prison officials from Romania to visit America in 2005 to compare prison systems and to see the good things that a Bible based ministry could do to rehabilitate prisoners. They were very impressed and great doors were opened in Romania. Fedi has now been back to Romania 3 times with one of our ministers and a lawyer named Ken Helmuth to get 2 other Bible studies set up in 2 other prisons. The director of the entire prison system in Romania has given them this permission.
One extra wonderful event that happened when Fedi was there in May of this year was the baptism of 26 gypsys. This is what happened. There was a gypsy man who converted from the Bible studies in prison when Fedi was still in Romania. When he got out of prison he began going to church and taking his family with him. Friends joined him including the influential leader of this group of gypsys. Gods spirit did its awesome work and there are now 26 more members of His kingdom.
The other event that we are pretty excited about is that Csilla, Jozsef, Kinga and Reka will be immigrating this year to America to start a new life. This has taken the immigration office 11 years since we applied for them in October of 1996.
That is all for now.

update

Jan 19th, 2005A few last words on the developements since we have returned. My Dad didn't survive his open heart surgery. It had been delayed to Nov. 30th. How I treasure the last 6 weeks we were able to spend with Him. God knew this would happen when He led us to return home to America. Fedi is now back in Romania. He returned for a short visit to attend Attila's and Lehel's baptism. Shortly before the baptism Erika and Eboya decided their fears weren't worth missing out of a life with Jesus and they were baptised too. There were altogether 11 people who decided to be baptised that day including Fedi's brother Sandor and his niece Reka. It must have been an awesome time. May God's kingdom continue to grow. Ruth

The first days home were nice and chaotic. It was awesome to see everyone in church again. I still have jet lag which is why I'm writing this at 2:00 am. My impressions of America after 14 months in Romania are it is very luxurious and very busy. It's impossible to not get caught up in running around and driving all over.
We don't plan to return to Romania in the near future to live. I'm almost sure though that Fedi will be returning to visit the great people we met. I want to get the kids settled in the new church school and get some kind of routine in their lives.
One last word about the money people donated. At the end, after we sold our house, we were able to catch up with giving all the donated money to the Romanians. This was my goal from the start. There were times when we were short that we asked the people donating if we could use some for personal use. Selling our house made it possible to give all that back. We left our van which has about a $4,000 value plus $1,000 cash for gas and maintenence in Attila's care for church and Bible study use only. ( It is their only way to church.) The rest of our stuff we gave to whoever we thought could use it the most. The $200 tire chains we gave to Attila, $250 chain saw to Lehel, $400 washing machine to Lehel's Mom, lots of miscellaneous stuff like blankets, pillows, pots, dishes iron, cleaning supplies, etc, etc, to Erika, Eboya, and Csilla. We left gas money of about $300 to Csilla and another couple to make it out to Carta twice a week to lead the Bible studies. We gave our cellular phones to Csillas neighbors. Heuni and Toto and Tony we simply gave $100 each too because we felt they had been a big help to us. I left all the hats, mittens, shoes, coats that we didn't need to go to gypsy families. The reason I want to detail this is because I want the people who donated to understand that it did go to help very thankful people out. We came here on our own, not with a mission organization. No one was there to see how we spent the money or to tell us what to do. We just used our best judgment.
It was hard to leave our friends there but we commit them to God. It was a privilege to get to know them and watch God work in their lives. I respect them for looking past Fedi and my mistakes and failures to see the great message of God's love we had. Most of all it was a great privilege to be a part of God's work. On this word my diary is finished. All glory to our God, Ruth

We are in London waiting for our flight to Chicago. The last few days flew by. We got everything taken care of. All our possessions were either packed in the 12 suitcases, given away, or thrown away.
The church had a touching service for us. We stood at the front while people took turns praying for us. After that several people stood up to wish us well and tell what we meant to them. It was sweet-sad and several of us cried.
At the train about 10 people showed up to see us off and help us load all those suitcases in the 3 minutes that the train stopped. Some of these guys almost came with us as the train started moving before they were off.
It was a nice trip. We had a sleeper car to ourselves since we had to buy 6 tickets.
We arrived in Budapest in the morning. A taxi took three trips to get us to the Nazarene church where we spent the night. Early the next morning we took another Van taxi to the airport. Everything has gone well and the kids are thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Last week I concentrated on school and packing. Still when Friday rolled around it seemed we would never get done on time. We have only 5 more days now. How do you pack the things you have to use everyday? I also need to leave this place back how we found it. Anyway after a little panic attack, Fedi came home, went through all the garage stuff and we made a plan to have the kids be at Csilla's the last day. Now I think we can make it.
Fedi spent the last 2 days getting Leventa set up to go to the prison.
Lehel's Mom did say she reinvited Theresa's neighbor to come and she said she wants too. I'm still puzzled why she told her not to come in the first place.
There were some stories going around that turned out not to be true. Theresa told us that her neighbor was going to get kicked out of her house. Could we give them $3,000 to help them buy a place? Supposedly they had the rest saved up. Now she confessed that her family is not going to get kicked out and they don't have anything saved up anyway. What a pack of lies to try and get money out of us. I've felt though that if people have to go to strangers for help there is something wrong with the stories they tell. People deserving help have no trouble getting it from family and friends.
Well on the not so skeptical side, the two couples coming to the Bible study have been true friends to us. They have helped us as much or more than we have helped them. If only these 4 ever become Christians I am still well satisfied even thrilled with the results.
There have been other rewards from our year here. Our faith is stronger from seeing how God has been with us.

Back safe and sound. I want to say a word about the house that we were confident we would be buying. When we talked to the owner with our offer it surprised us that he didn't take it. His asking price was $12,000 which he assured us was negotiable. We offered $10,600. He said he would go down $30 or maybe even $60 but that was all, quite the jump down. At the same time we had people tell us the house was really hard to heat and wasn't worth more than we offered.
We have heard of much cheaper sales that took place before we started looking. It seems that because we are Americans, people aren't budging or the prices are hiked up. If we don't find something we feel is a good deal we will have Attila keep looking after we leave and simply wire the money over. The house could be put in Csilla's name.
It looks like Leventa will take over Fedi's prison ministry. He was pretty reluctant because of a bad experience he had with prisoners a long time ago. Fedi talked him into it. Leventa speaks Romanian as well as Hungarian which is necessary for the prison. It would also mean a little income for Leventa through Bereans.
The Bible study continued on without us last week. Csilla, Jozsef, another couple, and Leventa are all pitching in. There have been only about 5 attending from Carta. Since Lehel's Mom asked Theresa's neighbor not to come, Theresa is not coming either. Fedi did talk to Theresa's neighbor and told her we are trying to find a place.
I've come to understand why people don't sell off houses that have been empty for years. First there is an uncertainity if the money that they get from a sale will hold its value or be devalued by another surge of inflation. Second is the lack of opportunities here to invest money in. It's been way harder to buy a place than I ever thought.

We are down at the Black Sea 1 kilometer form the Bulgarian blorder. There is a lot of Romania that we didn't see and since we have to pick up a friend at the Bucharest airport, we decided to combine it with a few days sight-seeing. We were told that this is a great time to go because room prices are cheap and the water is still warm.
The first day we went to the Danube delta and took a boat ride. It is supposed to be a beautiful bird sanctuary. We didn't see much because the boat we took was a transport boat that only went on the main traffic areas. He informed us of this after we paid. Oh well. We did stop at an interesting village on a small island. There were absolutely no vehicles or roads on this island. Instead it was a maze of paths with tall bamboo like fences around the houses. This plant whatever it is grows in abundance here. They tie it together to make their roofs, fences and in some cases the whole house. All their goods are shipped in and as we found out on our own boat a lot of fish was shipped out,
I was surprised how beautiful the Black Sea is. To be honest I expected the water to be kind of black. Instead it is a clear blue. The fist day there were about 1 foot waves but that night a storm increased their size. It was cool and even rained on and off but the kids swam anyway. In the evening a strong wind picked up making the waves ocean size. We all took a walk just to experience tha wildness of the shore.

Big fly in the ointment of our well laid plans. Yesterday something happened we didn't count on. Lehel's Mom apparently doesn't like a lady that has been coming to the Bible studies. She told Theresa, who is this ladies neighbor to tell her that she is not welcome to come anymore. To make matters worse, Theresa, wanting to spare her neighbors feelings, lied to her and told her that we all have stopped meeting until we find a new place. Now Fedi said they sat there at last night's Bible study feeling they are a part of this lie. Lehel is frustrated but it is not his house, it is his parents.
So we are back to thinking of buying a place here in Carta. To be honest it hurts financially. We are going back to America with a lot a debts and no job. This money would be a nice cushion of security. But there is a need here and I think we will be ok in America.
It does seem like it should not be necessary to buy a place as Leventa said. There are plenty of empty places around or the people that come should open up their houses. But we tried to rent a place,- there was such an uproar that the owner apologetically kicked us out. Lehel's bedroom has worked our O.K. but now we have this new problem with his Mom not wanting certain people to come. He Dad has also been criticized for letting us meet there. Also Lehel plans to be leaving sometime early next year to work in Sweden for a time. No one else coming owns a house as they are young, except for Theresa. She has already told us that she doesn't want us to meet at her house because of the problems she might have with her neighbors. If you ask me they are a bunch of wimps but I didn't grow up in this crazy village.
We went just now to look at the $11,000 house again. We plan to make an offer tonight. We won't put much money in it just enough to have one room that has heat to be used for the Bible studies.

Last night 2 couples and another man form the Csikzereda church joined our Bible study in Carta. Csilla and Jozsef have been coming regularly and also another couple. It has been a tremendous help. The atmosphere is really nice and we are thankful for their support. We plan to give gas money to them for the year to come. It is not a bribe, it is simply that they can't afford it.
We are also using donation money to have the teeth fixed on a young lady who comes to church. She is always very self-conscious of smiling or opening her mouth. Her husband said it has been a dream of hers but they couldn't afford it. She has already gone twice to the dentist.

Last night's Bible study was great. Leventa came and talked about the prophesies that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. He concluded with the sobering message that even as these all came true so will all the prophesies about His judgment. There was a lot of questions afterward and then Csilla led us in a couple of songs. Afterward fedi talked to the care group about the pans we have finally settled on. We will leave the van with $1,000 of gas and maintenance money to Attila for church and Bible study use only. We will ask Csilla to arrange people from the Csikzereda church to come out weekly. There are 6 different men who could take turns. I hope they would be willing for the Lord's sake. We could give Csilla money for their gas.
We reserved our plane tickets today for October 16th.
Attila confirmed that yes Erika plans to be baptized as a Christian with time. With her though it is not the clear decision that we see with Attila. Attila says no matter what - his decision is clear. Erika is saying yes but if I wait maybe problems will smooth out.
Meanwhile right now the villages focus is on potato picking. The weather has been nice and hundreds of people are on the fields all day picking potatoes. Kinga's school class is spending the first two weeks of school picking potatoes instead of classes which I found rather shocking. In church and Bible studies in the evenings the people look tired.
We are going to give our couch to Csilla to use, the chain saw to Lehel, the wash machine to his Mom, and clothes, mitten, boots etc to the gypsies. The big items we asked to have back in the case that we return.

Fedi had a long talk with Erika yesterday with reassuring results. The best thing she said was that she considers herself on the road to being baptized as a Christian and her Mom know this too. She was under the impression that Fedi expected her and Attila to get married, baptized and to move into a house that doubles as a church in the next 5 weeks before we leave. I guess we had this thought as one of many options for the future but we never thought that it would happen in 5 weeks. We also never intended them to feel any pressure but were just trying to find a solution for their problems as an option for them to have. We also gave just as much thought to finding another missionary couple to come and vie here or also Fedi and I returning.
Anyway I do feel more peaceful now. It is clear that the kids and I have to return to take care of responsibilities we have in America. God will show us any other action we need to take at the right time. Even though we feel responsible for these people actually it is God's work. He started it and He has a plan even now.

The first couple we talked to can't replace us. Fedi and I are racking our brains about what to do. The second couple we just don't know that well. It still feels like we are abandoning the Carta people at a crucial time.
Attila is exhausted from the cow business. He also needs to go in and have a stomach surgery as soon as the cow season is over, about the end of October.
Erika returned form Hungary full of conflicts. She is discouraged from the constant uproar in her family over her interest in Christianity. She has tried to have both peace in her family and go to the Bible studies by sneaking to them. Now with Attila wanting to be baptized she is seeing her dream of a Catholic wedding slip away and she is not happy. At this point I don't think she is glad Attila wants to be a Christian. I pray for her daily though I feel frustrated that she only looks at the problems instead of all the benefits of Christianity. It also seem she cares more her Dad's opinion more than the man she plans to marry.
Lehel is asking a lot of good questions. He and Eboya come regular and seem very interested. Also Theresa the Christian lady comes every time. Lehel's Mom and his aunt also come regularly. Thersa brings a young lady with her occasionally. That's the main group along with Attila and Erika but there are visitors almost every time either from Carta or from Csikzereda.
Lehel's Mom has been a big help with the house hunting. We looked at one yesterday that has possibilities. It is only about $11,000 but would need about $5,000-$7,000 more work to make it livable. (I like indoor bathrooms)The yard though is charming.
If we can't find someone to replace us, we were hopeful that Attila and Erika would get married, live in the house, and hold the Bible studies there. That would solve their problem of no place to live and also give us a fixed point for a Christian witness in Carta. But Erika is not ready for this.
Fedi and I are so unsure of what to do. I wonder if I should go home, try to sell the rental house, tidy up the horse business- maybe sell out- and come back for another year after Christmas. The problem is that we care about these people. Will someone out there please tell us what to do!

Again it seems a lot is happening fast. We have decided that the kids and I will return to America in about 6 weeks. Fedi will come also if things are wrapped up here. Several things are happening to lead us this way. Dad is scheduled to have open heart surgery Nov. 3rd. We have a rental house that needs work and Irma and Sandor are hoping now that our house here is sold and the year we committed too is up we will return to take care of our own yard and rental stuff in America.
We have an empty= house to move into in America. It's junky but my standards are lower. I'm thrilled with a hot water heater and a heating system that we don't have to chop wood for.
Meanwhile we are looking daily for a house here. It will mean for us a financial loss but a spiritual gain. The Bible study group needs a place. They need to know that we really care. We are also trying hard to find a couple to live in the house and continue on holding the Bible studies. We have 2 families in mind. One we have approached already and we are waiting for their answer. It would also mean that we need to support them monthly, prob ally about $100-$150 a month.
Leventa has not worked out to take over. We have been disappointed. We thought he would commit to at least one evening a week as he at first enthusiastically agreed, Instead he only makes it about 1/2 of the time.

Well we got the brakes fixed yesterday with the parts Dad sent. That is a relief. We also went to see two houses for sale before the Bible study. They were both a disappointment to me. The problem is they are set up with barns and outbuildings that we don't need but lack what we do need. We want a small living area, a big room for the Bible studies near a bathroom, with central heating. In the better place that we looked at yesterday every room has it's own wood-burning stove for heating. I don't want to try to keep up five different fires in order to use the house. We will keep looking and keep praying. The God that helped us this far has a plan.

Yesterday was the closing for our house. The money should be here in a day or two. Fedi is still running around doing odds and ends to help them secure the house.
Joan and Tim left us. They seemed happy with the dental work they had done here. They were able to do some sight-seeing but it was limited because we were so busy moving and our van still has very bad brakes.
Bad brakes or not we still took several trips taking the Carta people to church on Sunday. A new man came that Attila had been witnessing too. Also the Bible study is going consistently well. The people coming are really interested.
Now the big news. Attila came yesterday and told Fedi that he wants to live a Christian life. He wants to be baptized. Wow!! For him this is a costly move. He told Fedi that his Dad has lied and cheated in the cow business that have together. Attila plans to use the money that he will get at the end of the season for taking care of the cows to make this right. He also told Fedi he knows he needs to marry Erika or stop seeing her. They don't have a place to live though if they get married. If we can help somehow we will.