How I Became a Romanian Grandpa

By
Ken Shultz

Chapter Four

Chapter Three ended with the observation that "Bunico’s family is growing again." (I’m Bunico, for those who do not know the story.) That chapter told about my trips to Romania, in March and June last year. If you would like to have the full story, let us know. We’ll be glad to send you a copy.

Some have asked why I keep going back.

At about the time Doris was addressing our Christmas letter last year, I was in Romania meeting the Rus family, a family with seven children. Mr. Rus is disabled and his wife could not work outside the home because she cared for her dying uncle. The whole family slept in the same room -- the five boys lying across the bed with a chair by the bed to hold the feet of the taller ones. Winter was near and their part of the house had no heat. They also needed warm shoes.

I did not know what we might be able to do, so I asked which need was most urgent, shoes or a heating system. My hostess suggested shoes.

Here is the whole family, lined up to thank me and show me their new shoes. I think it was the first time every member of the family had new ones. Later, I realized there was enough money to install the heating system as well. I’ll tell you more about them, later.

Each trip, I meet more of "my family". It seems to me that I experience first hand what Jesus was talking about in Mark 10:30. After all, brothers and sisters in Christ really are our family.

While I was there, Vasile Pop and I looked at some property that was for sale, to see if it would be a good place for the Christian kindergarten. Located in the heart of the city, it seemed to us to be just right for their needs. I told him I would tell our friends, and we would pray that God would supply the funds to buy it. When I came home, I told our supporters about it and nothing happened – but that’s not the end of the story.

On that trip I also went to Ukraine, to an area that had been a part of Romania before the communist era. There, I met Ioan Rusu, a delightful man who believed God wanted him to start a school to train pastors after the Soviet Union broke up. The story of how he was able to obtain property and build a building at a fraction of the normal cost is a story full of miracles.

Ioan Stir, who used to translate Monica’s letters for us, was with me. He is now President of the school and wanted me to see what was being done there. So, the driver for the Somes Missionary Circle took us to Ukraine. We arrived in the wee hours on the day Ioan was to begin a course on Christology. As we were getting ready for bed, he asked me to deliver the opening lecture -- a review of Biblical Christology! He had taught a course on it in the fall. I told him I had no idea what he had taught, how could I review it? He said "You know biblical Christology. Just tell them what the Bible says about Jesus Christ." So, I lectured and he interpreted for me. We had a great time.

The students are all fluent in at least three languages -- Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian. What an opportunity! Those few young people are capable of taking the Gospel to virtually every part of the former Soviet bloc!

On my next trip, I wanted to be there when a container arrived with some of the things we had shipped for the ministry there. Even though I was flying standby, God’s timing was perfect. The container arrived two days after I did.

Friends had given us money to buy tents and sleeping bags to help start a camping program. They were put to use almost immediately. Each six-man tent housed twelve campers. Here are the boys that slept in one.

We had also been given two old garden tractors that friends here rebuilt. Another friend gave us a new roto-tiller. Our hope is to use these to improve the lot of the village farmers.

Oh yes, you remember the family we bought shoes for? Well, Mr. Rus may be disabled, but his sons are not. Last year, these young boys told their father not to spend money to have someone prepare their ground for planting, but save it for food. The boys did it themselves -- by hand – and did a good job too. This year, they will have the use of this tiller.

Here, their three year-old sister shows it to us. Her brothers were working in the fields at the time. What a blessing to bring hope to this wonderful family!

Remember the building we wanted to buy? We had agreed not to ask for funds, though we would tell about the need. When I came to Romania in July not one person had given so much as a dollar to buy that building. Vasile and I decided that either it was not God’s will or God’s timing, and tried to put it out of our minds.

When I had been there about a week, Vasile asked me to go on a picnic with James Campbell, a friend from Scotland. When we got there, James told us that Blythswood Cares, the Scottish mission organization he heads, would give most of the money for that building! We got it after all!

The day after Joe and I got there, Perry and his family came too. We all worked on cleaning and painting the old house. Then, while Perry worked on setting up the computers and Joe worked on preparing a foundation for the new addition, Perry’s girls worked at the kindergarten, as you see them here. Other times, they worked at the apartment preparing handouts for future use.

Yes, we did go to see Monica. Here she is in the doorway of their home on October 20, just four days before her 19^th birthday.

On every trip I preach in several churches. One church that did not know we were coming told us that they had just been praying for the safety of their "American brothers." They were surprised we came when so many would not fly at all. We told them that the safest place in the world to be is in God’s will.

As Perry and his family were leaving Dallas, the security people almost didn’t let him go because the name on his ticket "Perry" did not match with the name on his passport, "Preston". That wouldn’t have been important before "9-11", but they told him "They may not let you back into the country." because of the "high alert". Well, Doris called her "Prayer Brigade" and enlisted the prayers of anyone who would listen. God answered prayer, and they had no difficulty at all coming home.

The kids and grand-kids seem to have caught Bunico’s vision and love for the Romanian people. When Perry decided to come this year, Brandi and Brittany agreed to pay half of their plane fare if he would take the whole family.

And, the day after I came home Gretchen left for Romania – alone, yet -- where she spent about ten days teaching Romanian women how to become godly women and how to rear children according to the Bible – from her mother’s outlines.