by Gerald Whitely | Aug 30, 2015 | Friday Update
On my first trip to Romania in August of 1990, we had purchased 500 hardback Romanian New Testaments to distribute. They were gone in minutes! That fall, Brother Ron had found 20,000 Romanian New Testaments in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. We put them on a 40 foot container, along with other things, and shipped them to Romania. Just like the 500 in August, the20,000 New Testaments were quickly grabbed up. In order to get more Scriptures, we bought 15 one ton rolls of paper and contracted with Source of Light Ministries in Madison, Georgia to print John/Romans Scripture portions for us. We could get many more John/Romans for the dollar than the New Testaments. We printed the covers in Chattanooga and then collated and stapled 138,000 Romanian John/Romans! Over the next year, we received several thousands of letters of inquiry from Romania! Many folk were looking for money, but many were thanking us for the Scriptures. What a blessing! I remember looking at the blank paper going into the printing press on one side and coming out the other side with the eternal Word of God printed on it! How exciting to be a part of God’s plan for the...
by Gerald Whitely | Aug 30, 2015 | Friday Update
In 1992 we were distributing New Testaments around Haţeg, where we were staying with Brother Florin Doboş. We had three vans where we would stay in the same general area, but go separate ways in order to cover more territory. I had a group of five young people with me and we were near Strei. Romania had huge collective farms, but communism was over. Anyone who could prove ownership of land that was confiscated could have the land returned. Small 20 hectare plots were showing up everywhere, but the work on those fields was done by hand. We had to walk too far, so I drove down one of the dirt roads used by the wagons. The kids would get out and hand out New Testaments to a few folk, and then we would move on. As we went further and further, by driving skills were not as good as my confidence. The van slid in a wet area, and we were stuck. But not to worry. Two young men came over to help push. But no luck. So they went back, unhitched their horse, brought him over, hitched him to the van, and we were free within moments. We gave them each a New Testament as payment, and they were happy. After another round of thanks and goodbyes, we were off to the next...
by Gerald Whitely | Aug 29, 2015 | Friday Update
My dear wife is absolutely paranoid about bed bugs and fleas. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like them either, but she is looking for them where they simply ain’t – if you know what I mean. In 1993 we were with a group of twenty Americans in Vatra Dornei up in the Carpathian Mountains handing out New Testaments at an evangelistic meeting of an American preacher. A Romanian brother had made our reservations for the hotel, and it was a dump. But we had no other place to go. Kathy went around to each room spraying everything down and examining every bedsheet and pillowcase for any speck that even looked like a bug. I could barely lay my head on the pillow because it was soaked with chemicals. I don’t think Kathy slept at all that night. But she slept well in the van as we traveled to Haţeg the next...
by Gerald Whitely | Aug 29, 2015 | Friday Update
In 1996 I organized a trip to Romania, Moldova, and the Ukraine for Dr. Kent Hovind. He lectured on Biblical Creationism and we flew between most of our speaking points. But from Suceava to Simeria, we took the train – there is no airport near Simeria. Pastor Viorel Condreanu took our passports and went to downtown Suceava and bought the train tickets. We left at 11 PM and took the sleeper car. Brother Kent had three pieces of luggage, and we had difficulty getting everything into the small cabin on board. But the conductor was professional and was glad to help – after a generous tip. The sheets were clean and we were rocked to sleep by the motion of the train and the clickity-clack noise of the rails. The conductor came by and woke us up at 6 AM, just in time to drag the suitcases off of the train in Simeria. Brother Florin Doboş was waiting at the station. He knew that the train would stop for only 90 seconds. The train is the only thing that is on time in Romania. And it was a bargain. The 360 Km trip, including clean sheets, was $20 per...
by Gerald Whitely | Aug 28, 2015 | Friday Update
In 2000 I was in Romania for a conference at the resort town of Braşov. I was eating supper and surprised by something crunchy. It turned out to be a piece of my tooth. It had broken off down to the gum line. I could imagine the pain I might have on the plane trip back home as they pressurized the cabin. I had to get it taken care of, but I was a continent away from my dentist. So I asked several people on the street about a dentist. When I got a dentist’s name twice, I figured he must be good, so went to his office. But the dentist didn’t speak English. A local ski instructor who spoke a little English was in the waiting room and explained my situation to the dentist. So the dentist called a taxi and sent me to get an x-ray at another office. The x-ray office was one room with everyone sitting around waiting their turn at the seat in the middle. No secure room; no lead shield; nothing. The cost was 4,000 lei – about 12¢. When I returned with the x-ray, the dentist explained that I needed a root canal. He drilled out my tooth, extracted the nerve, and packed the cavity with antibiotic soaked gauze. I had to return in two days. At the next session, he cleaned out the tooth canal and installed a titanium post that would hold the new crown. He finished the crown in about an hour. The total cost for root canal and crown build-up was...
