Welcome to the Journal of Dr. Gerald Whitely
Reaching Romania History
My first trip to Romania was in August of 1990. Ron Kuhns had been there in April and knew what to expect. Brother Ron had told me that Bibles were in short supply. So I found a Mennonite group in Ephrata, PA who had hardback, Romanian New Testaments for $5. Since my parents lived near Ephrata, I made plans to travel there and to buy some New Testaments. As folk at my church heard of our plans they would give me ten or twenty dollars and say, “Buy some New Testaments for me.” By the time of our trip, I was able to buy 500 Romanian New Testaments! We flew into Frankfort, Germany, rented a car, and drove through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and into Romania. At the end of our first day of construction on a village church, we cleaned up at our hotel and went out to begin to distribute our 500 New Testaments. Wrong! We handed them out in less than five minutes! We were mobbed by people trying to get a copy of that secret forbidden Book. One couple followed us back to our hotel five blocks just to get the last New Testament that I had left on the nightstand in the hotel room. On the flight back home, Brother Ron said, “Someone has to do something about getting Scriptures in to Romania.” I agreed and said, “Yes, someone has to do something about getting Bibles in to Romania.” We looked at each other for a moment, and that was it.
Mountain Cliff overlooking Moldova Noua
It was 1993 and a group of us were in the southwest corner of Romania just across the river from Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in Moldova Noua. Pastor Adolphie Copriva was taking us up to a little Czech village in the mountains. We had a car and two vans. I was driving and Kathy beside me with Wilma Doolittle and Dianne Norman in the back seat. The road up the mountain was so difficult that I did not get out of first gear the entire time. The road was paved with round river rocks the size of softballs. The ladies grumbled at my driving the whole time – and for good reason. When we got to the top, we were rewarded with a great service at the little village. The view from the church was breathtaking! Afterwards, we left for lunch at Brother Copriva’s sister’s home. The ladies all warned me about the steep cliff just in front of us. I thought I had the car in reverse, but it was actually in 2nd gear. I let out on the clutch and off the brake simultaneously and the car lurched forward. I slammed on the brake as all three women screamed as loudly as they could. The car stopped inches away from the precipice. I carefully made sure the transmission was in reverse and backed up. We stopped right there and thanked the good Lord for His divine protection. One of the ladies made the comment, “Someone must have been praying for us.” We subtracted the seven hour time difference and realized that the men at our church were meeting for men’s prayer breakfast just at that moment. God was answering their prayers for protection – just in time!
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
We have this little plaque in our living room with the first verse of Amazing Grace on it. It is a wonderful old hymn that is beautifully done. However, the plaque is made in China. Think about it. This gospel saying was made in some sweat shop by underpaid workers who would have been persecuted for singing the very hymn that they were printing. But because it was printed in English, none of their communist leaders knew what it said. Each time I see that little plaque in my living room, I am reminded to pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ in China. Now you will be reminded too.
Terry Tweed
It was the summer of 1992 and we were coming back from distributing Scriptures in Romania. We had two rented vans and were driving from Romania to Hungary, flying out of Budapest the next morning. Terry Tweed from North Carolina was driving the other van and keeping up with me pretty well – which was no small feat because there was no speed limit on the autobahn in those days! It was getting late in the afternoon when I glanced in my rearview mirror. But the no van was in sight. So I slowed down for Brother Terry to catch up. But as minutes passed, I realized that he must not be behind me. Was he ahead of me? Had he passed me on the other side of a lumbering transport truck and I hadn’t seen him? But now they were at least ten minutes ahead of me! Or had they doubled back looking for us? We spent the next two hours frantically looking up and down the Hungarian autobahn for one lonely van full of Americans. I had all of the money for the night’s supper and motel, and the tickets for our flight the next morning. Would Brother Terry know how to find the airport in time for our morning flight? How would they manage supper and a hotel? Everyone in our van was praying that we would find the others safely. With nothing else to do, I pulled off the autobahn at an exit to spend the night. As I drove down the exit, there they were! They had just pulled off at that very same exit on the very same side of the autobahn. Coincidence? May be. God in control? No doubt!
Vatra Dorne, Romania
We were traveling from Suceva up near the Ukraine Border through the Carpathian Mountains back to Haţeg in the early 90’s. We had heard about an evangelistic meeting that was to take place in Vatra Dorne, a small resort town. Since we had several thousand New Testaments, we planned to help at the meetings by distributing the Scriptures. We each took an armful of New Testament and fanned out across the small town. I soon had a ten year old boy tagging along behind. I smiled, tosseled his hair and continued to hand out a new Testament to anyone who would take one. I spoke little Romanian and he spoke no English, but we somehow understood each other. He offered to carry my stack of Scriptures, so I let him. Soon he was greeting passersby and handing out more New Testaments than I was. I left the little guy working and went back to the van and got more Scriptures. My little helper soon found me again as he was all out of New Testaments. He eagerly took another armful. I smiled and gave him a thumbs up sign. He smiled and opened a little grimy hand and showed me some coins. The little brat had sold the New Testaments! But then I realized that he was moving more New Testaments by selling them than I was by freely giving them. So I continued stocking him with New Testaments. So what if he was making a little money. At least they were getting to people who really wanted them. In the end we were all happy. He made a little change, I distributed my New Testaments, and Romanians received a copy of God’s eternal Word of Life.
Distributing New Testaments in Craiova
It was 1993 and we were in Craiova distributing New Testaments. Craiova is in the Southwest corner of Romania not far from the Danube River. Yes, it is blue. We had about six people in each of our three rented vans and each trunk area was packed with Scriptures. We would find a deserted area and pull over to the sidewalk. As we were getting out, curious people would begin to gather to stare at our nice vehicles. As we opened the backs of the vans and bystanders saw our boxes, they got excited. Boxes meant that we had stuff to sell. But when they saw we had Bibles, they really got excited. The only trouble we had was convincing folk that the New Testaments were really free. Within minutes we were swamped and people were grabbing more than one New Testament. We would pack up and move to another deserted spot and begin again. We found a particularly nice area and began our drill. Soon pushy people were everywhere. Then two policemen demanded that we stop – we were causing too much noise right in front of the mayor’s residence. I gave each of them two New Testaments. After examining their gifts, they shrugged and let us stay. They said just to keep the noise down.
Paul Clipa
Another story from Romania:Pavel Clipa – Paul – was our translator in Suceava. He was one of several children who lived at home with his mother. His older brothers had a trucking company. He was helping us as we were out distributing New Testaments one afternoon in 1993. We stopped our van and gave several New Testaments to eager people along the long country road. Collective farms stretched out on both sides of the road as far as the eye could see. I saw several workers hoeing corn way off in the distance. They had stopped to watch us, but could not make out what we were doing. I held up several black New Testaments high above my head and made an exaggerated pointing motion to the New Testaments for the curious workers to see. Then I put the Scriptures down on a rock beside the road as the workers watched. They understood, dropped their hoes, and began to hurry to retrieve the roadside gift. But Paul was disturbed that I had put the New Testaments down on the ground. He got out of the van, picked them up, and walked to meet the coming workers. It took several minutes to finish the delivery and Paul returned with muddy feet. Pastor Viorel later explained Paul’s story: Years earlier, Paul’s father had smuggled Bibles in to Russia. One night, the Russian authorities had caught a courier and had gotten the names of his compatriots. Paul remembered the night that the Romanian agents had broken down the family’s door and had dragged his father away to prison. Paul’s father was tortured and died in that prison. You see, I was handing out New Testaments, but those copies of God’s Word meant more to Paul than they did to me. Paul’s father had paid for that precious Book with his life. And Paul was not about to leave those New Testaments there on the ground.
Florin Doboş
Florin, Cipri, Cristina, and Sanda Doboş
I first went to Romania in August of 1990. The revolution had taken place the previous December, and food was still in short supply. But we Americans didn’t know it. The Romanians fed us like we were visiting royalty! It didn’t matter how late we arrived at Pastor Florin’s home, his wife always had a full meal ready. The first course was soup and bread. The soup was hand-made angel hair noodles with clear chicken broth. Then the vegetables – whatever was in season. If it was winter, we had cabbage, pickles, and kraut from the root cellar. Next was potatoes and meat – usually chicken. The last course was the deserts. Brother Florin’s wife, Sanda, was a fabulous cook! When we arrived at the Doboş home, we felt like we were in our own home! In the morning we would load up in our rented car to go to our next destination and our gas tank would be full. I questioned brother Florin. He said, “The Lord supplies” with a sly grin. He had filled our gas tank up during the night. Making less than $100 a month, he had sacrificed to meet our needs. Brother Florin was a great example of Christian love!
John/Romans
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 ages!
Driver’s License
In 2002, I went to Dalton to renew my Georgia driver’s license. But when I got the license back in the mail, (with that good-looking picture) my last name was misspelled. I had to go back to Dalton to get another “great” picture and fill out forms. My new license soon arrived with the correct last name. But no one had collected the misspelled license. So, for the next ten years, I had two licenses, which came in handy while driving in Romania. When the Romanian police stop you, they are looking for a bribe. For even minor infractions, the police can send your license to Buchareşt. You have to travel all the way to Buchareşt to pay the fine before your license is returned. But for ten years I was fearless! I had two licenses! I could afford to lose the misspelled one! I was stopped in Simeria and threatened by the police. “I can send your license to Buchareşt!” the officer said. “Go ahead,” I replied. He was taken aback with my confidence. He shrugged, returned the misspelled license, and waved me on.
Fiddler in Bucharest
In 1993, there were 38 people who were interested in traveling to Romania for short term missions in the summer. So we flew into Frankfort, Germany and rented three vans to use. We had twenty people with us. After two weeks, we took fifteen of the group to Bucharest to catch the plane out, and then the next day, we picked up another fifteen Americans coming in for another two weeks. When that group was finished, we drove back to Frankfort, returning the vans after four weeks. While in Bucharest for one night, the remaining eight of us went out to a restaurant. That was an experience, since restaurants were few and far between in those days. The waiter spoke some English. He gave me a wink and said, “I have waited on Americans before.” And with a flourish, he delivered a bowl onto the table with two ice cubes in it. What a delicious surprise. Then a minute later, a gypsy fiddler appeared and serenaded us. I smiled at him, enjoying the tune. At the end, I gave him a tip. He bowed smartly and played another song. Of course, I had to tip him again. As he began a third song, I was onto his game. I turned around and focused my attention on my roasted chicken. Otherwise, the tipping would never end. Without my attention, the violinist moved on to another table. I enjoyed his playing from a distance – but without making eye contact.
Printing Scriptures
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 ages!