Aurica's Story

I was expecting our seventh child when Ilie left Romania.   I was 29 years old. Veronica was 2, Sam 4, Lidia 5, Marianne 6, Daniel 8, and Fivi was 9.  It was a very hard time.  My family helped us with food.  Each morning my sister brought milk from her cow for the children.  And the Word of my precious Lord carried me through. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 40:10.

Two months passed with no word from Ilie.  I did not know if he was dead or had been captured.  Then one day the police came to the door wanting to know where my husband was.  I told them, truthfully, that I did not know.  Then they handed me a postcard from Ilie, which they had intercepted and scoffed.  He says he is in Italy.  He says he got there by following a light from God.  In the two years I waited in Romania, Ilie would send us packages whenever he could.  In the first package there was a tub of jelly.  Even though the package had been opened and inspected by the police, they had failed to find the wad of money wrapped in plastic deep down in the jelly.

Baby Ilie was born in February, 1975.  It was a very hard pregnancy and I was sick long after his birth.  It seemed that I never regained my strength.  I was so tired and overwhelmed by caring for the children alone.   Finally I prayed to God, please give me sometime to rest.  Let me have a little time alone.  Ilie worked for a time at a mission in Austria , but knowing the Lord was sending him to America.  He flew to Los Angeles in February, 1976.  I continued to try to get passports for myself and the children, but the authorities in Bucharest told me there was no way I would ever get a passport.  But in America, God led Ilie to a Senator who was able to help.

One day the police came to the door and told me to go immediately to Bucharest to pick up my passport.  The government purchased our home for $20.00 and 1 gave away all of our belongings.  Within days the children and I were on a train to Vienna.  The $20.00 was just enough to pay a taxi to take us from the train station to the refugee camp!  Ilie was able to return to Austria and we were reunited with much joy and tears after a separation of two years.  We spent several weeks together in Vienna, but when it was time for all of us to go to our new home in the United States, the immigration officials would not let me leave.  They found a spot on my lungs which they believed was tuberculosis and I would be required to stay behind in a sanatorium for several months while my husband and children went on to America.  It broke my heart to stay behind, being separated from my children for such a long time.  

I had no idea when I prayed for a little time to myself that God would respond in such away!  Today, Fivi lives in Seattle with her husband Jonathan and their three children.  Daniel and his wife Amy serve full time at the orphanage in Dornesti and Daniel pastors a New Testament church.  Marianne and her husband Eric are full time missionaries living in Vienna with their infant son.  Lidia, Samuel and Veronica have all served as full time missionaries for Walk in the Light.  Lidia is currently in the U.S. studying nursing.  Sam oversees construction at the orphanages.   Veronica works at the ministry's base in Vienna.  Benjamin, Jonathan and Elizabeth were born after the family immigrated to America.  Ben travels with his father in Romania.  Johnny and Betty attend high school in Washington.  Little Ilie went to be with Jesus at the age of five after being struck by a car.

Aurica