Chapter 2 the harvey family
CHAPTER 11 - FIRST FURLOUGH
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- MEANWHILE, BACK IN EUROPE
- CHAPTER 12 - BACK TO WORK
- SEARCH FOR NEW PLACE OF MINISTRY
- CHAPTER 13 - GETTING TO KNOW AUSTRIA
CHAPTER 11 - FIRST FURLOUGHIn February, 1968, we flew to America for our first furlough. Many friends and relatives had come to greet us upon our arrival in New York and we experienced our first taste of culture shock. We thought that we were "returning home," but soon discovered that, culturally, we were neither Austrian nor American. Ralph Jr. was only six months old when we left for Austria. He was now four and Rick was two, so their relatives were all strangers. They were excited about meeting their grandparents, yet when they actually met them, they bore little resemblance to the imagery of their young minds. They began to cry when all those strangers who were making such a fuss over them spoke a foreign language! Because of the constant flow of people in our home, our children had been exposed to very little English. We had been determined to learn and speak German, but never realized what it could mean for our children. It took quite a while for them to warm up to our families. Another shock was not being able to recognize two of my own brothers. When we departed for Austria, Bobby and Timmy were fifteen and eleven years of age. When two lanky six-foot teenagers with deep bass voices and long sideburns shook my hand at the airport, I asked them if they were from our church! After five months of furlough, our oldest son, Ralph Jr., consented to go with my older sister Ann and several cousins to swim in a nearby lake. There was a water slide which most of the children were enjoying, but Ralph refused to go down. The other children tried to persuade him, and he responded by asking, “Do you vant for me to die?“ His German dialect sounded so funny that they all started to laugh, but Ralph didn't understand and thought they were making fun of him. ORDINATION FLOPI had been called by God and was commissioned as a missionary by our home church, but some members felt that their missionaries should be ordained. The pastor agreed to call an ordination council to examine me. I had never attended such an affair and had no idea of what to expect. The pastor said that they would question me about my conversion, theological beliefs and call to missions. I should prepare a paper which contained this information in writing. Copies should be made for the attending pastors. That didn't seem too difficult. My first uneasiness about the upcoming ordination came after hearing the pastor preach. He seemed very legalistic and critical. He often pointed fingers at the congregation when he preached, using the pronouns "you" and “I,“ but never "we." Within six months of calling him as their pastor, church members pressured him to resign. His final act as pastor was residing over my ordination council. My "Ordination" was a total flop, which means that I flunked! Afterward, a friendly pastor who was on hand for the affair told me that a candidate normally gives "yes" or "no" answers to standard questions. The pastor should have told me what to say. I was puzzled by this statement, because in the Christian college that I attended and even in Elementary and High School, this was considered cheating. To this day, I feel better having flunked the exam. During the ordination, the Pastor of our church held up his Bible and asked if there were any errors in it, I was supposed to give an emphatic "NO!" Instead, I replied with a question. I asked if he meant that particular translation or the original manuscripts. He said that he just wanted a negative or positive response. I didn't cooperate but said that from where I was standing, his Bible was obviously a King James version with Schofield's notes. I said that there are places where Schofield takes issue with the translators, so either Schofield or the translators must have made a mistake. I could tell immediately, that he was not happy with my reply. He followed up with a related question, but I was too uneducated to know the answer. He asked how many chapters there were in the book of Isaiah. I thought for a moment and replied, "I'm not certain, but at least sixty-five." He shot back at me as though I had just committed a crime, "You should know that there are sixty-six chapters in Isaiah. There are two parts of the book. In the first section, there is the same number of chapters as in the Old Testament and in the second part, the same as in the New Testament. Isaiah is proof that the Bible's canonization is of God!" I was dumbfounded at this statement. In four years as a ministerial student at Bob Jones University, I had never learned this important truth. I had apparently been taught heresy, for my teachers told me that the chapter and verse divisions were not necessarily inspired of God! I could imagine theology professors at Brigham Young University teaching Mormon students, that the book of Psalms is proof that there are five testaments with a total of 150 books in God's inspired revelation! I was then asked if it would be possible for a person somewhere in the middle of an African jungle to be saved if no one ever gave him the gospel. Again, I was supposed to answer with an emphatic "NO!" The question was obviously based upon the great missionary passage of the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:13-15, which states that unless people hear the preaching of the gospel, they can't be saved. I quoted another verse from Paul's epistle to the Romans. I said that according to Paul, all men are without excuse, because the divine Godhead is revealed even in nature. I added that this was not the way our Lord intended things to be done, and that was why I was a missionary. I concluded by saying that I believed all things are possible with God. I had flunked three questions in a row! I was so rattled, that I kept inserting German words and I'm certain that they thought that I was speaking in tongues! After the grilling, the pastoral council met privately and discussed my merits for ordination. Apparently, there were differences of opinion among them, for in the end, they said that they could not ordain me for a pastoral ministry in America, but I could be ordained as a missionary to Austrians! MEANWHILE, BACK IN EUROPEThe IMM leaders had a positive interview with Mr. Jagoditsch in July, 1968, officially inviting them to assume charge of their mission station in Ampflwang. They immediately put their business up for sale and began to make plans for the big move. We were thrilled to reeceive this news and shared it with supporting churches during our furlough. SECOND PASSAGE BY SHIPIn August, we purchased tickets to sail to Europe, once again aboard the SS United States. We arrived in Bremerhafen, Germany on the last day of September, 1968. Becky was conceived during our furlough in the Northwoods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We were attending a conference of the Christian Service Brigade, thinking of setting up a similar ministry in Austria. We stayed in a cabin shaped like an "A" with all roof and no walls. It was a lovely, romantic setting, nestled in the woods next to a lake where beavers were building a dam and hoot owls kept us awake at night. On our passage to Europe aboard the S.S. United States, four of us were paying passengers and Becky was our stow-away. On the second day out of port, a storm warning was posted, and on the third day, our ship was heaving and rocking like a chip of wood. The ship was the fastest boat in the world due to its light weight and narrow hull, but these features certainly didn't help in a storm! When we asked a sailor if he considered this a bad storm, he just laughed, "I've been working on this ship since it was built and have weathered many a storm. When it gets bad, they string up ropes in the hallways to hang onto." The following day, there were ropes in the halls and stairways. The dining room was nearly deserted because so many passengers were seasick. Even stewards and waiters were sick. The tables had sideboards that could be slid up to keep things from falling off the edge, and our coffee cups were only half-filled. We had booked passage in the cheapest cabins available and now understood why they were cheap. Our cabin was located at the very front of the ship with a porthole window, which means we experienced the worst of both the heaving and tossing motions. The above-mentioned sailor told us that he had never experienced such a storm in twenty-eight years at sea, and we believed him! I have often wished that we had had a movie camera for that trip. The scene in the ship nursery would be a sure winner on the "Funniest Home Video" TV show. Our boys, three and five years old, loved to play with the multitude of beautiful toys that were provided. Thanks to the storm, there were few children to share them with. Most nursery floors are now carpeted, but the SS United States nursery had a highly polished tile floor. The children soon became accustomed to the pitching ship and played with their toys while sliding across the room. When they neared a wall, they learned to extend one arm to brace themselves. When the ship rolled on its other side, they would continue playing until they had to reach out for the opposite wall. Amazingly enough, none of us got seasick, but when we docked in Bremerhafen, Germany, Ricky complained that the ground was moving! Moments later he got "dock-sick" and threw up! Incidentally, that was the final Europe-bound crossing for the S.S. United States. The sleek vessel was placed in mothballs soon after its return to America. We see her rusting away at a pier on the Delaware River every time we cross the Walt Whitman Bridge to Philadelphia. Forty-four years after that crossing, my brother Dave was cleaning out his son's rented house. The previous occupants had left two large framed pictures behind. One showed the sleek SS United States sailing the high seas, and the other showed the ship being towed by tugboats to its final berth next to the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia. They are now hanging in our home. When we docked in Germany, a young man from Operation Mobilization was there to meet us with our trusty Volkswagen bus. We spent our first night with a newlywed German couple named Schuster, whom we had met at a camp in Austria. He was pastor of a church in Bremen. Sixteen years later, he was a pastor in Austria and Chairman of the Board of the Austrian Bible Institute that we founded! Index CHAPTER 12 - BACK TO WORKUnknown to us and without informing either the church or the Jagoditsch family, the IMM leadership decided on September 12 to send another young missionary couple to Ampflwang. It was another week before the church learned about the decision through a member of the Swiss branch of the mission. We were informed of this new development upon our arrival, but were convinced that there had been a miscommunication. I quickly wrote letters to the IMM in England and the branch in Switzerland, asking for clarification. The Swiss branch verified what we had been told and the (former) General Secretary in England wrote on October 21, that he and three other Board members had resigned due to the decision. He passed my letter on to the President to answer. The President wrote on November 12, exactly two months after the fact, that the mission had decided "unanimously" to send the Wildmans, a young couple that had just graduated from Bible College and joined the mission. He said nothing about resignations, but asked us to pick up the new missionaries in Salzburg on November 26. Our plan upon returning was to begin a church in one of the many cities and towns of Upper Austria where there was no Gospel witness, but we had not settled on the place. Time was now precious, but November and December are not good months to go house-hunting in Austria. The Jagoditschs had found a potential buyer for their business and even purchased curtains and other needed items for the mission house in Ampflwang. They too were in a dilemma. The church wrote a letter, protesting the decision, but the mission remained silent. We picked up the new couple on November 26 as requested and tried to make them feel welcome. The wife was Austrian born and German was her native language, but he was British and spoke no German. They spent only one night with us and then traveled by train to Carinthia to spend time with her relatives. On December 5, I wrote the IMM that we would turn over all ministries and responsibilities to the new missionaries on New Year's Day. We had begun to look for a place to live in Frankenmarkt, some twenty-five kilometers to the west and prayed desperately that we would find a home before that date. Little did we know what lay ahead of us! The fledgling missionaries returned to Ampflwang a week before Christmas. We had much work with preparations for Christmas and New Years programs, but tried our best to be friendly and make them feel at home. Church members, however, were not so inclined. One asked the husband how he thought he could lead the church, not knowing any German. His wife replied that she would translate. To our consternation, they refused to eat with us or even attend services. During the day, he read passages from King Arthur's Round Table to his wife in their bedroom. Without saying anything to us, they wrote to the mission, complaining that we were still living in “their house.” Apparently, mission leaders had told them that we would leave the moment they arrived! They had neither money nor furnishings, so it was fortunate that we were still there! On Thursday, December 22, the missionary showed us a letter written to him by the President of the IMM, stating that he was very upset that we had not left! There was not a word of appreciation for our two years of service; in fact, we were accused of trying to find housing nearby, in order to "steal their sheep!" ROOM IN THE STABLEAfter the children's Christmas program on Friday, December 23, 1968, we left our furniture, dishes, food supply and even our Christmas tree for the new missionaries and drove one hundred kilometers to Enns, where our co-workers, Frank and Gwen Wiebe, took us in. Ralph Jr. was five, Rick was three, and Verna was four months pregnant with Becky. Nine and a half people lived in Wiebe's tiny three-room apartment for what would be six weeks! It was not difficult to relate with Joseph and Mary on that first Christmas! Minutes after our arrival, Frank came running into the house, his wrist bleeding profusely. While washing his Fiat Multipla, he broke off the rear-view mirror and the jagged shaft gouged his wrist. Much later, we jokingly accused him of attempting suicide after we moved in on them, but at the time no one was in a joking mood! On Christmas Day, we returned to Ampflwang for the church service, traveling 60 miles each way in a severe snow storm. We didn't tell the church that we had been "given the boot." They could not understand why we left in such a hurry without a proper farewell, but we felt that it would be better if they blamed us than the new missionaries. They would have difficulties enough! SEARCH FOR NEW PLACE OF MINISTRYAlthough discouraged by the way they had been treated by the Miners Mission leadership, the Jagoditsch family suggested that they could move to Frankenmarkt and begin a church planting ministry together with us! In a letter to supporters dated October 28, 1968, we wrote: We are searching for a place to live in Frankenmarkt, Upper Austria. The Lord has already opened doors we did not seem possible. The town theatre is for sale, complete with fixtures and an adjoining house. It is in excellent condition and could easily be made into a church. The present owners spent $40,000 to remodel it, yet the price for everything is only $30,000. We have no money and there are presently no known believers in Frankenmarkt; nevertheless, we asked God for wisdom and faith, should this be His leading... The [Jagoditsches...] are seriously considering selling their business in Vienna as planned and buying the theatre in Frankenmarkt! They would then set up their business in part of the property and assist us in "planting" a local church. None of these plans came to fruition, however. The sale of Jagoditsch's business fell through and we could not find rented housing in Frankenmarkt. We began to look for a place of ministry in other towns and cities of Upper Austria. Twenty four years later, however, we actually did move to Frankenmarkt. The theatre had become a supermarket where we often shopped. Why those original plans didn't work out only the Lord knows, but His timing is always perfect. HOUSE HUNTINGFor the next three months, we searched for housing and a place of ministry. We placed ads in newspapers and followed up every possible lead. The only stipulation we made was that our place of future service should be a city or town where there was no existing evangelical church. There were hundreds of such towns in Upper Austria, but we could find no available housing in any of them. The few offers we found were too expensive, too far from town or included terms in the contract which we could not accept. After spending five weeks with the Wiebes, Verna moved in with an elderly couple where she could sleep in a bed rather than on an air mattress on the floor. The Fiedlers belonged to the Linz Baptist Church and tried to persuade us to consider working with their church. We explained our desire to serve where there was no existing church, quoting Oswald Smith, who said, “Why should someone hear the gospel twice when there are people who never heard?” Mr. Fiedler said that their church had outreach ministries in three other cities. Wouldn’t that be worth considering? We said that if we could find housing in one of those cities, we might view this as the Lord’s leading. We were certain that the Lord had answered our prayers when we found a little house for rent in Ansfelden. Ansfelden had a population of about 10,000 and no gospel-preaching church. It was not far from Linz, so we could continue our relationship with the Baptist Church. There was just one hitch, the owners told us. The previous occupants had allowed pipes to freeze and burst, damaging the floors. Most of the walls needed papering or painting. If we agreed to make the repairs at our own expense, the owners were willing to rent to us for a very reasonable sum. We gladly accepted the offer. They said that it would take some time to draw up a rental contract, but gave us the keys and told us we could begin with renovations immediately. We made several trips to Ampflwang to pick up our furnishings, unloading them at the house, but decided not to begin repairs or move in until we had a legal contract. Verna was six months pregnant and we were very anxious to move into a home and get settled. We asked several times if the contract had been drawn up, but the owners kept making excuses, encouraging us not to worry about it. After two weeks of waiting, we drove to the house to measure the windows for curtains. A neighbor lady asked if we planned to move into the house. We replied in the affirmative and she asked if we were aware of the fact that the house was scheduled to be auctioned off the following month! The owners hoped that we would fix it up so it would bring a better price! A SEQUALThis story has a sequal. One year later, two single women from Minnesota came to Austria and stopped to visit us. They were driving a rented Italian sports car from Hertz, but said that they only had to pay the minimum rental fee if they would leave the car in Italy where it was registered. While admiring the car, I noticed that one tire was bald. Looking closer, I discovered that a second tire was also bald and a third was actually threadbare! The fourth and the spare were legal, but also well-worn. I rode with them to the Hertz rental agency in Linz to get new tires. Imagine my surprise to discover that the Hertz agency was operated by none other than the owners of the above-mentioned house that we almost rented! The wife must have recognized me, but she said nothing and sent an employee to wait on us. I explained the problem with the tires, and the employee went back inside to see what he could do. After several minutes, he returned and said that the car required Italian Pirelli tires that were not available in Austria (I later discovered that they were available, but very expensive). "The boss said you should continue on to Italy and get tires there." I insisted on speaking to the "boss" and was ushered into the office. I reminded the woman (her husband was nowhere to be seen) that according to Austrian law, the driver was responsible for the condition of the car. She insisted that nothing could be done about the matter. I pointed to a sign on the wall which translated, said, "The impossible will be performed promptly; miracles take a bit longer!" I asked if that was a business slogan or just a joke. Again, the woman apologized that there was nothing she could do. She even refused to exchange the car for another one on the lot. We finally conceded defeat, but I convinced the worker to at least replace the threadbare tire with the spare. I advised the ladies to drive carefully to Vienna and take the car to the Hertz agency there. I documented everything, taking photos of the tires and license plates of their rental car. If they should be stopped by the police, they could explain what happened. I also wrote a letter with all our signatures and the photos for them to mail to the International Headquarters of Hertz upon their return to America. They sent the letter and pictures to Hertz as I had recommended and received a very apologetic letter plus a gift certificate for any size Hertz rental car for three weeks with unlimited mileage! A "PS" at the base of the letter read, "You may be interested to know that the operator of the Linz Hertz Agency has been dismissed." TOTALLY FRUSTRATED!After our episode with the house in Ansfelden, we decided that we would no longer be a burden to the Wiebes. Although they protested, saying that they were quite happy to have us stay, we insisted upon moving into a hotel room at least for a while, just to give them a break. Two days later, the Baptist Pastor heard that we were staying in a hotel and offered to let us stay in the youth room of the church. During our four-week stay there, he encouraged us to consider becoming the church's youth leader. He argued, "Linz is the capital city of the province of Upper Austria and has a population of over 200,000. Our church is located in the heart of the city." I argued that there were already three Evangelical churches in Linz and again quoted Dr. Oswald Smith. Index CHAPTER 13 - GETTING TO KNOW AUSTRIAAUSTRIA - A WORLD POWER?Austria is today a small Alpine nation with a population about equal to that of New Jersey. This was not always the case, however. There was a time when Austria's political influence was felt around the globe. The Habsburger dynasty ruled a sizable portion of Europe for six centuries, although the boundaries were constantly changing. Even in recent times, Austria has influenced the world far more than nations much greater in size. Austria was a key player in both World Wars. WW I started when the Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarejevo. Hitler was also Austrian born. HAPPY HAPSBURGERSThe Hapsburgers ruled Austria for six centuries, amassing fortunes and gaining control of nations. Under the Latin motto, Alii belli gerunt, tu felix Austria nube! ("Let others wage wars; Austria happily marries!" - in modern jargon: "Make love, not war!" The Hapsburgers courted and married their way to power and wealth until the Austrian nation became known as "the Empire on which the sun never sets." Most empires during the Middle Ages had to contend with rebellious uprisings among dissatisfied subjects; Austria was no exception, but unlike other nations, which crushed rebellion with brute force, the Hapsburgers developed a unique and bloodless manner of maintaining absolute control. Complaints were welcomed with a friendly smile; in fact, no one was ever refused any request at all! They were merely referred to a public official who gave them endless forms to fill out. Normally, the complainant couldn't read or write, so he was forced to find someone who could and pay for his services. If someone was stubborn and patient enough to complete these forms, he was referred to the next office, where the entire process would repeat itself. The most persistent dissidents were offered jobs as public officials! Anyone who has an academic degree is almost worshipped in Austria. Even those with a Masters (German: "Magister") always include the abbreviation "Mag." to their names on stationery and brass name plates attached to their apartment doors. They can be insulted if you forget to use the proper title when addressing them. There are engineering degrees which are conferred by an employer and "diploma engineering degrees" which are academically earned. I have never learned exactly what a "Hofrat" does to get this title. It is a bit like the "Sir" title conferred in England. The landlady in our first apartment had a polished brass plate on her door upon which the title "Frau Hofrat" was engraved in bold letters before her name. We noticed another polished brass name plate on another door in our apartment house which read "Wirklicher Hofrat." We made the mistake of asking our landlady what the difference was. She seemed offended and simply said, "Some people just like to show off!" A fellow missionary later explained that "Frau Hofrat" simply means that the lady was married to a Hofrat, but it is no crime to use the title. "Wirklicher Hofrat" means "genuine Hofrat." BEUROCRACYI translated the following article from the Upper Austrian daily newspaper from February 7, 1997. Beurocracy in the small country of Austria is surpassed by no other western nation. Anyone who desires to start a business must go through certain governmental channels and procedures for the necessary permits. Zoning laws and official regulations cover most areas of interest to assure that the new business meets environmental, safety and other standards. Occasionally, there is a need for a court ruling on variances. While Germany's courts deal with 6,000 and France has 3,000 such variance cases per year, the tiny republic of Austria has over 15,000! Real estate offices, lending libraries and eye doctors in Austria must prove in court that they do not pollute the environment, cause excessive noise etc. According to the exact wording of the law, even installing a new coffee machine in the office (or replacing the old one) requires a permit, involving legal forms and expenses. Most businesses ignore the ordinances on trivialities because they know that the public officials would not take them to court for the misdemeanor. It is different with the acquisition or replacement of a lawn mower. Although private persons can use any mower they like without bureaucracy, Austrian businesses must file a legal report on the type, power and noise decibel rating and other details. A recent example: A request to open a hot dog stand on commercial property was turned down because a neighbor claimed that the smell of cooking food would activate glands which produce saliva, potentially causing the formation of stomach ulcers. (OÖN Feb. 7, 1997) I was not at all surprised to learn in a Salem Sunbeam newspaper article, that "Red Tape" was an Austrian invention. Two hundred years ago, when more than half of Europe belonged to Austria, Emperor Josef II introduced red tape. "Create a bureaucracy," an advisor is reputed to have told him. "Give all the bureaucrats little offices, big desks, quill pens and stamps and they will keep your subjects too busy filling out forms to revolt." Today, Austria is a tiny neutral nation known mainly for lederhosen, schlag (Whipped cream) and strudel. The rebellious 50 million population of 200 years ago has shrunk to a peaceful 7.5 million, but they and foreign residents are still cursed by red tape. "Paperwork is necessary to keep things in order," said a city official, scratching his chin with the pen he prefers to a typewriter. Foreigners are particularly plagued by bureaucracy. Austrians get their share, but consider it as natural as Gemuetlichkeit. "Ordnung muss sein" (order must be kept) is a pet phrase. Sooner or later everyone in Austria gets a dose of bureaucracy. Out shopping one afternoon, a Vienna housewife found a camera and took it to a police station. "By the time I got out after filling in dozens of forms all the stores had closed," she said. It pays to be honest in Austria. Finders get a 10 per cent reward after filling in more forms. A Viennese lady who lost her purse was asked to list all its contents. The lady dutifully filled out the forms and handed over the list to police. But she forgot one or two items and the police refused to hand those things over. A couple of items she thought were in the purse actually were not and police demanded she file a robbery report. Foreign students cannot enroll in an Austrian university without having a residence permit. But they cannot get a residence permit without being enrolled at the university. An Englishman applying for a residence permit was told by a police clerk: "You have to buy some stamps for the forms at the tobacco store." When the Englishman returned, the clerk had closed his office and gone on vacation. His relief said he was not authorized to accept applications. During the clerk's vacation the Enlishman got two post cards from the police reminding him he had to get a residence permit. A columnist in a Vienna tabloid reported that Austria was producing coins that are hardly used nowadays at a minting cost of 400 percent more than the coin's value. Is such a thing possible?" asked the columnist. "It is here," was the reply. There is, however, one advantage to Austria's old world bureaucracy. With 180,000 bureaucrats in the country, almost every Austrian has a brother who is the chief of some department or other who knows the head of... who can put you in touch with etc. (UPI, November 9, 1972) Directory: documents documents -> Concept stage documents -> Concept stage documents -> The great global switch-off documents -> Nonprofit grant application documents -> The Truth about the Rwandan Genocide documents -> Annual InStructional unit plan documents -> Chaos equipment included Download 2.2 Mb. Share with your friends:
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