Chapter 2 the harvey family
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- ANOTHER HOPE DASHED
- FROM OPTIMISM TO DESPONDENCY
- A NEW CAMPUS WITH OLD AND NEW PROBLEMS
- SALVAGE OPERATION
- CHAPTER 23 - A CHANGE OF WALLPAPER
- FRANKENMARKT WALLPAPER
- ST. GEORGEN WALLPAPER
- NEW YORK WALLPAPER
- THE PREPARATION
- THE CEREMONY
MY DILEMMAI was deeply disappointed and frustrated with all this and seriously entertained the prospect of resigning from the Board. Others often asked me for advice when they found themselves in similar circumstances. I told them, "If by sitting on a block of ice, it continues to melt, stay put! If you are beginning to freeze, move!" "If your bailing is keeping the ship afloat, keep bailing! If it is sinking, disembark!" I have seen spiritual men and women leave churches and Christian organizations simply because there were faults or areas of disagreement. Had they stayed on board a bit longer, they might have been successful in keeping the long term investment of God's people from being "tossed before the swine." The purchase was finalized soon after the decision was made. In spite of my reservations, I continued to give full support to the school and, as Business Manager, I worked to raise money for the purchase. We were able to raise $300,000 in gifts and pledges in just four months! Nearly all that money came from Austrians who had supported the school from the beginning and had full confidence in the Board's decision. When the Bible Institute moved to Wallsee, our hearts were nearly broken. This was partly due to decisions that were made by the Board and school leaders which we felt were not properly bathed in prayer or considered in the light of possible consequences for the school. If we had thought that a move to Wallsee would be beneficial to the school spiritually, numerically, financially or in some other tangible way, we would have given it our full support. But proponents of the move could not provide me one reason for optimism. The question now, was, "Should we stay and keep trying to melt the ice, or is it time to move?" "Should we keep bailing, or leave a sinking ship?" After much prayer and soul-searching, I opted to continue serving on the Board and agreed to teach Bible and other subjects. We also gave personal financial support to two students from the Czech Republic and one from Albania. MOVING DAYThe weather on October 2, 1991 was mixed with a little sun, some rain and mostly cloudy skies. A huge tractor trailer truck with two trailers rolled onto the campus of the Bible Institute in Ampflwang. It was a sad day for us. The school was leaving Ampflwang for ever. The name would change and much more. I paused from the task of loading boxes and articles of furniture long enough to take a few pictures. The sky was black and a light rain was falling, but the sun came out briefly. I thought, "God is crying, but he is at least there!" I picked up my camera to photograph the truck and heard Verna gasp, "A rainbow!" There, covering the entire campus was a lovely rainbow, sent by God --just for us! Only after the film was developed, did I realize that there was a toilet in the center of the picture, waiting to be loaded onto the truck! That picture has a special significance to me and relates an important message. God promises both blessings and curses. There are conditional and unconditional promises. We had experienced many blessings during these past seven years and God had kept his promises. Some of those blessings would be transported to Wallsee, but there was other baggage that could and should have been left behind. No sin dies a natural death but we must deal with it according to scripture. On October 19, 1991, hundreds of people converged on the former campus of the Bible Institute for a large flea market and auction. Because the new campus was smaller, many items could not be used and were sold. The most difficult part of the move to Wallsee for us, was the fact that we would no longer be working with the students. I continued to serve on the Board and taught a couple of classes, but we both really missed the close fellowship, interaction and prayer times with students and staff. After the school moved, our days suddenly felt empty and lifeless. ANOTHER HOPE DASHEDWe had always sensed the need for a camp and conference center in Austria and the campus in Ampflwang was ideally suited for this purpose. The bank that we had dealt with for many years, offered to finance a purchase at a reasonable interest rate. The church, mission, print shop, summer camps and Bible school operations had funneled a lot of money into town that benefitted local businesses including the bank. I was confident that we could pay for the buildings from camp and conference income. After the decision was made to move the Bible Institute to Wallsee, the Directors of the mining company decided to move their offices from the present headquarters in Ottnang to the buildings we were vacating. When I learned this, I approached the Mine Director and reminded him that the lease contract was in my name and still valid. There was a clause which required 12 months notification to cancel the contract. We had invested a lot of money in renovations and I intended to use the facilities for camps and conferences at least for the next twelve months according to contract. But I said that I wanted to purchase the property and that our contract gave us the first option to buy. The mining company had not expected my reaction and was forced to negotiate a deal with me. I said that I would agree to a cancelation if they paid $50,000 by the first of November to cover our investments. They agreed, and even though there was no legal obligation on my part, I applied that money towards the purchase of the new campus. FROM OPTIMISM TO DESPONDENCYI always told people that the Austrian Bible Institute was a "miracle school". At a meeting of the Board in 1989, I said that, in God's eyes, the school was probably the most important institution in Austria, even more important than the Austrian Parliament or United Nations City in Vienna. The others looked at me like I was crazy and asked how I could make such an assertion. I explained that God was more concerned about his church than anything else in Austria. Our school was the only Bible School and was important for the future of the Austrian church. Toward the end of 1991, however, I grew increasingly depressed and asked God repeatedly why he had permitted the move. As I prayed, God began to admonish me. Had I not committed my life to him? Had I not been telling everyone that the Bible Institute was God's work and not mine? Why then was I complaining because God was not doing things my way? As I began to assess the new situation in which I found myself, I began to seriously seek God's leading for our remaining years (or perhaps days) of service in Austrria. I remained a member of the Board and taught several Bible courses and what the school called "Use of Audio-Visuals," but I called it "Packaging the Gospel." A NEW CAMPUS WITH OLD AND NEW PROBLEMSI hoped and prayed that the spiritual climate among staff members would improve without our presence. This was unfortunately not the case. After the school moved, tensions persisted. A gifted full-time teacher resigned and requested the Board to deal with internal staff relationships. I supported his request, but the Director argued that there were no serious problems and the Board accepted his explanation. Prior to the purchase, those in favor of purchasing the Wallsee property argued that it was in excellent condition. I showed them from careful calculations and official assessments that the heating and electric would need to be replaced and the plumbing was minimally sufficient for our needs. Because the building was historically registered and protected, modernization and even minor alterations would be difficult if not impossible to get past authorities. The purchase price was in my opinion much too high, but there was little attempt to negotiate. Instead, additional land and a house for the Director were also purchased. A long list of needed repairs never got done in the next seven years for lack of money. Student enrollments decreased steadily and good students dropped out for no given reason. The school had seen good groth in Ampflwang, three years after the move, there were only eight students in all three levels, half of whom were foreigners. I was asked to give a speech for the tenth anniversary celebration of the Bible Institute on October 16, 1994. I read an unusual news item from the previous day's newspaper. A woman in California had given birth to two healthy babies, but they were born several weeks apart! The mother had two separate wombs! I then drew an analogy between this incident and the birth of triplet schools in Austria: "Ten years ago, there was no Bible training institution in Austria. But God planted the desire and burden for this in the heart of his church. There were three differing views of what such a school should be like. Some Christians felt that the school should be under the umbrella of the Lutheran State Church. Another group believed that Austria needed to train leaders in the churches rather than take them out of their environment. We and others were convinced that a resident training program was needed. Little did any of us realize at that time, that the Church of Jesus Christ in Austria had three separate and healthy wombs! Now, in 1994, three Austrian Bible training schools are alive and well, all celebrating their tenth birthdays!" Several in attendance said that my words were encouraging, but inwardly, I was miserable. At least one of those three schools was perhaps alive, but not doing well. Jack Baumgartner resigned as school director in the Spring of 1996, and the Board called a German missionary, Rudolf Borchert, as the new Director. Rudolf had good pastoral gifts and abilities, but his lack of organizational skills caused additional problems. I was asked by the Board to spend one day a week helping him with organization. By 1998, there was only one student living in the school. The rest were married and living off campus. The last graduation was held on July 4th, 1999. In America, people were celebrating Independence Day, but I was in mourning. The Bible School closed its doors and the property was placed on the market. SALVAGE OPERATIONThe Board spent a lot of time working on a new school concept that would hopefully appeal to churches and attract more Austrian students. The basic idea was as follows: * The Bible school (teachers) will be brought to the students. * Classes will be held in existing churches and buildings in several major cities. * Most courses would take place on weekends or evenings. * Students would not have to leave their homes, churches or jobs to study.
When Austrians are fed up with daily routines or the constant pressures of life, they often speak of the need for "a change of wallpaper." They need a vacation or at least a day off to relax and do something different. It had only been a year and a half since we took a three-month furlough, but we decided to fly to America again for three months beginning December 18th. We needed a change of wallpaper! Instead of a refreshing change, however, we had three very difficult months. It was difficult to speak with enthusiasm about the school's move and to share our uncertain plans for future ministry with supporters, yet we desperately needed their prayers. We had no home base and traveled much, staying with friends and relatives. We spent Christmas 1991 with our friend, Charlie McCoy, and while there, a young man that Becky met at Bob Jones University came to visit and asked for the hand of our daughter. Verna and I were not very impressed with him, but our daughter seemed to be happy and if he was to become our son-in-law, we could hardly afford to create a strained relationship from the start. From January 9 through February 3, 1992, we had flights to Atlanta, Los Angeles and Kansas City for meetings, visits with supporters and the mission. After returning to Philadelphia, we drove to western Pennsylvania for more meetings. While there, I got a call from my brother, saying that my father had died in a fire. We returned to Austria on March 19, 1992 to the same "wallpaper" that we left behind three months earlier. It was wallpaper that we didn't wish for and didn't like, but there seemed little that we could do to change it. While we were in America, the mining company spent $200,000 renovating the former Bible Institute buildings, but then decided that they didn't need them after all! The mining company was closing its doors forever! If we had been in Austria or even known about this development, I would have siezed the opportunity to at least make another offer to buy the campus. But when we returned, the property had been sold to the town. A new kindergarten was to be constructed on the site, so the buildings had to go. The Mayor knew of our interest in a camp and conference center and offered me the four buildings free, which were constructed of pre-fabricated segments. I only needed to dismantle and move them to another location. The Mayor even offered to help me find a suitable property. This time I decided to leave the decision up to God rather than a bank. I quickly wrote a letter describing the opportunity to supporters but there was no response whatsoever. I watched as others took the buildings down and transported them to new locations. FRANKENMARKT WALLPAPERWe were perhaps past our prime physically, but Verna and I both had good educations and 30 years of missionary experience. We felt that our best years could still lie ahead of us, but what should we be doing and where? In 1980, our GMU field council selected an area of about 50 square miles between the provincial capitols of Linz and Salzburg as our primary target area for church planting. By 1992, there were indigenous churches in Ampflwang, Vöcklabruck, Gmunden and Ried. Our missionaries were working to establish churches in Attnang and Frankenburg, but the twin cities of Vöcklamarkt and Frankenmarkt were still waiting. Only two miles separated the two municipalities, which were strategically located on the major East-West rail line and national highway #1. The Guenthers looked unsuccessfully for housing here for 8 months and our son, Richard, searched for an apartment here for more than a year without success. Now, the Field Executive Council, which made placement decisions, decided that we should give it a try. It turned cold early in 1992, but we had not ordered coal for our furnace. We held off ordering in hopes of finding a place to live in our target area. When inside temperatures fell below tolerable levels, we finally ordered coal for the winter. After a week with no delivery, we were living in our winter coats and began calling the coal distributor daily, asking when our coal would come. He kept promising, "tomorrow," but tomorrow never came. Then, the owner of the house we were renting informed us that he planned to remodel the house and we would have to find another place to live. Now we knew why the coal had not come! We immediately cancelled the order, but there was a new problem. Where were we to go? Moving in Europe is nothing like moving in North America where people change addresses every few years. Nearly all Austrians own their own homes and many who don't, live in company-owned apartments or subsidized government housing that is not available to foreigners. There are few newspaper ads offering houses or apartments for rent, but there are many ads from people looking for a place to live. This keeps rent high and renters humble. People who rent, must accept whatever is available. Price, location, size and condition are seldom criteria of choice! As a rule, the renter must pay several months rent in advance and/or leave a caution fee with a bank. This is repaid with interest if not needed to restore the house to the condition it was in at the time of signing the contract. Rented apartments or homes come unfurnished. "Unfurnished" means no light fixtures, floor coverings or curtain rods. There are no built-in closets. Kitchens have no cabinets - not even a kitchen sink! In most cases, the bathrooms have fixtures, but you can't count on it. Often, there is not even a hot-water heater or source of heat. We had basic furnishings, curtains, light fixtures and kitchen cabinets in our present home, but could we make them fit another house or apartment? Right after receiving the notice to move, we saw a newspaper ad for a house to rent. It was located exactly between Frankenmarkt and Vöcklamarkt! We responded immediately and were invited to look at it. It had a garage and yard, was inexpensive and there was even a telephone installed! We said immediately that we wanted to rent it. Our euphoria soon abated however. The owner informed us that more than 50 others had responded to the ad. He would decide who gets the house later in the week. Because he was Roman Catholic and knew that we were protestant missionaries, we didn't see much chance of being selected. On Friday, we received a telephone call from the house owner. He was giving us first choice! This had to be the Lord's working! We signed the legal papers immediately and were surprised that no caution fee or other conditions were made -- with one exception. It was made very clear that we could only rent the house for two years, after which we had to move. The owner had begun a relationship with a young lady and planned to marry in two years. I called the coal distributor and asked that the coal be delivered to our new address. After we were settled in our new home, we became quite friendly with the landlord, who lived with his parents. On one occasion, I asked why he had selected us from the long list of people who wanted to rent his house. He said, "When you entered the house, you took off your shoes." After a brief pause, he added, "My father said he liked you and insisted that I give you the house." I had admired the lovely hand carved wooden ceilings in his father's farm house and asked if a local cabinet maker had done the work. Our landlord's father proudly stated that he had carved and installed the ceilings himself. Soon after moving, we invited the landlord's parents over for coffee and cake. I mentioned how happy we were that they had encouraged their son to rent the house to us. They replied that there was another reason. The landlord had called all of our former neighbors to ask what kind of people we were. All said how sorry they were to learn that we were moving; one of them was even sobbing! A little later, I jestingly asked if he was going to make a hand-carved wood ceiling for his son's house. The father thought for a minute and replied, "That would make a great Christmas present!" He actually did! He made and installed a very attractive carved wooden ceiling in the living room, and because "we were religious," he carved an appropriate slogan into the wood! Translated, it read, "God is Lord, even in these times!" The landlord's relationship with the woman was dissolved and we lived in that house for ten years! When we decided to retire from missionary service in Austria, the landlord sold the house. The hand-carved ceiling was just for our enjoyment! ST. GEORGEN WALLPAPERWhen we started looking for a house, our son Richard was still living with us. He had returned to Austria as a single missionary and, as I already mentioned, he had been unsuccessful in finding an apartment in our target area. When we found our house, however, the Lord led him to a furnished apartment in St. Georgen where our mission had a refugee camp ministry. The owner of the apartment also had scores of applicants but gave Richard the keys. I asked why he had decided to rent to a single young man and he gave three reasons. He said, "When you folks entered, you took off your shoes. When I mentioned the caution fee, you said that it was reasonable because the apartment was very nice." Then he added, "The main reason I selected your son as tenant, was because of the address he handed me. I took one glance at it and realized that he lived in the very house where I lived as a child! If I once lived in his house, then it is only proper that he should live in mine." What are the chances of that when the two houses are fifteen miles apart? And if we had moved a day or two earlier, we would have given him our new address! NEW YORK WALLPAPERI wrote earlier that Becky was engaged at Christmas time in 1991. We returned to Austria on March 19, 1992 and in May, Becky broke her engagement. Shortly after that, she quit her job! She had been taking care of the spoiled brats of a wealthy couple, but was not allowed to discipline them. It got too much for her to handle and she quit. She moved in with my sister Helen until she could find another job. Helen's husband, Craig, was pastor of Patchogue Baptist Church on Long Island. A young man named David Pallmann was a member of the church. He had met our daughter on a previous occasion and was disappointed to learn that she was already engaged. He was young, good-looking and the owner of a successful software company called UltraSoft Corporation. When David learned that Becky was both unemployed and unengaged, he wasted no time hiring her. Becky told us that they were dating and we began to get concerned, but Helen assured us that David was a fine Christian young man and we didn't need to be worried. She said that several girls in the church hoped he would notice them, but David only had eyes for our daughter. Two days after we looked at the house in Frankenmarkt, David Pallmann flew to Austria to ask for our daughter's hand. We were very impressed; things were looking up! THE WEDDINGOur daughter's wedding was set for March 20, 1993 and it was a great wedding despite (or perhaps because of) numerous unplanned occurrences which make such occasions memorable! Before the wedding, we warned the pair that something always goes wrong at weddings, adding, "If they hadn't run short of wine at the wedding in Cana, we might never have known that Jesus was there!" The Pallmann wedding should be entered in the "Funniest Home Video" TV Show. THE PREPARATIONVerna flew from Austria a week early to help prepare the wedding. She not only sewed her own dress, but also much of what the bridesmaids wore. She baked over twenty cakes (mostly Austrian recipes) in three days. A friend of Verna's came from western Pennsylvania to decorate the wedding cake. Richard and I flew to Newark shortly before the wedding just after terrorists tried to blow up the World Trade Center. Our plane had to wait on the tarmac until President Clinton was able to get out of the airport to inspect the damage. We wanted to make the wedding as simple and Austrian as possible and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the florist was born in Austria! A member of the groom's church, where the wedding was to take place, was a professional caterer and agreed to do the job for us at cost. He said that he knew where he could get the desired German bread and wurst for open faced sandwiches. The rest of the finger food would consist of vegetable platters with cheese dips and fruit platters. In addition to this, we wanted plenty of rich Austrian "muesli" and about twenty gallons of punch. Those were the plans, but it was not to work out that way. Three weeks before the wedding, the caterer decided that the pastor should not be mentioning social issues in his sermons (members were encouraged to boycott stores selling pornography and write letters to their leaders on the abortion issue). When the pastor and other church leaders "stuck to their guns", the caterer decided to seek fellowship elsewhere. The groom asked him if he would still do the wedding and he agreed, but it became increasingly evident that "his heart was not in it." He never committed himself to a price (or anything else for that matter) but his "estimates" kept climbing. Three days before the wedding, the caterer informed us that he had decided to "save us a lot of money" by making Swedish meatballs for only $400! Verna explained that we had already purchased dishes that were not suitable for hot food, but he insisted. Verna then politely informed him that we would not need his services. During a two-hour shopping spree in the Pathmark store, we purchased food for only $204.01 (worth $500 at Austrian prices). We obviously could not prepare and serve all that food ourselves, so after Wednesday night prayer meeting, Verna explained our dilemma to a retired Home-Economics teacher and asked if she would help. She was the right one to ask, for she promptly put an emergency plan into action, recruiting a number of the church ladies in record time. THE CEREMONYThe ring bearer dropped both rings on the stairs before entering the sanctuary, but someone noticed and rescued them. The ring bearer and flower girl were dressed in home-made Austrian costumes and looked adorable. They were the three-year-old grandchildren of my sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Craig Adams. Craig was Pastor of the groom's church and officiated at the wedding ceremony. Both were in our wedding thirty years earlier, on March 9, 1963! The flower girl's father was our ring bearer and son of the officiating pastor! Becky saved and dried all the roses that Dave gave her (not a few) during their courtship. The flower girl was to sprinkle the dried rose petals in the aisle but that never happened. The ring bearer tripped over the flower girl's basket in the foyer and rose petals were spilled all over the floor. Many hands helped to pick them up, but the ring bearer began to cry and refused to walk to the front of the church with his cousin. After some coaxing from their parents, the cute pair finally marched triumphantly down the aisle. The ring bearer clutched his pillow with the rings tightly against his chest, lest they should again fall to the floor. The flower girl forgot or refused to scatter her rose petals in the aisle. Upon reaching the front of the church, both children retreated to the refuge of their parent's laps, but when it came time for the recessional, they bravely returned to their posts. The three Pallmann brothers were groomsmen and our sons were ushers. All looked terrific, clad in black tuxedos with bright pink cumberbands and bow ties. Richard managed to find a box of "UltraSoft" tissues (the name of the groom's software company), which he dutifully offered the MOTB (Mother of the bride) as he accompanied her to the appointed pew. This was "payday" for Rick. He and Becky had made a deal at her High School graduation in the Black Forest of Germany. Whoever got married first, was to buy the other a case of Coke! For a while, it seemed like a ping pong match, with each of them getting engaged and disengaged! A ten-point sermon by the Pastor of our home church in Elmer covered everything newlyweds need to know, from the dangers of adultery to leadership responsibilities of the husband. The FOTB (Father of the Bride) stood nervously beside his equally nervous daughter for the duration of the sermon while the MOTB valiantly fought off the proverbial tears of joy, determined not to need those tissues she had refused to accept from Richard. When it was time to hand the rings over to the Pastor, the Best Man "delivered the goods," but the Matron of Honor was apparently sleeping. Fortunately for posterity, the frustrated expression and vainly outstretched hand of the bride was dutifully documented on video-tape by none other than our own Best Man, my brother David, CTO of Channel 10-TV in Philadelphia. 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