Siegmund arranged lodgings for me, and I began work at the mission, which supplied Bibles and literature to Christians in communist countries in Eastern Europe. As soon as possible I wrote and sent money, food and other things to Aurica and the family. A mission worker came one day from visiting the refugee camp at Trieste, Italy. He told me he was at the camp looking for me. He found Josef and Stefan instead, who informed him of my going on to Vienna with George. They decided to accept his offer of help rather than wait for what I could do. Both Stefan and Josef now reside in Europe with their families.
There was plenty of work at the mission with Siegmund and his brave and dedicated cohorts, but I knew God was calling me to go to America. If I did not go there before two years, the law would prevent me from immigrating. So I left Siegmund and the mission and flew to Los Angeles, finding a place to stay with a fellow Romanian.
Trusting God to work out the reunion of my family, I called Aurica and reassured her of God's intention to bring us together in America soon. It was February 3, 1976 (over a year since the escape) when I settled in Los Angeles, and things still looked hopeless to Aurica. I cried to God constantly for Aurica and the children. Sometimes Aurica was allowed to telephone out and speak to her "runaway criminal" of a husband. One time when she called she was crying. "The police in Bucharest said that there is no way I could ever get a passport," she lamented. She even though that she might not be able to force herself to face the authorities again with the passport request.
But God had given me a word that He was going to favor us, according to I Samuel 2:26. "I know God will finish this work He has started," I told her. "We will soon be together as He promised. Be joyful and trust in..." Our connection was cut, but not before she had heard God's wonderful promise. I continued to pray for my family's release, while working nights at various jobs and ministering to Romanian people during the day.
At this time God gave me an unusual dream. In the dream there was a guide to lead me. We came upon a distinguished, older gentleman. The guide told me that the man was Henry M. Jackson, a United States Senator from the State of Washington. I saw the Congressman holding a golden key in his hand.
The guide explained that this was the key the Senator would use to gain my family's release. I awoke and was given a vision that repeated exactly what I had seen in the dream--a divine doubling that, as Joseph told Pharaoh, meant that God would certainly do what He had promised, and quickly!
"And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." (Genesis 41: 32)
But Senator Jackson was completely unknown to me. I had never even heard his name before. So I asked my Romanian friend. He had been in America for a while and was well-acquainted with the Senator's name and reputation. "He's very powerful in Congress," he said. "And he is a compassionate man, a great help to refugees."
My friend found Senator Jackson's Washington, D. C. address, and I wrote a letter relating the dream I had of him and gave a few details of my family's situation. Senator Jackson wrote back promising to do as much as possible to gain my family's release. I sent a second letter giving more details of my wife's difficult situation, and the Senator's second response made my heart leap for joy. "I was really impressed with your testimony about how you left Romania, and with your dream about me," he wrote. "I am sure that next week your family will receive the passport."
As my friend read the letter to me, I was praising God. I was even more joyful when Aurica called a few days later. She was crying again, but this time with tears of joy. "I don't know what happened," she exclaimed, "but I just picked up our passports. The police came to the house and told me to take the first train to Bucharest at once!" So she rushed to the capital, and at the government passport bureau a high-ranking official handed her a passport. "Here is your passport," he told her. "Get out of the country as soon as possible!"
Aurica was ready. The suitcases were packed. The government gave her 2,000 lei (r about $20.00) for our house, which was just enough to cover the taxi fare from the Vienna train station to the refugee camp. The furnishings and our belongings were given to the poor. Off she went, taking our seven children (for Elijah Jr. had been born after my escape) by train to Austria.
Rejoicing over what God had accomplished, I still had a high hurdle to overcome. How was I to get a passport to meet Aurica in Austria. U.S. law said that I could receive a passport to travel from America only after two years residence in the country. If before that time I left the U.S. my ticket might as well be one-way.
After submitting this to God in prayer, I went to the U.S. Immigration Department in Los Angeles. "Impossible," responded a clerk to my request. I asked to see the director. Trembling in my shoes, I explained to the director my family's difficult status as refugees and my need to meet my wife Aurica and our seven children at the camp in Austria. "Go to the office downstairs," he said. "I promise that they will give you what you ask for there."
It was exactly as he promised. The somewhat rattled clerks issued me a White Passport, the first of that color I had ever seen. I flew at once to Vienna. At the refugee camp the director met me. He was astonished to see me back so soon. "Why did you come back?" he cried. "You made a big mistake! Now you won't be able to return to America."
I showed him the special White Passport. He too had never seen one and asked to examine it. I went to see Aurica and the children, for they had just eaten a meal and were resting in their quarters. I found them and we all rushed into each other's arms. There was crying and rejoicing all that night and morning. Since the White Passport was good for a year, we could spend the summer resting and enjoying family life together again after a lapse of two long years.
God had finished what he had started so long ago in Romania. Everythng came to pass despite all the efforts of Romanian government officials and police! And with my unique White Passport, we could all fly to America, to begin life anew and serve God as He had called us to do.
Finally rested, we took leave of Vienna. Though we embarked on a jet airliner, we really flew to our new life on the great, soaring wings of God's grace.
