Memoirs of a Bible Smuggler by Jeana Kendrick

Author:Jeana Kendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoirs;Christian;Inspirational;Mission;Missionary;Bibles;Eastern Europe;Cold War;Persecution;Oppression;Holy Spirit;Austria;Vienna;Germany;Munich;Spittal an der Drau;Paris;Moscow;Russia;Ukraine;History;Leningrad;St. Petersburg;Salzburg;Poland;Varna;Bulgaria;France;Hirson;Plovdiv;Sofia;Romania;Bucharest;Warsaw
Publisher: Northridge Press via Indie Author Project
Published: 2021-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

24

The Fifth Wheel

In its early days, the mission often worked with independent missionaries to deliver its stockpiles of Bibles. Some of them welcomed us warmly, while others were skeptical, considering us too naive and unskilled to succeed.

In the past, W had worked in Eastern Europe out of the Austrian base and now dropped by occasionally to check on us. His teams routinely ran RVs with loaded secret compartments into the Middle East.

Jeff confided to W our dream of building an RV to increase our present capacity, enabling DOHI couriers to carry thousands more Bibles on each trip.

W warned, “It takes seasoned skill to accomplish such a task,” inferring we should leave such matters to veterans.

Helpful European acquaintances had pointed this out to us in numerous areas. For example, in Austria a home answering machine for the telephone is provided and installed by trained experts for $1,500. Amid dire warnings from friends about the difficulties we would encounter if we dared to do this on our own, we nevertheless bought a US model and set it up for less than $100.

One of the first phrases in Austria I learned to say when shopping was, “Ich sehe mich nur um.” Translated this means, “I’m just looking,” and saying this afforded me the opportunity to make choices without undue interference. Austrian shop clerks were educated to recognize precisely what the customer needed.

In a society where citizens were taxed for using the airwaves on their radios, there was a procedure for most everything. Austrians could be quite fun-loving and adventurous, but independent-minded Americans were more used to cutting through red tape. Jeff and I were not exceptions. Back home in Texas, he drew plans to build a fifth wheel camper that could covertly carry either five thousand New Testaments or 1,100 extra-large full Bibles. This would double the mission’s capacity for each trip. Paul supported us, but we needed the US board’s approval to obtain the necessary funding.

One morning Paul phoned and said, “I presented the idea to the board, although Dad fought me pretty hard on this. So keep praying.”

In time, Door of Hope International sent enough funds to launch the project. The contributions of friends in the Conroe area helped support the project as well.

A BSF friend, Bobbie Russell, contacted her dad, a former CIA agent with far-reaching contacts abroad. He ran a private-eye firm in the Midwest and offered us help in several crucial areas. On a visit to his daughter, he studied the fifth wheel plans Jeff had drawn and found no flaws. He had a lot of good things to say about them, which weighed well with Paul and the board. God in His infinite wisdom and mercy amazingly brought all this together.

At one point, we had contemplated smuggling Alex and Mimi Gitchev’s two children out of Bulgaria. Bobbie’s father kindly offered to help set this up with his former contacts. Thankfully, the children were ultimately able to depart through diplomatic channels.

When we visited their home in Monterey to

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