An 84-year-old great-grandmother in Romania reconnects with the Jesus she first learned about as a child through the faith of her two great-granddaughters. After enrolling the girls in a Seventh-day Adventist kindergarten, their love for Jesus inspires her to attend church, give her heart to Christ, and share the blessing with other families.
This is a story about a great-grandmother and her two great-granddaughters in Romania.
When Great-grandmother Chirca was a little girl, she learned about Jesus from some kind Seventh-day Adventist neighbors. But she lived in a very strict country that didn’t believe in Jesus. Romania was a communist country, and no one was allowed to believe in Him. Her parents forbade her from learning about Jesus and told her she couldn’t spend time with the kind Adventist neighbors.
How the little girl wished that she could learn more about Jesus. But it seemed impossible, so she went on with her life. After some time, she got married and had children. Then, her children got married and had children, and she became a grandmother. Then, her children’s children got married and had children, and she became the great-grandmother of two little girls—Ana and Simona.
During those many years, life changed in Romania. The communist government ended, and the new government allowed people to believe in Jesus.
Great-grandmother Chirca loved her great-granddaughters Ana and Simona very much. She wanted the very best for them, so, she began to think really hard when the girls had trouble with unkind children in public kindergarten.
Then she learned about a Seventh-day Adventist kindergarten. She remembered learning about Jesus from kind Seventh-day Adventist neighbors when she was a little girl—just like her great-granddaughters. She just knew that Ana and Simona had to go to the Adventist kindergarten.
Great-grandmother Chirca went to the kindergarten and asked the teachers whether the girls could attend. She learned that the kindergarten was already full and didn’t have space for two more children. But when the teachers heard that Great-grandmother Chirca was raising the girls on her own, they decided to find room somehow. Eventually, space was found, and Ana and Simona started attending.
Immediately, Ana and Simona loved the kindergarten. When they returned home after the first day, they hugged Great-grandmother Chirca tightly and declared, “We like this kindergarten so much that we will never go to another one!”
The girls loved their teachers. They loved learning about Jesus and singing about Him. Everything they learned, they shared with Great-grandmother Chirca. They even told her that they had to thank God for every meal.
Great-grandmother Chirca was very pleased.
“It’s good that you have learned to pray before eating,” she said. “God will make you strong when you pray.”
She was so pleased that she began to attend the Seventh-day Adventist church beside the kindergarten on Sabbaths. There, she learned more about Jesus—the same Jesus she had first heard about as a little girl. Even though she was no longer little—even though she was already 84 years old—she gave her heart to Jesus and was baptized.
Great-grandmother Chirca was so happy! She told other great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and mothers about the kindergarten.
“This kindergarten has changed my life and the lives of my great-granddaughters,” she said.
Soon those great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and mothers began asking
Gina Wahlen
is the editor of Adventist Mission’s Sabbath School mission quarterlies and Inside Stories
