She walked to her mailbox one ordinary morning in May and found a single piece of mail. The words on it were blunt: “You are to be out of the country in 14 days.”

A Closing Window

Mildred had spent several years pouring herself into the children and churches of Czechoslovakia. But the political climate had turned. By May 1948, the Communists had gained firm control. Foreigners were being asked to leave, churches were closing, and some of their officers had been put in prison. The window she’d been working in was closing fast.

She didn’t lose heart. She appealed for an extension and was granted one. There was no time to lose. She kept teaching — travelling up and down the country with her flannelboard and her Gospel lessons. Wherever she went, children and young people met her, grabbing her suitcase to help her.

A Marriage and a Parting

In the middle of all this urgency, God gave her something unexpected. She met a young evangelist named Lubos. Drawn together by a shared concern for the young people of Czechoslovakia, they were married in March of 1949. But the authorities had other plans. Lubos accompanied her to the German border, reading Psalm 91 aloud as the train prepared to part them: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High…” His last words as he waved her off were, “I will come soon.”

Reunited, Against All Odds

It seemed like the end. Yet less than a month later, on Christmas morning, Lubos managed to escape with great difficulty and they were reunited, taking refuge with CEF workers in Frankfurt, Germany. In time they sailed for New York. The work they had begun didn’t die with their departure. It was a living seed — and, as the account says, it is bearing fruit today.

*This story is taken from the book Harvest Comes in Spring by Ruth E. Turnwall, a former CEF worker.

(Image:Adobe Express)