A few phone calls later we found where the pastor lived in a humble house with no indoor plumbing. Nicoli and his wife Nadia begged all nine of us to stay for tea, dinner and overnight. We have a lot to learn about hospitality from these people who have very little.
Over tea outside we discussed village and family history. Amazingly, in this village of 7,000, he knew an elderly white haired lady named Zelia (village historian) I had met here fifteen years ago. I thought surely she had died by now. As soon as I mentioned her he darted off to get her. She was alive and well, a member of his church and remembered us. She had become a believer and was full of German history about the village. What an amazing meeting about family history and God’s working here over tea and cookies and an ancient map of the village from Stalin’s era. It had the locations of half a dozen Suko relatives.
Later he took us on a tour of the village springs and a hidden grave yard where our ancestors are buried. We would have never found it on our own. We felt like Indiana Jones as we crept through the brush to find the ancient head stones. He also took us to the site of the large and beautiful old church my grandparents attended. It had been destroyed by the communists and the bricks used to build a government building. But, Christ is still building His church here (cf. Matt. 16:18). Nicoli also showed us the location of several new churches. Finally, he pointed out several old German houses that are likely the homes where ancestors once lived.
