(contemplative music)
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- Welcome, everyone.
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We're excited to share
some country wisdom with you.
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- King Solomon had
a thing or two to say
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about the path to wisdom.
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In Proverbs 4, he wrote,
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"Let your eyes
look directly forward
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and your gaze be
straight before you.
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Keep straight
the path of your feet
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and all your ways will be sure."
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- Join us now
for "Country Wisdom."
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(peaceful music)
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I'm holding up a book,
"Hope in Present Danger."
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I mean, it's an incredible book.
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I went through it
and, well, Janice,
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I had tears multiple times.
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I may have tears in
the interview today.
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Matter of fact, I can
probably guarantee it,
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almost crack up
now, just thinking
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about what's in this book.
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But I've got Adriana Pasos here
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with us today and her family.
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Adriana, would you
introduce your family?
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- Absolutely. Thank you
so much for having us here.
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This is my dad,
Corneliu, and my mom, Michaela,
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and we're just
blessed to be here together
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and share our story.
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- This story is about
getting out of communism.
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I mean, in a country
that was steeped in control
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and everything you can imagine,
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they felt led by God to get out.
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And this is their
story now of how miraculously
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and incredibly the
whole family finally got out.
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Adriana, start way back.
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I mean, you were in
Romania, and the family,
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you were how old
when the family kind of,
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you started
realizing there's some problem
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in the way life
existence goes on in Romania?
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- Sure, so, I was fortunate
enough and blessed enough
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to actually grow up in a
Seventh-day Adventist family,
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in a Christian
family who loved God.
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So, I grew up with
the stories of the Bible,
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my grandmother
just sharing with me
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the beautiful
stories of the Bible.
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And I remember my favorite
one was the story of Joseph.
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And so, it was, I really didn't
realize, I think, you know,
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the danger and the difficulty
that we were living in
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until really by the time
I actually got to school.
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So, in the first grade I
remember going to school,
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and the church, the
school in Romania was actually
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from Monday through
Saturday, so first grade came.
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- So, you had an
issue right off the bat.
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- Yeah, but I went to school
and, interestingly enough,
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my mom and dad,
neither my grandmother,
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actually told me
not to do otherwise.
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We just went to school.
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And so, I remember going to
school on Sabbath and, you know,
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clearly, my
parents and my grandparents
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would go to church,
and I would come back.
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And so, that was first grade,
second grade, third grade.
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And then, at that point,
it, I, it began dawning on me.
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There's a difference
here because all along,
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before that, we would
all go to church on Sabbath.
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And so, that became
marked in my brain as to,
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there is a difference here.
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And I remember
coming to Mom and saying,
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"Mom, I don't wanna
go to school on Saturday.
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I don't wanna go
to school on Sabbath."
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And I thought, was it because
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I just really
didn't wanna go to school?
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'Cause that
would be a fun way out?
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But, I remember Mom telling me,
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why is it that you don't
wanna go to school on Sabbath?
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And you know, at nine years
old, it was, about that time,
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I think it was, Mom,
at about nine years old,
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Mom said, "You
need to know why it is
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that you do not wanna
go to school on Saturday
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because it has to be
your choice and your decision.
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Because if you make that choice
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that choice will bring
with it a lot of consequence."
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And, after a while I
said, "Yes, I'm sure.
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I'm not gonna go to
school on Sabbath anymore."
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And so, that's when I
began experiencing, you know,
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some of the avalanche
of what it really meant
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to stand for God
at nine years old.
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- If you don't live it,
it's very hard to understand,
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because there were so many
ramifications of this regime,
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should I say, then really,
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they said one thing
and they did another thing.
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They were talking all
the time about freedom,
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but freedom didn't exist.
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Then, it's, I understand,
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because some people,
they are caught in this trap,
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and they think it is the
ideal to everybody to be equal.
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But it's not true.
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It's a very big lie.
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- You all, sorry.
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- Go ahead.
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- You also didn't always
have the best relationship
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with neighbors.
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That's one thing that
struck me was the neighbors
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that you had watching
everything you're doing,
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reporting anything that
they thought was suspicious.
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- [Michaela] In fact, I think -
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- Including a
neighbor, did you have one
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who would just
walk in your house?
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- Actually, we had very
good relationship with them,
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serving them,
taking pictures for them,
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but exactly how you
said, they were informers.
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Then, they came
suddenly without telling us,
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you know how we
do here in America.
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You know, if we
want to visit you,
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I have to call you
and say, may I come,
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because I want to discuss
something or ask you a question,
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and you set a
time, then, I gotta go.
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But that didn't happen.
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All of the sudden,
then, all the time,
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we should be very careful
how everything, you know,
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because we've
been photographers.
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We have to have work.
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And if they would see
we have a lot of work,
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they would go and report that.
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- Now, were there certain things
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that maybe you wanted to do
in life, but you couldn't do?
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You had restrictions that?
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- There were a lot of
things, because before,
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for a period of time,
we had the, our business,
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like photography
business, was covered in a way
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that we had peace.
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- How did that even, you know,
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develop in your mind of leaving?
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I mean, when you're locked down,
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you're afraid you're
going to jail at maybe any time,
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what even began to give
you an idea you could get out?
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- You know what?
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What it's impossible for
us, it's possible with God.
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And that was our idea.
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Then, after that,
where my parents lived,
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we saw an excursion
in Turkey for five days.
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And, Lord, you know, I
was talking with my husband
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and I said, what do you think
if I, and Sperantza gonna go?
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And he said, okay, apply.
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- Under communism,
you didn't have permission
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to travel the entire family,
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because they knew that if
you were outside in the west,
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more than
likely, you would escape,
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and you would not return.
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And so, that was number one.
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- But if they kept
some of you back here -
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- [Sperantza] Exactly.
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- It's more likely
you're going to come back.
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- Correct. So, there
was always insurance.
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And so, that insurance was,
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you're not gonna go
with the entire family.
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You're not allowed.
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So, some have to be back.
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And so, that in
itself was their assurance
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that they would be able
to bring back the family.
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And so, that was that.
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I think that beyond
that, and the reason why
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this was so intense was because,
you know, previous to that,
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my aunt and uncle had traveled.
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So, it was not just our family.
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It was our
entire extended family.
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My aunt and uncle realized
that they needed to escape.
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My other uncle who had
actually been approached
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by the
Securitate, the Romanian KGB.
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He had been approached,
and he was asked, told,
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to be an informant for,
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against the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Romania.
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And so, he took a
little bit of time and said,
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let me think about this, because
the Securitate in Romania,
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there were
informants in the church.
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Every single Seventh-day
Adventist church had an
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informant that was -
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- At least one.
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- At least one, if not more,
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that would inform the
Securitate what was happening.
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And so, they always
had an eye on everything
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that you were doing.
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- That's the
uncle I was thinking of.
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- [Sperantza] Yeah.
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- Because the way he
got out of the country
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was a book all on its own.
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- Correct. Correct.
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And that's a story in itself,
but so, he was approached.
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He said, let me think about it.
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In, as he was thinking about it,
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my other aunt and uncle
had applied for an excursion,
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leaving their
son back in Romania,
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the insurance, back in Romania.
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So they were given the
visa to go and visit Austria.
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So, they were there.
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My uncle then paid a
very large sum of money
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to someone who lived on the -
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- [Michaela] Danube.
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- [Sperantza] On the
Danube, so on the border -
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- [Janice] Sure.
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- Of what was then Yugoslavia,
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Romania and Yugoslavia.
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And he was a swimmer.
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My uncle was a
weightlifting coach.
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He had had, you know,
his team that was traveling
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throughout Eastern
Europe, though, not west,
00:10:01.03\00:10:04.10
and, which was
behind the Iron Curtain.
00:10:04.10\00:10:07.50
And so, he was very fit.
00:10:07.50\00:10:10.34
He was, you know, someone
that could withstand swimming.
00:10:10.34\00:10:15.54
And so, he paid a large
sum of money to someone,
00:10:16.51\00:10:18.98
had to trust that person
00:10:18.98\00:10:21.12
after giving them a
very large sum of money.
00:10:21.12\00:10:24.62
And the person
said, you know what?
00:10:24.62\00:10:26.19
I can help you escape,
because, and you have to do it
00:10:26.19\00:10:31.39
during the midnight
shifting of the guards.
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The guards are
shifting at midnight.
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They take the
night shift comes in,
00:10:37.33\00:10:39.90
and so, I will
lower you in this boat,
00:10:39.90\00:10:44.54
and you know, then you swim.
00:10:44.54\00:10:46.54
You know, from there you
swim across into Yugoslavia.
00:10:46.54\00:10:50.71
You're gonna have
to be very careful,
00:10:50.71\00:10:52.78
because if they find you,
they have huge propellers,
00:10:52.78\00:10:56.25
and you will be cut to pieces
pretty much if they find you.
00:10:57.75\00:11:02.22
So, you need to be careful.
00:11:02.86\00:11:04.23
And so, that was
happening in the background.
00:11:04.23\00:11:09.10
I didn't know any of that.
00:11:10.13\00:11:11.90
So, the, everything was
going on in the background.
00:11:13.00\00:11:17.34
So, my parents had
all of that background.
00:11:17.34\00:11:20.31
And so, that was the impetus
of them having to find a way
00:11:20.31\00:11:24.25
for us to actually get out.
00:11:24.25\00:11:26.72
Because the, if the communists,
and when the communists,
00:11:26.72\00:11:29.28
not if, when the
communists would find out
00:11:29.28\00:11:31.82
that my aunt and
uncle had already requested,
00:11:31.82\00:11:34.59
they're not coming back,
00:11:34.59\00:11:35.79
because their
deadline was a certain date.
00:11:35.79\00:11:37.96
They were not gonna return.
00:11:37.96\00:11:39.19
My other uncle,
who had been approached
00:11:39.19\00:11:41.33
by the communists to be
an informant, he disappears.
00:11:41.33\00:11:44.97
Then all eyes are on us.
00:11:44.97\00:11:46.47
- Your whole family, they
really have been watching you.
00:11:46.47\00:11:47.80
- [Sperantza] Exactly, exactly.
00:11:47.80\00:11:48.84
All eyes are on us.
00:11:48.84\00:11:49.90
- I hold in my hands a
dramatic and engaging book.
00:11:52.17\00:11:54.84
Let me read you something.
00:11:54.84\00:11:56.41
"He made it! He made it!
00:11:56.41\00:11:57.55
He's alive!"
00:11:57.55\00:11:59.01
With those words, my
father dropped the phone,
00:11:59.01\00:12:00.42
collapsed to the ground and
began crying uncontrollably.
00:12:00.42\00:12:04.45
Shocked, I stood there, my heart
pounding faster and faster.
00:12:04.45\00:12:07.66
My mind began jumping
to frightening conclusions.
00:12:07.66\00:12:11.09
After what
seemed like an eternity,
00:12:11.09\00:12:13.03
my parents
motioned for me to sit down.
00:12:13.03\00:12:15.83
Scared, I lowered
myself to the ground,
00:12:15.83\00:12:17.67
squeezed in between them.
00:12:17.67\00:12:19.67
And for the very
first time in my life,
00:12:19.67\00:12:21.54
I heard them whisper
to me the incredible plan
00:12:21.54\00:12:24.27
my family had orchestrated
00:12:24.27\00:12:25.97
to escape
Communist Romania to freedom.
00:12:25.97\00:12:29.54
- When Adriana
Pasos was just 14,
00:12:29.54\00:12:32.65
her family became targets
of the Romanian secret police.
00:12:32.65\00:12:36.55
And this book,
"Hope in Present Danger,"
00:12:36.55\00:12:39.55
tells her incredible story.
00:12:39.55\00:12:42.06
You can get your copy for a
donation of just 14.95 or more
00:12:42.06\00:12:47.23
at
TalkingDonkeyInternational.org.
00:12:48.23\00:12:50.87
That's
TalkingDonkeyInternational.org.
00:12:50.87\00:12:54.20
I don't like surprises.
00:12:58.64\00:13:00.38
I like to know
what's going to happen
00:13:00.38\00:13:02.31
and when it's going to happen.
00:13:02.31\00:13:04.75
I make lists, and I
always have a plan A, B,
00:13:04.75\00:13:08.68
and sometimes C.
00:13:08.68\00:13:10.65
Needless to say, in
today's uncertain world,
00:13:10.65\00:13:13.09
I struggle with an
embarrassing amount of anxiety.
00:13:13.09\00:13:17.19
If that sounds
familiar, you need to send for
00:13:17.19\00:13:20.10
this free pamphlet, "Certainty
in an Uncertain World."
00:13:20.10\00:13:24.70
To order your free copy,
00:13:24.70\00:13:26.20
go to
TalkingDonkeyInternational.org
00:13:26.20\00:13:29.40
and request offer number 121
00:13:29.40\00:13:32.41
and find hope for
today and tomorrow.
00:13:32.41\00:13:35.71
- Adriana, let's
maybe set the stage
00:13:38.95\00:13:40.75
and the foundation here.
00:13:40.75\00:13:42.55
How old are you and your sister,
00:13:42.55\00:13:45.12
and your mom and dad
been married how long?
00:13:45.12\00:13:47.66
And kind of pull it all
together at this moment.
00:13:47.66\00:13:51.33
- Sure, so I will
leave it for mom to tell me,
00:13:51.33\00:13:54.00
how many years were you married
00:13:54.00\00:13:56.70
when all this was
happening, Mom with Dad?
00:13:56.70\00:13:58.67
I was 14.
00:13:58.67\00:13:59.90
My little sister was four
years old, but I'm not sure
00:13:59.90\00:14:02.07
exactly how many years you
guys were married at that point.
00:14:02.07\00:14:05.21
About 16 year wasn't it, no?
00:14:06.57\00:14:08.94
- 16 years, that period of time.
00:14:08.94\00:14:11.65
- [Sperantza] Right.
00:14:11.65\00:14:12.71
- This was a
traumatic situation,
00:14:12.71\00:14:14.85
now, thinking of
any kind of separation.
00:14:14.85\00:14:17.32
- Right, I've got kids,
00:14:17.32\00:14:19.32
and when I was
reading your book, I thought,
00:14:19.32\00:14:22.76
what would it take?
00:14:22.76\00:14:24.36
I can't even imagine
what kind of stresses,
00:14:24.36\00:14:27.60
what kind of
danger it would take
00:14:27.60\00:14:29.83
for me to be so
desperately in need
00:14:29.83\00:14:34.07
of getting this one out
00:14:34.07\00:14:36.14
that I could even consider
leaving the other one behind.
00:14:36.14\00:14:40.64
You know, how do you get to
have to make a choice like that?
00:14:41.81\00:14:45.35
- Nobody can understand if
it's not in that situation,
00:14:46.48\00:14:51.25
in the regime, in
the communist regime.
00:14:52.15\00:14:54.42
People would do quote unquote
the impossible to get free.
00:14:54.42\00:14:59.59
And it's hard.
00:15:02.76\00:15:04.60
We decided as a family.
00:15:04.60\00:15:06.80
I asked my husband, I said,
do you want us to go or no?
00:15:06.80\00:15:12.07
I have to know because I
don't want, and it's true.
00:15:13.21\00:15:16.95
After we left, he
got in the hospital.
00:15:16.95\00:15:20.28
He was sick.
00:15:21.15\00:15:22.42
- From the stress.
00:15:22.42\00:15:23.99
- From the stress, and
of course, you know, it was
00:15:23.99\00:15:28.66
terrible. All the
questions, all the,
00:15:29.29\00:15:31.16
wherever he went, where
he applied, and, you know.
00:15:31.16\00:15:34.30
(speaking Romanian)
00:15:35.20\00:15:36.87
- I was going to ask
that because you had,
00:15:57.25\00:16:00.06
you couldn't let on that you
knew they weren't coming home.
00:16:00.06\00:16:04.03
- [Sperantza] Correct.
00:16:04.03\00:16:05.39
(speaking Romanian)
00:16:05.39\00:16:08.63
- They had to
keep you in the dark.
00:16:39.16\00:16:40.80
- [Sperantza] They had
to keep me in the dark.
00:16:40.80\00:16:41.96
- So that you
didn't accidentally let on.
00:16:41.96\00:16:43.33
- I had no idea
00:16:43.33\00:16:44.73
No, I had no idea what was
happening in the background.
00:16:44.73\00:16:47.24
My parents knew. I had no idea.
00:16:47.24\00:16:49.40
However, I remember
like it was yesterday.
00:16:49.40\00:16:51.64
There was in one
afternoon when the phone rang.
00:16:51.64\00:16:53.94
We were at my aunt
and uncle's apartment,
00:16:53.94\00:16:57.11
and the phone rang.
00:16:57.11\00:16:58.71
And I remember Dad
just running to the phone.
00:16:58.71\00:17:03.85
- [Michaela] And crying.
00:17:04.89\00:17:06.09
- And all I could hear
and see was him saying,
00:17:06.09\00:17:10.73
"Praise God, praise God,
you're alive, you're alive."
00:17:10.73\00:17:15.03
And then he just
dropped to the ground,
00:17:15.90\00:17:18.00
and he continued crying.
00:17:18.00\00:17:19.47
And I'm like,
what just happened?
00:17:19.47\00:17:21.04
Who's alive? What is going on?
00:17:21.04\00:17:24.24
And that's when my mom
and dad began telling me
00:17:24.24\00:17:28.34
what had just happened,
00:17:28.34\00:17:30.15
that my aunt and uncle
were actually not coming back
00:17:30.15\00:17:34.92
from that excursion in Austria,
00:17:34.92\00:17:36.82
and that my uncle had
just crossed the Danube,
00:17:36.82\00:17:42.02
had just swam at
night during the, you know,
00:17:42.99\00:17:46.80
night shift
switching of the guards.
00:17:46.80\00:17:49.13
And he walked all
the way into Yugoslavia.
00:17:50.07\00:17:53.27
And then, on foot
made it to Trieste, Italy.
00:17:53.27\00:17:56.81
For an entire week,
my parents had no clue
00:17:57.74\00:18:01.38
if he was dead or alive.
00:18:01.38\00:18:03.21
They had no idea
what had happened to him.
00:18:03.21\00:18:05.78
And after an
entire week of waiting,
00:18:05.78\00:18:08.68
so imagine, they're holding
all of this in their hearts,
00:18:08.68\00:18:12.32
and I have no
idea what is happening,
00:18:12.32\00:18:15.19
and they have to
just do life as normal
00:18:15.19\00:18:18.33
with all of this
heaviness in their hearts.
00:18:19.33\00:18:21.53
And so, the phone call
comes, they find out he's alive.
00:18:21.53\00:18:25.47
And then they're realizing,
00:18:25.47\00:18:27.40
we have to apply for an
excursion at that moment because
00:18:27.40\00:18:30.37
- - The clock is ticking.
You got a very short window.
00:18:30.37\00:18:31.41
- The clock is ticking. Exactly.
00:18:31.41\00:18:32.64
And so, that is how the
whole thing comes about.
00:18:32.64\00:18:36.14
And that is when I
find out, oh my goodness,
00:18:36.14\00:18:39.55
my parents had just
applied for that excursion.
00:18:39.55\00:18:41.88
We had no idea.
00:18:41.88\00:18:43.08
That's when I find out
it's just my mom and I,
00:18:43.08\00:18:45.55
and I'm thinking,
what is happening?
00:18:45.55\00:18:47.92
I'm 14. What does this mean?
00:18:47.92\00:18:50.79
How do you do this?
00:18:50.79\00:18:52.29
And so, the day before,
literally hours before the trip
00:18:52.29\00:18:56.33
was to take
place in the morning,
00:18:56.33\00:18:58.80
we found out
that we were approved.
00:18:59.70\00:19:01.44
- [Jim] So,
here's the situation.
00:19:01.44\00:19:02.74
- So, literally hours,
in the afternoon, like,
00:19:02.74\00:19:04.07
I don't know, one
o'clock in the afternoon,
00:19:04.07\00:19:05.41
two o'clock in the afternoon -
00:19:05.41\00:19:06.24
- Two o'clock.
00:19:06.24\00:19:07.64
- With the trip leaving
tomorrow morning at 6:30,
00:19:07.64\00:19:09.48
or seven o'clock.
00:19:09.48\00:19:10.95
- What happened when the
two of you knew you had to make
00:19:10.95\00:19:12.75
that immediate decision?
00:19:12.75\00:19:14.22
What's going on between the
two of you, husband and wife,
00:19:14.22\00:19:16.38
that knows, you may
never see each other again?
00:19:16.38\00:19:18.52
- Because there
was no guarantee -
00:19:18.52\00:19:20.26
- [Michaela] And
that was a tough decision.
00:19:20.26\00:19:21.86
- Just because you
were on the outside,
00:19:21.86\00:19:22.86
that you could get them out.
00:19:22.86\00:19:24.99
- It was a very tough
decision, but a lot of times,
00:19:26.09\00:19:30.47
God, I mean, most of
the time in our lives,
00:19:30.47\00:19:35.54
God is the one
which is leading us.
00:19:36.34\00:19:40.11
A lot of times, we are
not in the picture, really.
00:19:41.24\00:19:44.58
Lord is telling us,
you have to do this.
00:19:44.58\00:19:47.35
You know, the Bible
says, I gonna tell you
00:19:47.35\00:19:50.09
when you have to take a right,
00:19:50.09\00:19:52.15
when you have
to take a left, or,
00:19:52.15\00:19:53.99
and that, this is what happens.
00:19:55.32\00:19:57.79
We knew gonna be very hard.
00:19:57.79\00:20:01.40
And I was broken
when I saw my husband.
00:20:01.40\00:20:06.60
He wasn't able to drive the car,
00:20:08.80\00:20:13.98
stop the car.
00:20:18.48\00:20:19.75
He was weeping, both
of us, all of us weeping.
00:20:21.18\00:20:25.32
- He had to pull over
because he just couldn't drive.
00:20:27.69\00:20:31.49
- Yeah, and we went in
Brasov to our home there
00:20:32.43\00:20:37.00
to take whatever,
you know, we need.
00:20:38.47\00:20:40.80
We needed for her some things.
00:20:40.80\00:20:42.87
And that was part of the pain.
00:20:42.87\00:20:45.94
But in the
morning, when we left.
00:20:48.08\00:20:50.11
- So, you're home now
with a four year old girl.
00:20:52.78\00:20:55.75
You two are traveling,
quote, on a tourist trip.
00:20:55.75\00:20:58.79
- You know, we knew
in the back of our mind
00:21:02.56\00:21:06.33
that God was leading this,
00:21:07.23\00:21:10.17
and that's why I
think we could make it.
00:21:10.17\00:21:15.14
Otherwise, we couldn't make it.
00:21:15.14\00:21:16.37
- You wouldn't have
had the strength otherwise.
00:21:16.37\00:21:17.64
- If we wouldn't know
that God was arranging
00:21:17.64\00:21:21.58
three brothers, my
sister, my brother and I,
00:21:21.58\00:21:26.11
our families were
able to leave the country.
00:21:26.11\00:21:30.85
- [Sperantza]
Within days of each other,
00:21:30.85\00:21:32.49
within weeks of each other.
00:21:32.49\00:21:33.49
- Weeks.
00:21:33.49\00:21:34.49
(speaking Romanian)
00:21:36.56\00:21:38.43
- [Sperantza] In about a
month, all, my mom, my, yeah,
00:21:38.43\00:21:43.60
the three brothers, yeah.
00:21:44.50\00:21:45.47
- [Michaela] We were the last.
00:21:45.47\00:21:46.30
- [Sperantza] Yeah.
00:21:46.30\00:21:47.27
- [Michaela] We were the last.
00:21:47.27\00:21:48.77
- In about a month to
escape and separate ways.
00:21:48.77\00:21:51.71
- [Michaela] Yeah.
00:21:51.71\00:21:53.17
- And when I saw Cornelia,
which was four years in health,
00:21:53.17\00:21:57.91
you know, I
didn't doubt in my mind
00:22:00.85\00:22:05.52
that I wouldn't see
her again in that morning.
00:22:05.52\00:22:09.26
My heart was broken because
I have to leave her behind.
00:22:14.83\00:22:19.80
- I hold my hands a
dramatic and engaging book.
00:22:25.84\00:22:28.64
Let me read you something.
00:22:28.64\00:22:30.28
"He made it! He made it!
00:22:30.28\00:22:31.28
He's alive!"
00:22:31.28\00:22:32.65
With those words, my
father dropped the phone,
00:22:32.65\00:22:34.48
collapsed to the ground and
began crying, uncontrollably.
00:22:34.48\00:22:38.52
Shocked, I stood there, my heart
pounding faster and faster.
00:22:38.52\00:22:41.72
My mind began jumping
to frightening conclusions.
00:22:41.72\00:22:45.19
After what
seemed like an eternity,
00:22:45.19\00:22:47.30
my parents
motioned for me to sit down.
00:22:47.30\00:22:50.10
Scared, I lowered
myself to the ground,
00:22:50.10\00:22:51.97
squeezed in between them.
00:22:51.97\00:22:53.94
And for the very
first time in my life,
00:22:53.94\00:22:55.87
I heard them whisper
to me the incredible plan
00:22:55.87\00:22:58.61
my family had orchestrated
00:22:58.61\00:23:00.04
to escape
Communist Romania to freedom.
00:23:00.04\00:23:03.61
- When Adriana Pasos was just
14, her family became targets
00:23:03.61\00:23:08.52
of the Romanian secret police.
00:23:08.52\00:23:10.55
And this book,
"Hope in Present Danger,"
00:23:10.55\00:23:13.59
tells her incredible story.
00:23:13.59\00:23:16.09
You can get your copy for a
donation of just 14.95 or more
00:23:16.09\00:23:20.80
at
TalkingDonkeyInternational.org.
00:23:20.80\00:23:24.63
That's
TalkingDonkeyInternational.org.
00:23:24.63\00:23:28.20
- In the morning, because
after we got the approval,
00:23:32.71\00:23:37.68
we found out that, yes,
00:23:37.68\00:23:38.81
we were leaving
the following morning.
00:23:38.81\00:23:40.52
I'm, it was days, it
was hours, literally,
00:23:40.52\00:23:43.89
between the time we found out
00:23:43.89\00:23:45.42
and the morning
where we had to leave.
00:23:45.42\00:23:47.56
And I remember clearly,
my dad that night before,
00:23:47.56\00:23:52.83
he took a camera, took
the spool, the film out of the
00:23:54.40\00:23:58.10
camera and put in
there 300 Deutsche Marks.
00:23:59.53\00:24:03.14
We in Romania, under communism,
00:24:03.14\00:24:06.01
you were not allowed to
have any foreign currency.
00:24:06.01\00:24:08.78
If they found you
with foreign currency,
00:24:08.78\00:24:11.48
they would throw you in jail,
00:24:11.48\00:24:12.91
because they knew that
you had contact with the west.
00:24:12.91\00:24:15.35
Going back to what the
world was like in Romania,
00:24:16.55\00:24:21.82
it was under the
dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu,
00:24:22.86\00:24:24.29
the worst dictators of
this modern age, really.
00:24:24.29\00:24:28.96
The people in the
country were literally,
00:24:30.00\00:24:33.20
many of them were starving,
00:24:33.20\00:24:36.24
and he was actually feeding
his dogs on gold scales meat
00:24:36.24\00:24:41.51
where people couldn't find meat.
00:24:43.91\00:24:45.38
They couldn't find food.
00:24:45.38\00:24:46.28
You would go into stores,
00:24:46.28\00:24:47.48
and the stores
pretty much were empty.
00:24:47.48\00:24:49.52
The irony of all of it
was that there were stores
00:24:49.52\00:24:53.25
that were full to the rim
that were specifically made
00:24:53.25\00:24:58.19
for the tourists,
for the foreign tourists
00:24:58.19\00:25:00.53
that would come
and visit Romania.
00:25:00.53\00:25:02.36
And we, as Romanians,
would not be able to enter
00:25:02.36\00:25:05.87
into those stores
or make any purchases.
00:25:05.87\00:25:07.97
So, you have the contrast
of Romanian stores being empty.
00:25:07.97\00:25:12.17
Sometimes, I remember
hours standing in line
00:25:12.17\00:25:16.14
for a liter of oil or a
kilogram of sugar or flour,
00:25:16.14\00:25:21.42
for hours.
00:25:22.55\00:25:23.79
- [Michaela] At
three o'clock in morning.
00:25:23.79\00:25:24.92
- Or milk, three
o'clock in the morning.
00:25:24.92\00:25:26.19
Sometimes, my mom would
give me a book and said,
00:25:26.19\00:25:28.06
stay in line,
eight hours sometimes.
00:25:28.06\00:25:30.46
And, at times, I would
actually get to the line,
00:25:30.46\00:25:34.56
and they would say,
"Sorry, there's nothing left."
00:25:34.56\00:25:37.50
And so, that was the
milieu in which we lived.
00:25:38.57\00:25:41.80
That is the power
of communism, right?
00:25:41.80\00:25:44.97
That is the beauty of
being equal, which was a farce.
00:25:44.97\00:25:49.51
It's a lie.
00:25:49.51\00:25:50.68
There is no such thing.
00:25:50.68\00:25:51.78
That's a utopia.
00:25:51.78\00:25:53.08
I believe that
that kind of a imagery -
00:25:53.08\00:25:55.78
- Some people were always a
little more equal than others.
00:25:55.78\00:25:58.39
- Yes, yes, yeah. So,
all of that was happening.
00:25:58.39\00:26:02.99
And so, you know, the
telephones were tapped.
00:26:02.99\00:26:06.03
The people were being followed.
00:26:06.03\00:26:07.83
One out of three were
actually was an informant.
00:26:07.83\00:26:11.00
You didn't know
who was an informant.
00:26:11.00\00:26:13.20
You had to keep a poker face.
00:26:13.20\00:26:14.87
We had no idea.
00:26:14.87\00:26:16.34
So, all of that to say that
that morning or that evening,
00:26:16.34\00:26:19.57
my dad actually took
the 300 Deutsche Marks,
00:26:19.57\00:26:22.24
put them in the
spool of the film,
00:26:22.24\00:26:24.61
handed back the
camera to my mom.
00:26:24.61\00:26:27.05
Yeah, handed back
the camera to my mom.
00:26:27.05\00:26:29.85
And he warned her,
be careful with this.
00:26:29.85\00:26:33.22
You know what they'll
do to you if they find it.
00:26:33.22\00:26:35.59
- Basically, communism forces
you to do all these things
00:26:35.59\00:26:38.69
just to survive.
00:26:38.69\00:26:39.79
- [Sperantza] Correct.
00:26:39.79\00:26:41.20
- And you find, you've got
a plan to do this and do that.
00:26:41.20\00:26:42.83
- Yes, yeah, and
so, then that morning,
00:26:42.83\00:26:46.87
I remember just
gathering around it.
00:26:46.87\00:26:48.74
We were at our
grandparents villa,
00:26:48.74\00:26:50.84
and they had a beautiful place.
00:26:50.84\00:26:53.07
And I remember it
as it was yesterday.
00:26:53.07\00:26:55.38
It was a glorious morning.
00:26:55.38\00:26:57.08
And, my heart was just,
00:26:57.08\00:26:59.58
there were so
many mixed emotions,
00:27:00.88\00:27:03.12
wondering, what did this mean?
00:27:03.12\00:27:05.42
What will this mean?
00:27:05.42\00:27:06.35
Will we be able to get out?
00:27:06.35\00:27:07.86
And so, the plan
was that we would leave.
00:27:07.86\00:27:11.33
We would get to
Turkey, somehow rather make it,
00:27:11.33\00:27:15.50
and really connect to
someone who can help us.
00:27:15.50\00:27:19.47
And I remember Mom.
00:27:19.47\00:27:20.90
I remember Mom walking
over to Cornelia, who was four,
00:27:20.90\00:27:25.41
and she was sleeping
in perfect, perfect peace.
00:27:25.41\00:27:29.98
And I remember you
just bending down over her
00:27:29.98\00:27:33.55
and kissing her.
00:27:33.55\00:27:34.92
- You know, I really
believe here in America,
00:27:36.22\00:27:40.72
we know the price of
freedom, and that time, I mean,
00:27:42.49\00:27:47.66
in my mind, I
knew that, for freedom,
00:27:51.13\00:27:55.14
we have to pay a price.
00:27:55.14\00:27:56.44
- Thank you for watching.
00:28:02.21\00:28:03.68
Join us again for another
exciting "Country Wisdom."
00:28:03.68\00:28:05.48
See you next time.
00:28:05.48\00:28:07.22
(peaceful music)
00:28:07.22\00:28:10.15