By Brenda WinterRanee (Bosch) Hagen and her husband, Kevin, left the United States as missionaries to Romania in 1991 with 11-year-old Kassidy and 10-year-old Matthew beside them and a world of unknowns before them.Twelve years later, they sit in their cozy living room in Steen sharing some of the observations they have made about culture, life, people and faith — with their 4-year-old Romanian twin daughters, Ela and Ana, beside them and a world of unknowns before them.A lot has happened in 12 years.Ranee and Kevin are missionaries with Food for the Hungry, a Christian mission agency that seeks to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world. The couple is just completing a month-long furlough in the United States and will return to Curtea De Arges, Romania, next week.Ranee is the daughter of John and the late Elaine Bosch and a 1974 graduate of Luverne High School.Kevin began his tenure with Food for the Hungry as an agriculture adviser to the people in their area and now he serves as the organization’s national director in Romania. Ranee began her years in Romania teaching Kassidy and Matthew at home, cooking on and heating their home with a wood stove and using her LPN background to teach infant nutrition to local moms. Today she spends her time entertaining the many visitors she and Kevin have in a year’s time and, of course, raising Ela and Ana.Using the unique perspective that "outsiders" have, Ranee and Kevin can look at both American and Romanian cultures and see trends and entrenchment."Looking at America, I see how much we have to be thankful for," Ranee said. "It’s easy to find fault with the educational system or the government, but this is still a very privileged place. Things we consider ‘rights’ in America aren’t rights at all — they are privileges: the right to privacy, the right to freedom of speech, the right to freedom of religion."She said when she and Kevin first moved to Romania their house was bugged."Our friends there couldn’t understand why it bothered me. We were followed. Our staff members were routinely called in for questioning. The local government didn’t look at our physical acts (of helping the people) but kept questioning our intentions," she said. "They are a very suspicious people. They believe that you must have ulterior motives. You couldn’t possibly do something good just because you wanted to or because you cared."Kevin said the work ethic of the Romanian people is nearly nonexistent after 40 years of communism. There is even a joke among the people, "For 40 years the communist government pretended to pay us and we pretended to work."Kevin said that a definition of prosperity is "a bottle of brandy on the table and a loaf of bread."Before Romanians can understand progressive thought, Kevin said he believes they need to return to the Christian faith. "Communism took the faith out of the church," he said. "If you don’t believe in heaven and hell, why would you be motivated? They really have to get back to their Christian roots."Ranee said Romania also has to overcome a negative birth rate and the loss of its motivated and educated citizens. "In the church or in the community, whoever you train, leaves because they get offered a job abroad."But, Ranee said, overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles is something she’s learned to do. "I’ve learned that God can take ordinary people and place them in extra ordinary circumstance and give them the grace and strength to handle it," she said. "Sometimes I’m in a situation and I think, ‘I’m from Ash Creek, Minnesota! I can’t do this!’ but I do."Ranee and Kevin plan to spend two more years in Romania. After that, they may want to be in the United States with their grown children, or they may do something else. Either way, a world of unknowns lies before them.
