Saturday, March 9, 2013

My Wife Zsuzsa - Part 1

My wife around the time I met her (age 20).
On October 4, 1999, my wife and I met for the first time. I was standing in a very busy square in downtown Munich, Germany, called Marienplatz, handing out tracts and giving people the Gospel. I handed my wife a tract as she was walking by, and when she had gotten about 20 feet away, she turned around and brought it back to me.

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested in soccer," were the first words she ever said to me. The tract had a picture of a soccer player on the front, so she thought it had something to do with sports.

"It isn't about soccer, it's about the Gospel."

"Gospel? Can you sing them for me?"

"What?" with a laugh.

"The gospel songs! Can you sing them for me?" In German, the word "gospel" only refers to the music style. I then explained to her what I meant by "the gospel" and opened my Bible and went through the whole plan of salvation with her starting with Romans 3:23. When I finished going through the whole thing with her, her response was, "Well, none of this will do me any good if I am late for work." I then asked her for her phone number and email address so that I could do a little "follow-up"! (Anyone who knows me knows that I am not big on "follow-up," but I made an exception for her...)

The next day, Tuesday, I was in the same place at the same time doing the same thing. I had my eye out for her hoping that I would catch her again on her way to work. Sure enough, she came and greeted me with a smile. "How do you like my new boots?" Her new 'boots' were a pair of tennis shoes (English is her 3rd language, although you wouldn't know it by how well she speaks it. Most people don't even realize that she is not from America since she has literally no accent at all anymore). We chatted for about 5 or 10 minutes before she had to head off to work.

On the next day, Wednesday, I was disappointed that we didn't see each other. When I got back to the home of the missionary I was staying with, I decided to pull out that phone number and give her a call. I invited her to come to the Wednesday night church service, which she said she would do. We talked for about 10-15 more minutes, and I was expecting to see her there that night. She never showed up, which was pretty disappointing.

The next morning, Thursday, she came and saw me on her way to work and apologized for not showing up. A friend had called her at the last minute and needed help, so she ended up deciding to skip coming to church (It was probably for the best because that church was pretty lame. As it ended up, her first time in a Baptist church was at my home church in Orangevale, California, which made a much better impression on her than that church would have). Just a few hundred yards away, a man had covered himself and his car in gasoline and was threatening to "blow himself up." This had a caused a major scene in the Marienplatz so we chatted about that and a few other things. This would be the last time I would see her until 9 months later.

On the next day, Friday, on my way to the train station to leave Munich for a distant part of Germany, I kept my eye out for her all the way as I walked through the Marienplatz, but I didn't find her. I never called that phone number again until after we were married.

To be continued...

This is me (age 18) in Marienplatz handing out tracts the exact week that I met my wife.

24 comments:

Arthur Toledo said...

This is a great story. God bless you Pastor Anderson.

Arthur Toledo said...

Awesome story. Keep it coming! God bless.

Kinley Hardin said...

Sometimes an unusual response or result takes an unusual approach or presentation. At least one of your kids should play soccer just to bring the story full circle or for poetic justice.

Rebecca said...

Sorry, but on that photo you look a bit like an emo kid. Zsuza was very brave to marry you.

sanderson1611 said...

Emo didn't even exist back then. haha

Anonymous said...

A fire breathing baptist preacher married a German lady. Maybe she has more of an influence than we realized ;)A country famous for a hard work ethic, discipline, traditional family values and that staunch German attitude....I dunno Pastor Anderson, I get the feeling she pulled you into line somehow haha

Nah, probably just a match made in heaven.

Happy Anniversary!

mkm said...

FINISH THE STORY!!!! I love your wife's website. : )

Unplug Your Cord said...

Hahahahaha my name on the background! Which years later you got me saved

Anonymous said...

Finish please! :)

Unknown said...

Great story pastor Anderson can wait to here the rest. God has bless you, she is beautiful.

Unknown said...

Great story pastor Anderson can wait to here the rest. God has bless you, she is beautiful.

Unknown said...

You da man Anderson!

Theresa Walker said...

Hello Everyone, my name is Theresa Walker, I’m married for 20 years with my husband and we have two son, Elder one 16 and younger is 11 years. My husband loved me a lot but it get to a point when he involved in affair with a woman which is her coworker. I never imagined it but somehow his attitude towards me and children changed, his late coming from work made me think over the matter, Even on my 20th Wedding anniversary on march, I keep myself away from sex as we promise to do it on the Wedding anniversary day, it will be our honeymoon again, 15 days before the Wedding Annivessary he confessed that yes he had sex with her. He brought her in my bed when I was out for work, he knows that but he did it before the Wedding anniversary day on my bed, it means my feelings was totally valueless to him, My mental condition is full of agony, I think I can’t forget and recover the pain, this woman was in full control of her and i never wanted to be do it with Violence, she want to win over me as she is divorced, she said she was jealous about our relationship and she will ruin me by taking my husband. I had to discuss it with a friend that asked me to find a good spell caster, first of all i never believed in this Cast spelling but i have to give it a try until when i came across PROPHET JOSEPH UGO email on the internet about how he has helped so many people get their ex back and help fix the relationship and make people happy in their relationship and some other stories concerning Spiritual illness and more, I explained my situation to him and he helped me carry out some prayers, some Herbs and roots and a little sacrifice which i did, and within 7 days he came back to Apologise and it was just a miracle for me, Am happy today that he helped me and i can proudly say that my husband is now with me again and he is now in love with me like never before.
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Pawan Kumar said...

Great story pastor Anderson can wait to here the rest. God has bless you, she is beautiful.Attitude Status

HowToImpressaGirl said...
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HowToImpressaGirl said...
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HowToImpressaGirl said...
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IndiaRise24 said...

Great story pastor Anderson can wait to here the rest. God has bless you, she is beautiful.Attitude Status

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Unknown said...

Great story. Looking forward for the ending.

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Vivek Dabhi said...

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