Genovieva Sfatcu Beattie grew up in communist Romania, during the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu. As a child she was persecuted by her teachers at school, but learned to stand firm and trust in the Lord. After being expelled from the university, she traveled all over Romania with a Christian children’s choir she started. She survived several attempts on her life, but in 1980 she was rescued from Romania by Jimmy Carter and given political asylum in the United States.

In 1985 she married Stephen Beattie, whom she first met in 1973 when he came to Romania as a Bible smuggler from England. Stephen and Genovieva have been involved in mission work for over thirty years and they now have their own mission center in northeast Romania.