From January 26 through February 10, 2009, a seven member performing arts team ministered in rural and urban locations of Romania. The team included Steve and Charlotte Newcomb, Daniel Pelts, Steve and Linda Short and Bryan and Susan Jones. Our goal was to share The Last Supper musical in as many churches and gatherings as possible and draw people to the living Christ. But the results far surpassed our goals!

OUR HOSTS


John and Tootsie Fracker
 
The first half of our trip took us to a small gypsy village in Bastrita where our American host, John Fracker and his Romanian wife Tootsie, minister to several small village churches. Men from his congregation performed as disciples in our drama and traveled from village to village with us. We used  a cargo van which had new tires, brakes and shocks thanks to donations from many supporters.  We traveled over muddy dirt roads to reach rural villages where we performed in small halls heated by small wood stoves.

OUR OUTREACH – PART 1

The performances were packed with men, women and children who heard the story through a translator.

What a joy it was to see an elderly woman weeping as her husband came forward to receive Christ after our first performance. He will be discipled by a Hungarian pastor who ministers to the gypsies in that village.

 

Night after night, after Steve Short shared his testimony, many came forward responding to the challenge to follow Christ or renew their commitment to serve Him. 

OUR OUTREACH – PART 2

The 2nd half of our trip took us to more urban setting near Tg-Mures where we partnered with Niss Tinca, who works at a Christian ESL school. We performed for a Baptist congregation, a Pentecostal congregation, a Sunday morning worship service and a youth meeting. Believers were drawn to reality of Christ’s love and sacrifice for them. Steve had an opportunity to encourage a young college believer who struggles with the secular influence in his university.

MULTIPLICATION OF A VISION

Sandu’s Faithful Cargo Van
 
As we traveled, we saw John Fracker and his leaders catch a vision to perform The Last Supper drama themselves as an evangelistic outreach to their own people in gypsy villages in Romania and in other parts of Europe.  To encourage them, we left costumes, props, scripts, microphones and music as well as a commitment to continue helping them reach more gypsy people for Christ through this drama. We truly see a multiplication of our ministry as they move forward in Romania. 

FOLLOW UP

We will continue working with John Fracker and his men as they prepare their version of The Last Supper.  Please pray for this outreach. Perhaps you would like to help support their work. Perhaps you will consider helping support John and his part time ministers, Sandu and Abi as they reach gypsies for Christ. They have an urgent need for a new van to replace one that is literally falling apart. You can support them by sending a donation to HMMMT, 4415 2nd Street, Vero Beach, FL 32968. Please include a note indicating what the donation is for.

SHOES and CHRISTMAS BOXES

John Fracker ministers to many poor gypsy families in tangible ways. Two of these are by distributing shoes and the other is through Christmas boxes. These are great projects for a congregation or a Sunday School class. Please visit his website for more information: www.gypsyagape.com