Missionary Marian Toma serves in the Gypsy community of Tunari outside of Bucharest, Romania. In spite of continued government restrictions due to Covid 19 and ongoing sickness among the people from the pandemic, he has remained devoted to preach the gospel to the residents. This month he reports of some of the opportunities he was given to share Christ:
“We have been having church services on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Wednesday and on Friday. We have had meetings with colleagues and coworkers every Thursday on Zoom. I can see a spiritual revival in the Grace Church in Tunari. All the believers rejoice in fellowship, pray fervently with tears and have a prayer list with people that we are praying for. We pray for those who are facing health issues and have started receiving answers to our prayers.
The brother-in-law of a believer had been hospitalized with COVID-19. The doctors told his wife that he had no chance of survival. After praying for him for one week, we started receiving good news. This is an Orthodox family and they considered it a miracle that the Lord answered our prayers. They began to realize that there was nothing impossible with God.
We also prayed for sister who is seventy one who was diagnosed with COVID-19. Her body fought against the virus and she is doing well now. The church is being strengthened spiritually through the church services and Bible studies that we have. Praise the Lord!
I invited the pastor from Otopeni to attend one of our home groups. Four new people attended this meeting where the pastor had a captivating testimony as he had been raised in an orphanage. These people asked me to pray for them and their families. Since then, they have continued to attend these home group meetings.
Recently, as we were having fellowship at a brother’s place, we all received a text message saying that our village was going to be quarantined. A pastor from Otopeni attended our Wednesday night church service and preached the Word. The church was full and at the end I gave an invitation for people to repent. A man came to the front and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ with tears of joy in his eyes.
I visited people at home and passed out Christian literature. As a result, I made new friends on Facebook so I could share Bible verses with them. Some accepted my friend request and agreed with the Bible verses I sent them, while others ignored me.
I met a sixty two year old man this month and have visited him every week since then. He received the Word that I preach to him, but is addicted to alcohol. The Lord has searched his heart deeply and Mr. Marin told me that he wanted to repent. He lives in Bucharest where we have a common friend who has planted an evangelical church in his area. I couldn’t believe that Mr. Marin wanted to repent without me asking him to do it. This was quite a surprise for me. I pray that the Lord will keep working in his life.”
