This month we have four teams in Ville Tecii, Romania. It is a small, remote gypsy village that happens to have a busy highway running right through it. Our main contact is John Fracker. We are living with him, his father-in-law Sandu (John married a girl from Ville Tecii a few years ago), and his father-in-law’s brother Abi. Family is very important here and this family is very close.
When John started doing mission trips to Romania several years ago he was working with Romanian pastors and he would visit the area gypsy villages on occasion. Eventually he realized he had a heart for the people and started working with them more often. He had been working with Abi and soon had a great working relationship with Abi and Sandu. Sandu had already been pastoring some churches in nearby villages. Now, John, Sandu, and Abi are a church-planting team and spend much time reaching out to their community in Ville Tecii.
There are five of us staying with Sandu and his family — the men of FUSE, Team Crux, and Team Holy Banditz. Sandu and Rita have been married 25 years and they have six children. Sanda is 23 and married, she has one son. Tutsi is 21 and married to John, our main contact. They have a two year-old son. Laura is 19 and newly married. Danny is 17 and very busy around town. He plays a lot of soccer and we hardly see him. Leuci is 9 and Benni is 4. Carmen is Rita’s sister and she lives with the family and helps with the children and the cooking.
Sandu and Rita have been amazing hosts to the five of us guys. They cook us amazing food and have graciously allowed us to take over one of the three rooms in their house. Rita and her sister Carmen work hard to prepare our meals and clean our laundry. They do not speak English but we have been carving out ways to communicate.
We have learned over the last 7+ months how to make ourselves comfortable as we move into the world of others. Sandu and Rita urge us to make ourselves at home in their house. It is humbling to be served by people who are so happy to have you stay in their home.
I praise God for our family around the world. I thank him for the way he is growing us together this year. Know that God’s love is strong in Ville Tecii and it is working in Sandu, Rita, and their whole family.
Below is Sandu singing us a gypsy song about Jesus. Braedon is on guitar. Benni is to the left playing with Ben and Leuci is to the right looking on.
