I started to be a missionary since 94, and I met Paul Washer in 96. And from since 96, we became a Hard Crime Missionary. Welcome to Updates from the Future, a production of Hard Crime Missionary Society. Welcome to Updates from the Field. My name is Hunter Gately, and I'm the coordinator for Europe. And I'm here today with a very special guest from Romania. Brother, if you could introduce yourself. My name is Ioan Tomeci. I'm from Romania, and I am a missionary with Herculean. Okay, good. It's been very good to have you today, sitting in the office this morning, talking and catching up. It's good to spend time with you and with your family, so thank you for coming. Thank you. It's a pleasure. It's a joy for me to meet my brothers from America. Good. So you've been in America for about three weeks now. Can you tell us how your trip has been, what you've noticed about American churches and the church in Romania? We came to visit our children here. They live in U.S. and we visited some churches. And I don't have a conclusion about the life here in the church, but I think the right word is different. The room is very big and few people. In Romania we have many people in a small space. We were together in Romania, in the town that you live in, in April. We saw the church and it was a very full room. Can you give us an update about how the church is going, what the ministries are like? I serve as a pastor with Sorin in the Providence Baptist Church. We started from a small group and year after year, God blessed us to other people. We were involved in a young ministry with people, poor families. other churches to have good relations and help entire evangelical movement from Brasov. Yeah. Wow. So you've been there for how many years? I started to be a missionary since 94. And I meet Paul Washer in 96. Wow. And from since 96, we became a missionary. In what year did you begin to plant the church? We, for many years, we were involved in campus ministry. We were young in that time, but in 2010, we moved from Timisoara in Brasov. Sorin moved from Bucharest in Brasov, and together we started to plant Providence Baptist Church. Wow, wow. For those who haven't been there to Brasov to see the church building, can you describe the area where the church is located in Brasov? Yes, our church is located in downtown. We bought a piece of land, not so big, but with God's help, we built a center, a building where we have offices. We have our place for the church. and we can have different activities, different events with young people, with families, with the entire church. Brother Paul Washers had many years in Romania serving in conferences and in different areas of ministry. Do you have any memorable times with him while he was there? Of course, I met what I said in 1996 and we met in our apartment and he had some questions for us, for me and for my wife. I remember when all the time he said why when I said something he said why he wanted to go more inside to understand in that time. I didn't understand very well the the Gospel, the truth of the Gospel. But I think that was a wonderful moment God sent this man of God and he blessed very much, a lot, because in this relation I could understand the truth of the Gospel. Yeah, wow. Yeah, if I remember right, I think Romania was the second country HeartCry ever entered into. And in those days it was just Brother Paul and maybe a couple of workers. So it's amazing to see the work that God's done in bringing so many people to the faith and planting so many churches. It's really remarkable how God saves people. Yeah, Paul Washer had a big impact in Romania, evangelical movement, because he came in 96 first time. And after that, we had conference. He brought teachers, pastors with experience. And every year from that year, we had conference and missionaries were invited and other pastors and In these years, we had different meetings in different cities, big cities, and his impact was huge. Even now, we have people who started to listen all on the internet, and after that, they came to us because they have a connection between us as a church and Paul Washer. Wow, that's great. Can you tell me two things? First is ways that we can pray for your family. I know that your children are here in the U.S. and it can be difficult to be apart. Yeah, personal needs. We have two children, Flavius and Rebecca. Both of them, they live in US and they are married and asked to pray for their future to work with God in a different country and different culture. And the same for my family. My parents are old and they need God's grace. And for my sister who became Christian, maybe one year and a half, God touched her heart and now we have a wonderful relation. Yeah, that's wonderful. And I know that you're probably eager to get back to Providence Church to see the people who you've missed. Can you tell us some ways that we can pray for the church and for your ministry there? First, thanks to God, because I came here, I saw the huge grace that we have in Romania, a wonderful team, we have unity, and it's good to pray to keep this, this is a great value. But at the same time, still we can go outside, preach the gospel, and to make disciples to invest in their lives, And for Kingdom of God, the church grew up. And I'm very pleased. I miss Romania. I miss my family, faith family from there. Good. Well, I want to thank you again for coming to visit us here in our office. I want to thank you for the ministry that you do in Romania, how you faithfully serve. And thank you for sitting down for this interview. You're welcome. I want to thank you and thanks to God for all I receive from organization, HeartCry organization. Good. Well, thank you all for watching today. It's been a real pleasure to sit down and talk with this brother and be reminded of the work that God is doing in Romania and around the world. Please don't just watch this and move on, but please remember to pray for the church in Romania, pray for the work that these brothers and sisters are doing, and pray that when people hear the gospel preached, that they would repent and believe, that God would work the miracle in their heart to see them saved, to give them the newness of life, to bring them out of darkness and into light. So thank you for watching and God bless.