Daniel and Zana Osu, church planters in Romania, head into a Gypsy village and show Magdalena, a film that tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary Magdalene. Magdalena, a complementary version of the JESUS film, is a Cru ministry tool.

Some viewers place their faith in Christ at film showings. A week later, Daniel and Zana return and lead follow-up lessons. The training is oral because most Gypsies don’t read and write.

Daniel and Zana baptize believers and start a church with regular services. They train leaders in the church and appoint a pastor. Soon, church members travel with the couple to another village to start a new church.

I watched all of this happen for a week. What a pleasure to meet Daniel and Zana, and their friend Gina, a Cru staff member who invited me to Romania and who translated while I was there on assignment with Cru Storylines.  (In the top photo, Zana and I are in one of the 12 churches the couple has started. In the second photo, Daniel invites people to trust Christ to forgive their sins at a showing of the Magdalena film.)

For thousands of years, Gypsies have been enslaved and persecuted, mostly because of their dark skin. They responded by dropping out of society.

Parents don’t register their children and obtain birth certificates. Without that documentation, their children can’t go to school. They don’t learn to read and write, leaving them eligible only for menial labor jobs, that pay low wages. Children marry early. Daniel was 14 when he married 10-year-old Zana. A year later, Zana gave birth to their first baby.

It’s a culture of uneducated children raising children while trying to figure out how to break out of generations of poverty and persecution. They face overwhelming obstacles , and yet, God shows up. Daniel and Zena have planted 12 churches in 6 years.

Now, it’s time for me to write the story. I have a first draft done. I will also write captions for the pictures and two smaller stories that will run alongside the main story. Please pray that what I write will glorify God and encourage believers as they see God at work in a glorious way.

Thank you for praying for us, and for playing a role as we tell of God’s glorious works.

— Anne Marie —

Below, Gypsies, a people group often despised by those around them,  watch the life-changing message of the JESUS film as seen through the eyes of a woman who was despised in her culture. (All three photos are by Guy Gerrard, the photographer who joined me in roaming around Romania.)