Helping tommorow
Proclaiming Christ openly and faithfully, reaching hearts, changing lives, and spreading God’s truth to all.
ARRO Missions is committed to sharing the Gospel, planting churches, and serving the most vulnerable. Explore our core ministries below.
Proclaiming Christ openly and faithfully, reaching hearts, changing lives, and spreading God’s truth to all.
Building strong local churches, rooted in Scripture, raising disciples, and expanding God’s kingdom faithfully.
Supporting vulnerable children with care, resources, love, and hope grounded in Christ.
Providing practical support, compassion, and hope to those in need through Christ’s love.
Developing our central hub for outreach, training, and community events, expanding our capacity to serve.
Our team is passionate about reaching out to communities in need, building relationships, and empowering believers to share the love of Christ.
A glimpse into the life-changing work of Arro Missions—serving, building, and sharing Christ’s love in Romania.
It rained real hard at the beginning of service as they sang. The water leaked through the tent onto the sound equipment, causing Lushi and Dani to scramble to protect it. Eventually the rain went away and the sun shone gloriously as it was setting in the mountains. Many people came. The tent was set up amongst a poor area. You could see people peeking around the corners of their homes out of curiosity. And so many children. They played in a great herd between the tent and cemetery. 14 people declared they would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior the two nights the crew was there. An overwhelming amount of people came forward the second night to rededicate their life to Jesus.
The want and desire to serve is amazing. And the children… The children touched the crew’s hearts. The children were very eager for prayer. Just because they wanted to be a part of something. Some of the kids would come to Tommy for a second dose of prayer… or even a third or fourth. They are often left out and they want to be part of something. We prayed that God would keep them. The chances of them getting into drugs or prostitution is likely. We don’t want to leave the children out. We do have plans to do more for them next year.
The third evening they had an event in front of the second church. There was an old well out front. Horse pulled wagons passed by and other odd varieties of transportation on the dirt road during the worship and preaching. God was speaking to people that night, it felt as if He was calling someone. When it was Dorin’s turn to speak, he was inspired by the well. So he spoke of the Samaritan woman and of living water. He preached for a long time till it became dark. When he was done he asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. A husband and wife came forward. They were just visiting the area and came from Denmark. The wife was touched by the story of the Samaritan woman for she had also been married five times. She and her husband both confessed Jesus as their Saviour. It was a divine appointment.
After the service was over there was much talking and praying. Three children came to Dorin and took turns praying over him. This touched him deeply. Dorin, a man who is always praying over people whether at church or at the gas station, was being prayed over by God’s children
We took two vehicles for this trip. The crew consisted of Dorin, Tommy, Jonah, Trey, Haley, and Dana. We got there on time but again in Romania nothing starts on time. The music was playing, drawing everyone in. It was a beautiful view with the setting sun and mountains in the background. We held an event at a soccer field in Buteni. Chairs were set up and a small tent for the preachers and musicians to sit under. There was also an old stadium to sit on. At first there weren’t too many people but the longer we waited the more that wandered in. Eventually the seats and stadium were mostly full. There were people even listening on the sidewalk who brought their own chairs, or just sitting on the hoods of their cars. Some I saw biked their way to the soccer field. We had a beautiful worship service. When the preaching began the crowd was surprisingly quiet and seemingly unresponsive for how many people were there. We wondered if they had hardened hearts but that wasn’t the case at all. When it was time for an altar call many came forward. There was a tall chain link fence between the stadium and the small tent so the people who came forward had to walk all the way down to the gate to enter the field to be prayed over. So those who came forward had a strong desire to say the least.
That night we had multiple rededications and 23 salvations. A beautiful response in a beautiful setting. During all the commotion kids were playing ball in the background, storks were walking around the field, and a stray dog or two darted in and out of the crowd. After everything was done we offered free bibles sitting on a table and within 30 seconds they were gone. Bibles are expensive and the Orthodox Church (the most prevalent church in Romania) frowns upon the people reading the bible. So bibles are precious to people in Romania. The people here are hungry for God and need hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ. I believe many found the hope they were looking for that night.
A few times when we went to Deva on our days of rest we would meet with a dad and daughter. They were struggling. The dad couldn’t find work where he could bring his daughter as well. His daughter was probably 9 or 11. So they are trying to make ends meet. We try to help them by giving him some money and groceries. His wife is in prison accused of stealing. She was a maid and cleaned various houses. She needed help and found someone to work with her. This other woman found a safe in one of the houses and broke into it. She took off with the money, leaving this mom with the blame therefore getting arrested. During her time in prison she tells others about Jesus sharing the gospel. Two other women in prison have been baptized because of this. Her husband misses her and wondered why God would leave his innocent wife in prison. But after hearing about two women being baptized he understood why and it is worth it even though it’s hard. Their daughter thinks her mom is in Germany doing work. She asks her mom to bring her something from Germany over the phone. Her dad said it would be too much for her daughter to handle. This world will leave us cold but God is good and faithful.
Dorin,Tommy, Lushi, Robert, and Haley went to the grocery store. Robert knew of a family in need. So they shopped and bought whatever to fill some bellies. They come to a home with a man sitting out front. He was drunk and his family was nowhere to be seen. Robert asked what was going on. Apparently his children went to their grandmother’s because he beat up his wife who then went to the hospital. So the crew went across the street to a small country store. They ask the owner if he knew anyone who could use these groceries. The crew headed in the direction the man indicated. They traveled along another dirt road to a different family. They came upon a place with children running on bare ground outside a small home. When the children noticed the crew, they gathered in front of their home and got an older lady. She was their grandmother.
The crew gave her some groceries and Haley gave the children some candy. They all sang “I love you Jesus”. Children singing is a beautiful sound. They were twelve people living in a two bedroom house with no bathroom facility. The crew gave them a quick goodbye. The grandmother was in tears. She could not have any idea that she would receive free food. She was so grateful.
Dorin, Tommy, Beni, Tica, Haley and the pastor walked through a gate with groceries in hand. The ground was bare. They were greeted by a mom holding a baby, by her side a toddler, and an older girl who took the food into the kitchen. The kitchen was cement blocks stacked with some metal laid on top to act as a roof. The toddler was chewing on the wrapper of a small pretzel bag that one of the crew had given her. The family hadn’t been able to eat in a week. Dorin gave the mother some money. She was relieved. She told him now she could buy milk for her baby. The baby was only 12 days old and she couldn’t produce any milk due to malnutrition. The babe wasn’t even crying, the face looked dehydrated. It was hard to bear the sad sight. The crew went into the home. It was basically one room and a cripple old woman lay on a bed in the corner. They prayed over her. The father of the family was an alcoholic and wasn’t home. The crew walked back outside and prayed over the family. It was a powerful moment. They prayed over the mother, the baby, and the children. They took their time in praying and didn’t rush. Tears were shed. Tommy was sick to his stomach. There are no words. The tragedy is knowing that they are not the only family. A few days later the old woman died but the baby lived. There is no government help available, the only hope the poor have are christians.
We just left a wonderful church service where a husband and wife were baptized. It was a blessed morning and now we were headed for another service at a gypsy church in Deva. Doran, Tommy, Sammy, Tina, and Haley were the crew for this venture. God was with us in the long car ride. Sammy and Tina practiced their songs in the car. God was close, He is always close but you could feel Him there in that car ride for some reason. Eventually we all made it to the gypsy church and had a powerful service where 8 young adults were saved. It was quite the crowd. Probably 200 people were in attendance. So much that some listened outside, some people sat in the windows. They were stuffed everywhere and anywhere. I could see kids playing outside through the windows. The music was so loud that the whole gypsy neighborhood could hear it. Sam and Tina sang as well as others who were already there. Several spoke including Dorin and Tommy.
At the end of the service everyone went outside to watch one young woman get baptized. She was wearing white for her baptism. So many surrounded her that you could hardly see what was going on. Many had their phones in the air trying to capture this moment. What a way to celebrate a salvation! It was an awesome day of serving the Lord.
There was a family begging in a parking lot. They asked someone for money or food. They invited them to church and said there would probably be food there. I remember this family when they walked in. They sat in the back. Four people preached that night including Dorin and Tommy. While Dorin was speaking he mentioned that anyone here that needs prayer or is ready to accept Jesus to come forward. He barely got the words out when the dad and mom ran up there ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Doran was baffled and happy at such a response. The couple had never been to Church much and never heard such things about Jesus as they did that night. They heard the Truth and didn’t waste any time. Dorin prayed over them both. Now that they have accepted Jesus as their Savior their children will be able to learn about Jesus and their children too. Who knows what this has started for generations ahead in this family. It’s amazing how God works. Christy, the pastor, took this family into his home to help this new brother and sister get on their feet.
For this day Tommy focused on discipling the younger generation. Dorin had a wedding to do. Tommy and the young disciples made packages for the orphanage they would go to the next day. Tommy cooked some good american burgers. They all ate at least two. They were delicious. They did some bible study. It was a good time of learning and bonding together.
The next day they loaded up the packages and headed to the orphanage. They all went besides Eva (she stayed at homebase with her one year old). They were looking forward to giving the packages to the kids. When they arrived they pulled into a play yard surrounded by several buildings. Curious and excited adults surrounded the vehicle. The crew was surprised that there weren’t any children. This orphanage consisted of mentally and physically disabled adults. They were like strong children. One woman gave Haley a hug so tight that it cracked her back. Someone tried to give Elena a kiss. A man in a wheel chair sneaked behind Tommy and bit him. It was awkward at first trying to figure out what was going on, but then it became touching. They were very happy to receive the gifts that the crew brought them. It made their day. One man didn’t know how to open his snack cake. They opened the wrapper for him and handed it back. He took a bite and his face melted in satisfaction as he walked off. You could say he liked the snack cake. In all the packages was a soft blow up ball. The crew played catch with them. Balls were flying everywhere. It was fun. Some of the people were full of expression and very childlike, others had blank faces yet you knew they had thoughts and opinions based on the interactions. It was a great blessing to bring these people happiness if only for a day. It makes your stomach sick at the same time. These are God’s special children and they need to be taken care of. People devote their life to make sure of that. When the crew left they were glad they went, but at the same time it felt like they didn’t do enough. On the car ride back to homebase they discussed what more they could do for them.
I had cancer. Tommy prayed for me and God healed me. Now Tommy’s God is my God.
I’m very grateful to see the lives changed and to be a part of it.