Thursday September 23rd, 2021
A team of two went out during the week of Sukkot and gave out 18 pamphlets, including a new one designed for this feast entitled Under the Canopy of G-d’s Protection. Given out as well was a French set of Scriptures, plus a Brit Chadashah (NT).
We spoke at length with the woman who took the French set. We started with the history of redemption and our hope of reconciliation from Genesis and went on to Isaiah 53 and the Righteous One who makes us righteous. We talked about Abraham’s faith and how we need that faith to be justified.
She was impressed by our Bible knowledge and admitted she did not have a copy of the Tanakh when we asked her. We then offered her one along with the Brit Chadashah.
A Gentile woman from the Philippines received a tract from us.
A man took a pamphlet and then asked where we went to congregation. We told him what it was, and that Beth Ariel was messianic, explaining what that meant. We shared with him concerning the two comings of the Messiah saying we believed in one Messiah who is seen a first and second time.
He told us he read Hebrew and had a Tanakh, so we suggested he read Isaiah 53 in Hebrew. He accepted a Brit Chadashah, seeing it was written in Hebrew.
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Sunday September 26 – We had this outreach in two different parks.
Two teams went to one of the parks in a Jewish area. Here is the report from the first team:
We gave out 20 Sukkot tracts with 20 Isaiah 53 leaflets inside.
We had a short conversation with L. who is the Russian Jewish lady we met last Sunday. She seemed happy to see us again and to receive the Russian/Hebrew Scriptures and Russian New Testament. One of our team even spoke with her in Russian for few minutes. After that conversation we left and continued our outreach. A few minutes after, she came to us and said that she left the set at the table where we first met her and asked if we could hold it for her until she returned from a 30-minute walk. After 35 minutes or so, the member who spoke Russian with her, went to give the gift bag to her but she asked if we could keep it and bring it back another day because the bag was too heavy for her and that she had not come to the park with her car.
Our team made a few rounds in the park and then gave out the rest of the Sukkot tracts at a grocery store near by.
The second team gave out approximately 18 Sukkot pamphlets and one set of Scriptures in Russian.
The set was given to a Russian-speaking couple who were happy to receive the Hebrew Scriptures and surprised to see the Brit Chadashah, which they also took. We spoke to them about Messiah’s righteousness and put a bookmark with messianic prophecies in Isaiah 53.
We spoke to another couple seated at a bench about the plan of redemption starting in the Garden of Eden. We spoke of blood atonement and Yeshua’s work of redemption to reconcile us to God along with some other subjects. We encouraged them to read Isaiah 53. We even recited the Shema together from Deuteronomy 6:4. It was a very pleasant time for all of us.
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At a different park, with four of us sitting near a walking path, people were passing by while we began to sing messianic music accompanied by a guitar. It was a place where local authorities had previously confronted us, so we were very discreet and careful. In total, we gave out around 15 Sukkot pamphlets and three gospel tracts to Gentiles.
We didn’t have any long conversations with Jewish people but were very pleased when a group of three young teenage boys came over to listen to the music and singing. We don’t give out literature or witness to those under 18. The boys even asked to know the name of our “band”, clapping in time with the song. When they wanted to know where they could hear more by the guitarist, we replied, “Beth Ariel Congregation.” The one wearing a kippah said, “Oh, my name is Ariel!” Please pray he and the other two look us up online.
Some park workers were setting up a fence in the field near us, so we didn’t hand anything out when they were close by. There was a sukkah with blackboard sides set up at the park, so we used the large pieces of chalk that were provided and wrote a couple of passages with key messianic prophecies like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
Thank you for walking along with us through prayer. May the Lord grant a harvest for His glory.