This last Sunday was our last outreach for Hanukkah. We had one team in Montreal and we are excited to share this latest report with you.
The Sunday of Hanukkah one team went out near a hospital with the hope of sharing with people who might be hurting or in need. Through foggy glasses and masks, we tried to quickly and discretely scrutinize faces to determine who might be Jewish so we could offer them a special gift bag for the holiday. We also had tracts for others. Few people were out in the cold and wind, so it was easier to find taxi drivers shielded from the elements in their cars with whom we could chat. A Jewish cabby was hesitant to accept anything from us, but later accepted not just a gift bag but a set of Scriptures from us in French. One man was a believer who wanted a tract to share with someone else. Our team member spoke to him in Creole, his mother tongue.
A couple of young Jewish women were all smiles and giggles when we gave each of them a gift bag as they hurried past.
We engaged in a short conversation with a lonely looking young man in his 20s who was poorly dressed for the cold. He said he celebrated no holidays, or even his own birthday but was quite pleased when we offered him a beautiful DVD on God’s creation which has a clear gospel message. He also accepted a gospel tract before continuing down the sidewalk.
At the end of our outreach, we spoke at length in French with an older Russian Jewish woman who said she needed the Ketubim (Psalms, Proverbs, other writings) in Russian and Hebrew. She already had the Law and the Prophets. We had no Russian Scriptures with us, and she wasn’t interested enough to connect with us later. She was delighted to have the Hanukkah bag, though, as she carefully identified each small gift inside. Incredulous when we spoke of Messiah, and not interested in Messianic prophecy, we still encouraged her to ask God to show her the truth. She wore no gloves in the cold. May she warm to the God of Israel who came to save her.
In all, we distributed five Hanukkah gift bags and one set of Scriptures in French.