Wednesday January 24
On a particularly damp and cold day, three women went to a local shopping area to distribute literature and speak to Jewish people about Messiah. Two women witnessed together as a team, and one team member was a couple of aisles away. In all, 17 tracts were given and two sets of Scriptures before ending this 50 minute outreach due to the low foot traffic and the cold.
One set was given to an English-speaking woman. We had a conversation for about 25 minutes with her. She spoke about her son, her family, and her trip to Israel with her son. We were able to talk with her about what is going on in Israel, mentioning Psalm 83 which was not yet fulfilled, but will be in the future. God knows everything. We were able to speak about the New Testament, that she would see the prophecies fulfilled from the first coming of the Messiah. She asked which organization we were with, and we were able to share that we were biblical believers. We spoke about trusting the Holy Scriptures, and that we understand them from a literal perspective.
We suggested that she put the gift bag with the set in her car, which she did. Not long after, a friend of hers came by and so we offered this friend the antisemitism tract. She refused and one of the team members remembered how she had previously opposed us, so we thank God that the gift was already in the first woman’s car, and that she did not see anything of what happened before. Praise God!
The first three individuals the other team member met were all Israeli. Two quickly said they were secular yet concerned with the rising anti-Semitism. They took no Scriptures but accepted the tract. The third person was French-speaking and was quite happy to get the full gift set before driving away.
Certain people said that no, they were not interested in knowing when anti-Semitism would end and refused the tract on that subject.
A couple of women said they were not Jewish but regularly prayed for the hostages in Gaza.
We were grateful to have been able to share with a few pedestrians before needing to retreat from the cold.
Monday January 29
This was the third night since the massacre in Israel that a team went door to door in the dark after supper. It was just below freezing and not windy at all, so a very good temperature to go out despite the icy stairs and sidewalks in front of some homes. Even though one of us missed a step in front of a house, we did not fall. It was a night of unprecedented openness to the Word in a particularly religious area. We gave out three full sets, two Tanakhs, and one Brit Chadeshah. It is true that there was no answer at a few doors, but not many.
At the very first house, we left a set for an older woman on a chair outside at her request. She did not want to open her door at night. We then realized that could happen again, so we decided to go to the car and get some gift bags, which proved very helpful later.
Another very elderly woman looked out her window at us and decided not to open her door.
A French Tanakh was given to a younger man who suspected we were going to talk about Jesus, so we did not offer him the Brit Chadeshah. He was surprised to hear that both of us were Jewish and thanked us for the gift.
An English-speaking man accepted the set and tract at first, and then, when seeing the New Testament, gave it all back.
While we were going toward a house, we saw a young man walking a beautiful dog. He told us no one was at the house where we were headed, but one of the team members thought to speak to him about what we were offering. He said he was Jewish, but only visiting the area, which made us wonder how he knew the residents were not there. A very sweet conversation ensued, and he took a full French set from us before leaving. He was very touched by the gesture, and we told him that God loved him so much that He brought him along at just the right time to meet us so he could receive this gift. Because we had picked up gift bags to take with us, we were happy to be able to give him all the literature in one of them.
A full French set was given to a Moroccan man who invited us inside his home when his wife said the cold air was getting into the house and to close the door. He fought in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. We spoke to him for quite a while about many different subjects. We spoke about the anti-Semitism going on right now. When he first saw the New Testament, he was surprised and hesitant, but we gave him reassurances that it was a Jewish book written by Jewish men speaking about the fulfillment of prophecies concerning Messiah’s first appearance, so he said he would look at it. We spoke about some churches wanting to replace Israel, taking the promises of God to her for themselves. Other subjects were brought up to him, such as Messiah’s return to reign in Jerusalem in the messianic kingdom, the fall of man, and how sin separates us from Him.
A French woman who had just returned on a plane from Morocco, came to the door holding her phone. She was speaking to her grandchildren on a video call and answered the door long enough to take a tract and a Tanakh from us.
A young woman did not want the Tanakh because she said she had many. Yet she readily accepted the Brit Chadeshah and said that she went to a nearby ultra-orthodox synagogue of Chabad. We spoke about how no blood sacrifice could be offered now, and that no one can prove their tribal identity to verify that they are the Messiah from the tribe of Judah. We gave her the messianic prophecy bookmark and made frequent mention of Isaiah 53 so she said she would read it. She seemed fascinated to think about some of the ideas we shared, including the fact that Yeshua was the Messiah of Israel. She also accepted a business card with the show times so she could hear the teaching online or on the radio, and said we were very well equipped with all the literature, including the comfort card. She encouraged us repeatedly before we parted for the house next door.
Close to the beginning of our time, we saw a very religious man enter a house. Toward the end of the evening, we were passing by that house and decided to go there last. A woman came to the door, and even though we only offered the Talmudic commentary tract from Isaiah 53 she consulted with her husband and refused everything. However, she said we were all united in Hashem, under one (echad) God. She praised us saying Kol Hakavod (Good job or well done!) and wished us well for what we were doing.
It was a truly blessed night for the conversations and meetings we had. Thank you so very much for coming alongside us through your prayer before, during, and after our outings. Your work with us is vital!