Friday, August 16th
3 gift sets and multiple pamphlets were given.
On this intensely hot day, a team of two visited a local mall for approximately 1.5 hours. As the team was walking past a middle-aged man getting into his expensive convertible, they gave a cheery hello and exclaimed that he had a nice car. He did not respond but backed out abruptly with a frown upon his face and in doing so narrowly missed hitting a woman placing her carriage in the holding area. He yelled at her and when one of the team members commented about his manners to the other team member, he backed the car toward them and shouted at them that they should not be soliciting there. As the team did not respond to him, he gunned his car and left. The team immediately went into prayer for this man as he too needs the Lord in his life.
Right after that encounter, the team met a very kind Jewish woman who informed them after having received an anti-Semitism pamphlet, that she had family in Israel. The woman noticed that one of the team members was wearing a neck chain that said, “Bring them back home”. She then wanted to give them a donation. They had to explain that they were volunteers with the Society that Distributes Hebrew Scriptures and were there to give the Scriptures to the Jewish community. She was very touched then and accepted the set in French. When she saw the Brit Chadashah she exclaimed, “Oh the New Testament, I want that!” Not stopping there, she asked for two more sets, one for her daughter and one for her son! She then asked if the team would pray for her children to receive proposals of marriage. They first encouraged her to read Isaiah 53 and said that Yeshua, spoken about in the Brit was the Messiah who came from the line of David and the tribe of Judah and how only He had fulfilled all the prophecies concerning His coming. The woman asked if they believed in this Jesus to which they said, yes and that He is the Messiah! She agreed with them and then added, “God is one!” The team prayed for her then and for her children. And as another small gift, she was given a wristband that had a verse from the Hebrew bible. She was touched and hugged them and as her husband was returning to their car, she made a hasty exit from them but waved goodbye as their car passed by.
One team member approached a Filipino man as he was entering his car. She offered him a John 3:16 tract. He thanked her and said he had believed in God since childhood and that he was Catholic, mentioning also that he prayed his rosary every day. To this the member told him that it was important to believe in God and even more importantly to have a personal relationship with Him, that traditions were good like going to church, but if a person did not communicate with God on a personal level, he would not be able to understand the forgiveness of sin. The man agreed but did not respond to this information and instead thanked her and left.
The other member met a Jewish woman at the same time. This woman taught Hebrew at a school in Paris, France. She took the anti-Semitism pamphlet and comfort card and thanked her.
As the team began to return to their car, they met a Muslim couple with a young child. The husband said they had come from Tunisia 3 years ago and that his wife, who appeared to be quite shy, was now expecting their second child. Speaking fluently in English, he thanked them as he received the John 3:16 tract and said he would read it. They departed saying it was hot outside and that they needed to get inside the store.
That was the outreach for that day as it had become too hot to continue but the team was thankful for the wonderful encounter with the woman who took the 3 sets, and praised God for protecting them from the opposition and for the sets that were given.
Tuesday, August 20th
4 sets (1 in French) were given on this evening where there were two refusals and many who were not at home. This door-to-door outreach was initially threatened by rain, but the team was able to get their visits in just before it began to come down again.
At the first door the woman refused the gift set and was not happy to see them and asked what they were doing, going door to door in her neighbourhood. Stating they were from Beth Ariel and were Messianic believers in Yeshua, they also said that they were not followers of rabbinic Judaism but biblical Judaism. She said she was not interested in receiving anything so they left.
Before the team approached the next door, they saw a man wearing a kippah accompanied by his children walking from the house, but they decided to go and ring their bell anyway, and someone answered them from a speaker phone saying they were not interested as they were Jewish and would not be taking anything from them.
At another door close by, they rang the bell twice and as they were about to leave a young woman opened the door. She was excited to receive the set stating that she was old enough to receive it, being over 18. She stated she had family in Israel and requested another set in French for her mother. She told them that she had heard about Yeshua during a discussion with her grandfather at the dinner table but that he was a religious Jew. The team spoke to her then about the Messiah, who He was and about the blood atonement. Prior to this, the girl said she thought that good works could save her, but they told her that only the Messiah could save and spoke then about the prophecy in Isaiah 53, and that even His own people would reject Him and that no amount of works could bring salvation. They included Habakkuk 2:4 where it says the just shall live by faith as well as Leviticus 17:11 where God has provided blood for the atonement of man’s soul. They went on to tell her about fallen man and his sin nature and referred to Psalm 51 where David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”. The young woman was very thankful for the conversation saying that she used to study the Scriptures when she was younger. They responded that if she truly would seek the truth, God would show her that truth and then the team prayed for her and her family.
At the next home there was a camera/speaker phone and when they rang the bell, the person asked them to leave the set in the gift bag at the door. They did so and included an anti-Semitism pamphlet also.
At the next door a Moroccan, Jewish man answered and as they presented the Tanakh he told them that he already had one. However, after a brief conversation about Isaiah 53 and showing him the Brit Chadashah, he took the Tanakh along with a pamphlet. He asked the team if they were part of Jews for Jesus and they told him no but that they did believe that Yeshua was the Messiah and spoke to him about His first and second coming. This appeared to confuse the man, especially about the 2nd coming and they told him about His resurrection and that He would return to rule and reign in Jerusalem. When they offered him the Brit, he was hesitant to accept it, but they began to explain that it would inform him of the genealogy of the Messiah in Matthew and that it spoke of the miracles He performed, as well as having reference to the tribulation and time of Jacob’s trouble. The man told them that this would not convince him and that he was not very religious. They told him then that it was important to have a relationship with God and to be reconciled with Him because of sin. They spoke of the prophets in the Tanakh who spoke of His coming and were killed because of this but then gave an example of Elijah who thought he was the only one that believed in God. They continued explaining that God had answered Elijah saying that there was always a remnant and that He had reserved 7,000 who believed Him and would not bow to Baal. Hearing this, the man took the set and later, after they left, the team commented that they could see how the Holy Spirit had worked to accomplish his taking the set during their conversation. They had a wonderful conversation with this gentleman and the evening went smoothly despite the refusals. They thanked everyone for their prayers and gave God all the glory.