Thursday July 8 Calgary, Alberta
A team of two went out and distributed some literature at doors.
There seemed to be quite a struggle, but we made it to a home where a woman our age accepted the Tanach and Brit Chadashah. We talked about Yom Kippur and atonement. Towards the end we asked if she needed prayer for her family and she said her ailing mother needed prayer. We prayed earnestly and then left. This was a special moment for all of us. We continue to pray for this woman, realizing that the mom is probably a Holocaust survivor, now at the end of a hard life.
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Sunday July 11 Montreal, Quebec
At the start of the afternoon, it was already quite warm, making it difficult to have conversations at the shopping center where a group of seven of us initially went.
A Muslim lady was seated in her car, and we explained to her that we were out in support of Israel but that we also loved the Muslims. She listened as we explained that Messiah Yeshua was the Son of God as taught in the Hebrew Scriptures. She thanked us for sharing the faith and accepted a gospel tract.
One member offered a helping hand to an elderly Jewish lady getting out of her car who accepted an anti-Semitism tract.
Then we decided to try a park across the street. A team member approached a young woman at a dog park who said she knew about anti-Semitism firsthand as she was Jewish and from Lebanon. Although she had not personally experienced persecution, her parents came to Canada to be free. Speaking about her knowledge of the Messiah she believed in a higher power and although she took theology as an elective in school, she did not have a solid faith in a god. By the end of the conversation, she realized she needed to reconsider her faith and said she would visit our web site.
A Jewish man was grateful that we were out in support of our Jewish neighbors and accepted a set of Scriptures.
The group of seven then decided to continue at another park where our teams have gone before. The shade there provided a cooler setting and people were interested in hearing us.
Right as we approached the park, a member began a conversation with a kind, elderly Jewish man walking with a cane. He listened attentively, saying he was a believer in God and was grateful for the gift set. The whole team of seven contributed to the witness, and eventually a lady friend joined him, too. He was really appreciative of our conversation, so we pray he reads what he received.
A few members sang at one of the picnic tables, along with a team member who played Jewish music on the guitar. It lent a peaceful atmosphere to the park as others circulated and spoke to people who were gathered there.
A francophone team member heard a group of French speaking Jewish couples from Morocco who were happy to listen for a while. Two groups of team members eventually spoke to them.
The first team member expressed their gratefulness to the Jewish people for the gift of Scriptures, then went to a 2nd table. One of the men then went back and asked for the French-Hebrew Scriptures after initially refusing them.
Another two of us then restarted a conversation with them. Having overheard one of the women quietly say to another that all this was “crazy”, and we were simply missionaries, we took that cue to reason with her that it might very well appear that way from the surface.
Since one of the team members had a strong Jewish upbringing, we were able to sympathize with them in how they negatively saw Jesus. But we then proceeded to touch on many subjects such as the need for covering our sins. We also spoke about the definition of a Jew, about antisemitism and its spiritual undertones, as well as other subjects pertaining to the Word of God and the Messiah.
We challenged them to read our leaflet on Isaiah 53. Interestingly, that same woman who said, “This is crazy” ended up being our designated narrator of the leaflet for the group. They all agreed it sounded like Jesus.
One team member shared about her personal experiences with the Lord and His healing through Yeshua.
The husband of one of them joined us at the bench and said that without a deep understanding of God’s Word through the rabbis we cannot really understand anything. We went on to share that God lives in the contrite and humble heart and that He does not keep Himself so far that He might not hear our prayers. They seemed to be touched by that.
Just before we left, we asked who would like to keep that small Isaiah leaflet. That same woman who read it also kept it. They also told us, while smiling, to keep up with our work. We left them with two anti-Semitism tracts and one Isaiah 53 leaflet.
Then we saw a Hassidic man passing by. We invited him and his family to join us in singing but he declined our invitation. He did accept a pamphlet on anti-Semitism and thanked us for our support of Israel.
A young couple accepted the anti-Semitism pamphlet. The husband who wore a kippa said he was not knowledgeable in things of faith, but his wife had won a prize in Israel for her knowledge of the Scriptures. She believed that salvation was through works, but when we said that salvation was through faith and not works the husband agreed with the team! We offered a set and to our surprise they said they already had a set as another team had come to their door two years before! All were surprised and we encouraged them to read their set.
We were also able to offer a set of Scriptures to a man who we thought was Jewish. He later said he was a Lebanese Christian who also supported Israel. It was difficult to take back the set because he was so happy to have it.
We gave out around ten pamphlets altogether, two English sets and one French set of Scriptures to Jewish people, plus one set to the Lebanese man.
Praise the Lord for a great day to praise Him and sow seed of the Good News!