Monday June 10
Three sets in French were given, one set in English, one Brit Chadashah in Russian and one in English.
One team of two women went to a single, small cul-de-sac with a majority of Jewish homes where most people answered their doors. Close by, we noticed a Sephardic synagogue.
At the first house where we went on this cool evening, we met an older Moroccan woman with a handicapped husband. She spoke French with us as we spent quite a bit of time talking about the situation in Israel. She told us about different homes on the street which belonged to Jewish people either French or English, and even a man from Iran, who helps her when she needs it. We hope to offer him a Bible another day. When we asked if we could pray for her, she asked prayer for a 26-year-old granddaughter who was not married. She happily accepted a full set and some other literature.
Two houses down, we went to the home of a Russian woman that the first woman told us about. She did not have a mezuzah on the door, so we would not have gone there if we hadn’t known. Since we had Russian sets, we quickly returned to the car to get one. She was surprised to see that we had a Russian Tanakh, but said she already owned one. We gave her a messianic prophecy bookmark so she could look up verses on Yeshua. However, she accepted a Brit Chadashah and said she would give it to her son who would look at it. She accepted other literature as well. She knew four languages and spoke about having escaped Russia in 1980. She has a lot of family in Israel and is worried for them. Often, when she calls, they cannot go into detail as to what is going on there. She said she could not stop watching the TV and was glued to the news reports coming out of the area.
A woman eating dinner with her daughter had the front window wide open and came to the door when we joyfully greeted them with “Chag Sameach!” We spoke about the joy of the rescue of the four hostages but that we all need the rescue that only Messiah offers so she needed to read Isaiah 53 and the passages on the bookmark to recognize the real rescue. She accepted a full set in English from us.
At another door, a woman who was probably from Morocco answered the door. She was startled when we offered her a Brit Chadashah. As we were speaking about the good news surrounding the hostage rescue, we commented that anti-Semitic media twists it into something bad. Similarly, the Brit Chadashah, a book which is 100% Jewish and with really good news, has been twisted by some into bad news for Jewish people. Those who haven’t taken it literally and who disbelieve God’s plans for Israel make it seem like God has rejected Israel. Sadly, the pure words of God get twisted into something bad, but we were offering her the pure version, which is true and is Jewish. Then she happily accepted a full set!
At a different house, we met another Moroccan woman who had lived in Israel for many years. Her husband‘s niece was killed in the Nova festival in Israel on October 7, which was both a Shabbat and a holiday when all should have refrained from attending concerts. She saw it as a judgment. She bemoaned those who are secular in Israel and said she got goosebumps when speaking about the massacre. We mentioned that the important point was to recognize our sin and that we needed the Messiah to rescue us and to forgive us. We explained how God’s righteous one could make us righteous, too. She was surprised to see the Brit Chadashah, but we explained again about the pure truth having been twisted. After fingering the book, she then accepted it along with the Tanakh, wishing us a happy holiday.
As we went from house to house, we gave comfort cards and said that our hearts were with the whole Jewish community because we are one people and we are all suffering. All the women we met commented that they were upset. Most of the women blessed us for having given them the Scriptures at this holiday time. They were surprised and grateful to have something good in front of them because of all the bad events in the world.
As we were getting the oral report together, we saw there were people at one of the houses where there had been no answer before. A young couple was leaving the house, and we gave them literature, but no volumes. At the door, a daughter answered, but quickly called her father to come. He said he had a Tanakh, so we offered him other literature. Then we offered the New Testament and much to our surprise, he actually quoted part of Matthew 5:18 about not one iota of the law changing. We answered that the Messiah said it would not change until He completely accomplished the law. As we left, he and his daughter thanked us for the gifts, including the Brit Chadashah.
Thank you again as we cherish your prayers as we patiently call His people to faith in Messiah.