Thursday, June 14th
6 sets and 2 Tanakhs were given.
A team of two women were welcomed to an opened door where a caregiver invited them to visit with the homeowner, an elderly Jewish lady. She was lonely, and immediately upon seeing them, smiled and said she was 96 years old. After the owner received the gift set and pamphlets, the caregiver said that she had spoken to her client about Jesus several times but that she always responded that she believed God did not have a son. One team member shared her testimony with the elderly woman and the need for mankind to have atonement for sins they committed. The caregiver kept interrupting and so the other team member drew her out of the room and into the kitchen, allowing her to tell of her own personal faith journey. Running out of time for their visit as the woman’s supper was ready, the homeowner agreed to receive the team again to explore the subject of our need for forgiveness of sin and the Messiah’s role in this forgiveness. Bidding farewell, the woman accepted hugs from the team who promised that they would return to visit her. They plan to go tonight to visit B. again. If she accepts, the pastor and his wife will also visit her in a few weeks.
Another interesting visit was to a home with an open garage door where three young men were training for a wrestling match. The man who lived at the home called out that he did not have time but when he was offered a gift, he came forward. Opening the gift bag he exclaimed, “Oh a Tanakh, WOW, thank you very much.”
Friday, June 15th
3 gift sets and approximately 20 anti-Semitism pamphlets were given.
A man from Pakistan of the Urdu faith received a pamphlet. He was curious and asked the question, “Where in the Bible does it say Jesus is God and that we are to worship him?” The team had a long conversation and explained that Yeshua did profess at the end of His life just before he was to be crucified that He was the Messiah as he spoke to the High Priest (Mark 14:60-62). The man was not satisfied and wanted more so they offered him a business card. He stated that he was eager to call the pastor for more information.
Prayer request: The team stopped and offered a pamphlet to a young Filipino woman wearing a headscarf. It was obvious she was having cancer treatments and stated that she had just finished her fourth round. She exclaimed that she was running out of hope as the cancer kept coming back. She accepted prayer from the team and then her face was transformed to one of relief. Please keep her in prayer.
There was one woman who gave opposition to the team, but her protests fell on rocky ground as the team stated that HaShem loved her. Unable to answer, the woman left.
Praise God for all the opportunities and seeds sown this week. Thank you to all for praying.
Monday June 19
Two women continued the door to door in the neigborhood where we have been going. At the first home, a man in his 30’s answered and spoke to the team, who encouraged him to read Isaiah 53 out loud. After finishing, we asked who the passage described. He said it sounded like Jesus. The team elaborated on the Jewishness of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and how important it was to read Scripture. He also accepted a Brit Chadeshah before bidding us farewell.
At the very next home, another young man greeted the team by saying he wasn’t very religious. He, too, though accepted to read that chapter out loud and said it seemed like it was describing the life of Jesus. The conversation went on as he commented that he wondered how the rabbis view Isaiah 53. On our leaflet, we have four rabbinic sources from the Talmud all attributing these verses to Messiah. We spoke about how valuable it would be for him to read the history of our Jewish people and get to know God better. He also accepted a full set and wished us well.
A middle-aged woman was very skeptical of us right away and ended up refusing all our literature.
At the end of the evening, we spoke with a secular Israeli woman we knew from anther context. She invited us to her backyard for a refreshing snack which her husband had just prepared. We pray this conversation, added to all the others over the last 20 years would help break through to the recognition of her need for Yeshua’s atonement. As we were leaving, she introduced us to her Jamaican neighbors across the street, a pastor and his wife. They were interested, particularly the wife, in Jewish ministry. We left them with a full set and some literature.