June 28th , 2022
Team One
31 pamphlets (27 English and 4 French), 3 full sets, 1 Brit Chadashah, 2 English only bibles were given.
A team of two ladies went out on a sunny day in a local shopping mall and approached a French man who took a French set. While taking it, the team asked him, “Can man ever have peace?” His answer was a commonly heard refrain these days as he said, “Absolutely not!” They spoke about the peace that will come when the Messianic era arrives and that only God can give peace. The name Elohim (Hebrew for God) became pivotal in their conversation. The gentleman mentioned that Elohim was the name of God, but in the plural form to which the team reminded him that the Hebrew word for one, “echad” was a composite unity. This means that although we say one (echad, as used in the solemn and important Jewish prayer, the Shema), it is also used to speak of a group of objects which form the one: For example, one cluster of grapes (composed of many individual grapes) or one married couple (composed of two people). He was interested in this and listened very carefully. They also gave him the Isaiah 53 leaflet and a bookmark explaining that the Messiah who is part of this divine echad had to die, as written, but would come back to Jerusalem. The ladies told him that the Messiah had already come and would come again. He was given the congregation’s info card and he said that he would look it up.
Two bibles were given to a lady and her son who were from Iran. The woman did not want to take the bible but said, “You may give it to my son”. The 12-year-old accepted it happily and the woman said, “He can read the bible to me”. It was great to see such an opened door of opportunity and much to the team’s surprise they returned asking for a French bible as well.
A Jewish man was offered the gift set and though declining at first, he asked if he could look at it. At the same time, he was offered the Brit Chadashah. Responding quite by surprise he said, “Can I have this book?” With great joy the team gave him the N.T. and a bookmark, explaining that he could find the verses about the Messiah as indicated.
The team was very thankful for this beautiful ministry, and they want to thank all for praying for them.
Team Two
40 pamphlets, 1 English bible, 2 Brit Chadashahs
A team of two went to a large shopping center parking lot after spending nearly two hours on the road caught up in construction traffic. The team was perplexed at times as to why the GPS was taking them behind warehouses and through shopping centers and finally when they had almost reached their destination, they realized that the GPS was set for a bicycle route and not for a car! No wonder they had such a chaotic journey! At the start of the outreach, it appeared that there was not a high number of people out shopping but trusting God they did have some wonderful conversations.
A middle-aged man accepted a Brit Chadashah after realizing he didn’t have one. The team members told him it was a very Jewish book, and guided him to the first gospel, Matthew. They also gave him the bookmark so he could look up messianic prophecies, along with the Isaiah 53 leaflet.
A kind, young man with a kippa accepted the anti-Semitism pamphlet, exclaiming that it was really a growing problem. When he saw the bookmark of messianic prophecies, he thanked us profusely, getting excited and saying he would immediately go home and look them up in his Tanakh.
A senior woman was approached while she was trying to get into a difficult parking space and the team member directed her safely in. Waiting patiently for her to get out of the car, the woman decided to roll down her window instead and spoke to the team member, greeting her with a big thank you saying that her husband did not drive as well as she did, and that he would have been proud of her. She shared that she had been married for 55 years. Laughing, the team member said that the woman should be proud of her driving and also mentioned that she was quite the “spitfire”. Confused, the woman asked what that word meant. She was told it means that she was an exuberant type and added that we all should be exuberant especially when it comes to worshiping God. Hearing this the woman said that she and husband were not religious anymore, that they had in the past been very active in synagogue life. Her husband was the president of the synagogue and she worked as secretary. It had taken up much of their life and now they experienced burnout. She no longer wanting religion. Offering solace, the team member said that God did not want us to be busy with religion but to have a relationship with him. She thought about that for a bit, appreciating that point. She was offered the pamphlet on anti-Semitism and the Isaiah 53 leaflet. She was thankful for the information and energetically walked towards the stores.
Another young Jewish woman was depositing her groceries in the trunk of her car and graciously received the Brit Chadashah after saying she had the Tanakh at home.
An English only bible was received by a Filipino woman who was also depositing her groceries in her car. She could not talk at that time but was very happy to receive the bible saying that her mother was the only one in the family who had a bible.
After 90 minutes of outreach, a security agent apologetically told us we were not allowed to hand out literature there. He said he was sorry to have to ask us to leave. He told us we could use the public sidewalks if we wished to continue. We agreed to leave, of course. That shopping area will now be off our list of places to go. As we were going to the car, an older man came over and began hurling very hateful and abusive statements. We tried to answer him, but quickly realized we just had to leave. It rattled us, but we chose to pray for him as we drove back home. We were grateful for all who received what we were offering. We are also grateful for the opportunity the Lord gave all the team members, to hand out, at this shopping center, and over the course of this past year the many tracts, bibles and leaflets.
On the way home, the Lord truly saved us when an elderly man decided to unexpectedly cut into a crowded and fast-moving traffic lane. It was necessary at the last second to swerve to the left to avoid him and by God’s hand there was no collision. We were very thankful that day to arrive home safe and sound with joyful hearts that seeds had been planted.