Fatherless, Familyless and homeless

What a night last night in Zion Square! A lot of the young homeless are youth who are going in and out of prison.

One whom I talked to last night was convicted and imprisoned for being a participant in a group murder and various other stabbing incidents. He heard we were having a meeting in our flat. I told him that we were Jewish and were followers of Yeshua. He said it didn’t bother him.

The darkness and need are just mind boggling. I feel out of my depth and am so dependent on the Holy Spirit in every way.

 Ethiopian meeting and safe house update

God is powerful and continues to move through us. Halleluyah!

We have a safe house

Amazing report from Safe house

We are  thrilled that Miriam has made such a turnaround. She sat for a full hour writing out a repentance to God for what her life has been. She asked Netanel to put it into the Western Wall for her. (I’m sure you know that the Jews write out requests to God, roll them up, and put them in the cracks between the stones).

She is truly wanting to have a relationship with YHVH. She also wants to learn English and Elisheva is teaching her through the Bible, telling her about Yeshua, at the same time.

She had some US dollars and she gave them to Elisheva (in spite of Elisheva’s protests), saying that she knew God would bless her in return. The amazing, and wonderful, thing is that she now has been given a job at the Western Wall! With her new clothes, new outlook, and new job, she is living life again.

This is a great testimony. Praise God.

Homeless at Wailing Wall

Saturday night they did n’t get a good nights sleep because the men in the synagogue next door were up praying very loudly and blowing the shofar

Bat Zion (on the left) was very distressed as another homeless and taken her corner where she usually sleeps. Also they got very little sleep. We were very concerned for Bat Zion we thought she was loosing her mind. We thought of taking her to the city council for help but we feared that might put her into a mental hospital.

We prayed earnestly and thankfully Bat Zion had a better nights sleep last night.

We are praying we can rent a flat in the old city.

Update Homeless at Western Wall

The 8 ladies keep hidden; they have lost all trust in humanity. They have lost trust in the Rabbis and Judaism; in social workers and what there is of the social welfare system in Israel.

They hide in corners, they wait in a dark area of the synagogue patiently until everyone leaves, which is usually around 2 AM, all the time hoping that no one will see them and kick them out. If they do get thrown out, they have the toilets or outside next to the wall itself. All of the ladies disappear during the day.

One of the ladies ( Miriam) is quite sick from spending the nights outside and needs medical attention.

Hila is the only one that keeps clean. She is Ultra-orthodox and wears wigs. Even young Ultra-Orthodox woman have to shave their hair and wear wigs because their natural hair is considered to attract men and stir up wrong desires. Even a married women can’t be seen by her husband with her natural hair.

We think Hila is involved in prostitution. She is the only one who has cloths, the only one that showers, but we don’t know where. We think she chooses the toilets to sleep in because she feels so defiled by her occupation, is full of shame and has a verylow self-esteem. Since Hila is Orthodox and wears wigs, her customers must be Rabbis or Orthodox. She desperately wants a home to live in. I do mean desperately! Please pray that she feels safe and opens her heart.

I will write about Bat Zion soon.

Why the western wall?

It’s a strange phenomenon why these ladies prefer the western wall. They would rather fall sick and die than sleep in a shelter, which is 30 minutes by car from the old city.

Although they have lost all hope in humanity and are like wounded animals, trusting no one, I believe there is left, in their dark despair, a spark of hope that maybe there is a God and are drawn to this source. This, I think, is the reason they are drawn to the western wall.

Miriam

Here is the power of love. In the last update I told the story about Miriam who hadn’t been hugged in years and was hugged for around 20 minutes by Eli Sheva and another lady?

She has now had a shower and has new cloths and was smiling feeling so good about herself.

Bat Zion

Bat Zion hasn’t had a shower year as she won’t have one until we buy her some underclothes, which we are in the process of doing.

We are looking to rent (we are believing to buy) a house or a flat in the Old City.

Extra money we receive will to towards renting a house or a flat in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Even if the flat was not in use we could rent. We are putting a monthly statement every new moon stating income and expenditure for this project.

“Yes,” I answered. This rather well-kept gentleman then said, “I was sure you were. Do you remember me?” he asked, as he removed his sunglasses. “You do look familiar…” I answered, trying to place him. “You and your wife used to feed me and my friends. I was one of the Russian drunks you used to feed in front of the department store on King George Street.”

Then I remembered him. About 40 years of age, he was always either intoxicated or passed out on the sidewalk, usually with a bottle of liquor nearby. I hadn’t seen him in well over a year, and I had wondered if the booze might have killed him. It was hard to believe this was the same fellow we had known: he was now neatly attired, as clean-cut as a man could look, looking more like a college professor than a drunk: what a transformation!

“What happened to you!” I almost demanded.

“Almost two years ago, I had an unbelievable revelation of Jesus Christ,” he said. “All of a sudden I knew that people had been praying for me – you and your wife were probably two of them – but there were many others who had prayed for me, and the Lord made it clear to me that He was answering those prayers. I had nothing to do with any of this – nothing. It was completely Him, as if He grabbed me and said, ‘Enough,’ and then He started the change.”

Yuri, a Russian Jew who made aliyah some time ago, brought his heavy addiction to vodka with him from Moscow. He went on to explain that at the very moment of his amazing revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, he knew his alcoholism was over. He started attending a Russian church – which is also a Christian rehab center – in neighboring Talpiyot, and is being guided in his Christian walk by the church’s pastor. I came home and told Lesley about my divine encounter with Yuri, and we spent some time in a prayer of gratitude to the Lord for this almost unbelievable miracle.

I “accidentally” ran into Yuri again two days later. It was wonderful to hear him quoting from the Scriptures as he asked me questions about spiritual warfare. From events he described to me, he has obviously been experiencing some warfare since he invited Christ to be Lord of his life. I was able to gently give him some advice, with a suggestion that he enlist as much prayer as possible at his fellowship.

Praise report 

Today as I arrived to work an hour ago, I saw a group of Orthodox ladies (students learning the Torah) standing at the entrance of the compound. I invited them in. They were so very reluctant to enter and were very nervous. After explaining that I was just as Jewish as they were and I kept Shabbat and prayed with Phylacteries they relaxed a little. I was able to share with them and one girl secretly whispered she would be back.

Yesterday, a lady came in, who was in charge of an Ulpan (a school that teaches new Jewish immigrants Hebrew). She came into the compound with a group. I was tired and felt like giving the group to another guide but something inside me said stick with this group. A certain woman kept smiling and responding throughout my message. Afterwards. she introduced herself and invited me to give my testimony to the students (New Jewish immigrants) at her school. She also wants to use me as a to guide new Jewish immigrants around the old city and to share with them the Christian faith. She is so open. Her Name is Ruth Noi. Please pray that this seed would not fall by the way side.

Prayer for Elan

I don’t usually let my right hand know what my left hand is doing when it comes to giving. But so you can pray for this man, I will share his story with you.

We are experiencing very stormy weather in Jerusalem.  Floods, rain with strong winds.

On Friday, a religious man by the name of Elian approached me. We have witnessed to him for years and have built much trust with him.

Elan’s wife passed away with kidney failure and he is raising three young children on his own.  He works as a security officer on the light rail trams in Jerusalem. Because of an accident on the train he hasn’t able to work for 6 months. The welfare that he has been receiving because of his accident hasn’t been covering all his needs. His electricity was cut off last Friday, which meant he would have had the weekend with no electricity. I helped him with his power bill as recently our power was cut off because of an unpaid.

Pray for Elan that he will come to know his Messiah.

Elan hopes to be back at work soon and he is training to be a light rail train driver.

Elan has been locked out of his house with his four children because he was behind two months rent.

His four children are staying with school friends.

We managed to solve the problem (the landlord has let him off one month’s rent and the other half was raised (small donations from different places.)

Elan receives council house from the government on the 1st of March. The rent for the council house will be around $100 a month.

Remember Elan had a work accident. He is due to receive a low rent government house on the 1st of March.

Family coming to faith

Vered, an Orthodox, single mom with two children, is in the process of coming to faith. She is very dependent on the Orthodox community to look after her. For her to become a part of the Messianic community, she will lose this support. We desperately need prayer, recourses and other assistance.

As you can imagine, Vered lives under the constant stress of providing for her children. Her ten year old daughter’s name is Adi, (ornament in Hebrew), and her son, Ephraim, is 8 years old. Ephraim has a brain disorder and wakes up several times every night. They live in a small, cramped apartment and are of need of much. Israel does not provide assistance to single mothers that US government programs do.

Please pray with us for Vered, who has started a very difficult, painful process. It will be very hard for her to leave family and everything she grew up with and believed was right, (Rabbinical Judaism). Dikla is working close with Vered and they have become good friends.

Christmas and the Virgin Birth

Happy Christmas! The outreach went so well. I will have photos ready soon. Last night I spoke to Joseph, a recent Orthodox convert who is desperate for accommodation. We need 7,000 Shekels a month for a 4 roomed flat. So far we have givers who altogether are ready to give us 3,000 shekels. My heart breaks for these guys. Joseph is the Orthodox who came to faith as a young boy. His parents found out and they sent him overseas to Vienna.

This evening we give the gospel to hundreds of Israelis. Last year, they were very touched.

Find out what touches the heart of a Jew concerning the virgin birth. Listen to the audio.