Happy Holiday!

It has been a hard week in Israel with a wave of terror attacks in rapid succession. Starting last Thursday,  7 people were injured in a drive-by shooting, including a pregnant woman. The mother was seriously wounded and the 30 week old baby had to be prematurely delivered by C-section. Sadly, he died a few days later. This was followed by another drive by shooting in the same area of the West Bank with two young soldiers killed and another soldier seriously wounded and a civilian woman hurt moderately. In yet another incident, a soldier was stabbed and critically wounded, also in the same general area. A short time later, a policeman was stabbed in the Old City followed by an attempted car ramming.

Tensions are very high. Please pray for calm to be restored. Pray for wisdom for the government officials and military commanders to have the correct strategy to deter these attacks on the ground. Please pray that there will not be any attacks on innocent Palestinians by Jewish extremists in retaliation.

Personal

My next MRI is scheduled for December 24th and I will be getting the results from the oncologist the next day, December 25th. Please join us in agreeing for a continuation of the good report; that the cancer will not be seen and my brain will be healed and restored from all that it has gone through. God is good and his mercy endures forever!

We continue to witness and speak of the love of Yeshua to so many whom we meet while we are spending time in the hospital. Please continue to pray for divine appointments and soft hearts!

Christmas in Israel

Here in Israel, the hectic activity of the Fall Feasts are well behind us.  Chanukah is also past and with a national sigh of relief, we have settled into a regular routine of school and work with no break until Purim in the early spring. On the streets of Israel, there is no sign of Christmas. December 25th is a regular work day. There are no decorations anywhere, no carols being sung in stores, no frenzy shopping!  Israelis though are very curious about the holiday that they hear so much about and so many want to “see” Christmas.

Every year, Christ Church in the Old City has a Christmas Eve celebration and many hundreds of Israelis come out to see what it is all about. It is a great opportunity for evangelism and many of the believers go there to share with the Israelis the truth about Christmas – that this holiday is really about their Messiah! Please pray that as Israelis go around looking to “see” Christmas – not only here but throughout the world – that they would encounter Yeshua and the true meaning of this holiday.

And for all of you who celebrate this day in Him, we want to wish all of you a wonderful and blessed Christmas. May His life, love and joy fill you to overflowing and may the Good News of the Gospel spill out from you and touch all those around you. May the name of Jesus be lifted up and proclaimed this year more than any year previously with many coming to faith!

And we also want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. God’s promise is that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). 2019 will be a blessed year! May we draw ever closer to Him in this coming year and may we walk in His light and shine that light ever brighter wherever we may be.

And as 2018 draws to a close, we want to thank so many of you who have supported us and helped us in this year to make so much of what we have done possible. This has been a very challenging year with the second brain surgery and your faithful love and support has meant more to us than we can possibly express in words. We are eternally grateful and look forward to many more years of serving this nation together with you standing with us.

Again, we thank you with all of our hearts. May the blessings of God be poured upon you and may we all be filled with wonder as we look to our God and King and love each other.

A blessed and joyful Christmas to you and a very Happy New Year.