Family Update

Today is the Day of Atonement

I'm sitting down to write this on the morning before Yom Hakipurim (the Day of Atonement). There is a mixture of anticipation, excitement, reflection and contemplation. The typical Israeli greeting leading up to this Biblical Holy day is "GEMAR HATIMA TOVAH" meaning, "may your name to be sealed in the book." As believers in Messiah, this greeting is a difficult one to respond to. We have a promise from our Messiah that our names are ALREADY sealed in the Book of Life.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-20).

"Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." (Phil 4:3)

The average Israeli does indeed fast on Yom Kippur. They know that they have made mistakes and they hope that maybe God will forgive them on this day and erase their sins, because they fasted. Perhaps they will go to the synagoge and pray. And they may have spent the past few days seeking people they have wronged and asking forgiveness. For me, the sad thing is that all of these things can be done with a sincere heart and yet it still will not give them what they desire... to have their sins forgiven. The Bible is very clear, the only way for sin to be forgiven is through a blood sacrifice and with no temple there is no sacrifice. But Praise God that our Lord and Messiah Yeshua, gave his life as a sacrifice once and for all, for each and every one of us. As we enter this solemn holy day tonight at sundown, I will be praying and fasting for this simple prayer

"'And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.'" (Zech 12:10)

Will you join me in praying for my people to seek forgiveness from their sins from the only one worthy to forgive them?

Glasses for the Boys

It sometimes takes us a while to get ourselves organized into systems like dental and such. After two years, we finally arranged dental appointments and it occurred to me that we should get the boys eyes checked too. Yonatan and Benji both have glasses but they don't where them because they say it doesn't help them... or so the story goes... After a few hours at the optometrist we discovered that Yonatan's prescription has changed dramatically. He needed new glasses. He was absolutely correct. His old glasses were no longer useful. And to our great shock and surprise Eitan needs glasses too! Eitan's prescription is so huge +6 in one eye and +4.5 in the other!

We had no idea. He must where his glasses all the time because of the difference between the eyes. And of course there is Benji who didn't like to wear his glasses. It turns out that he has a lazy eye and although his prescription is still fine, he now has to wear an eye patch over his eye (a couple of hours a day) to trick his brain into using his weaker eye. So, now the only ones without glasses are Janice (who's eyesight is now perfect), Shimon and Gideon. The one thing that was really interesting for us, is that they check the eyesight even of babies in Israel and with these new devices they can read the prescription. So we know that our one year old baby has perfect eyesight! That's pretty cool technology!

Wonderful Events and Visitors at the Greater Tel Aviv Messianic Center

We held a few cool events for SINGLE MOMS and some other great activities lately. And we have had a few visitors too. We always love sharing about our ministry and the kinds of things we are doing, like sharing the Gospel, discipleship and encouraging others. Some of our visitors came from China, some from the UK and plenty of local believers as well. We love spreading the word about what God is doing in Tel Aviv! Our English Story Time is also a great weekly event that helps kids learn English better! Janice and I really enjoy reading children's stories to the kids. If you want to send us some children's books (the bigger the better), we would be more than grateful!

Studying in an intensive program

City of David 4 room houses

In August Jason started a Tour Guide Course. This has been a dream of his for many years. Just be to perfectly clear... Jason has no intention whatsoever of leaving Chosen People Ministries to become a tour guide. He absolutely loves CPM and working in full-time ministry. But there are a few great reasons to take this course. First of all, as a new immigrant, Jason didn't get the chance to learn the lay of the land, visit the tourists sites, and learn Israeli history from Israelis. His BA degree in Jewish Studies from Moody Bible Institute included a lot of history and he had an entire course dedicated to the history of Israel, but this program will provide much more. During the course Jason will get to see nearly every historical site in the country and learn about the history of each archeological site. He will learn the topography, botany, geology and zoology of the land. This is the perfect opportunity to learn a great deal about the Biblical sites and how the stories in the Bible coincide with what the archeologists have unearthed!

Keshet (arch) Cave

We feel strongly that this program will dramatically enhance Jason's ability to teach the Bible. Once Jason has his tour guiding license we plan to use this skill to provide tours for local Israelis to Biblical sites as part of our Greater Tel Aviv Messianic Center. We also hope that we will be able to organize an annual tour to Israel for our supporters and prayer partners. This program is a long one, twenty months. And it is very intensive. We would really appreciate your prayers as we come together as a family to balance the challenging study and work schedules. The good news is, Jason has already started seeing some of the amazing beauty of our country, uncovering it's rich history and teaching some of these wonderful things to our children. Below are some of the photos taken from Jason's phone during the study trips.