SoftTouch
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http://www.adventures.org/a/reports/r3re.asp?id=847
1/9/2004 By: Joe Countiss, AIM staff
Thursday, January 08, 2004
We have come to the conclusion that we cannot make any specific plans while here in Israel. Why? Because every time we do, the Lord changes them. We headed out to the Distribution Center early this morning to help out with a shipment that was 'supposedly' coming in today. While we were waiting for the manager of the center to come meet us, some of the team members walked around distributing bread to people on the streets in a “red-light” district while others prayed. This area was a market area with pornographic and strip clubs, bars and miscellaneous shops. Meanwhile, a woman that Oralee had met and prayed for Monday morning at Dugit, the Messianic congregation, showed up from nowhere and approached Oralee. They hugged and Oralee prayed for her. The woman exclaimed that when she prayed that her stomach pains disappeared. A miraculous healing!
After two and half hours we got the word that the shipment was not coming in today, neither was the center's manager, and our services were not needed. Here we go again!!!
The team decided to split. Marilyn, David and Todd went back to Dugit to get more tracts and supplies for ministry while Mike, Jason and Eldaly decided to go do some street ministry in the red-light district. We prayer walked around the area focusing our efforts on a park in the middle of this area that had a 'crack house' in the center. Jason and Diane had actually entered there earlier and prayed through the place.
Mike felt strongly that we were to wait on the Lord; something that God had spoken about this morning through Diane with Psalm 37. So there we were. We waited an hour in a café. Then we waited on a corner of the park just standing there praying. By the way, it was cold and rainy. There were “deals” going on all around us, and the same people kept coming and going. So we waited to see what opportunity the Lord would have for us to minister to the people in that place. After about another hour, Mike felt we needed to go and buy some food for the people in the 'crack house'. We found an Israeli “Walmart” and bought all kinds of food, plates, napkins and a big blanket to spread it out on.
So we walked back to the park not having a clue exactly how we were going to prepare and give this banquet. As we entered the park, two men approached us and saw the food we were carrying and began shouting in Hebrew. They immediately befriended us and were inviting us into the park. This was the Lord's “setup”, our way into the park and the house. A couple of the men spoke broken English and we were able to communicate enough to get the idea across to them that we wanted to give them the food. Man, they were excited! A few minutes later we were in the middle of the crack house. It was dark, littered with trash and smelled of urine and excrement. One of the men picked up a flattened out cardboard box, laid it on the floor and we set out the food. We were thinking we might leave, but they were adamant that we eat with them. So there we were, with cocaine being smoked in the corner, in one of the worst districts in Tel Aviv, we were sharing a meal with crack addicts telling them we loved them and we were doing all this because God loved them.
A fight broke out during the meal and the man that spoke the best English pulled us out and was insistent that we come to his apartment so he could return the hospitality. We followed him into his home. His name was Valerie and he is a Russian-Jew that immigrated here in 1973. We talked about the U.S., Israel and tried to connect on anything we could find in common. Just like our new friend Valerie inquired about, the people don't understand why we do what we are doing. We tell them, like we told Valerie, that God loves them and we are here to show them His love: “Baruch haShem!” (Praise God in Hebrew) We gave him some Hebrew tracts about the whole salvation plan through Yeshua (Jesus), and he promised to read it. We were also able to hand out some tracts to the other men that were in the house with us after we left Valerie's house and walked back through the park.
What a day. God certainly stepped up our ministry. They don't call it Adventures in Missions for nothing! Keep praying, keep praying, keep praying!
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Psalm 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
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