In these last several weeks, a decision was made by the outreach teams that we would stay on the sidewalks in Jewish neighborhoods and hand our Hannukah “gifts” in the form of pamphlets. The picture above shows the lovely Calgary “gift” bag handed out to Jewish people. In Montreal, our bags were very similar but contained three special Hannukah candles and a children’s toy called a dreidel.

 

Here is the report from the Calgary team:

In total and over the last seven days we went out, we gave 125 gift bags to Jewish people. Often when we asked if they celebrated Hannukah, and if they did not because they were not Jewish, they offered to take the gift and hand it themselves to their Jewish friend. Nice chain in action! There were so many conversations that were initiated during these short moments we had with the people we met. Everyone loves receiving a gift!

Here are some highlights:

This past Sunday, we gave 26 Hanukkah scrolls. We also had a nice conversation with a Jewish man in his 80’s. He was very sad because his wife Linda had to be placed in a home due to Alzheimer’s. After 54 years of life together, he said it was good timing for him to encounter us in this difficult moment. We offered to pray with him, and he accepted. Tears came down his eyes while we were praying for him and his wife. He accepted a Brit Chadasha. Praise the Lord that He permitted us to encourage this man who is suffering. In fact, we met many who spoke of their suffering at this time, whether it was from loneliness or other circumstances. May their deep desire for refreshment come from the Word of God and from the only true Light in this dark world.

On another outing, we gave 20 gifts and had many good conversations. Many encouraged us for the work we were doing. We gave a Hebrew New Testament (Brit Chadasha) to a man who is courting a Jewish woman.  He was very happy to offer her the Brit Chadasha in Hebrew! He had so many questions about Hannukah and we took about 30 minutes together giving him the answers.  We noticed during our outreach that many Gentiles (even Christians) knew very little about the story of Hannukah and all its implications.

On another day, we gave out 14 gifts, with a Jewish man accepting a Brit Chadasha. A young Jewish couple who had enthusiastically accepted our gift bag the week before, were very happy when we bumped into them a second time! On this occasion, we offered them the full set of Hebrew Scriptures that they gratefully accepted! This last encounter was the cherry on the cake for us!

We are very grateful for the prayer support we benefitted from those following our team. We praise the Lord for the great privilege He gave to us to partake in His work!
Shalom!

Valerie, Harold, Danielle and Donald:  the Calgary Team
 

Montreal Outreach

This past Sunday we were two teams with gift bags and Bible sets in hand. We decided to go to one spot, a hospital, and have one team stand close to one of its door entrances and the other team was to stand around the corner at the hospital’s other door entrance.

This set up worked out well on three separate occasions! Here is what happened:

The first team, stationed in the front of the hospital, came across two couples who had already received the gift bags given out by the other team at the other entrance. So, when these couples reached the team at the front door entrance, with gift bags already in hand, they were now ready to receive the Scriptures. The same thing had happened, but in reverse. When the team in front of the hospital gave a gift bag to a gentleman, he then proceeded around the corner to the second entrance door of the hospital and there to greet him was the second team. He was ready to receive the full set of Scriptures.

This outreach can still be called door to door 😊!

In all, 8 full sets were given and 19 gift bags were handed out.

 

Highlights from the first team: 6 full sets and 11 gift bags.

One English set was given to a woman and her non-Jewish friend. To the Gentile they offered a tract called God’s Love Letter: the Gospel of John.  As they left, the team saw them reading the pamphlet while continuing their walk.

 

As this car was leaving the parking lot, the two team members walked quickly towards it, waving them down. The driver stopped to talk to them. Two lovely and joyful Jewish women, who were in the car, received two sets from the team. They also received a gift bag.  They spoke together about the two comings and encouraged the ladies to read Isaiah 53. They also received the bookmarks on Messianic prophecies.

 

Two sets were offered to two taxi drivers along with one other taxi driver receiving a gift bag. They were all very grateful.

 

We gave a pamphlet to a Catholic woman who said she was not religious. She took the gift bag because she said she had a Jewish friend she would pass it onto.

 

One English set was given to a woman and a young man (possibly her son). The team spoke about the two comings of Yeshua and the prophesies on Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12:10. They also had opportunity to explain atonement by blood, a very biblical and Jewish concept!

 

A religious man from out of town did not want the gift, but they offered him the pamphlet on  Isaiah 53. He asked what was written in there. They told him it was Scriptures from the Tanakh. He took it and thanked them.

 

Highlights from the second team: 2 sets and 8 gift bags.

This team was stationed on the side entrance to the hospital. There were many non-Jews who passed by and with masks on it takes time to discern ethnicity. When one Jewish woman passed by, one of the team members who herself was Jewish approached her, donned with full mask and a heavy winter hat. Just by speaking, the Jewish woman on the street asked the team member “Don’t I know you?” The team member thought, “How can she know me when I am so covered up?” Then it dawned on her. It was the voice. It was the Jewish drawl that probably made the woman question her identity. In any case, she took the gift bag and was smiling as she left (she herself did not have a mask on which made her identity easily visible).

A man was approached and asked if he celebrated Hannukah. He said, no, that he was Muslim. When asked if he ever read the bible or wanted to read it, he cheerfully said that he had not yet read it , but that he was very opened. He took a set.

One Gentile gentleman, when approached with the gift bag said he was not Jewish, but almost on impulse, took the bag and said, dashing across the street, “Here, let me go give it to my Jewish friend”. He quickly ran across the street to catch up with his friend.

Another gift bag was given to a religious man and his wife, who were sitting in their car just outside the entrance door. As the team passed by, it certainly looked as if they were reading it.

The team thought they had a great idea. Right across the street from the side entrance of the hospital was a Covid testing trailer. Seeing people standing outside and waiting, one team member said, “Hey let’s go and speak with them while they are waiting to get in.”  As we crossed the street, the other member wisely said, “Hey, wait a minute, what if they are Covid positive… maybe that is why they are there!” Good reasoning… it is what we call saychel in Yiddish or wisdom, a grace that comes from God. We quickly turned around and returned to our original spot.

Other gift bags were given, each one accepting it with a cheerful heart.

May they accept the greatest gift given to all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. This gift is the atonement and gift of life offered by our great Messiah Yeshua.

 

Thank you for praying with us.