here we are back in india! it took us a couple of days to get used to it again, after being in such amazing tropical areas in thailand. but we’re definitely back in the game, and ready to push through till the end. it’s one day at a time, and we continue to pray for guidance and God’s grace in using us exactly how He desires.

yesterday we kicked it old school a little bit! we split up into three pairs, and hung out in hot-spots for israelis. this is how we started our massah ministry, and it seems that it’s going to be a great way to finish it as well.

traveling for so long has certainly brought a lot of strain–emotionally, physically, and spiritually. and it’s more and more forced us to solely rely on God’s strength. and that was definitely my experience yesterday. God gave me the mindset of just letting go and doing whatever i could to tell someone about Him.

sterling and i went to a german bakery down the road, and placed ourselves a table away from a couple of israeli girls. after just a few minutes, we were really disappointed when a guy sat at the table between ours and that one. as we sat there, we prayed that we would be able to talk to the girls before they left. i really felt God there with us, and i felt that He wanted something to happen.

as i waited, i thought of a new strategy that i was excited to try out. we got out our b’rit chadashah (hebrew new testament), and i was flipping through it, trying to read some here and there.

the guy at the table next to us got up to go, and then the two israeli girls asked for their check. i started to get a little nervous, thinking maybe we wouldn’t get the chance to talk after all. i realized that if i didn’t make it happen, it wouldn’t! so i took my opportunity, and used my slightly comical new strategy: i went over with my new testament, and asked them what one of the words meant. they started explaining it to me, and then the girl holding the new testament proceeded to look at the cover to see what book it was! after a look of surprise, she told her friend in hebrew that it was a new testament! i just smiled i said yea, i’m a jewish believer in Jesus. i believe He is the messiah!

the three of us had a great conversation, all about what it meant for me to believe in Jesus, and about what they believe about the messiah. i asked one of the girls if she had ever read the new testament before, and she said no but that she was interested in reading it sometime. when i told her she could have mine, she was very excited and gladly accepted it!

i had already put my name and email address in the inside cover of the new testament i gave her, and i asked for both of their names and emails so we could keep in touch. i am praying that i will be able to see them again, and possibly even get the chance to pray with them, or discuss something that they’ve read.

please be praying also. their names are tamar and stav (tamar is the one who took the new testament)

God is good, and He makes things happen that are in His perfect plans. yesterday i had very low energy, but that didn’t matter. He transformed my mind, and gave me the boldness and strength to be able to go over and share His amazing gift.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

this is something i wrote down in worship last week that i wanted to share with you:

Lord, it’s so good to just be still in You. to have peace. to be renewed. to not worry. to be hopeful. to be content in Your love. Your LOVE. Your love is perfect. it is full. complete, not lacking. with You, with Your love, i am not lacking anything. i am still in Your love.

Lord, it’s so true. i want to stay in Your presence all day. Your peace in unlike anything else. it’s soft. i feel comfortable in Your presence. Your love. Your arms. it doesn’t even make sense. but it’s amazing.

i love you all. thank you for keeping us in prayer.

even though we’re now in kathmandu, i’d like to take a moment to reflect on a brief, but meaningful interaction i had with an israeli woman at the end of our time in pokhara. her name is noa, and she’s 26 years old. i don’t remember how the group met her initially, but a few of us had been casually interacting with her on and off for a little while, myself not included. i knew her name though, from hearing it as others said hi when we saw her.

one night we were at a little restaurant, and the guys were playing a show. the set up is the typical indian-style seating of sitting on cushions, and really low tables, which makes it easy to move around tables and sit with whomever you’d like.

well, this night i was feeling particularly exhausted, both emotionally and spiritually. at dinner with the team i wasn’t very talkative, and actually left a bit early so i could just walk around a bit before the guys played music. while i was walking around, i just prayed to God, asking Him for His strength…the strength i knew i didn’t and couldn’t have on my own. the strength that He gives us. it was me simply admitting to God that i was tired and weary, and i knew that any work for His kingdom done through me would only have to be because He made it happen, not because i felt competent to go out looking for it that night.

that time of walking around, praying and simply taking some time away was really helpful, and i felt refreshed enough to at least go to the show. throughout most of the show i just listened and watched as the guys did a wonderful job (as always) of integrating their music with their faith as a witness to those listening. i occasionally said a word or two to the people around me, but for the most part just hung back.

after the show was over, the team split up and just talked with different people throughout the restaurant. i looked over and saw that noa was sitting on her own and maybe thinking about leaving. i saw her moving over to the next little booth, and noticed that she had an ankle brace on. so i got her attention and asked how she hurt her foot. she was actually surprised i knew her name, because we had never personally interacted. i told her it was because my friends knew her, and so i had heard about her, which i think made her happy.

our little discussion about her hurt ankle led her to sharing with me many stories of her travels, her bad experiences, and why she was traveling in the first place. i learned that she is actually a counselor in israel for troubled children, many of whom are abused physically and emotionally. noa told me how difficult it was for her to deal with the injustice and pain, and that she could do nothing for these kids. she explained to me that she was not prepared for that job, and that she just couldn’t handle it anymore.

i also heard about her issues with her parents, and their trying to influence and control her life too much. and also about her issues with the religious in israel, as they try to dictate the only ‘righteous’ lifestyle (according to noa, though i agree on many levels).

in her travels, noa is trying to get away from how trapped she felt in the lifestyle she had set up in israel, feeling resentment toward the religious, being emptied out from her job as a counselor, and trying to break free from the control of her parents. within our conversation she started showing me her tattoos. i noticed a tattoo of birds on her foot, so i asked her what that meant to her. she told me the birds represent freedom, so i asked her what she wanted to be free from. i think my question surprised her a bit, and she took a moment to think about an answer. she told me that she wants to be free from herself. she feels that oftentimes she over thinks things, and just wants to be able to live her life and enjoy herself.

i told her that i find my freedom in my faith in God, which includes Yshua as my redeeming messiah. when i feel tired, alone or pressured from my life, my freedom to live and be fulfilled is in Him. He gives me comfort and fills me up.

she heard what i had to say, appreciated it, and then told me that she is an atheist. i asked her what she believes in, and she told me she believes in herself.

our conversation lasted a lit bit longer, but then she had to leave suddenly because her friend actually got hurt, so she had to tend to her. i quickly wrote my name in her journal so that we could be friends on facebook, and then said goodbye.

even though this was my only conversation with noa, and even though she didn’t specifically want to her more about Yshua for herself or ask for a New Testament, it was really meaningful to me. in reviewing that brief moment with her, i believe that the most significant part of the conversation for noa was that i simply listened to her, and wanted to know her. more than just knowing why her ankle was hurt, but about her life and her experience in what it means to her. maybe i could have said more about the gospel, or offered her a New Testament, who knows. but i really feel like God showed up right in that moment, and gave us a connection that she will remember and think about. there probably are not many people who ask her what her tattoo means, and there are probably not too many travelers she meets that she barely knows that display genuine love for her, especially the love of Yshua.

God encouraged me that night, and just reminded me that this entire trip really is His. i am His vessel, and it’s only on His strength that i am able to do anything. i am so thankful that i was in a low moment that night, and that the only way to understand my interaction is to give credit to God. every part of myself was stripped away, and i was tired and broken–these are the times that God can use us most, because our own thoughts, apprehensions and pride are not even a factor. it’s just us and God. any fruit from our ministry can only be credited to Him, and i love remembering that. God did this all the time with Israel in the past. He took away 99% of their army when Gideon led them into battle against the Mideanites (Judges 7). He doesn’t want us to be able to boast in our own strength, but only in His. i feel so honored to be able to feel that i experienced one of these moments.

thank you for taking the time to read this long post. and thank you all for your prayers. i love you and appreciate you so much.

more visual aids for all of you back home!

isaac hanging out with some israeli friends we met in leh

we traveled to the amazingly beautiful pangong lake

NLR playing music at wonderland for all the committed fans

with friends at desert rain cafe in leh

on our way down from leh, world’s 3rd highest pass!

NLR playing for a full house at the friendly planet in dharamkot

we love you all, thank you for your prayers!

love,
mobile

Hello everyone!!!

This is Isaac reporting live from an undisclosed location in India!

We have just traveled 20 hours straight on a jeep ride from Leh, our first location as a Mobile team, where we spent the last 2 weeks doing ministry and living life with Israelis. I am pleased to report to you all that it was indeed incredible.
When we started talking about extending the Massah program in this way, we, along with a lot of other people, were quite skeptical about what would come of it, or if it was even possible. There were a lot of ups and downs in the formation and preparation of Massah Mobile, but God knew exactly what He was doing. After spending these last few weeks with this team, living life with them and making ourselves available to be used by God in this way, I can say that there is no place on earth I’d rather be. God is so powerful and so sovereign, and it is so obvious that He is leading us in to the core of His heart and His will on this journey.

In our 2 weeks in Leh, we were able to play around 10 concerts for hundreds of Israelis and others of our music, which is Gospel-centered, as well as talk about the songs and their meanings. We also gave out over 50 Cds of our music to those we interacted with. We had very significant conversations with around 50 people about the Gospel and our personal walks of faith, and are in touch on Facebook and other means of communication with just about all of them. We interacted with dozens more whom with seeds were planted, and many of them received Cds of our music. Among those people, we made several VERY close friends whom we love dearly, and were sad to see us go. Some of these people traveled to our new location at the same time as us, and we will have more chances to connect with them. Please pray for Naama, Rotem, Chen and Ayelet, who we will continue meeting with.

Thank you so much to everyone who continues to read our blogs and continues to pray for what God is doing here. We are so excited and encouraged by what we have seen in our first 2 weeks, and can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next few months. Please continue to pray for health, discernment of God’s Spirit, and an ever-increasing ministry dynamic among the 6 of us. We love you all so much and are so thankful for your support. We cannot express that enough. Until next time. J

Love,isaac

Isaac here. The conversation, as Remy stated, was indeed surprisingly well-received on Nadav’s part, as well as our 3 other friends who were, at many times, pulled away from their other conversations and listening intently to the dialogue. Although a self-professed “cynic”, Nadav seemed intrigued by the Gospel as we shared it with him. He was raised observing cultural Judaism in Israel, and had somewhat of a bewilderment when it came to the religious practices of Judaism, and any other religious practices for that matter. After clearing up a few theological confusions regarding Messianic Jews, Remy and I along with well-timed help from Sterling and Talia, were able to lay out the entirety of the Gospel, including potent nuggets from our own testimonies. Nadav, elated, many times shared that he felt our beliefs were “a very sane way of life,” which we took as a compliment. We were able to skim the surface of several key doctrines; just enough to peak his interest at the moment and end the conversation on a positive note, just as the café began to close down for the night.

Later that night, as we had made our way down the 700 steps in the dark, we reconvened in another small restaurant closer to our guest house. After sharing a few more laughs, Nadav invited our group to accompany him and his friends on a trip to the lake further up in the mountains. Earlier in the night Nadav had expressed his desire to do this trip, but that he was having a hard time finding “quality people” to go along with him. I guess we made the cut. Our plans are to make the trip with Nadav and two of his friends in the next day or so.

It would mean a lot to have your prayers in these next few days that we will be spending with our new friends. Please pray that God would be revealing Himself to them in a dynamic way, and that we would get a chance to answer more questions and even open up His Word with them. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.

We leave for NY early tomorrow morning.

Let me start with an update from last week when I had no access to internet.

Last week we had interactions with people who were to busy doing drugs to care about anything we had to say.

However that being said the L-rd made us available to a few key people who really had questions about what we believed, and we ended up giving out multiple new testaments.

This last week we were on an All guys team. Hiking all around, it was a really great growing experience as well as a very difficult and dark time for us as I mentioned the people who didn’t want anything to do with us.

I will try to give more details in a different blog post, right now I want to talk about how amazing this trip has been after I tell you about this morning;

This morning we arrived in Delhi and I went to bed around 6am because our bus had just dropped us off. When I woke up I felt really Ill and cold, even though Delhi is a extremely humid and hot place. Thankfully I went back to bed, turned off our AC and Fans and put on really warm cloths and got up around 3ish, being all sweaty, and no longer being cold, but needing to put something in my body to give me energy because I felt very weak. So Praise Y’sh’a that this illness hasn’t been a very long ordeal (I think) I still feel a bit ill.

Now onto the partial unpacking of what happened on this trip.

This 10 week Journey has been a wonderful and great ride and I am really appreciative of the fact that it exists, and all the people who have helped it become what it is right now, I also look forward to where this trip will go in the future…

Many difficult and wonderful things have taken place on this trip, and through it all the L_RD has provided for me in each and everyone.

From the long grueling hikes we were on last week, to the adventures we had in Israel and the people we met and friends we’ve made both on this trip with me and the people we encountered along the way. I am truly glad that Y’sh’a called me to this trip this summer.

Although this trip is over, The season that follows when I arrive home will be another journey that I am excited and ready for, and I know it too has hardships along the path but I look forward to tackling them as they appear.

I am sad to be leaving the people who have become such an amazing family to me in these past 10 weeks but also and happy to part ways from them that I might see how this trip will allow their changed lives to bear fruit in the different paths all of us are about to go on.

I am happy that we are going back to the states but saddened by knowing that I will be leaving 6 wonderful friends I have made behind. As they continue on with the call that G-D placed on their lives for these next 4 months.

This trip has really opened my eyes and helped me gain a new perspective on evangelism, life, living a life of evangelism, and also shown me what I need to work on next in my LIFE LONG journey to knowing and growing closer to Y’sh’a.

It gives me great joy to know I have such an encouraging community behind me. And as hard as this trip has been looking back on all the things that have been accomplished for “The Kingdom” and in my life, make all the hardships that my community and I have been through, worth it.

Before coming on this trip I knew that I would be changed when I went home but I didn’t know that it would be so drastic, the next issue on this journey will be not falling into the boxes and routine things that I used to do.

I want to thank all of our Supporters who have been praying for us and helped us come on such an amazing Massah Trip.

I pray that all of you will be blessed imensely for all the support you’ve given us.

This post seems very unorgainized but I hope that joy I have from this trip and appreciation I have for you helping us on this trip comes across.

In HIS Divine and Perfect Mercy

~Jonathan

So we have recently been redivided as a teams for a few days after all visiting in &*%$^$. It was so refreshing! Now we are  in @*&K%!

(Did you cringe a little Abe or Daniel?)

Anyhow, on our first night here we were looking around trying to see where the Israelis might be. It is very European here so I have been able to use my French un peu.

Finally we came to our last attempt for the night to enter into converstaion after a lot of prayer to begin the night and throughout when finally there was a large group of Israelis that came to the restaurant we were in. Talia and I prayed again that G-d would provide an in into their conversation, and about 3 minutes later, I was sitting with them and finding out where they were from and their names. I was then able to share my faith wih a girl named Metaar, which was really interesting because she had had an unfortunate experience with other Messianic Jews in Israel. Hopefully G-d allowed that situation to be redeemed through our interaction. Then after that wall was torn down, she allowed me to share my faith with her, and I was able to fully lay out the Gospel with her. G-d is not letting her walk away thats for sure.

So thank you so much for your prayers, they are so important and so helpful in the ministry we are doing. We can do nothing without G-d and I am gently reminded of that daily.

Please keep on praying for us all.

Specifically for me please pray that I canbe focused ,consistent, and humbled.

Thank you so very much again!!

Description: Talia says Hi!