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

As many of you know, our time as Massah Aleph is drawing to  a close.  It’s been a very emotional past few days because of this realization. A lot happens in ten weeks, and many hearts have been brought closer to G-d. Having everyone be a part of something where we all experience the groundwork for change, and then hearing how each of us experiences it in a different way has drawn us all closer together.

Not only have we seen how the individuals in the group have changed but we have been able to see how others lives have been affected by what we have been able to share- the G0spel and our time.

It was really funny because the other day I was sitting in a cafe with Talia and some of the friends we had made, and one of them was telling us how she had just spoken to her mother. She told her that we were some of the best friends she had ever had, and that “there was something different about us that she couldn’t put her finger on.” She knew what it was but I don’t think she has come to that conclusion for herself yet.

Its for relationships and people like that that we are here, and after being blessed time after time with being able to bless our now friends by sharing our faith and our testimonies, I look forward to going home and being able to continue my massah there.

It’s not over- the “massah” is never over- and I cant wait  to continue life with the understanding of how to share my faith with others at home.

Thank you all for your constant prayer and for reading the blog, now we have to keep praying for Bet as we go Mobile! See you all soon.

Love, Tamar

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!!

Hey everyone

So we just got back from a nice little jaunt all over northern India. Our group has had an amazing time here. There’s been some sickness but we’ve been able to pull through and some of the hikes have been pretty brutal but we all made it back in one piece.

In one village we stopped in we were invited to a Breslev house for dinner very similar to a Chabad house. At first we were hesitant to go, us being Messianic Jews and them being very religious Jews, but we felt God calling us to go. We arrived there not really knowing what to expect.

During dinner we were able to tell them who we were and what we were about. The religious Jews seemed very interested in how we could be Jewish and believe in Jesus. Isaac and I were able to talk to one man in particular and were able to lay out the Gospel for him.

We felt a real sense of accomplishment about our time there. Pray that God will water the seeds that we planted. We’ve had so many good conversations with Israelis here. Thanks to all you back home for your constant prayers and support.

God Bless,

Kevin

So here is a story about what we did recently…

We were sitting in a restaurant atop our guest house waiting for ur food to come. We had just made a decision after praying over a decision about whether or not to return to a Jewish home in the town we were in for Shabbot dinner. We decided not to go for various reasons, and continued our journey to the next town.

So, after getting settled in, we went to dinner, and the place was pretty slow exept for us. Then as we began discussing our next move,  a group of Israelis walked into our restaurant and sat opposite us. After a little while we found out where they were from and continued on to tell them who we were. After that the small talk continued until our food came.After the plates had been cleared, we opened the scrabble board and finally Omer decided to come join us. Eventually is girlfriend Karen came over as well to help him, as we were playing scrabble in english.

Around this point Isaac, Jesse and myself started praying silently- and lo and behold, G-d heard our prayers and Omer asked us entirely out of the blue: So… you are Jews who believe in Jesus… What do you believe? And from that we were able to completely lay out the Gospel for them, discuss it, show them the prophecies and why we needed a Messiah . We continued in discussion until the restaurant closed.

They had so many valid questions and at the end of it Omer sa” Hm, that makes a lot of sense, I just don’t believe it”

We were able to offer him a Brit HaChadasha, but he already had one.  He said that he would read it more, and after showing him Isaiah 53 he and Karen both agreed it was Yeshua and said that they needed to see it in Hebrew to be sure.

Please continue to pray for them: Omer and Karen.

Also, I want to thank you all so much for your continuous prayer. It is because of you interceding for us that we are able to have these divine appointments.

Thanks again and keep on praying!

Today I bought a purity ring for the first time. Never before did i realize it can be used as a tool to start converstions until today. Especially here.

Its really interesting how much my understanding of how to live an evangelical lifestyle has changed. I always thought that to share your faith as a way of life meant to be a missionary. Not true at all, but I’m realizing more and more on this trip that I think I would enjoy doing that as a job, and being able to focus solely on reaching out to people and sharing the joy I get from Yeshua with others. I have no idea what this will look like but its interesting.

So I guess what I mean through this blog is to be a reminder that sharing Yeshua with people is something we are all  called to and that we need to be holy to our G-d so that we can be a light. I’m realizing that even more here. For the people we are meeting we could possible be the only ones praying for them.

-Tamar

I just wanted to thank you all for your continuous prayers and support. Thank you for allowing us the blessing of sharing our joy in the L-rd with the Israelis in such incredible places as Israel and India.

Last night we took the bus out to our destination, and that was such a blessing as it was air conditioned and also- I heard horror stories about how the AC went out last year…

The ride was quite the adventure, and I had my first encounter with a hole in the ground toilet with no toilet paper. Luckily we had our own…

Kevin and I had the pleasure of starting a conversation with a frenchman sitting in front of us. His name is Sebastian and he is looking for truth. All I can do is pray that the seeds grow.

The ride that followed was very interesting, we got off our first bus which had been about a 14 hour ride and then realized that our bus had left us a little ways outside of where we were actually trying to go- so we took public transportation. What an interesting experience…

I was unavoidable awake for this portion of the trip  because we were riding on the edge of a cliff for most of it… kind of freaky and then more and more people started crowding in. Just when we thought there was no more room, they took our bags from us, strapped them to the top, and MORe people flooded into the bus. This continued the entire way to our final destination. The other funny thing was that we stopped randomly for the bus driver to have a cigarette break.

Its been quite the experience so far.

Hello to all of you beautiful and faithful blog readers!

I am writing to you in an exhausted but excited state! My team made it to our region, after 15+ hours of bus travel and very little sleep. We are now in a town swarming with Israelis in every restaurant and guest house. We are eager to meet them and share with them the truth of Yeshua. Even in getting here we were met with opportunities.

While waiting for our bus, I began sharing my frustration in how late the bus was with the guy standing beside me. This turned out to be some of the most well-timed complaining of my life. The guy I was talking to (we’ll call him Mark) is  a native South African, raised in Israel, and i9s now living in the US! After sharing the nature of my travels and my friendships with the rest of the group members, he was intrigued and we immediately began a spiritual dialogue. He is extremely well educated and articulate, so naturally when Jesse joined in on the conversation, the two of them clicked in an obvious way. I surrendered the conversation to them and they talked for hours on end about everything you can think about. Jesse was able to share the Gospel with him a number of times. Please pray that God would reveal himself to Mark in spite of his inability to acknowledge an Absolute Truth.

We are very excited to be here, and our group of 5 is working together and getting along very well. Please pray for fruitful interactions and open hearts, as well as spiritual and physical protection! Thank you all so much!

Love,isaac

We made it to India.

I want to apologize for not blogging in so long.

Anyhow, prior to leaving for India, I was able to see my family for the last time, and at this point, I knew that I wanted to tell them about my faith. It was so important for me to share with them what I beleive, not only to be honest about who I am, but also because why should I waste the opportunity to share with them, especially if I am here for this very purpose! The day was completely covered in prayer, which I am so grateful for, so here is what happened:

I went to my grandmothers house early in the morning, and for whatever reason I had a very large sense of urgency. Mostly because I did not know when my aunt would come and scare me out of it. So we talked about it, and while she does not agree, Thats about all i know because there was definately a language barrier that took hold.

The reason I was scared of telling my family is because they are all sabras number one, and number two, they have such pride in Judaism and our family history that I did not know what to expect.

So later on, my aunt Rachel and my grandmother and I went on a tour of where they live, and stopped in to say hello to my cousin whom I haven’t seen in years.

Well while he was asking me how I was doing, I told him some basic information, but when my aunt came out of the bathroom she said- “So did you tell him why you are here?” and I thought she had talked to grandmother about it in hebrew without me knowing so i just blurted out  that i was with a group of Yehudim Meshiachim, at which point they both shouted WHAT!? and then dropped it. I later realized that she was just talking about how we were able to do something of an Ulpan.

G-d is so good and has a funny sense of humor. I was so relieved afterwards, becasue before i told them i realized that i had no idea how I would tell them and then that happeed.

Praise the L-rd.

***this is officially yesterday***

We have been given the wonderful opportunity to lead a morning devotional. Each person has this same opportunity. So this morning we heard from Joshua N.

He spoke about, 2 Chronicles 7:14;

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Josh spoke about how the Jewish people are open to everything but Y’sha’, and how HE is the only way to the father yet, they stand and pray trying to speak to him but are missing the key “Piece”, and how every interaction we have with them is important.
it was a really good devotional, however I don’t really remember details right now as it is 1:20am two days later.

*today!*

We are placed in different groups each week with a team leader to help learn team dynamics and understand what our different skills are. So Today my group (Tamar (team leader), Rachel, Barry and I) were on dinner detail we cooked it and I thought it was very well made, details aside, something about the portion that I helped create, didn’t seem to be a big hit with people at dinner or at least that was my impression.

Time and time again so far on this trip different insecurities have been coming to light that I was unaware of. This happens to be one of them, so I found out tonight.

Being an artist when I work on a piece of art, if it is not well received it is a wound to my heart and soul since in my eyes it is a part of me, that I have poured part of myself into, no matter how small the project.

Rambling aside, I was trying to rebuke this insecurity after dinner because I find it to be a ridiculous and childish thing, (or at least the logic and reason side of me does).

In my life when insecurities appear or come to light, others that I am already aware of come back and they swarm me, so I start to think of myself as the victim. Which turns me into an introverted overly self analyzing person, who I don’t even want to be around.

And soon after dinner we are supposed to go speak with people about Y’sh’a. So I’m “trying” my best to rebuke these insecurities and we are soon leaving to go talk with people about our Y’sh’a, but I am attempting to keep myself stable.

Long story short G-d really provided as I didn’t want to talk with people tonight because I was trying to rebuke my insecurities, but my last conversation of the evening, went really well.

I spoke with a russian girl named Isabella, who told me a very interesting story about her going to an island just off Thailand, on a plane from a company who just had a plane crash 2 weeks earlier, and her jewish friend read to hear from the Psalms to help calm her down. She read that G-d will send an angel to guard you. So the plane landed, and they went to this motel, where this dog came and tried to Attack them. However another dog, came and interceded and protected them, but stuck around for 3 days at the door of their room just guarding them, it didn’t beg for water or food, it just sat there and guarded the door.

This led her to believe that there is something out there, but she doesn’t believe in G-d because she can’t see HIM. She had to run to meet someone but I just ask that you would pray for her and ask that Y’sh’a would reveal HIMSELF to her.

Thanks for your time and bearing with my rambling.

I know I say this every time but your prayers are very appreciated!

In HIS Sovereign Mercy and Grace,

~Jonathan

Please lift us up and ask that Y’sh’a and the Holy Spirit would help us overcome our cultural boundaries of jumping out of our comfort bubbles and talking with people. Also that G-d would show us the skills, giftings, and talents HE has sown into us that we may use them for HIS Glory! Todah Rabah!

*side thought*

Todah La EL (Thank the L-RD)
For putting this team together, and having your love and support on our Massah (Journey)
as we become broken and rebuilt in the mercy and grace of our L-RD Y’SH’A!