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

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!

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

So we flew to india what feels like 4 days ago but was only about 36? or 48hrs ago.

we tried to catch up on sleep and get acquainted with india culture, how things work and of course take a little time to purchase some garb to wear.

Then the first night we had some worship rested.

The next morning we split up in our groups (my group is Remy, Sterling, Sarah, Lea, Josh, and myself) and had some break together and during that time we met a girl from England who was traveling and had a good conversation with her. She wasn’t jewish but enjoyed all religions and saw herself closest to buddhism. she mentioned that it may not be time for her to be called to G-d, she used to goto a religious school and sunday school when she was younger but lost interest when a tragic experience in her life happened and she cried out to G-d but she didn’t see HIS answer

After breakfast we met for more worship and a devo from Jesse, which was really great, he spoke a bit about being light in a dark place and other things that I can’t remember right now because of our 15hr bus ride +lack of sleep.

so after we worshiped with the whole group, we all went our separate ways and we first took a bike powered rickshaw to the bus and crossed a street where I thought I might die because of the cars flying towards us…

then when we got on the bus and started on our journey there were mosquito’s on the bus only about 20 total but about 10 minutes in and trying to kill them and then trying to open the window and shoe them out, roughly 60+ more showed up so we opened the windows again trying to shoe them out but each time we did it seemed that there were more and more in the bus. and the sun was going down so we could no longer see the bugs.

During this time I was praying and asking that the L-RD would remove them from us.

after about 1 1/2 or 2 hours and the sun setting the mosquito’s just disappeared, it was wonderful. Of course it took quite a while to notice they were gone because I just tried to shoe them away and couldn’t kill enough of them.

The bus we road in had seats that were like spring boards that always bounced and the shocks on the bus in combination with the poor roads here made it difficult to sleep. However when I did fall asleep The bus driver would stop the bus for a bathroom break which generally entailed just the side of the road in the dark so we weren’t sure where we were stepping and the first stop like this they almost left without Sarah, Lea and Me.

I’ve never felt more disgusting in my life from the sweat of the heat, to the cramped bus, with bugs, and squating as my bathroom.

BUT! the L-RD pulled us through the 15 hours and did bless us during the dinner break where the bus pulled into an india “rest” stop where we encountered 2 of the other groups riding on a seperate bus which was encouraging to see them.

During the breakfast stop we started having a really good conversation with an Israeli girl sitting behind us (after we loaded into the bus again). She could also use some prayer as she had never heard of Jews who believed in Y’sh’a it was good talking with her (mostly Lea and Remy were in the conversation and I sat and listened)
but good nonetheless

We arrived at our destination at 8am(ish) and took a couple cabs with one Israeli guy we met up to the area of the guest houses. Where we had “breakfast” (we didn’t really have meal food) while waiting to see if the guest house has enough rooms to hold us. Which come to find out they do. So we settled into our rooms and then gathered together to have a time of prayer and worship which was really good.

During the prayer and worship my heart just cried out to Y’sh’a that the people we meet would have the veil over their eyes torn off that they might see the Messiah who was sent for them. and the Love HE has for them.

Now I am here blogging about our travels and soon I will be going to take a nap until dinner. As I mentioned above the bus was really uncomfortable and I am not sure how little of sleep I had during the ride but I am exhausted.

It is great that all of you are praying for us during this time, Thank you so much.

I pray G-D will Bless you as you lift us up in your prayers, and you will be drawn closer to HIM day by day AMEN!

here are the prayer requests from above and some that I am adding

English Girl -from breakfast
Israeli Girl -from the bus
Israeli Guy – from the bus

Also
pray that the Holy Spirit will manifest in us and our ears, hearts, and eyes would be sensitive to HIM, and that we would speak love to our people, and that we wouldn’t use human wisdom but wisdom from G-D, when speaking about Y’sh’a; also that if it be G-D’s will that the Gifts of the Spirit would be used/manifest in us in this spiritually dark place.

Once again I thank you all for caring, loving, encouraging and praying for us during this trip.

In HIS Mercy,

~Jonathan

***Our schedule has been so hectic and my access to a computer limited that this hasn’t been posted for a few days***

Last night we went out to a spot where we proceeded to hold a small public venue.

Where Remy and Sterling, played some of the music they wrote and a song or 2 by Isaac. All of which would be a great conversation starter. However, there were 2 largers groups with people who seemed content, in their conversations. They enjoyed the music but weren’t open to talking.

But after a few more songs, the people on our left, started talking with us and telling us about how they were on vacation. During that I was speaking with one of the girls in the group, and she told me that her name was Roxanne. Her english was a little hard to understand (she was french) and also sipping on champaign. Overall our conversation was short but effective, and Sean finished the conversation with her after ours was interrupted.

The music that Remy and Sterling play are a great ice breaker for people.
Who doesn’t like catchy music?

The next night we held a huge BBQ and a Concert of Remy, Sterling, and Isaacs music.

It went really well, Remy headed up the layout of the furniture and matresses to give the room an india feel, which turned out great.

While Talia and Sterling headed up the cooking and food. (which was delicious)
Sarah meanwhile started the chai tea brewing while the rest of Aleph started helping with each of the different tasks set before us.

The music was wonderful and the show up was good too, there were good conversations, and Aaron A. spoke a little about his testimony too.

Which was great to hear.

As we near closer and closer to our depature to India please pray that our group will continue growing closer together in unity through the love of Y’sh’a. Also that peoples hearts will be softened and that the WORD will resonate and dwell in their hearts as we talk to them about it.

We really covet your prayers. We have seen a great work that the L-RD is doing here in Israel and an openness and willing ears to speak with us about Y’sh’a.

Thank you so much!

In HIS mercy

~Jonathan

So I’ve now been here just short of 2 weeks, and thought it was time to post an update. These few examples I’ll describe form the core of our activities on Massah: Study/Discipleship, Evangelism, Excursions, and hearing various Perspectives from Israeli believers.  (Of course, once we get to India it will be evangelism 24/7.)

In one of our recent “Talmidoot” (Bible study/question/discusion times) we discussed the first chapter of Tozer’s book “The Pursuit of God.”  After thinking about what it means to be a true disciple of Y’shua, and the hunger/thirst for God which we should cultivate, Aaron T asked us when things ’switched’ in our lives from being the faith of our family to being a real and personal faith.  In my own life, this was a very gradual process, but at the core was a deepening understanding of my own sinfulness and weakness. My faith became my own when I fully understood how far I was from God’s righteousness and perfection and how far I fell short of my own standards, let alone God’s standards. I remember vividly repenting of my own hypocrisy and embracing God’s saving grace in a state of brokenness and humility at Camp Gilgal Adventure Camp in 2005 on a riverbank during a time of worship with Sean, Remy, Isaac, and Sterling.

On Monday night the five of us were together again as we were heading out into a late-night Tel-Aviv hang out spot to meet people and talk about Y’shua.  We reflected together on the fact that we offer this restoration of our relationship with God, the healing of the hipocrisy that God’s standards and our own consciences condemn us to.  The five of us, plus Jon and Sarah who joined a little later, shared the nature of our program, the work of God in our own lives, and the truth from the Word with three different groups of people we met, (~13 people), in intimate and lengthy discussions.  The music Remy and Sterling perform is a fantastic platform for drawing people around and into conversation. Their open honesty and vulnerability, and the lyrics which often talk about our relationship with God is a powerful witness which until now I had not fully appreciated.  Please pray for Moni, Roxanne, and Jeremie who listened to us explain the Gospel and actively discussed Y’shua with us.

This trip has started a good time of personal reflection for me, particularly our time in the Negev desert (last thurs/fri).  The place looks like a landscape from Mars, and is completely silent except for the sound of the wind (if any).  Our sweet time of worship and fellowship, plus the time I took alone at night was a great opportunity to be still, wait on the Lord, and reflect on my time and purpose here.  The hike the next day was 8km long, hot and exhausting, and I drank 3 Liters of water before the end. (i.e. It was amazing!!!) The view from the top of the crater was unbelievable, but I would definitely not want to spend 40 years wandering around there.

Today (Wed) we heard from Gershon Nerel, a Jewish believer in Y’shua here in Israel and a (well renowned) historian of the movement.  He talked to us about issues of Identity facing the messianic movement.  What does it mean that we’re Jewish?  What aspects of Jewish identity are fundamental core values, and which are perhaps simply cultural or traditional? (And consequently how relevant are these “extra” practices?)  He encouraged us to think critically and be intentional about how we create and express our identity, and of course to make sure that Y’shua and the scriptural teachings by and about Him are the focus of anything we choose to do.

Hopefully this snapshot gives you a good glimpse into what we’re doing, and what’s on my mind and heart.  The chemistry among our members is strong, and we are drawing closer together.  We’re heading to the Galilee this weekend for a time of spiritual retreat.  Please continue to pray for intensity and focus to our purpose here, sufficient rest, open hearts and opportunities to share the Gospel, and that God would meet us here, both as individuals and as a group.  We love and appreciate you who follow our blog so much!

L’hitrahot, and I’ll try to post more frequently so these aren’t so long.
-Jesse

In case the title didn’t give it away the computer the Aleph guys were using, was broken, or so we thought. Aaron T. fixed it today for us, non computer savvy people.

I have been wanting to express my thoughts and revelations… but seem to have slowly forgotten them.

Hebrew is very hard! Or at least I feel that way, I learned the alephbet before I came but that is nothing compared to the Opon we are taking. I am learning alot but it is hard to grasp, I feel like a struggling 1st Grader, OY!
So that is one of my prayer requests that the Holy Spirit will help me grasp Hebrew quicker and more efficiently

Last week we did so much! it was jam packed! We met with a speaker who showed us places in the Old Testament, where we can find Y’sh’a and the Trinity, and encouraged us to search it out. We went to tents of mercy ministry and met Eitan and Marty, who told us all about what they do, and how the ministry started. Which is a wonderful ministry that is caring for the physical needs and the emotional needs of people. So often we forget to care for the physical things that people need. I know I am guilty of missed opportunities to help people in the physical. Meeting and hearing about their ministry was a blessing.

We also had a Sticker sortie where we went and placed stickers around the city, which was cool.
However I injured my toe, and dropped all my gum on the ground… so it was funny and lame all at the same time. That is alright it was still fun placing Y’sh’a Stickers around the city.

We also visited the Western Wall, which was sad, to see G-ds people think they are seeking after HIM, when they are missing the key component, Y’sh’a.
2nd prayer request would be that G-D would keep us bold, and clear a space for HIS word in the hearts of the people we encounter.

A few evenings ago, we had an amazing Night of worship after returning home from, traveling to Caesarea, Haifa, and Tents of Mercy. Which was full of worship and we also paired up and prayed for each other, I think everyone went to 2 or 3 people each for the prayer portion, which was Blessed, and Amazing, and then we continued to worship, what a wonderful and renewing time it was for Massah as a whole.

Thank you for the prayers thus far and the prayers you will offer up in the future as well!
We can’t thank you enough for your prayers! More prayer requests to come.

In HIS Mercy,

Jonathan