On Sunday, March 19th, 2006, the Lord sent us back to Eilat. We were there nine days and ministered to Zoli and Shuli, and to their families. We also helped other believers. And we had a number of opportunities for ‘first time’ witnessing to Israelis about Yeshua. The main reason we went was because we sensed the Lord wanting to strengthen Zoli through us.

Zoli had grown since December, reading the Word and praying every day, but not without set-backs. After a month or so with D’vir, the enemy attacking him through her, we could sense Zoli was slipping and needed our support. We prayed and waited upon the Lord as to when He might send us and we left on March 19th.

When we met him, D’vir and Ocean that first day, there were tears in Zoli’s eyes. He was weeping. He had been through a lot and he was so glad to see us. Even though we had been keeping in almost daily phone contact, he couldn’t believe for joy that we had actually come to Eilat.

D’vir is looking to walk with God. A Jewess of South African and European extraction, she was raised with a condemning mother, and a father who was very weak and ‘on the side-lines.’ Not surprisingly, D’vir has become like her mother. She can be hard and needs to be ‘in control’ through condemnation, and if that doesn’t work, through anger.

Over the years that we have been helping them financially, she has softened in our presence. She is ‘turning around’ to us and to our faith. She’s more open now than she’s ever been and we are grateful to Yeshua for this.

We had many times of sharing with them in March, feeding them both natural and spiritual food (the Word). Unfortunately, we didn’t pray enough and when we did, Satan was there with distractions.

We were able to help them financially, paying for rent, electric, clothes, dentistry and other needs, which was a tremendous help to them. Zoli has only been able to work part time these last few months and D’vir hasn’t worked full time in a while. Now, Zoli is looking to work full time in about a week, and D’vir is looking at a job starting in May.

We were able to do some biblical counseling with them but have only scratched the surface. We praise Yeshua that D’vir is open to this. Ruti and I believe that D’vir needs to come to her Messiah and in that, she’ll begin to change, and their marriage will be a blessed one.

We covet your prayers for her, Zoli, and Ocean, their two year old son. Zoli is under a lot of pressure and would love to just walk out of the marriage, something Ruti and I both understand. And biblically, he has a right to do this (1st Cor. 7:12-16). But we counseled him to stay as long as he could, praying to Yeshua for the strength he needs. D’vir is 34 and Zoli is 31.

We were also able to spend time with Shuli in prayer, Bible study and fellowship. She lives in government subsidized housing (a small three room apartment). Shuli, not realizing it, is torn between the world and the Lord. She needs the Infilling of the Holy Spirit. She’s believed in Yeshua for three years now but her walk has been superficial. She needs to be totally and unreservedly dedicated and consecrated to her Messiah.

Shuli has two daughters, one of which is Sagit. She’s 23 years old and has a two year old daughter, Oriyan. Sagit really loves Ruti and because of that, she has come closer to Yeshua. When we were there, Sagit allowed Ruti to pray for her, in the Name of Yeshua. That’s quite a big deal for a Jewess that doesn’t believe in Him and knows, ‘the Jewish people don’t believe in Yeshua.’

Sagit is married to Ilan (26 years old), who is working and going to university to become an engineer. It’ll take him another five years. They don’t have much money either and so when we saw Sagit’s shoes worn out and separating, we gave her money to buy a new pair that she had wanted for her birthday (Feb. 25th), but hadn’t gotten. She really appreciated that. We also helped Shuli with food, rent, electric and dentistry money. She tries to live on about $235 of government assistance a month, due to her physical condition. We also gave Ilan some food money.

Rachel (67 years old), is a Gentile believer from India who has been in Israel for 20 years or more. She had a Catholic upbringing. She married a Jewish man there and has been separated from him all that time. She lives in Eilat with one of her daughters, Esther (33 years old), and Esther’s son, Itzak Hai (five years old). Esther is a believer also and recently divorced her Israeli husband. He never worked or provided for them. He only took money from Esther.

When we lived in Eilat, we saw Rachel and Esther come closer to the Lord than they had been. We had weekly times of Bible study, praise and prayer. The three of them live in a little two room apartment. Esther works in a laundry, doing the clothes and bed sheets from the hotels, in the hot, back room.

Rachel’s son, Mosheh was killed last year. He was a 40 year old alcoholic. He was drunk one night, slipped and fell from a staircase and died. Rachel has grieved much over this, as well as Esther. We were able to speak of the Lord’s comfort in the midst of their tremendous pain, and how He was wanting to bring a new, bitter-sweet song to Rachel, one that she had never known before. I told her that if she would continue to seek the Lord, that He would cause her to sing that song to Him. I could tell by the way she was looking at me, that she heard what I was saying. Rachel also spoke of financial needs that they had. Ruti and I were able to help them also.

Rachel told us that there was a big rift between her and Sarah, another daughter of Rachel’s that lives in Eilat. Sarah (35 years old), has two children, David, 13, and Jasmine, 10. Sarah was divorced a number of years ago and now works as a cook to support her family.

Ruti and I were able to see Sarah and minister to her also. One of the things that was on her heart was that some Jehovah Witnesses had come and confused her about Jesus. We took the evening and opening the Bible, showed her and the children, along with Soni, that the Jehovah Witnesses were nothing less than wolves in sheep’s clothing. They appear as ‘believers’ but the Jesus whom they teach is not the Jesus of the Bible. Their ‘Jesus’ is not God in the flesh, and this is the central tenet of Who Yeshua is. Did God save us, or did He send a created being to die for us? (Is. 43:11; 45:21; 49:26; John 1:1-2; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:1-6. etc.)

Sarah was relieved, but we could see that because she didn’t know her Bible, she was still open to their influence. Soni, a Christian man from India, had been living with Sarah for the past year. We spoke to the both of them about needing to repent of their sin. They took it well but we don’t know if they did anything about it. ‘Nominal Christianity’ knows nothing of total consecration to the Savior.

We weren’t able to bring up the subject of the rift between Sarah and her mother (and her sister, Esther). It seems that Sarah holds her mother accountable, and condemns her, for the death of Mosheh (her brother). Rachel she says, should have been staying with Mosheh, not Esther. (Mosheh lived in another town, other than Eilat.) Sarah thinks that if her mother had been there, Mosheh wouldn’t have slipped, or been drinking. Rachel though, felt that her place was to help her daughter, Esther, with her little boy.

Some of the ‘first time’ others we were able to witness to about Yeshua began on the five hour bus trip to Eilat from Tel Aviv. We were able to pray for Sally and influence her Israeli boyfriend. She’s a Gentile from the Philippines and was going to Eilat for a few days to be with Amichai, who’s 62 years old. Sally’s 50. Amichai, whose name means, ‘my people live!’ shared with us that he had worked for forty years in New York City for an Israeli shipping firm.

It was about halfway through the trip that Sally got sick to her stomach and Ruti and I were able to pray for her. They were sitting in back of us. Sally took Ruti’s hand and we prayed for her for about five minutes. Sally really appreciated it, kissing Ruti’s hand at the end of the prayer time. We were able to share Messiah Yeshua with the both of them. And when we parted, we gave them some material on Messiah.

In Eilat we spoke of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with Adriene. He’s a 23 year old Jewish-Arab Israeli. That’s right. His father is an Arab and his mother is a Jewess. And his father is a Christian Arab, so Adriene believes in Jesus but he didn’t know anything about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was very interested. Ruti and I sensed that he was truly searching for the meaning of life. We spoke to him for about 30 minutes and gave him some literature. We would have prayed for him but he was working and we sensed that we had given him ‘enough’ for then.

Another time of sharing was when I got into a lively discussion about Yeshua with two families that had just gotten done eating. Giora (about 57), had read the New Testament but was not convinced that Yeshua was the Messiah due to what he saw as discrepancies in the Gospels. Before I could find out any specifics, Na’amah (whose name means beautiful or lovely), said that if there was a God or goddess, it didn’t matter. All we needed to do was to be good. She was sitting next to her husband, a friend of Giora’s. I told her that she needed to meet God, like Moses had when he was 80 years old. We all have concepts of God but when we meet Him, they begin to change and line up with reality. Then Giora’s wife, Elinoah, chimed in that there couldn’t be a God. How could God allow the Holocaust?!

I shared a simple, short testimony with them, about searching for God 30 years ago, and wanting to know if He was real. And when I gave my life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit came upon me and I knew, I didn’t just ‘believe,’ I knew that God and Messiah were real and that by the Blood of Jesus, my sins were forgiven. I shared some more and I could see that both Giora and his wife were interested, but they had just finished their meal with their friends and so they were needing to leave. I gave them my card and told Giora that all of the prophecies on the card pointed to Yeshua. And if he would look them up, he would see that too. He thanked me for it and left.

How did I come to speak with them? They called me over to their table as I walked past them. I had been eating with Ruti, Zoli, D’vir, Ocean and Shuli, but had gotten up to see something. When I was coming back to the table, they motioned to me. They said there was this peace on my face that intrigued them : ) We know Who that is. Thank You, Yeshua!

When we came back to Ramat Gan, we were a little lighter than when we left. No, not in actual physical weight, but financially. We were able to help the believers and their families. We gave out more than $2,500 in Eilat.

Our hearts are burdened for Zoli and his family, and for Shuli, and her children, and for Rachel and her children. They are like sheep without a shepherd to guide them. Ruti and I look forward to the time when the Lord will lead us back to Eilat, to comfort, encourage and strengthen them in their walk.

We ask that you would pray for them, and all the others we witnessed to, as well as for us. Zoli’s heart for the Lord has been doused with water many times since December. He needs your prayers for strength and joy, and to grow mightily in Yeshua. The other believers all need to be filled with His Spirit and consecrate themselves totally to Him. And please pray for those we witnessed to, that their eyes would be opened to their Savior and King, and they would give themselves to Him, with all their heart. And please pray for Ruti and me. That we would give ourselves unreservedly to the One who gave Himself for us, on that tree.

‘And Yeshua was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Great News of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. And seeing the multitude, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His followers, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest”’ (Matt. 9:35-38).

As of this writing in August 2006, Zoli got that job as a life guard and is working for a hotel. He’s worked hard and long hours and has remained faithful in this area. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay much more than minimum wage but be that as it may, they are slowly paying their bills. And D’vir has worked part time as well, which also helps in the financial area.