this past week has just been amazing.
yesterday, for the first time in my life, I participated in door to door ministry. my partner and I took a certain street & knocked on doors asking people if they would be willing to answer a survey about spirituality.
the first place we went into was a tattoo parlor with two somewhat intimidating men talking inside. with lots of love & smiles on our faces, we went in and started to talk with them about spirituality & what their views were on Jesus & Christianity. one of the men was very eccentric, talking to us about his beliefs in Buddhism & declaring how ridiculous he thought Christianity to be. though we could tell he was set in his ways, I definitely feel that we sowed a small seed, and he asked us if we would come back next time with some instruments, and play him songs. I can't wait to go back !
after this, we walked around & chose a building. starting from the very top, each tenant rejected us politely. but the very last one we knocked on was the one that God intended for us. the man who opened the door asked us if we wanted to come in, and we were so excited ! I had never expected to be invited in, especially when we had asked them if they could participate in a survey. right when we entered, he offered us hot beverages & cookies. he & his cousin were so engaged & were so interested in who we were & why we were here. after talking about ourselves & listening to them about their lives, we got to talking about religion.
these two young men were Jewish, but from what I could gather, they were not practicing. and that's the thing that I'm realizing more and more about the younger generation in Israel--they know that they're missing something, but they don't know what it is, so they decide to loosen their grip on the more "religious" aspects of their beliefs. we casually talked about what we believed in & they told us what they thought. it was so awesome to be so free & open about what I believed in & not to be so cautious and careful about what I could and could not say in front of them. towards the end of our time together, I was able to put a hebrew version of the new testament into one of the man's hands, and it was so amazing to see how intrigued he was by it. I'm praying that he'll be drawn to it one of these days & be able to read it through.
there was one part of the conversation that really stayed with me. we were talking about biblical prophecies coming true about Israel & how we were here because we really love Israel & are praying for it with great fervor. as the men listened, they shared that they were shocked that we loved Israel, because the media made it seem like everyone hated this nation. they said that it was so encouraging to see & hear that there are people who love this place & are praying for it. isn't that crazy ? love really is the answer.
after about two and a half hours of conversation & enjoying each others' company, my partner & I got up to leave & as we left, we exchanged numbers & names for facebook etc. as we walked out of their apartment, we were filled with so much joy. we literally could not contain ourselves & we jumped up and down and praised God for allowing so much favor to be upon us. both of us prayed that He would allow us to be invited into someone's home, but I think we both didn't
really believe it would happen. but God, in His graciousness & mercy, provided so much more than we expected. needless to say, it was such an encouraging day for me.
and today, we joined with an organization to sing worship in front of a shopping center. it was so cool because as a huge group of us began to sing, so many people stopped & took loads of pictures & even sang along ! we were told that the people here love musical, public events & it's true. it was such a blessing to see such acceptance & intrigue in their eyes.
as we worshiped, we also interceded for this nation. one woman in the group, as I was in the crowd of worshipers, pointed at me and asked me to come up to the front. she asked me to lead the group into a time of prayer for a topic that God places on my heart. God really gave me boldness & courage, because at first I was overwhelmed. but He told me "pray for awakening, that their eyes would be open to me, the truth." so today, I was given the opportunity to stand on a box & lead a group of 30+ believers into intercession. it was an amazing experience, one that I won't ever forget. the lady told me later that she felt God chose me to lead this time & close us with prayer. man, He's too good to me.
and there are many other stories, but these are the ones that are really on my heart right now to share.
God's really working here.
love,
r.
