January February

     Well, it has been quiet the start to 2013. However God has been good and here is what happened in the last two months. To start off we would like to let you know that we are having a baby boy! Aaron Eleazar will most likely be born around the 23rd of March, unless he decides to come earlier like Shirel did. January started off with a Hebrew Arabic Worship Concert at Shemen Sasson. I (Stefan) was involved with the worship team for that night. It was especially nice to have my parents show up for that evening. Followed shortly there after by a snow day. It had been rainy and cold all week and then late Wednesday night it started to snow. By Thursday morning we would say there was anywhere from 3-6 inches of fluffy white snow on the ground. It so warmed my (Samantha's) heart. I had just written the week before that I wanted to see snow this year. We ate breakfast as a family and then got dressed and went out and played in the snow. It took Shirel a while to get used to it but she enjoyed it. By the afternoon it was all slushy and by Friday you could barely tell it had snowed.

     Then followed by the elections. Congratulations Benjamin Netaniyahu, for another term! I (Stefan) was able as an Israeli to go vote for this man, whom many prayed for and believe it is right that he is in office as Prime Minister. Why the big hoopla about that? Netanyahu is the first PMs that we have ever heard of that started a bible study at his home and is extremely open to the world of the Lord being released to him through prophetic people in the body of Christ. We found out during the Monday morning watch at Succat Hallel that he was going to go to a late Christmas party where he would meet some people that Rick and Patti know, who would have the opportunity to prophecy over him and speak into his life. The Word says that the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand, and it is so right that Netanyahu is so open to the input of believers who walk in the power of God in such a way.

     I (Stefan) started leading worship at Succat Hallel Monday evenings for the teaching watch from 7-9pm. That is both good and different since I’m used to usually just having a few people in the room or sometimes none, where as Monday nights are usually full, and it's good when more than just a few come together to worship and agree together in prayer.

     February came with something that we've been dealing with much more now since we moved into our new apartment. The finance or the lack thereof. A squeeze that started mid January and got us even sometimes wondering if we could continue in full time ministry. With my (Samantha) birthday coming up and our congregational retreat, not to mention the daily life needs, we were tied down to limited spending. We had received an electric bill with an amount that came with a blow. During winter time it is common for electricity to skyrocket, and we knew we needed a miracle for this 300 dollar bill. We had to trust that God would provide for the food on our table for the coming days and weeks. The crunch is still not over, but things happened that remind us that Daddy didn't stick us in this field of the Kingdom to fail and die. He had more than enough to take care of us. I (Stefan) had to remind myself of this endlessly, we both did. I was walking downtown one Sunday and I ran into an Israeli brother from our congregation who slipped me a bill. This friend has been faithful to support us with his five dollars a week. It's so unbelievable how much a difference five dollars can make. That evening we were not going to be able to buy what we needed for dinner, and then came this friend. In one way, we are glad that God provides for the smallest needs, and in another way we are so happy to see that, here is one Israeli that had received the revelation of giving in the Kingdom of God and financial partnership, of investing on a normal basis into the House of Prayer and into the lives of those whose job it is to stand on the walls of the city watching day and night for the coming of the King. Then came a blessing in this area that left us with our jaws dropped in awe and wonder. Even though this update is about January and February and this miracle happened this month, we would still like to let you know about it because it was too huge a surprise to keep until the next update. However, we will keep you at the edge of yourseats until we get to that.

     Now let’s take a short break from finance and provision and move on to a fun piece of news; We would imagine that those of you with facebook have ran across some pictures we have posted of cakes that look, how should we say... Different :-) For whatever reason, we've started making cakes. Some for friends and others for events. I (Samantha) love baking and I (Stefan) love decorating, sculpting and the whole artistic side of designing. The latest piece we had done was a cake to celebrate Succat Hallel's 13th birthday. I (Stefan) will admit that I got a little sneaky and made Samantha a birthday cake for her belated birthday party which she loved. We are also now in consultation with a couple of our friends who are getting married, who have seen our work and would like us to make their wedding cake. (However, they are going with another friend who can do it for free, we could only do it for cost.) Needles to say, as Paul had his tent making business this could become something that we do on a regular basis. We've observed people's reactions and to see the smiles and joy that these pieces of art bring to them, it's just priceless. Will this take off as a business? We don't entirely know, but we do know that there is an element of creativity that God is releasing in this hour and season, in baking and food as well as in music, art, dance, poetry, song writing. And speaking of that, the CD that we mentioned about earlier that was recorded live is now been completed, with all song tracks in place. All that is left is getting the CD cover made and that is on its way. And we are planning to have the music tracks set online for people to download. We will let you know as soon as we have it up and running.

     We would also like to let you know, for those who have not been aware of this, you can visit www.succathallel.com and that way keep in tune with what is happening in our sphere. They also have an app for iphones, ipads, and the like, you can also get it for andriods it's a like little bit harder to find but if you want we can get you the steps to find it.

     Now for the surprise that we mentioned before. There was an offering taken last Monday for us at Succat Hallel that left us dumbfounded and with our hearts refilled with a new dose of faith. The offering added up to over 1,000 dollars which really helped with the crunch and we are able to breathe now. It was such a blessing, also because the money that I (Samantha) received as birthday gifts from family had to go to paying bills and utilities and now I was able to have my birthday gifts and enjoy them. And of course, our fridge is once again full, no empty bare shelves and God is proving once again to us that He has not forgotten to take care of His kids.

     In conclusion here are some ways you can pray for us;

       *Finance- We know this one comes up in every newsletter but it is a challenge as we have already mentioned and a place where we're believing for God to break through. We had asked earlier and feel we need to revisit the question. Would you pray and see how God would have you stand with us, whether prayerfully or financially. At this moment we are aware that only a few on our mailing list support us financially and we want to honor and thank you for being faithful in that every month. We would however ask that you would consider sowing financially into us with a one time offering or with monthly support as we minister here full time. Two weeks ago when we had the financial miracle happen, I (Stefan) observed how a room full of people each put in a small amount which added to over 4,000 N.I.S, around 1,100 U.S.D. The same way, if the 80 people on our mailing list (who don't give) gave 5 or 10 dollars a month, we would be easily looking at $400-$800 a month that would help cover expenses here. So please pray about it and let us know how the Lord would have you stand with us. (Part of the reason the crunch came is that when we moved the dollar shekel exchange was higher [$1 = 4shekels and now $1 = 3.6shekels] and our property tax increased 20% in 2013.)

       *Cake Business- We've been feeling as we mentioned earlier that we need to start a small family side business with the cake making. This is something we both love doing and it puts joy and smiles on peoples faces every time we bring our cakes in. Pray that we know how to move along with this and that God would place His kiss and blessing on this.

       *Aaron Eleazar- As we approach the big day and the upcoming birth, pray that all goes well. Aaron will be the first child in my (Stefan) immediate family that undergoes circumcision and a Jewish boy born into the line of Israel according to the law given by God to Abraham. See, the way things are done here is that friends and family come together and witness and the child gets his name on the 8th day of his life. Here in Jerusalem we have been blessed with a Moel who will do this for Messianic believers. It is rare to find a Jewish Orthodox man who is willing to look beyond what we believe and still do this for us. Pray that God provides us with the money we need to pay the Moel who will perform the circumcision.

Blessing and Love from Jerusalem,

Stefan, Samantha, Shirel, and (soon to make his appearance) Aaron

November and December Update

It's hard to believe that once again another month has past and new one is over. So it is time once again to share how life has been for the 3.5 of us. However, we will be going back a few months as we want to share some things that did not make it into last months letter.

October: Near the beginning of October we had a friend from the States come and stay with us for a month. She was a blessing in many ways. For example; while I (Stefan) had to be at work with Succat Hallel or taking care of things down town, she would be home with Samantha and Shirel, meaning that Samantha would have someone there most of the time I was gone. This was what you'd call a God moment. This friend who had been for the last few years in and out of hospitals, many times on her death bed and then supernaturally restored. God literally restored her broken organs in full view of the doctors who ran out of options, and all this with medical files to prove that she was dying one moment and well the next. Needless to say, would you ever give up an opportunity to have someone around that has seen God's supernatural favor in such a way as this? We wouldn't and we thank God for every moment we had to spend with her while she was here. Mid October we had a mandatory conference at Succat Hallel about Birthing Houses of Prayer. People involved in house of Prayer ministry from all over the middle east and some from the Mediterranean area gathered at Succat Hallel for a four day conference. The way Rick and Patti lead this conference is by sharing how God birthed Succat Hallel. It was good to hear the story and for all the staff members to be there and hear Rick and Patti's heart for Succat Hallel. During the conference days we also went in for our yearly interview at the Ministry of the Interior, and my (Samantha) visa was renewed. Then came a moment we've waited for a long time. Our dear friends, Momma Brenda and Pappa Aaron showed up. They've been precious spiritual parents to us and we were so glad God opened the financial door for things to fall into place for them to come and visit. We've not seen them for a very long time and it was a beautiful reunion. We were able to have a Shabbat meal together with them, Barbara who we already mentioned was staying with us and our dear friend Jillienne. That evening the Holy Spirit broke in and the communion with each other and Him was absolutely wonderful! At the end of the month Barbara took us and this same group from Jerusalem and friends from Bethlehem to the Dead Sea to celebrate one of the Arab ladies birthday. This was the first time I (Stefan) had the chance to meet this family from Bethlehem since they are not allowed to cross into Israel and I am not allowed to cross into Bethlehem which is Palestinian territory. It was a fun day. And this brings us to November.

November: November was full of surprises and blessings. We had a week to ourselves without any one else in our apartment, just our family. During that week we had something amazing happen, which encouraged us to know we are exactly where God wants us and showed us again that He is always faithful. No challenge of ours has ever been a worthy opponent for Him. We got a property tax for the end of the year from the municipality that added up to approximately 2700 shekels that had a twenty day dead line on it which we knew we couldn't pay. I (Stefan) was not a very happy camper that morning and this bill was put in my hand right before my noon worship watch. I had to force myself to step into a greater reality then our bill, which was that He said He would take care of us. During that watch someone approached me with an envelope containing 2000 shekels. He's teaching us to never doubt Him. He's so good. Then after the empty week Samantha's parents showed up for Shirel's birthday which was to take place on the 19th. They arrived at a very unusual time. The day they flew in was when the Gaza conflict erupted. And as you would know from news broadcasts, that was the week that Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem had missiles flying in for the first time since the 1st gulf war. That Friday our congregational meeting was interrupted as air raid sirens went off outside. We were used to hearing those before since drill sirens had gone off in the past in preparation for a real attack. That evening everyone in the meeting hall knew this was not a drill. Sure enough the radio updates confirmed that missiles had landed in the suburbs of Jerusalem. That week was a crash course for all of us to learn what it really means to walk in God's perfect love, loving those firing the missiles, loving our enemies and praying for those in extreme suffering. The reality is that when something like this conflict week happens, the residents of Gaza and the territories are hit worse than Israel, with many casualties, which was also the case this time. It is no secret that the Hamas is oppressing its people and in such times using them as human shields. If anything during conflicts like these it is so important that we cover our Arab brothers and sisters in prayer. Then came the 19th and Shirel turned 1. A happy first birthday it was, no question. And yes, the year did fly by. One day we brought her fresh from the hospital and the next day, she's 1. At the end of Samantha's parents stay we started again getting used to not having people around, just the three of us going on to the four of us.

December: This has with no doubt been a time of mixed feelings, bitter sweet you might say. Not being with family during this season is not the easiest. But we did with what we had and things have been a blessing. My (Stefan) parents flew and we were able to spend Christmas day with them. In Israel Christmas is not usually seen as a positive holiday, being a celebration of the birth of the Messiah during the wrong season, pagan roots and all that. Here people tend to be pickier about these things, but we go with this simple thing; He came! That should be the reason of celebration not just during the holiday season but all year around. And so we did, with my parents in town it was a sweet and delightful experience. What was also delightful was to have my dad here as I led worship and our congregation this past week. That truly was a first and I'm looking forward to more times like that in the future.

Things to pray for:

CDs and recording projects-

I (Stefan) already mentioned earlier that I'm working on a CD with some of my songs on it. There are a few things happening with that. We've had close to a month of Wednesday afternoon worship watches at Succat Hallel that took place before, during and after the Gaza conflict in which we went in, turned on the recording button on the sound system and some amazing things were birthed during those watches. I am currently working right now on finishing a CD project from those weeks. The amazing thing is the recordings of each week overlap. It's like God gave us a puzzle piece every week and now I've been piecing it together. I've found that as the sounds from every week overlap, it's been like putting together instruments for an orchestra. We recorded every week separately having no idea that things would overlap so perfectly. It's been a time of sitting in front of the computer and editing and piecing things together, adding in instruments where needed and all this as the Holy Spirit revealed where things needed to go and what sounds needed to be heard. We sense that this project needs to be released as soon as possible so I'm asking for prayer and grace with time to be able to finish this project. Then there is my own CD which I will need to get back to after I'm done. So I'd appreciate your prayers for this.

Finance-

First off, we want to thank everyone partnering with us financially. We appreciate and love you all. As we stand on the walls of our city watching for His return we are honored to have you standing with us. Things have been tight during the last couple of months due to moving into a larger apartment and of course every time God did intervene and we saw a breakthrough. In this season we are learning the reality of leaning on Him for provision.

In a week or so we will get an email out to you about partnering with us through the coming year. Please start praying as to how the Lord would want you to get involved.

Health-

We would say that neither of us escaped the winter cold this last month. Everything from coughing to stuffy noses. My (Stefan) dad flew in with a bad cold as well, so yes, pray for health. This had been a season cursed by peoples words as the season of the cold, flu and sickness. We want to change the game. It's time to walk in the health that He has for us.

 

Blessings to all and to all a Happy new Year

Moving!!

Our moving fundraising goal is met and has burst through the roof.  If you were thinking about giving and haven't let us know please consider still giving.  We have depleted our emergency fund and we would love to have some money to fall back on again.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Moving

So if you haven't heard yet, we are moving about mid September to a bigger place.  We are excited, however it is going to be an added expense, so we are asking for your help.

The Budget
Half a months rent   2000nis
Movers                     2700nis
Furniture                  1000nis (table and chairs, sofa, [refrigerator, hopefully free or very cheap])
Cleaning/Painting      500nis
-------------------------------------
                                 5200nis
                               $1550

We also want to keep you up to date on how the fund raising is going.  So keep checking back here to see.

Here is the video about what happened the last night of the ELAV Conference.  God was so good.

Update

Hello Everyone,

And thanks for sticking with us. It has been a very crazy few months and as I just told a friend I am praying God teaches me how to sit down and write our updates even when life is crazy.

Stefan sharing a dream he had.

Well, June, all we can remember was prepping for the Elav Conference.  Most of our watches were spent praying for the conference.  The week before the conference I (Stefan) was busy going from one band rehearsal to the next, one of them being the opening night band which was dismantled earlier and then by God's grace reconnected.  The other thing we can remember is finances, but more on that later.

The Elav Conference:  It was AMAZING!!! God showed up.  It was a much smaller crowd this year then in years past.  But we think that was good and right for what God wanted.  God seemed to focus us on Him, about loving God and not compromising for friends. If we want more of God then we need to find friends, whatever age, who want more of God. And then the last night broke out into repentance for Tel Aviv. Adults,

This is how Shirel would spend the evenings.

youth on the ground, prostrate crying out for their country, their city. It was very powerful. The astonishing thing was that people from Jerusalem were already getting on their buses (out of necessity, not because of want) and the remnant left in the hanger broke into a surging wave of wailing and crying out for Tel-Aviv in a way we have never seen before. We will place a video we filmed of it onto our blog and possibly on facebook for you to see, since that is something that was not caught on camera. They started tearing down the equipment by this time.

Then we had a little over a week before we flew out to Romania for a vacation per say to see Stefan's family and visit a friend who started a house of prayer.  But during that little time at home we had to say good bye to four very dear friends who are leaving Israel, with a desire to return but not sure when.  So we hosted, in a park, a good bye party for one friend who we just couldn't leaving without gathering around him and sending him off properly.  And then to top off the craziness, we have started making "cakes" now we don't just mean a nice vanilla cake with frosting, we mean a red velvet cake with butter cream frosting, and fondant on top with fondant sculptures portraying a story.  But it was worth it to see the look on our friend's face when he saw the cake and for him to know how much we appreciate him.

Then we packed up again and headed to Romania.  A vacation it may not have been since we never stopped when we got there, but it was a wonderful time with family and friends.  Everyone loved meeting Shirel, she had just started being very mobile in her crawling and starting to pull herself up and cruising along furniture.  We toured one day with our friend Claire who now runs a house of prayer in Brashov, Romania and was taking one of her teams on a small tour and we had the privilege to join in.  Then on Friday we had the honor of sharing what we do at our house of prayer, Succat Hallel, at her house of prayer.  We then lead everyone in the Shabbat blessings and had dinner.  We also went up to the Brashov sign (like the Hollywood sign) and anointed the ground and called forth God's destiny for Romania.  We went to church with Stefan's parents and had the privilege to hear Stefan's father speak.  It was a very blessed trip. We will be loading up a video on our blog that goes into a little more detail about Romania and it's importance and destiny in God.

What is coming up for us now is this.  We are continuing to discover what ministry looks like for our family as Shirel continues to grow and change.  We also are starting to look for a new apartment.  The one we are in has approximately 100 steps up to our door and that is just too much with Shirel, a stroller, groceries, or laptops.  We need God to show us the perfect apartment for this new season.

Which brings us to finances.  We don't want to sound like we're asking for money, we do however want to share some things with you of God's amazing provision, that when He says He will do something specific or just the general day to day He always does it.  This whole year we have not lacked anything we NEEDED and in fact we think we have been able to have many of our WANTS as well.  Now we have to say the last few months have been hard.  In June both of us had teeth problems, I (Stefan) had to have a root canal (which still needs a crown to replace the temporary filling) and I (Samantha) had a cavity appear and hurt like I have never felt before.  There went a good chunk of money.  Then we finally were able to settle our health insurance and we now have a good chunk of our monthly cash going to insurance. This week we also got a call from our insurance company saying we owe them 1331 shekels for the back months when we didn't pay.  To top it all off we need a different apartment and that means we may need first and last month rent, plus a security deposit.  We may need to hire movers to move at least for the big items if not all (unlike in the USA not everyone has a car and big vehicles are few and far between and you can't rent a U-Haul).  Now the thing we want you to hear from us is that we know God will provide.  Now we do want to ask, if you don't normally give to us financially, to pray about it and possibly send us a one time offering to help in this season of our lives.  PLEASE, do NOT send anything on impulse of this letter. If you know God is asking of you to send we will gladly receive. We are trusting that God will speak to all of you regarding this subject.  God has been amazing. 

Samantha at the Information Table.

On the last night of the Elav Conference a lady came up to me (Samantha) and asked if we had anymore water for sale (I had been in charge of the Info Table where we also sold the water and it was now torn down.) I told her no and asked her why and she said they had a 3hr drive home and said they were the youth from Bethlehem and how the youth didn't even have food at home much less money to buy water and such and how "they" had been giving the youth money to buy water and food. Now God just grabbed my heart. So I grabbed our wallet to see how much we had and I puled out a 100 shekel bill and found the lady and handed it to her saying, "I know this isn't much." And she just smiled, she went on to say how they had raised support to cover the lodging, the food, a few extras, and a bus, and that they had given the youth the last of it today. Then they called their bus driver and he said it was 100 shekels more then they thought. So here was my "little" 100 shekels and it was just what was needed to cover the bus. God can do a lot with our "little" bit from a happy heart.

We love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and finances.  May God bless you abundantly this summer.

On the mountain top, above Brashov, Romania.

Book Review

I (Samantha) just finished reading Your Sons O Zion by Theodorah Villion

It is a book about Messianic young adults, ending time in the army and just normal life.  What I want to share with you most is this book is based in real life, the events in Israel that occur are real, the surrounding characters and their stories are real.  So if you would like to have a look at what life looks like in Israel I would suggest you get this book.  It was fun to read and say to myself, "I know that person, I know that place, I didn't know that was their story."

(PS Stefan wrote and produced the music for this video.)