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.)

Hello Family and Friends,

2011 is over and we have now moved on into 2012. Here are the highlights of 2011 and a preview of what is to come in 2012.

2011

* In March we found out that we were going to have a little blessing that would arrive sometime in November. On November 19th Shirel Joy [sheer-el] joined our family. We absolutely love her. It is taking a bit of getting used to but we wouldn't trade her for the world. It was a nice blessing to have my (Samantha's) mom here for the first 6 weeks of having Shirel with us. Even though each baby is different, it helped to have someone here who had gone through it already. We are now on our own and managing as best we can. It is a new and good learning curve for both of us.

* At the beginning of the year we were doing a Thursday night Bible study with the youth of Succat Hallel, learning about being forerunners. Then, when the weather was nicer, we went out on the streets and worshipped on Thursday nights, praying for opportunities to strike up conversations with non-believers. After that, most of the youth that were with us on a normal basis went off to the army. Just to explain; every Israeli, regardless of gender, has to join the army after high school. So we must take into account that youth will come and go. In the last part of the year, we started a young adults Bible study with people from Succat Hallel. We are still enjoying it. We went through the book of Matthew and are now spending time praying and focusing on the House of Prayer and where it is related to us in the scriptures

.* In July we had the ELAV Succat Hallel Intensive, which was to train local youth and young adults in being a part of the House of Prayer and in Harp and Bowl worship. Even though we had heard some of the teachings the year before, we still received new understanding and revelation as to what God is asking of us in the House of Prayer context. We are now starting to get ready to prep for this summer's Intensive.

* Then came the ELAV Conference. It was absolutely amazing. Eddie James was the guest worship leader and Wes Hall was the guest speaker. Without planning, the theme that came out was about establishing the house of prayer, whether it meant joining an already existing one or simply becoming one , through living a life style of prayer.

* And then finally what we had be praying for arrived. In September we officially began our season of full time ministry with Succat Hallel. The support money came through and I (Stefan) was able to quit my job. We are now down at Succat Hallel putting in 15hrs in the prayer room per week and about another 15hrs in which I(Samantha) do administration and I(Stefan) work on developing new music. We are loving the watches that we are doing. I(Stefan) get to lead a few and I (Samantha) can't wait until Shirel is old enough to sleep through a watch so I can sing and dance again. As of now I run the overhead words and sound, which is still fun.

*To close the year, we went to an Arabic/Hebrew worship night with Jews and Arabs from around the country worshipping the One and Only God together. I(Stefan) had the privilege of playing on a worship team combined of Arab and Israeli worship teams. God moved and we all went home with victory in our hearts and bridges between our two peoples.

2012

* We will be visiting the U.S from 6 Feb - 2 March to see my(Samantha) family and speak to supporters. So with that in mind; please let us know if you would like to meet with us. We will be in Minnesota only this time around.

* We will be having another intensive this summer. Pray that all moves smoothly as we approach it. We realize that there are more than a few months until then but with all of our schedules, believe it or not, time is still a challenge.

* We will be having the next ELAV Conference in August. Pray that things run smoothly with that as well. The costs for this yearly conference are normally astronomical. Those who watched it on GOD TV, will know what we mean. Pray that Israeli youth and young adults begin to burn for God as we approach August. We have seen the enemy keep kids at home in a spiritually dormant state, so pray that they awaken to what God is doing in this hour through this conference.

* Our finances are still at the bare minimum at the moment. We bless God for what we've seen from month to month, yet we live with the reality that He needs to make rent and utilities happen from month to month. And now with the little one here, we are pushed to trust Him even more. Please pray that we are aligned with the right people who feel the call to support us here. Our desire is to see enough come in so that what comes in for us at Succat Hallel will go to more Israelis who feel the call to be in the House of Prayer full time.

If you are going to continue or start supporting us finacially this coming year, please drop us a note and let us know and let us know how much, if you have not already. We are very grateful for your support and prayers. God bless you this year.