Newsletter: September 2005

God is Good We are delighted to share again how God is being good to us; finally at the beginning of this year, Rajai got his residency visa so we were able to go to Jordan to see family and friends. It was great. Not only that, we moved to a bigger house, to full fill our needs. We are happy with it.

Farah:  She will turn 3 this coming November. She doesn’t stop Talking and asking about everything. She is cute and clever. She dreams about growing up to be able to drink Coca cola and Go to the airplane alone! This is what she says. Also, she prays before meals and she volunteers to pray when she knows that someone is sick.

Some of our ministry news

God is good! Y o u s i f   and   A r i j   are a couple we met last year. After being living in good finical situation, things dropped down for them. They faced many crises in their life. They went to ask for help and no one offered them a hand even from family. Their hearts were full of bitterness towards God and others. After having a successful career they came to the point that they have nothing and life is a misery. Yousif is very skilled in graphic and web design. He used to own a print shop house.  After all the turmoil they have been through, they decided to open a kindergarten. The first time Rajai met them was last year in May. They had lots of questions about God and why He allowed this situation for them. They were angry and believed that God doesn’t love them and has forsaken them. The Lord gave Rajai a special word. After hours of talking and expressing their frustrations, they prayed to receive Christ with tears. Later on we did basic follow up and helped them to grow and attend a church near their house. The Lord did mighty work in their life. They felt the change in their life from the first week they received Christ. The Lord started to heal the bitterness in their hearts and blessed them spiritually and financially. They were able to solve all their money problems. The number of Kids at their kindergarten has doubled since.

Now, they want to tell everybody about Jesus. They cooperate with their church and opened their kindergarten for Sunday schools kids. They do an outreach for the area every Saturday using their kindergarten. Kids are coming to Christ through them. And they are doing a lot for the Lord.

On June 12, Rajai participated in their baptism. They were the first fruit the Lord gave us since we moved to Israel. This was an exciting day for both of us. A week later, they started a monthly outreach for Adults in their house. Rajai was speaking to a gathering of their friends and relatives who were amazed of the dramatic change in their life. Yousif and Arij were sharing their faith with guests too. While they were doing so, Rajai remembered the same place last year he was telling them about Jesus and now they are telling others about Him. Recently, the church asked them to lead the Sunday schools ministry and they are excited about it. All Glory and praise to Him.

• We celebrated the first birthday of our disciples group. On May 25, 2004, the first training began and we still meet on a weekly basis even after finishing the 2 training courses they had. We love them, and we all become more and more close to each other. They started to invite others to the meeting. And we saw them bearing fruit for Him and the group is growing. God used them to reach others.  We started together a monthly evangelistic meeting at our place. Our house is bigger now so we can use the extra space we have for His glory

• May 30, our disciples invited their friends to our house, to watch a Christian movie “The Climb”, and have dinner with us. It was great. We were 30! And it was a Blessing for all. We had conversations on dinner and it really made a difference in the attendance lives. We have some new fruits; part of it through our disciples and through us.

• Rajai was so privileged when we he was invited to speak at a special outreach for Muslims in the city of Jerusalem. Invitations were passed out in the old city of Jerusalem. Around 100 men and women attended. Many had questions after the meeting. For Rajai it was a great joy to see 100 Muslims in one place hearing the good news. Many people stayed afterwards for questions and debates.

  Sports ministry:

• Last May we had 2 teams from Athletes in Action Holland who did sport clinics and they played games with The National team of Israel under 21 and the national team of Palestine in Volley Ball. All the players heard the good news.

• Last June we had an American Basket Ball team that played against the Orthodox club in Nazareth. Rajai approached the club and they were excited to host the team.700 people attended the festival that was organized by the Orthodox club which included the game. One of the players shared his testimony in front of all and Christian materials were distributed. To read more about it please click here

  http://www.comeandsee.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=660

• Rajai went to Thailand, to attend a sport event with ex NBA players from Champions for Christ and to arrange to have them in Israel and the Palestinian authority next year. God’ willing, we will have an NBA –all star team to do outreach in the Land. Can you imagine what great impact these players will have here? Incredible!!! What an opportunity for people here to see these great stars not only play good basketball but to see the testimony of Jesus Christ in their people’s lives. Please join us in prayer for this project so the Lord will do mighty things in the hearts of the people here.

• Praise God for the summer project held in Israel, West bank and Gaza with AIA Holland. 350 people came to do sport outreaches in 20 towns and villages, including 11 Palestinian towns. Hundreds of people's lives were impacted and many of them accepted Jesus into their lives. Pray for the follow up process that the staff of Life Agape is doing in cooperation with the local churches that participated in this project. Rajai helped recruiting all the 17 participant churches from the Palestinian side. There were teams also going to serve Jewish communities. It took us and AIA people over a year of hectic preparation for this project. Praise God also for the cooperative churches that hosted team and saw the impact of sport outreaches.  More pictures, video and final report about this project will be posted on our web as soon as we get it from AIA Holland.

 Media

College Life Club (CLC) is on air! Our radio program (CLC) that targets university students is on air on Bethlehem radio station 2 times a week. We hear encouraging reports about the impact of the show. The broadcast area is now covering more areas in Jerusalem, west bank an Gaza. You can hear us live Saturday 16:30 GMT and Wednesday at 14:00 GMT at this link   http://www.radiobethlehem2000.com/

Campus ministry 

 The school year is over since the end of May. We are still off now. The coming school year will begin on the second half of October. Last year was good. We had many challenges and difficulties. Despite that, we managed to open our booth daily at Haifa University. Many books and Bibles where given out. Lots of students asked question and some where hostile. We had 2 evangelistic events inside the Campus and they were a blessing.

The Car

Some of you know that we don’t own a car. We were blessed by Samar’s Dad who gave us his old car to use since we moved to Israel 2 years ago. We are really honored to serve Him in this land. The Lord opened many doors for us in ministry all over the country. Rajai has to travel at least 4 times a week outside Nazareth. He goes to distances like Jerusalem and Bethlehem where he drives 6 hours on that day. We have had many difficulties with the car we use. Many times it broke out. Some times it was towed back to Nazareth. Rajai had to borrow cars from others several times to do his ministry which was embracing for us some times. We fixed it but it seems we need to have another one. Our great need now is to buy a new car to use it for God’s glory. We are praying for 10.000 USD. We shared our need with others here and so far the Lord provided around 4.000 USD. We trust him to provide more.

 Farah one morning woke up and came to us and said: “Jesus will give us a new and big car”. Yes. That is our faith. Will you please consider that in your prayers and if you feel that the Lord laid it on your heart to donate for us, we would appreciate it and use the money only for God’s glory and for the advancement of His Kingdom.

 Will you please pray for the following needs we have:

1. For our disciples lives. Personal and Spiritual growth.

2. Farah’s safety. She isn’t predictable in what she does.

3. For the follow up of the Sports project we had last August. Rajai, along with 3 Stintrs from Holland will be traveling and encouraging the local churches for follow up of the project and for more involvement in sports ministry

4. For CLC radio show impact and finances. To be able to continue raising money to continue broadcasting it.

7. For God’s plan for our family life and ministry.

8. Our Financial needs are growing. We have to pay more rent and taxes. This year we have to raise 800 USD a month to have full support. We trust the Lord in providing that.

Thank you for taking the time to read our news letter and pray for us. We feel privileged to have you as prayer partner and supporter. May the Lord bless your life for his eternal glory   “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”