Newsletter for August Sept 2nd Well, August has certainly been an eventful month here in the Land. I have no doubt that you will have heard of the bomb blast in the pizzaria in Jerusalem and the other significant events that have happened because I have actually tried to keep you up to date with the events. It is not always easy with the pace of events here at the moment though. Some of it will have been reported in your media. How accurate or unbiased this is, is another matter. The other MAJOR event was of course, the death of the Palestinian leader Moustaffa in his office. Then came the entry into Beit Jala by the IDF, the MANY foiled attempts by the terrorists to plant bombs and the many times that they have actually gone off early or accidentally prior to them being able to plant them. This has put us all on guard of course as it is likely that revenge will be wanted. We are praying for the outer walls of the country as well as the inner walls of the cities. The northern border is a little bit of a concern to the defence force at the moment. I couldn't help but think this week of all those who are going or have gone to a lost eternity and the fact that the Lord wills that no-one should perish, how He must be weeping over this situation. For our part we are concious of what is going on because of helicopters that pass over us (some 70 or so one night)to go to the territories, the shots we can hear, even from here from time to time. The other day I heard the explosion of the two bombs planted in Jerusalem, near the same area of Sbarro's bomb. One small one went off and failed to detinate the larger one that was actually designed to catch anyone that came to investigate the first or to help anyone who was hurt in the first explosion ...... praise the Lord it didn't succeed. We went to Tom Hess's place on the mount of Olives this Shabbat and had the most spectacular view of Jerusalem while we prayed and praised and worshipped (Barry and Batya were leading worship that night ), sharing our Shabbat meal outside with the cup and the bread, watching the sun go down over the golden stones of the city of Jerusalem and the Walls of the old city,however in the middle of that we could here the ratatatat of fire in the distance, I am not sure where it was coming from. Barry and Batya returned home middle of this month also. Full flight getting straight into Pack to School and trying to get the bags out before school started on the 1st September. This was actually the subject of an article in the paper which talked of the Haredim (religious) being concerned about missionary activity (those Messianics). They gave us much trouble that week (phone calls late at night etc). Medical supplies here in Israel are at a critical level and apparantly, according to an article I read, especially in the way of medicines, so the work is sorely needed here. Tonight (Saturday night), they were saying that in 3 days they will run out of supplies for Renal Dialysis, and Chemotherepy will have to be delayed for most people.They say that they will run out of a lot of things in around 10 days. One incident accentuated both the situation medically and politically for us this week and that was the case of a 12 year old boy ... an Arab Christian. We had a call from the Canon of the Coventry Cathedral in UK - Andrew Whyte . He is visiting in the country here and was in Beit Jala to see this family. They are all unemployed, being Christian and under Palestinian Authority Control and the boy is an insulin dependent diabetic. They cannot afford the 30 pounds it costs for his insulin every 11 days or so and he is not doing very well, with high sugars and losing weight. Anyway we don't have Insulin, but we called around and found his particular kind at a Pharmacy here in Israll. We also were able to supply syringes. The next day we had a call from Andrew at asking Barry if he could help get him (Andrew) out of Beit Jala. He was calling from the floor of the house and was under fire. Barry went with Cedar back to his house to get the bullet proof vests and go off to try to get him out, or arrange for security forces to get him out. He had actually had little sleep, because Barry is now reporting for a Christian Station in UK and for our news outreach and had been the previous 2 night on the front line street of Gilo and got the most amazing footage of what was going on there. I would say that it was better that any BBC or CNN had gotten. 3 mortar shells had fallen in Gilo that night. So ! what can I ask you to pray for ? 1) Again, pray for the outer borders of this country and the inner borders of it's cities 2) Barry's and Cedars saftey as they move around the country both for reports and giving out aid. 3) Security for the Storehouse and it's staff from those who don't agree with who we are or what we stand for (more accurately WHO we stand for) 4) Continue to remember the plight or the Arab Christians under Palesinian Authority Control. 5) Particularly remember this 12 year old boy and his family struggling just to keep him healthy and ultimately alive. 6) The medical situation here in the Land re supplies etc. Shalom from Jerusalem and please visit again as this will be where I will put my newsletter from now on lots of love and Shalom from Jerusalem. Jenny |