The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity for me. I have begun taking Hebrew lessons, signed up for Arabic lessons, started rehearsals with a local choir to perform Handel's Messiah in Hebrew, and started teaching a course on History, Geography and World Religion at NETS. Meanwhile I'm trying to keep my head above water with my job at NETS, my second job as a nanny and the work we have with our new ministry, SALAM. It has been a challenge, but the Lord has been blessing us in so many ways. There have been so many things over the past few weeks that have served as a reinforcement to the fact that God is indeed in control and He is using us to accomplish His will, even when we feel worthless and useless.

My work at NETS continues on only part-time due to lack of available funds and it was because of this that I took a second job as a nanny. During the week I pick up Yasmeen, a 10 year old Arab girl, from school and I spend 4 or 5 hours with her until her mother gets home, at which time I babysit her twin brother and sister (two year olds) for another 3 hours while the mother runs errands. My time with Yasmeen, which I approached as just another job, has turned into a beautiful opportunity to share the love of Christ. From the beginning, I prayed with her at mealtimes and it wasn't long before she asked to say the prayer. She is from a Catholic background and reveled in praying non-memorized prayers. She began wanting to pray throughout the day. I took opportunities at holidays like Christmas to tell the Christmas story by drawing it and creating booklets. I taught her "Jesus Loves Me" with the sign language and she adored it and hurried to teach her brother and sister.

We spoke about the Bible, and Yasmeen, who is learning English through her time with me, asked me one day after listening to a Christian song, "what does the word glory mean?" I struggled to explain the meaning of this word from my limited Arabic to her limited English and finally settled on a description of a person bowing in front of a king, because the king was glorious. But that seemed less than satisfactory. I contemplated the meaning for days afterward. We exist to bring glory to God. The reason for our very existence can be found in an understanding of this word. I resolved to do a better job explaining things to Yasmeen. When I was helping her make her bed a while later, I discovered her Bible underneath the pillow. When I questioned her about it she confided in me that she enjoyed reading it at night and we began talking about our favorite Bible stories.

Then I realized: I didn't need to worry about explaining the glory of God to this child. The Holy Spirit was already at work in her life in ways I couldn't begin to imagine. I was merely the catalyst. And beyond that, she was a catalyst in my own life. How else would I have been persuaded to spend days contemplating the glory of God?

 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens. 

 From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise

Psalm 8:1-2a

 

The past month has been a busy time, both at work and school. We have had a lot of tour groups at the Village, which has given me chances to share my testimony with a lot of new people. Along with sharing my testimony I have been able to share about the Arab Christians here in the Holy Land. Many people had never heard about Arab Christians and had a lot of questions for me. I have loved meeting all the new people, something about my job that I really enjoy.

My studies at seminary are going well, but working on my papers is sometimes difficult. I will have to choose a topic for my thesis paper next year and that will take a lot of work. We are approaching the holiday for Passover/Easter and I am looking forward to spending time with my wife and enjoying this special time. I am very grateful to all of you for your prayers and support!

·We're thankful that we've found a house to rent beginning in July. We will be taking over the rent of an American missionary couple who must leave on furlough for one year. The home is in our current neighborhood, close to NETS and has plenty of room and the rent is affordable.

·We're thankful for the prayers and financial support of our friends and family members who have gone out of their way to assist us.

·  We're very thankful that Hannah has received a full Israeli working visa and is now awaiting temporary resident status.