Last Saturday Jewish people around the world celebrated Purim.  This holiday commemorates the book of Esther from the Jewish Scriptures.  One of the things we seen in this story is that God uses improbable or unlikely people to accomplish great things.  Esther certainly was an unlikely hero.  We celebrate by reading the book of Esther or acting out the book in the form of a play.  Traditionally children and some adults come to services dressed up as Esther, Mordecai or Haman.  In recent years the Jewish community has celebrated this holiday as more of a costume party.  And pretty much anything goes.  So you could see Darth Vader posing as Haman and Sleeping Beauty as Esther.  We have even seen the Seinfeld characters acting out the play.  Our Jews for Jesus staff decided to hit the streets in two Jewish neighborhoods the last week to interact with people about Purim and unlikely heroes. 

 We asked this man, "Do you have a hero?"  This gave us opportunity to talk with people about Jesus.

When Shosh asked these kids who their hero was, they replied, "Our Dad!"  They put  his name on our board and then we took a photo of them with our board and emailed it to their Dad. 

 Here is the celebration at our congregation last week.

Please pray that those people to whom we extended 
ministry will consider the fact that Jesus who laid down his 
life for all of humanity was the greatest hero ever!

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Lucy

On Thanksgiving weekend Shoshannah met Lucy.  Lucy is the mother of Amer, one of our co-workers here in NYC. Amer and his siblings had shared the Gospel with Lucy for over 20 years.  Shoshannah challenged Lucy to take a step of faith.  They looked at Ephesians 2:8-9. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Shoshannah told me (Stewart) about the conversation.  I decided to ask Amer if I could call his mother, Amer said, “Yes!”.  After our initial phone conversation  Lucy said I could call again.  And I did.  Every week I called Lucy and answered her questions about the Messiah.  During our fifth phone visit Lucy prayed to trust Jesus as her Lord.  Was Amer excited! Me too!   Amer shared his excitement with our JFJ staff.  Amer said his mom had called everyone in the family using Facetime on her new iphone to profess her faith in Jesus.  What a great encouragement for us to not grow weary in sharing the Gospel.  I still meet with Lucy weekly for discipleship.  She is growing wonderfully.

 Here we are at the Macy's Thanksgiving Pre-parade inflation of the balloons.  We handed out Broadsides and gave away hot chocolate!

 

Eddie and Stewart at Beth Messiah

This photo is a bit blurry, but it is all we've got.  Eddie came to faith right after Hurricane Sandy.  He is reading the bible and growing in his faith.  Eddie would tell you God has answered specific prayers on his behalf.  Eddie has many challenges ahead.  Please pray for his health as he suffers from quite a list of ailments.  Also for his housing and financial needs which are great.  We are trusting God to provide everything Eddie needs.  

"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his

 glorious  riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."  Phil 4:19

To donate to Stewart and Shosh at Jews for Jesus: 
 http://bitly.com/support-stew-shosh