GOOD NEWS!! Last December our leadership team went on a retreat where we felt the Lord confirm that the time had come to establish a women's rehabilitation center. For a long time we have had a special burden for these women who are caught in the prison of drug abuse and prostitution. Many have suffered terrible abuse. God loves them and is able to give them totally new lives! We had already been praying about this for over a year. We began looking for a facility as well as a team of female staff members. At the same time we began traveling to Tel Aviv to begin reaching out to drug addicts and prostitutes, sharing with them God's great love for them. After months of travail, I am happy to announce that we have opened the rehabilitation center for women! We will begin small with a maximum of about four women. The men at Beit Hayeshua men's center have painted the place and it looks very nice. Pray that we might receive just the right women in the beginning and that God will pour out a mighty anointing of His love and power upon the staff and "students".
An interesting story: Three weeks ago when we traveled to Tel Aviv for an outreach, we spoke to some male drug addicts, as we usually do, telling them about the center and God's power to set them free. The next week we received a call from a hostel in Jerusalem telling us that two drug addicts were asking them how to find "Beit Hayeshua". These two men had heard about us from the outreach, but had lost our phone number. They traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by faith and began asking people on the street, and even the police, how they could find our center. Finally they came to this Christian hostel who knew us. We picked them up and took them into the program. One left after two days, but the other, "Y", has remained and has already given his life to Yeshua. When he came to us he was maybe the most emaciated man we have yet received. He could only walk with another's support. He literally looked like a concentration camp survivor when he took off his shirt. He is looking totally different now. He is filling out and learning the scriptures. Praise the Lord!
Some painful experiences: Two weeks ago one of the men ("G") who had gone through the program and had also been a committed member of the congregation, called and told us that it was too difficult to walk with the Lord and he was going to return to the world. We had already discerned for some time a cooling off in his life towards God. Within a few days after his decision, he fell back into drugs. He is still in touch with us, but has not yet taken full responsibility for his actions. Pray for him that he may fully repent and be restored.
A few days ago a student in our program who had just moved to stage 2 and begun to work, announced that he desired to be more independent and was leaving the program. Despite our warnings, he did so. We have not heard from him since, but do pray that he might come to his senses. His name is "M". Please lift him up before the Lord.
Pray: Do continue to pray for Beit Hayeshua, for the Lord's mighty power and love to continue to be poured out upon these men and women. Pray also for adequate finances. This is a faith work and the women's work is adding quite a few expenses including rent, two full time salaries, food, utilities, etc. The most encouraging thing is that we see real fruit. Lives are being changed
