Letter From Emily 12/30/23

Shalom Good Hope Family Fellowship,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a wonderful and refreshing Christmas season. 

December may be my favorite month so far. What that truly means, I believe, is that this Zealous Project and all the opportunities it provides gets better and better.

December in Jerusalem:

Back in mid to late November, you’ll notice donuts (or suffganiyot) showing up in all the bakeries. That is when you know the time of Hanukkah is arriving. It’s tradition to have food cooked in oil during Hanukkah in remembrance of the oil for the Shabbat candles that by a miracle lasted 8 days, enough time for the Maccabees to make more oil. (Feel free to look up more of the story of the history of Hanukkah for yourself.) That is why donuts, along with what’s similar to a hashbrown patty are served at most Hanukkah meals. You’ll also see all the Hanukiahs lit up in all the windows as you walk the streets of Jerusalem. 

For me, the Hanukkah celebration was a reminder of the light Yeshua brings along with how we carry that light of the Gospel to others. Not only that, but for those who already know the Gospel, specifically my team members, we carry each other. At times, one of us will be struggling to keep the light burning, but praise God He gave us community. On days like those, each team member has at least the six other people on this project to burn bright and steady. And it’s the same for this church. You carry each other’s burdens and worship and pray with and for each other. Thank you guys for being the Church. For being the community that has prayed on my behalf and Israel’s.

Within the first week of this month I had the opportunity to help deliver our Feed a Child packages to several schools in Jerusalem. People from all over the world can choose to support a child in Israel through Bridges for Peace so that the child is guaranteed a lunch, school supplies and even extra curricular activities. We also deliver birthday baskets, which is what I got to do on this particular occasion. At one of the schools, the children I met were between 1st and 3rd grade. One of the boys had on a dog tag and distanced himself from the group. We were told that both of his parents had been at the music festival on October 7th and were killed. I can’t even begin to imagine that kind of pain and heartbreak. Please pray specifically for the children who have lost their parents or have parents fighting right now. And thank you for supporting me so that I had the privilege of bringing birthday baskets (and suffganiyot) to these kids.

The rest of this month has been filled with Bible studies, Christmas parties, FaceTimes back home, day-trips outside of Jerusalem (safely, of course), and lots of fellowship.

Praise God for His abundant grace and the answered prayers! 

Blessings,

Emily