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Cry for help from Israel

In the last week of October we received a cry for help from Israel. A soldier asked for donations in kind - money was not needed because many things are no longer available there or are very difficult to buy. In the following 2 weeks we prayed, discussed and reflected a lot. So God was able to shape and sort this relief effort piece by piece, but also purify it. In prayer the impression came that we should buy donations in kind for €10,000 and bring them personally to Israel. By post it would be very uncertain whether and when the shipment would arrive.

Donation level: €8,000

Now all the things are there, sorted and vacuum packed (to reduce volume, so you get almost 23kg in a 40/40/60 box) and packed in 7 boxes. 8 boxes are booked because a few more things were added by God's providence. The above-mentioned soldier will pick up some of the things at the airport, we will take the other part to Alexander Dietze to Galilee and distribute the things with him. We can stay overnight at Christa Behr. We are also allowed to use your car. God has provided for everything!!

We will bring the following relief goods to Israel: 200 hats, 330 pairs of socks, 400 pairs of gloves, 300 pairs of gloves "without fingertips", 450 scarves (loops), 70 thermal shirts, 33 "war-suitable" Casio watches. There are also a number of power bank hand warmers, power banks, protein bars, chargers, head lamps and duct tape. With these things we fill the boxes up to 23kg so as not to waste any free space.

Donation level: 9,000€

Birk and Samuel are in Israel and experience miracle after miracle. (More in the next section.)

Reisebericht

As planned, we set off on Saturday, September 16th, 2023, at 3°C, to bring the aid shipment to Israel. In the morning, at half past eight, we, Samuel and Birk, started from Königswalde, arrived safely in Prague, filled our luggage carts with the large boxes and walked towards EL AL.

During the usual security checks, the officials discovered that the 26 power banks we had brought with us were not allowed to be taken with us, only 2 per person in hand luggage! The officials regretted their legal regulations, one said that he might fly home in the evening and bring two more pieces with him…. In the end we took the power banks out of our boxes; we would get them back in Prague after the flight back. The rest of the procedure went without incident, the officials were very courteous and friendly.

We were waiting to board when suddenly one of the officers from security came with a big grin with a large tray and our power banks!

We were allowed to take everything with us in our hand luggage! God is good and full of humor!

The flight went smoothly and we landed in Tel Aviv around 3:15 p.m. (20°C). The inspection there gave us new insights into how our relief goods must be correctly declared in order to import them into Israel duty-free. We had researched in advance, but didn't receive any precise information; there were no problems in Prague either!

God has placed Pini at our side at the right time, the man with the cry for help!

He came with a sign “Mister Samuel” and took care of the customs formalities for us, so that we only spent about an hour there (others had already been waiting for 3 hours before us and were slightly annoyed). Andreas from Tübingen was also waiting for us outside. We brought the agreed 3 boxes to Pini's car, said goodbye warmly and then got into Andreas' car with our boxes and drove to Christa Behr in Jerusalem. Christa had just had her birthday guests sitting in the living room, we were warmly greeted and immediately invited to dinner! After a full day, we went to bed around 10:30 p.m.

Friday started at 5:30 a.m. After breakfast we drove from Christa in a car for about 1.5 hours to Galilee on the Sea of Galilee to Alexander Dietze and his family.

In the summery 25° we sat on the terrace and held a briefing.

Alexander serves Holocaust survivors and also has good connections with the IDF and supports the soldiers as best he can and we became a part of this service along the way. Alexander has local support from David, a young man from Lichtenstein/Chemnitz (we Saxons are really everywhere).

We drove to the Alexander relief goods warehouse and put together the things we needed and loaded them into the car. A big wish of the soldiers was to finally have a real Shabbat meal again! Alexander organized a catering service that prepared food for 125 soldiers. We were still in the supermarket and got salad, cucumbers, hummus and drinks at a gas station, loaded everything up and then set off for the Golan.

We were allowed to drive to the base, were warmly welcomed by the soldiers, handed over relief supplies and Shabbat food and were treated to laughter and friendliness! We started talking to the soldiers, all "normal" people, who didn't choose the soldier's life! One is a farmer, another is a software engineer, a family man... everyone has better things to do! We sang and drank coffee together. We were allowed into a mortar tank - absolutely ambivalent! Where we were was not a museum, but the harsh reality, real working tanks that, if necessary, bring death and ruin....

When an alarm message came over the radio, it was time for us to leave the boys.

We were warmly greeted and then drove back to Alexander and were invited to a Shabbat celebration. The children had set the table festively and we were taken into the mystery of Shabbat.

Richly gifted with God's love, a heart full of thoughts about what we had experienced and gratitude, we drove back to Jerusalem. On the way we noticed abandoned cars on the side of the road, just cars, no people... Later we found out via the warning app that there had been a rocket alarm there, we hadn't noticed anything and had arrived safely... Praise and thank God! The evening was filled with conversation in rade-breaking English (Birk) with the volunteers at Christa's, Samuel went for a run... Then we went to bed.

On Shabbat morning everything was quiet. After breakfast we set off for the messianic service in Christchurch, Jerusalem. 3H service in Hebrew with an English man in your ear! So it's a huge advantage if you can read and understand the Bible in the original language! After lunch (2:30 p.m.) at Christa's, we said goodbye to our host, she wanted to look at her house in the north.

We had agreed that we would hand over her car to Andreas from Tübingen and then take the bus to Ashkelon, where Pini had invited us. We set off and were just familiarizing ourselves with Israel's public transport system when we got a call from Pini. He explained to us that we had no chance of meeting the soldiers and that we would spend 2 hours on the road just to drink coffee with him and then need 3 hours the next day to get from him at home to the airport in Tel Aviv.

We were a little sad, but we realized that this time it wasn't our place to go to Pini's. We spontaneously decided to go back to Christa's, there was a bed for us and we helped the volunteer to put things in order and then spent the evening with praise and prayer. And we welcomed the 3 newly arrived guests...

Sunday morning began with us making breakfast for the guests who had arrived. We all had breakfast together and noticed how in God's spirit we were allowed to have fellowship with brothers and sisters. We then said goodbye to Judith (volunteer) and drove to the Old City of Jerusalem with our new brothers.

Peter, one of the 3, worked as a tour guide in Jerusalem, so we got a free guide who knew his way around and guided us! An empty Jerusalem Old City!

No crowds! WOW! We prayed at the Western Wall and Peter was able to show and explain a lot of things to us. At the big menorah we met a family from Australia, with their 4 children, 17 hour flight! It turned out that the man is a pastor. The mission: To bring families together in times when families are being torn apart in Israel! God's ways!

The time came to say goodbye, both to our 3 brothers and to the pastor's family. We blessed each other and then went our separate ways, knowing that we are never alone and that God has wonderful ways!

We still had time for lunch and then went to the Jewish quarter.

There we met a Jewish artist who paints biblical pictures. We started talking to him and he explained to us how he paints: Some pictures come to him in dreams, some he simply sees in his mind! HE paints and afterwards it turns out that they are biblical stories and truths, such as Isaiah 53, the lion and the lamb!

It was slowly time to go to Tel Aviv. So we got on the bus and then the train to Tel Aviv. We got there on time and everything else was routine. We sat on the plane relaxed but pretty exhausted.

When we arrived in Prague, “our” Israeli customs officer (with the power banks) greeted us on the plane and asked with a laugh if everything went well! Like a good friend!

Conclusion

We set off and ran because God called us and said: Hineni! Here I am! Show us what YOU want!
... how Peter walked on the water in the boat to Jesus ...

Then we were faced with challenges and like Peter we learned to swim in cold water!

Throughout the whole thing, we always felt how God held his hands over us, how our brothers and sisters accompanied us in prayer!

HE gave us encounters with people who serve God with their hearts, HE made connections and put the puzzle pieces together so that there is a wonderful overall picture!

In the end we feel gifted and blessed to give gifts and bless those who set out...

All Glory to God!

What came of it?

We can see how our action can bear fruit.