Oded & Bimini Cohen

We thank you ever so much for checking our Blog! We will complete it next week!

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Rays of Sun shining through a Cloudy Day

Cranes

Farms and Greenery

Oded shares the Gospel in Spanish!

Sharing with two Muslim friends

 

"Well, why don't you read it for yourself?"

"I know he is one of the prophets."

Sarah sharing her faith in Hebrew!

"I hope what you're saying is true....."

"He claimed to be your Messiah!"

 

"Okay, I'll read it."

"Would you like one?"

'Shalom!'

"Did you know that Jesus claimed to be your Messiah?"

Bimini and Sarah

"I grew up Orthodox...."

Sarah somewhat ignored....

An Afternoon Break from the rains to take a little 'Day Trip'

Caloniot, wildflowers blooming in Israel

Lovely reds, purples, and pinks.

http://www.wildflowers.co.il/english/

 

Oded and Victor (who comes with his mom to our Home Group)

Looking for Turtles on the Alexander River

 

Photo by Yochai Corem, courtesy of

http://www.tiuli.com/track_info.asp?lng=eng&track_id=102#843

A Little Day Trip with Friends....

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph. 1:3)

With our Love and Thanks!

Please know how deeply thankful we are for your precious prayers and support-- especially for those of you who follow our Blog closely. It truly makes all the difference.

May our Lord God Almighty draw you and all those you love ever nearer to Him this new year; May He envelop you with His love, joy, and strength every moment of every day, flooding your lives with His sweet and delightful presence. May your new year be marked by many answered prayers, and may you be abundantly blessed with good health, solid finances, and God's salvation poured out upon all those you love. Our God is faithful!

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Cor. 1:20-22)

Oded:

A Listening, Tender-Hearted Mother

I have been meeting with 'Avi' for about a year. He is not particularly teachable and he tends to be quite needy, at times calling several of us JFJ staff missionaries in one week. However, I continue to meet with him at his home because his parents, (especially his mother), listen each time I come to teach. The other week, his mother asked a simple question: "Why does everyone hate Y'shua so much? What did he ever do to them?"

I shared the Gospel with the three of them, explaining how it was ordained by God for Jesus to suffer and die as a guilt offering and atonement for our sins. I then slowly read Isaiah 53, helping them to see why God requires a blood sacrifice for our sins. (The older Biblical Hebrew is a bit difficult for them to understand).

As we looked at Isaiah 53, 'Avi's' mother sympathetically exclaimed with a pained look on her face: "But why? Why? Why did they do that to him? Poor man!" At the same time, her husband asked, “But, Oded, explain to me who is this person that all this happened to."

I said, "Wait, Wait. Let me finish and you tell me who it sounds like. I would like you to tell me." The wife quickly responded, “Of course, it’s already clear to me—it’s Yeshua, but why? Why? Why did they have to do it to him?” She then made some rather sharp and critical comments against the religious people.

We continued to discuss the matter and I explained the Gospel more thoroughly to them. Please pray for the Lord God to work in this family's hearts.

God's Mercies upon a Former Anti-Missionary!

I received a call at the office from an Israeli man who said he is not sure if anyone might be able to help him, but many years ago, he received books, videos, and literature from us. He read everything and now wants to convert to Christianity. He said that he believes that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, but he has never been discipled. In fact, he became ultra Orthodox as a teenager for several years and there was a time when he even volunteered with the anti-missionary group, Yad LaAchim. But once he began researching the truth for himself and believing in Jesus, Yad LaAchim expelled him from the organization. He now has certain personal struggles, but apart from that, he seems to have a sincere faith that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. Please pray for him to come into the newness of life that God has for him and that he will grow in his faith as I and a pastor friend disciple him. (He does not live nearby.)

So Happy and Thankful to Read the Scriptures in Hungarian!

I met with ‘Eliezer’ twice. He is in his mid-80’s. He has very little Bible knowledge, so he really enjoys reading the Bible with me. Even the most basic and well known Bible stories are only somewhat familiar to him. His original language is Hungarian, so when I printed the Scriptures in Hungarian for him, he said with great excitement, "Oh! Wow! Now I can read it! Now I see!" (The Biblical Hebrew is too frustrating and intimidating for him to grasp.) Reading the Scriptures in his own native language made a world of difference! We are currently looking at the origin of sin in Genesis. We also talked about forgiveness because many wrongs have been committed against him. He is so eager to learn and looks forward to our meetings.

'David' has health challenges

Please keep 'David' in your prayers. He is the well known attorney who is a new believer. He has a growth in his throat, which thankfully, is not malignant, but he is undergoing many tests and treatments to resolve this health issue, so we haven't been able to meet for awhile.

 

Bimini:

A Good Beginning of this New Year: God's help and favor with my citizenship process!

On New Year's day, I received a wonderful present from God-- my Israeli identity card! This is another major step in my receiving Israeli citizenship, a process that takes a total of 5 years. The Lord's goodness and favor is so evident-- we were not even interviewed at all, unlike the usual practice which is to interview couples separately and ask such personal questions as, "What is his or her favorite food?" to see if the answers match. We are assigned to a very nice woman who is handling our case so smoothly, thanks be to God.

A few personal goals for this new year: to continue growing in my Hebrew language skills; to learn how to drive places without the help of the GPS, to exercise daily, including stretching.

'Miri' doing well!

I had not seen 'Miri' since September. She has been released from the Army, but is now working full time and was busy with classes in the evening to prepare for her pre-university exams. When we saw one another last week, we hugged for a long time, like long-lost friends. We are both eager to resume our Bible studies-- We will continue going through the Book of Acts so she might see and understand how Jewish it is to believe in Jesus. (We already completed the Book of Matthew.) Please pray for her to come into a full understanding and saving knowledge of who Jesus is-- as her Messiah and King of Israel, the Lord and Savior of the World.

A Bit Frustrating

Even though I continue meeting regularly with 'Tami', she is not a very good listener. She is drawn to Jesus but does not have a teachable spirit. She argues with me on moot points. Please pray for a breakthrough and revelation from God. Please also pray for a few more English speakers for me to disciple.

Family Issues: Update on Zahava

In late December, the doctors again told Oded's sister in law Zahava (who has been battling aggressive stomach cancer for the past 14 months), that she had maybe only a few days to a couple of weeks to live. (Fourteen months ago, the dim prognosis was also few weeks to live as well, so God's hand is certainly upon her life. Thank you for praying!) We saw her last week. She is very thin and weak. Even though we didn't have much of an opportunity to share with her, (there was a steady stream of her family members visiting), I softly whispered in her ear, "Jesus loves you and He offers forgiveness of sins. Whoever comes to Him, He will not turn away."  However, she has clearly heard the Gospel from us on other occasions. She grew up in a religious home and has believed in God since she was a child. This sad situation has caused Oded's family to ask certain questions, such as, "Why are we born, just to die?" and "Where do we go after we die?" Thank you for your prayers for this young mother of 3.

Oded's Mom also needs prayers...

Next week, Oded's mom Dalia will begin 'biological chemotherapy' for a chronic form of leukemia that is not immediately life threatening. She hasn't been feeling so well and has traveled far north each week to help with Zahava and Yoav's three young children. Oded and I will go with her to the hospital for her 5 hour chemotherapy treatment. Please pray for Mom Dalia's salvation and healing.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU ARE TO US!  We cherish your presence in our lives!

Sortie on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv: "And what is your address?"

This woman is interested enough to read a book about our Lord Jesus! Please pray for her and all those we captured in our photos: that the Lord might capture their hearts and draw them into His Kingdom through faith in our Messiah Jesus.

"He even rose from the dead to prove Himself!"

"His first followers were all Jewish."

 

 

 

 

"Lo todah." (No thanks.)

 

"It's about your Messiah."

"I was surprised myself-- it is all in our Scriptures!"

Street Sculptures (from recycled water bottles)

St

"The Prophets foretold Messiah's coming."

Willing to hear more.....

Oded shares his faith in Spanish....

When this religious Jewish man noticed our tee shirts, he started complaining loudly in Hebrew about our being there. Then he began speaking angrily to Oded in Spanish, his native tongue. Perhaps he was a bit surprised when Oded began sharing the Gospel with him in Spanish! (Oded learned Portuguese/Spanish when he traveled throughout South America with a backpack for a year following his army service.) This only enraged him more, so that he began yelling loudly, "Go to the Vatican and the Palestinians to share with them instead!" (This photo might look like Oded was running away, but Oded was merely disengaging from this angry man as he began to share with others.)

Oded teaching an Apologetics Class to JFJ Staff Missionary Trainees Yulia and Avigail

We are so happy for Yulia and Avigail because they passed their finals last week, so they have now completed their first semester of training. Training is a full year, so they are half way through! Please pray for the Lord to bless their service, as well as the second half of their training, which is more practical and not as intense scholastically. They both did exceptionally well.

Oded also taught an apologetics class to a group of believers, including a couple of pastors and some elders, at a congregation who has a burden to reach their community. They appreciated it very much and they also hope that Oded might come again to share further. Oded has been sharpened in this particular area of apologetics because of his experience of witnessing online in various chat rooms, debating rabbis and anti-missionaries, and sharing with those who are curious.

A Hannukah Party for the Children