5/20/08

Dear Friedman family friends,

Grace and shalom in the name of our blessed Messiah Y’shua.

It is hard to believe that 1/4 of the new year is already gone. As usual, we have a lot of news to share.

In January I spent 10 days in Germany working with a new messianic congregation. This congregation was birthed out of a seminar I did in Bonn several years ago. This wonderful group of Jewish believers has a real desire to reach some of the 250,000 Jewish people now living in Germany. I look forward to continuing to work alongside these committed believers to change that nation for Messiah.

In the last 6 months I have had the opportunity to speak in 42 churches, sharing our vision for blessing and reaching the Jewish people around the world. A number of these churches have come alongside us in prayer and financial support. Thanks to these new churches and our faithful friends and supporters we have reached our goal of raising our personal budget. As of March 1st we have been cleared for full time work. �ruch Hashem”, praise the Name! We are so grateful to all of you for helping us reach this important milestone.

Our next step is relocating to Springfield, Missouri, the headquarters of the Assemblies of God. We will base the ministry of Jacob’s hope from there. We have one and possibly two missionary associates who will be working with us to establish an office in Springfield. Our goal is to get the word out to every Assemblies of God church that they now have a way to bless Jewish people around the world through an Assemblies of God ministry. I will continue to travel to churches around the country raising support for humanitarian aid and special projects.

Here are a few of our immediate goals which I will be raising funds for:
-Humanitarian aid in the form of containers of food and health care teams.
-Help to bring clean drinking water to some of the 70,000 Ethiopian Jews.
-Begin the process of seeking a site to establish a permanent humanitarian aid center in Israel.

I will also step up my schedule of overseas travel. In April I will be in Israel to begin working on the vision God has given us for the work in the Holy Land. I will travel the country to begin to formulate a plan to reach those communities not already being helped by other compassion ministries. I will also be meeting with a number of ministry leaders to determine how we can best work together. I will be presenting a preliminary proposal for this work in Israel to the head of World Missions at the end of March. The need is great, with alm ost half of the population living near or below the poverty level.

After Israel I will spend two weeks in Poland ministering in a number of churches. In May I will be back in Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid and teach in the messianic congregation in Zhitomer. Then it will be back to Israel, hopefully for an extended stay to begin the work. I am also still working on getting to Ethiopia before the end of the year to bring clean water to some of the Ethiopian Jews living in poverty and hopelessness. With your help we will at least bring them a cup of clean water in the name of Y’shua!

As you can see, our work is just beginning. There is much to be done, and we don’t know how much time we will have. The situation in Eastern Europe is becoming increasingly difficult. We really need you to pray for traveling mercies, strength, health and protection. The need is great, but it is also very near to G-d’s heart, so we go forward confident and expecting G-d to do great things.

On the home front all is well. Matt & Sara are traveling the country in their ministry with Jews for Jesus. Jesse is taking two college courses while his ship is in the yards. He is thinking of extending his enlistment, which means another deployment to the Persian Gulf. Bethany received another scholarship, which recognized her dancing ability. Adam is now a volunteer firefighter. Elisa is back to dancing, thanks to the generosity of some dear friends. Jed travels with me to churches and helps man the book table. Vixie is once again gett ing us ready to move and holding everything together.

If you have not already done so, please send your e-mail address to us at (jeff.friedman@hqmail.agmd.org) . Not only will this save us money, but we will be able to send out more frequent updates. Not that you would want to, but you can also unsubscribe this way as well.

We are so amazed at what G-d has done in our lives and ministry in less than a year. We are looking forward with great excitement and anticipation to what He will accomplish this year as well. He accomplishes so much through you, our faithful family and friends, who believe in this work we are doing. We pray G-d’s blessings, strength and protection for each one of you reading this letter. For each family, church and individual, thank you! We love you all so much and can never thank you enough for all you have meant to us, and to Jewish people around the world.

For the redemption of Israel,

Jeff, Vixie, Matthew, Sara, Jesse, Bethany, Adam, Elisa, & Jedidiah