1/4/2010

Dear Friends of the Friedman family and Jacob’s Hope,

Grace and shalom in the wonderful name of our Messiah. We hope and pray this finds you well and enjoying the blessings of the Lord in this new year.

The last 3 months of 2009 were busy and filled with opportunity. In October I had eight services scheduled in Pennsylvania. It is always a blessing to be back in my home district. The churches received us warmly. More importantly, they received the message of the need to bless the Jewish people and reach them for their Messiah.

In November I spent three weeks in eastern Europe, first in Poland and then in Ukraine. I had the opportunity to speak in five churches. I also spoke to several hundred public school students in Poland about anti Semitism. In Ukraine I worked with two Messianic congregations. The feeding program in Simferopol, Ukraine has blessed hundreds of needy Jewish families with food parcels. I had the privilege of meeting with a number of elderly Holocaust survivors and sharing the love of Messiah in word and deed. Thanks to your generosity hundreds of Jewish people have been blessed. We were also able to buy a sound system for the congregation in Simferopol to help them better reach their community. We will continue to work with these Jewish communities to develop plans to better the lives of these impoverished Jewish people

Jeff and Tammy Coose, our new team members, continue their itineration. We are hoping to have them on board in six months. Please pray that they will be able to schedule enough services and raise enough funds to free them for full time work with Jacob’s Hope. Their expertise will help us better minister to Russian speaking Jewish people throughout the former Soviet Union and in Israel.

The work in Israel continues to progress. We now have distribution centers located in the cities of Karmiel, Ashdod, and Tel Aviv. Please check out the Jacob’s Hope website at www.jacobshope.com for the latest news from Israel. The website is linked to the blog from our team in Israel. Along with the latest news there are some pictures of the work.

The city government of Eilat, Israel has offered us a large building rent free for ten years! This space is large enough for humanitarian aid distribution, a job training center, and a coffee house for evangelism. In order to get this building from the government we must renovate it. The estimated cost of this project is $25,000 dollars. If you or your church is interested in helping with this project please let us know.

The cost to run a center in Israel is approximately $2,500 dollars per month. This covers rent, utilities, food and other goods to be distributed. This would also provide a place where job training can be accomplished. More importantly each new center provides an opportunity to present the Gospel where none existed before. Perhaps you or your church would consider adopting a Jacob’s Hope center in Israel. These centers can touch the lives of hundreds of Jewish people every month.

December was spent catching up on paperwork and all of those wonderful end of year reports, along with finalizing our state side and over seas travel schedule for 2010. If you would like to have a Jacob’s Hope team member come to your church and give an update on what God is doing among the Jewish people please give us a call.

I am preparing to spend the month of February in Ethiopia. I will be teaching two classes at the Bible college in Addis Abbaba. Pray that God would raise up workers for the Jewish harvest in Ethiopia. I will also be working with the local church to see how together we can better reach the Jewish community and I will be working with the Jewish community to see what further projects we can accomplish to improve the lives of these desperately needy Jewish people.

On the home front, Matt & Sara had a fruitful time of ministry in Israel and are back to the ministry in L.A. Pray for Matt as he has been hit with a virus that has really taken its toll on his strength. Jesse has finished his first semester at Temple University and has quickly adapted back to civilian life. Bethany has one more semester at U. of Arts. She is working, in school and still dancing with Philadanco. Adam is loving his automotive tech school, He is working and going to school full time. Elisa and Jed had two of their best friends spend a month with us. Their family, dear friends from Pennsylvania, are moving to this area. What a blessing for all of us. Vixie is working part time as a medical oncology nurse. She is teaching Classical Conversation classes and helps me with the ministry. She is indeed a “Proverbs 31” woman. “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her.”

I look back at 2009 and I am amazed. Thanks to you we are moving forward. Thanks to you, the dream is becoming a reality. May God bless you for your love and concern for the Jewish people of the world.

For Jacob’s children,

The Friedmans

Jeff, Vixie, Matt, Sara, Jesse, Bethany, Adam, Elisa and Jed