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Alan Buterworth Family Update
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Newsletters - click "Get Resource" to see complete PDF version with photos and more
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Entries from
September 2006
September 2006 Newsletter
Friday, September 01, 2006 :: 678 Views :: Newsletter
TO LIFE - L'CHAIM - by Alan Butterworth
Are you familiar with the musical “Fiddler on the Roof”? The 5th
song is: “To Life”. In Hebrew, it is l’chaim! It is a joyous toast.
We just finished our third Apple outreach this year, this time in
Russia. The highlight of the outreach for me was a divine appointment
with Chaim, a Jewish man!
Igor Barbanel, leader of the Odessa, Ukraine branch of Jews for
Jesus, and I were standing at a busy subway station at the Technology
Institute in St. Petersburg. Igor asked Chaim what he thought of
Jesus. He said he was Jewish and didn’t know much about Jesus.
Igor introduced me to Chaim and translated.
When we got to Moscow, we were not able to do street ministry because of concerns
by the Ingrian church and LCMS Missions staff about a new law. So we prayed at four
synagogues. At the first, a Russian Jewish believer introduced himself to Marilyn.
Soon several of us were talking about Messiah with his Orthodox Israeli friends from
Haifa! They asked for a copy of the picture we took of them! Pray that as we follow
up, the Holy Spirit draws them to faith!
Not far from the second synagogue is a statue of Sholom Aleichem, a Russian Jewish
writer. His stories are the basis for Fiddler on the Roof!
The last day, we visited a very large Orthodox Synagogue. Kevin asked me what they
believe about the Messiah. I suggested we ask the man who was praying there.
The Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Ha Shannah and
Yom Kippur occur at the end of September and early
October this year. The first night of the new year,
5767, begins on September 23rd, Saturday, at sundown.
HOW IS JAN COHEN DOING??
I am thankful for the many kind inquiries as to how Jan is
doing in her battle with Huntington’s Disease. She stayed
home during my trip to Norway with the assistance of
Elizabeth, our 17 year-old daughter, Terrie and Carmie,
two regular helpers and caring family members from the
Aschers in Moscow Mills. When I returned, she had been
well cared for and seemed to really enjoy having others
about.
Jan continues to lose ground, and even getting around is
hard. She seldom leaves the house these days, but she
keeps an eye on the world through TV news and following
her favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, during
their up and down season.
Recently we had a visit from The Liberated Wailing Wall,
the music team of Jews For Jesus.
Third International Lutheran Conference on
Jewish Evangelism Convened in Norway
By Steve Cohen
As a follow-up to the first conference in Israel in 2001 and Helsinki in 2003; the third conference for Lutheran
workers in Jewish missions convened August 14-17 near Stavanger – about 600 kilometers west of Oslo. Steve Cohen &
Rolf Heitmann, General Secretary of Norwegion Church Mission to Israel (“NCMI”), worked on the planning. The
meeting took place at Strandleiren Misjonssenter in Sola just outside of Stavanger on the coast of the North Sea. This is a
retreat center which was originally built by a Chinese missionary as a place to tell Christian children about missions.
Participants came from Norway, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, and the USA. A report was presented in
writing from Rev. Charles Klingensmith, who lives in Japan, but was unable to attend in person.
One of the participants, Haavard Kleppe, shared with us one evening the time he attended the center when he was
nine years old and heard a mission speaker who challenged those presenton to consider how they were going to invest their
lives, for themselves and for God’s kingdom. That challenge led to a life of service, including mission work among the
Jewish people.
My prayer is that, like Paul, your heart’s desire is to
reach as many lost people, Jewish and Gentile, as
possible.
Do you remember the scene in
Schindler’s List when the War ended? Oscar
Schindler begins weeping because he still had his gold
ring. “I could have sold this ring to buy freedom for one
more Jewish person.” Will you pray about partnering
with us to do more to save Jewish people for all
eternity?
I challenge you to prayerfully consider becoming a
ministry partner. If you commit to regularly pray for
my ministry, and make a monthly gift of $50, $75, $100
or some other amount, I will have more time to devote
to reaching the lost.
Let me close with a true story. Jerome was a CEO and
very successful. But he had very few friends. Richard,
a Gentile Christian, was one of the few people he
trusted with the news that his cancer was no longer
treatable. Richard and I talked about how he might
share the Gospel with Jerome. We prayed. But before
he died, Jerome did not give any indication that he
confessed faith in Jesus.
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