ISRAEL REPORT FROM BETHLEHEM
Ben Peters
Feb 22, 2008

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

My apologies for not writing sooner. We have had an intense and eventful time in Israel. With a good representation from Chicago and friends from many places, we have witnessed a miracle in progress. We did not come to vacation or tour. We came with a mandate to bring what we have of Jesus to the Christians, Muslims and Jews in this land.

It has not been an easy journey. We have been involved in significant warfare and the Father's House has had to deal with various attacks over the last month or two. This is a place that is being fought over by many forces, natural and spiritual. Several have been quite sick. Brenda has been down the last couple of days and is on antibiotics, etc.

Our time did begin with three days of touring some sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Dead Sea region. The weather was not great, but we learned much and felt the burden for the people of the land. Then the main part of the mission began.

Under the leadership of Lisa and Vance of the Father's House, we helped feed and provide a party atmosphere for well over a thousand Palestinian refugee children on three or four separate days. We had amazing freedom to share the gospel with the children. In addition we served about two hundred, fifty widows a bag full of groceries. Many more people will be fed in the following weeks.

Most of the funding came from Georgian Banov's ministry. Georgian has such a heart for reaching people through feeding and playing lively music on his violin. Along with the above, we began the historic Bethlehem conference with a feast in a wedding banquet hall, where we fed hundreds of people a nice mid-eastern meal, including chicken and pita bread.

A group of Christians from Gaza attended. One of their family had been killed because he wouldn't close his Christian bookstore in Gaza. The family fled to Bethlehem where they are laying low until God opens a door for them to leave the area. Lisa wants to bring them to Kentucky.

The conference speakers included, Che Ahn, David Herzog, Georgian Banov and John Crowder. Most of the speakers brought large teams who came to be a part of the historic event. The conference brought many Arab Christians together with many pilgrims from all over the world. It was a very interesting time. There were several Arabs that responded to a call for salvation and there were many great testimonies of healings as well. We don't think anything like this has ever been accomplished in the west bank region before, especially in Bethlehem.

After three days of conference in Bethlehem, the team moved to Jerusalem and they had some great meetings there. God's eyes are on this region and we are glad to have a part in it. God told me that we were coming to bring a transfer of spiritual wealth to the people and the region that had given it to us in the first place. What would be have without the historic events in Bethlehem and Jerusalem?

In a few hours we get up at 2:45 AM to drive to Tel Aviv to catch our flight home. We carry a new burden for this land and for the faithful workers who live here.

I need to get this off before I lose it. We look forward to seeing many of you in the next little while. After we get home I'll try to catch you up on what else is going on and what is coming down the road. The future is truly exciting.

God bless you all,

Ben, Brenda, family and team