Our Faithful God

Dear Friend,

I hope that you are enjoying celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace. As we prepare to celebrate His birth, we confront daily reminders of the heavy price being paid to secure our nation and take comfort in the hope of His return. While none of the young men or women at Beit Eliyahu have become casualties, most have experienced the loss of friends. There have been casualties among the families of believers from other congregations. Our prayer alerts and prayer meeting bring these to our attention daily.

For our family, the loss of Dasha pervades our daily life. The constant attention to war casualties and the plight of the hostages simply keeps the loss in focus. This past week we escaped for the Hanukkah vacation to enjoy a taste of a ‘real’ winter in Romania. Roni fondly remembered our family trip in 2019 and has asked to see snow many times since the summer. Leeya’s passport needed to be renewed and the uncertainties with the war caused us to just wait with the idea.

We got an appointment to renew her passport as soon as the government offices reopened – about 3 weeks after the war started. The new passport arrived about ten days before the start of Hanukkah! Only Israeli airlines are flying, so that limited our destinations. We were also concerned about the rising antisemitism that has blossomed in much of Europe. And then, there was the issue of cost.

Heidi and I were in Romania on a short-term mission's project in 1986 and had visited the mountains there. That was a very different time, but we recognized that it would be a great choice for the grandgirls and would give them a nice winter experience. They enjoyed opportunities to have snowball fights, go sledding, ice skating and visit the Christmas markets in a couple of the cities. We saw a royal castle where we had the opportunity to see how kings and queens used to live. They really enjoyed the time.

Museum of Senses - Bucharest

But while we escaped from the war for a while, there were reminders that mom was missing and times of tears and mourning. Leeya is especially expressive of her grief, but all three of the girls have their moments when they clearly miss Dasha. During those times they need hugs, prayers and some time to just cuddle in. Heidi’s and my bed is still often crowed in the middle of the night with the addition of a little girl.

Heidi and I miss Dasha very much as well. November 15th was Roni’s first birthday without her mom. We missed her mom’s creativity in planning the party and Josiah’s ability to organize group games for the children. We missed two of our loved children’s presence. Thanksgiving was the first time in over 15 years that Dasha wasn’t there to add her special sense of joy and thankfulness. And we were poignantly reminded that she first came to us as a 10th grader just before Thanksgiving all those years ago. We are very aware that our upcoming celebration of the birth of the Messiah will entail even more grief with the conspicuous absence of their mother and father.

Our Thanksgiving was much smaller this year due to the limited emotional strength we have to connect meaningfully with others. It included 18 people; the guest were friends of Hannah and Noah. It was a very good time and we were able to connect with them and share our faith. But it was also very exhausting. In light of that, we’ve decided not to hold our traditional Christmas party this year. We recognize the priority of reflecting and focusing on our own emotional and spiritual state in order to be able to serve others over the long-haul.

In Poiana Brashov

Many of my thoughts deal with Josiah and my emotional response to him. As the contact person, I hear from him almost every day. These past months I’ve reflected on how much I love him and still see those qualities I appreciate in him as the son I’ve always known. But at the same time I’m appalled, angry and confused by the fact that he took Dasha’s life. I expressed my emotional confusion to Heidi by saying, “He doesn’t deserve grace!”

Indeed! No one deserves grace. My heart’s cry finds itself confronted with the recognition that any kindness, love or forgiveness is undeserved. Grace – that’s what I’ve received. It’s what Josiah is receiving. My sin is as great as his in the Lord’s eyes. My heart finds this hard to accept – breaking my heart, humbling and emotionally challenging me.

Over the past months I’ve been meeting with Idan, a young man and new believer, for basic follow-up. This past Friday, Shmuel and I met with him to discuss his request to be baptized. After hearing his heart and explaining to him baptism’s meaning, we set it up for this Friday afternoon. On the ride home, I talked with him about his family and how they feel about his decision. I encouraged him to share his decision with them, especially with his mother since he felt she would be most concerned and potentially upset.

Idan spoke with his family. And this past Shabbat his mother came to our worship service with him to check us out! The message was titled, “On What do I Meditate?”, and was based on Jeremiah 17:8. It spoke to her heart’s needs. She meet and was able speak at length with a several people. Idan is very concerned for his family’s salvation and was so excited to see how the Lord honored his step of faith in speaking with his mother.

Please continue to pray for us and our ministry, asking the Lord to:

• Keep our eyes focused on His undeserved grace, rejoicing in the mercy shown us in giving us His Son to heal our hearts which are scarred by sin.

• Focus us on the opportunities which He has ordained for us at this point of time in our journey so that our energy will be used for those to whom He is calling us to serve.

• Direct us and our granddaughters’ hearts to seek the Lord and His comfort as we grieve the loss of their parents together.

• Grow Idan’s faith and obedience so that he would become a mature believer in Yeshua the Messiah and a witness to his family.

We are so grateful for your faithfulness in praying for us even when time has passed since last hearing from us. As we rejoice in the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send His Messiah during this season, we lift you up in thankfulness for your partnership with us in this ministry.

Yours in the Messiah,

Phil and Heidi