Kehilat Haderech – Nuusbrief Mei 2016

We have been overwhelmed with excitement to see God’s work in our midst over the past decade, as He has provided for all our needs and has done great things for us. We’ve been in our current building for over a decade, and over the past few years we began feeling that it has become too small, and has therefore limited our activities. By our Lord’s grace we have found another place to rent, and we plan to move into it in a few months, as soon as its construction is completed. However, we have to move out of our current building by the end of this month, so we are facing a challenging wandering period.

We are in the last stages of planning the alterations needed in our new building. We will receive the building with only the bare peripheral walls, and will have to renovate it and make all the alterations. We  have hired many consultants apart from the architect (safety, ventilation, air-conditioning, accessibility, acoustics, electricity, plumbing etc’) for the planning in order to avoid any future regrets. The building is now under construction, which will hopefully end in a months’ time, then the owner needs to receive a paper (habitation permit) from the local government, and only after receiving the paper, can we then start our construction and alterations. Our most optimistic estimation is that we will be able to start the work sometime in July 16. Attached is a copy of the building plan.

The Wandering Period

Our last meeting in our current building will be held on May 21st and a week later the movers will come to carry our building’s contents into their storage place. Our desire is to continue our congregation’s community and spiritual life as routine as possible while we are wandering about.

We are grateful for “Harvest of Asher” congregation in Akko, who graciously have offered us the use of their facility for our Shabbat meetings. The main bulk of our meetings will be held in Akko. In addition we will occasionally have a meeting in one of the parks of our town, and at other times we will divide our congregation into small groups and meet in people’s homes.

We have seven small groups, each has a leader and a helper. This “wandering period” is a complex and a challenging period for us, especially logistically, as the Akko meetings will require transportation, and the park meetings will require carrying many chairs and a sound system, but we see these challenges as a blessing and as an opportunity to unify our congregation. In fact, we have already begun to see fruits of this blessing in the form of many of our members volunteering to help with all the preparations for the move. We are truly grateful to God for giving such a serving heart to our members. We appreciate your ongoing prayers for us for this coming period.

Packing and Storage

We started packing our possessions several weeks ago. However, the packing is quite complicated as we still have to maintain most of our activities in the building until the last service (May 21st). Another challenge was where to store our stuff during the wandering period. By the grace of God, one of our members offered us a large storage place to use in his factory. We hope all our possessions will fit in to that place, and if not we will have to hire another storage room somewhere in town.

               

Construction Works
As soon as the planning phase is completed, we will search for a suitable contractor to do our own construction in the building. At the moment, we cannot estimate the expected costs precisely, but in our understanding – the funds we have managed to save so far will not suffice, and we would therefore have to raise more money. The construction itself will proceed according to the resources we have and we may have to build in stages. We invite you to pray with us for this matter. We intend to do everything in our power to remain faithful stewards of the funds the Lord has entrusted in our hands.
         

Pre-teens and Teens
The new building and all that is related to it consume most of our attention at the moment. Due to the expected overload throughout this coming summer, we have decided (with a heavy heart) to cancel our annual summer camp for the teens, and instead to try and arrange a winter camp for them. We hope this decision will not harm our Teens groups. At the same time, our Pre-teens group is thriving, and 2 weeks ago had a very blessed activity around the Sea of Galilee (you’ll soon find a link to a video from that day on our website ).  We hope to have some more of those one-day activities for our Teens and Pre-teens groups in summer.

Babies Update
On our previous newsletter we wrote about the premature twin girls born to S & D. Praise God the twins are now at home with their parents after many weeks in the hospital. One of the girls has already visited one of our Shabbat services and we all had the privilege of cuddling her. We pray her twin sister will soon get stronger and be able to visit us too. Please continue praying for this family – for health, strength and renewed power for both the parents and the girls.

From the Pastors’ Table
Although we are all immersed in all that is related to our move, the Congregation is functioning as usual with its many activities. Apart from our Shabbat services, we have many small groups, pro-life activities, humanitarian aid ministry etc’. God is encouraging members to serve and initiate, and that enables Yossi to temporarily delegate the leading of the Russian speaking home group as well as the teen-group’s leadership into the faithful hands of others. Liron is about to finish his studies at the Israel College of the Bible and both Yossi and Liron feel ever so grateful to God for the wonderful flock He has entrusted in their hands. Please continue to pray for the Ovadia and Shany families.

Donations
We are happy to inform you that we can now receive gifts and offerings via PayPal directly from our website – http://www.kehilathaderech.org (“Donate” in the upper menu).

The Congregation’s Website – www.kehilathaderech.org
We invite you to visit our website and to enjoy updated information about us, sermons, lessons, connections, and pictures from our congregational life. We would be happy if you would spread our website address to your acquaintances. Through our website you can also sign up to receive our newsletters. Please pray that in addition to being a congregational and inter-congregational communications tool, it will also be used as an effective tool for spreading the gospel.

We plan to upgrade our website sometime in the near future, and would appreciate your prayers on this matter.

We truly appreciate your interest in us as well as your love, prayer and support.

Many blessings and in His Love
Haderech leadership
Karmiel