Dear friends,
This just in from Philip Berg:
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It is Friday evening in Jerusalem and Shabbat is settling in. This Shabbat
we are privileged to have four Iraqis staying in our home here on Prophets
Street. Our guests from Iraq include Majed who has been released from
the hospital after successful heart surgery along with his father. Also
we have a young man by the name of Alen. He is here with his mother and
they will be going to the hospital on Sunday for preliminary checkups
before Alen undergoes heart surgery on Wednesday.
We just got back from a 3 hour Erev Shabbat [Sabbath eve] walk. There
were 14 of us altogether including our two Iraqi heart patients. Two heart
patients out for an Erev Shabbat walk. What a joy it was to watch Majed
walking up and down gentle hills with seemingly no effort, the joy that
he was feeling was evident to anyone that looked at his genuine, warm
smile.
The last stop on our walk was the Garden Tomb and while strolling in the
garden Majed received a call from his mother in Iraq on our cellphone.
He wants so much to be back home and this call brought all the emotions
to the surface. He broke down and wept there in the garden as we wandered
off and gave him some privacy.
All in all it was a beautiful way to usher in the Sabbath. It was also
a beautiful reminder of how the Lord has blessed an opportunity that has
come our way. An opportunity to stretch out a helping hand in the name
of Jesus to those in need in a desperate land close by.
[Pictured: Majed in the foreground, Alen and mother at the entrance to the tomb]
