Manni's Shvil: 4. May: Haifa, Shefar'am

After a very nice and later Shabat breakfast we started off for Haifa.
We had a short bus tour through the city and then went to the russian congregation of Victor Doroskin named "Blessing Israel". This is a very close and long-term partner of Philippus-Dienst. Victor was a mechanics who worked on big ships and was based in Murmansk. When he was on a trip in Holland a team of believers was distributing bibles. Victor was interested and started reading the bible and became a believer.
He became a pastor in Belarus close to Tschernobyl and started new congregations, than he came to Israel. It was amazing when he told that a congregation in Haifa was already waiting and praying for a pastor and so he was welcomed with open arms. The congregation is very active to bless the society in Haifa and to spread the gospel.

Then we went on to meet the Arab brothers and sisters of "House of light" from Shefa'am. We met on their property and were invited to a delicious barbecue. We had very nice fellowship and had nice chats with all people there. The group was mixed with young teenagers, families and seniors. Anis and Nawal Barhoum the founders of "House of light" are real pioneers and great people. They shared that they are an Arab couple with refugee background, once they decided not to be victims any longer but to love and forgive. So they started being positive influencers in their environment. They raised their kids in this spirit and are now a family who are befriended with a lot of messianic Jews. In my opinion this spirit of reconciliation is a strong message to the nation of Israel.
The projects they are doing, are:
- childrens ministry
- youth ministry called Kings Kids
- mercy ministry to needy families
- prison ministry
We were praying together and blessed our Arab brothers and sisters. This was a wonderful meeting.