To Samaria!

Today we took a day trip to the beginning slopes on the west side of the hills of Samaria, commonly referred to as the West Bank. Our destination was Alfe Menashe, which means “thousands of Menashe” and comes from Devarim (Deuteronomy 33:17) where Ya'acov (Jacob) is blessing his sons. The city itself is one of the gateways into Samaria and the gateway to the Mount of Blessing and the Mount of Cursing in Samaria. Alfe Menashe is surrounded by 5 Arab villages. Each village has 5 mosques and each mosque gives a call to prayer 3 to 4 times a day...more during certain times of the year. The Arabs not only use the speakers for a call to prayer, but also for polical incitement against the Jews on Fridays. Jewish believers in the city proclaim the Name of our Elohim and are praying and blessing His Name.

Both of the above pictures are of Alfe Menashe, a beautiful spread out city. Many of you would probably like to know that this is also the city of our friends Ephraim and Rimona Frank.

We were blessed to spend time with Charlotte and Uzi. Charlotte was born in South Africa and Uzi was born on a kibbutz at the foot of Mount Tabor (the Mount of Transfiguration). When the Yom-Kippur War started, he was called up to fight in the bitterest of battles in Sinai, as a reservist tank-driver. His battalion commander was Israel's former Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. During the last hour of the war, he was injured by a piece of shrapnel penetrated into his skull. This head injury left him paralyzed in both legs, for 17 years.

During 1990 he was sent to South Africa for business. He was lonely and disabled. But here he found Yeshua! And two months later, he met Charlotte. Then in October 1990, on the exact day of the 17th anniversary of his injury, he was healed from his paralysis! Since then, they have been serving Yeshua and worshipping Him through praise and worship.

Following are some of the beautiful flowers from Uzi's (name means strength) yard...

Bird of Paradise

This rose was as big as it looks!

A beautifully manicured olive tree in their front yard.


The following couple of pictures are of a memorial in Alfe Menashe of the 1st Lebanon war in 1997. Israel is very big in remembering its fallen. There was a tragic accident that occured in the Galilee area. 73 combatant soldiers were killed when two helicopters collided. Two were from Alphe Menashe. The double stone is actually made from one stone, memoralizing the two from the city who lost their lives.

A final story from Uzi and Charlotte's...we spent time singing and praising with them. Uzi is actually a Levite and at the end, he blessed us with the Aharonic blessing in Hebrew! In fact he came around and placed his hand on each of our heads. Let me share these verses with you in English:

The LORD bless you and keep you. The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Now see what follows these verses in Numbers 6 - So they will put My NAME on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

I can only tell you, it was an awesome moment for us to be blessed by a Levite and have him place the Name on each of us in the hills of Samaria. Please pray for the area of Alphe Menashe and for the believers there who minister and serve their own brothers.

Now for one last thought from tonight - We met with elders in the community tonight to share our stories and here is what one of the elders spoke to us in the end...We wish you all would lose your heart here in Israel. We live no more for ourselves. We have a target, a direction. We've got a job to work together with Yeshua. Live only with Him - in a frame called the end of days. One promise after another will be fulfilled. Seeing these things happen strengthens us. Go with love.

Shalom and lila tov!

Ardelle and Cal