A few months ago, we told you that we were planning to host our first ever medical outreach in Tach Gayint, Ethiopia. We chose to do an outreach in this remote region because of the heavy persecution faced by the Bete Israel Jewish community. It was our plan to bring a no-cost medical clinic to this impoverished region and share the Gospel of Yeshua (Jesus) throughout the event.
I am excited to report that the outreach has been completed, and it was a trip unlike any other we have experienced before. It was a week of removing rocks (literally and spiritually) from stony fields, and the pioneering first step in a long-term relationship with the Bete Israel community through which, we believe in faith, that much seed will be scattered and a great harvest will be raised up by the Lord over the years to come.
From the clinic start to finish, set-up to take-down, we seemed to face new opposition and fresh obstacles each day. On Monday of our clinic, for the first time at one of our events, we were told that we had to close down our prayer room. We had already seen 202 people come to faith in Yeshua as Messiah the previous day, 25 of them Jewish. Despite no longer having a prayer room, our intercessor partners remained joyful and undeterred. They faithfully saturated the clinic compound, patient lines, and camp with prayer throughout the week. They were also able to visit two nearby Bete Israel villages, share the Gospel, and see over 100 people come to Yeshua.
We know that we stand at the beginning of a long-term relationship with the oppressed Bete Israel in Tach Gayint. Nearly 300 new Believers are shining the light of Yeshua in this darkened region. Almost 100 are from among the persecuted Bete Israel, and over 175 are from the non-Jewish population that persecutes them. God has begun a transforming work in Tach Gayint and we are excited to – along with you – be a part of His plan there.
Despite the challenges of the week, our medical clinic was the third largest in Jewish Voice history! We treated over 11,600 patients. We distributed 8,000 personal LifeStraw® filtersthat will each provide clean drinking water for up to four years. We also provided education that will hopefully help prevent the spread of disease caused by unclean water and restore health to the community. We performed 268 eye surgeries and gave out 2,351 pairs of reading glasses.
Through your support of Jewish Voice, you have touched hurting lives with new health, and even more importantly, new life in Messiah Yeshua. With your ongoing help, we can keep providing medical clinics and take the Gospel to the Jewish people around the world – and together we will watch as God further dismantles strongholds of oppression against the Bete Israel in Tach Gayint.
