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January 2008 update
Dear Praying friends,
Hello from the road. We are presently in Amarillo, TX staying in a hotel. Today is the last leg of our first journey. We left Monday night to miss a snowstorm in the mountains of California and traveled south out of California, on through Arizona (with just a brief look in at the grand hole in the ground there), New Mexico and finally into Texas. Lord willing, we will reach Baptist Bible Translators Institute in Bowie, Texas this afternoon. We will be there until the end of this month and have 4 meetings planned during this time.
Getting ready to leave was a little more difficult then we had thought. Up to this point we had been downsizing piece by piece until we were down to what we thought were essentials. This trip we packed only clothes, school books , and anything of value that can fit into a cup holder. Having these restrictions made Christmas present buying a little more complicated. Most of our family and friends bought us audio books. We had a few sorrowful moments leaving behind special dolls, legos, books, and tools but we’re over it now and looking forward to better things.
Israel has been hosting President Bush the past few days and we are watching the event praying that America doesn’t put undue pressure on them to give away prime real estate in Jerusalem. We continue to pray for their peace. We are talking of going this summer and getting ourselves all excited about the prospect. The kids are “calling” bedrooms and promising their lives away for top bunks and blue walls. I’d like a kitchen and Jay an office. Having just been there for a visit has us even more excited about “normal” life. That’s one of the perks of deputation, after three years of travel it makes life in terror filled, bomb-shelled countries or jungle huts seem “normal.”
We’re praying for you all. Thank you for your prayers for us. We need grace to enjoy school on the road, dollar menu meals, and different beds all the time. We are looking forward to hearing about new support and watching the last of our 30% come in. Our friends in Israel are urging us to get there quickly and our supporting churches have been more than patient with us. Pray with us concerning long term visas and some changes taking place with Project Nehemiah. God is so good! Keep your eyes on Israel. Pray for the eyes of Jewish people to be opened to see their Messiah. Shalom in Yeshua, The Jay Armstead family.

 

December 07

Greetings fellow laborers. We praise the Lord for the trip to Israel that He allowed us to go on. We are energized and ready to go. Please pray that our support will come in quickly and that we can be in Israel by the summer of 2008. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with many of the ambassadors that are working in Israel trying to figure out what it will cost us to live there. We were pleased to realize that we may not have to raise quite as much support. One thing that we found out from each of the ambassadors is that the visa situation is always a problem, whether or not you will get to renew it or even if they will let you come back in the country after stepping out to renew it. Please pray that we will some how be able to get some sort of longer term visa. I am thankful that those in control are really under the control of the One who has called us to Israel.

The opposition that we will face in Israel from the orthodox is also a real prayer request. They actually consider Christians as more of a threat than the Muslims. Some have said that the Muslims are only trying to destroy our bodies but the Christians are destroying our souls. Please pray that God will open up the eyes of these blind leaders of the blind. We also praise the Lord for His protection. Nancy and I were walking near the Damascus gate which is part of the Muslim quarter of the old city of Jerusalem and had a pick pocket try to sneak into my back pack. He had it unzipped when I got a glimps of him behind me. My first thought was to let go of Nancy's hand and swing my elbow around to his head but then I thought this is the Muslim quarter and his territory. I just turned quickly and told him to keep his hands out of the bag. He said "I don't speak english", and I said "it sounds like you do". He then just walked away and Nancy and I just kept going. God is so good to protect us and allow our innocense to not be exploited. ~Jay

Happy Thanksgiving! Our family wishes you all a blessed holiday season. We are thankful for so many things and you all are at the top of the list. We are thankful that God allowed us to go on this trip to Israel and I wanted to recap some of it for you. God sustained me/us on the flight (for those of you who know how much I dislike flying) and we arrived in Israel early in the morning October 30th. We connected with our tour group later that afternoon and began by heading up by bus to the Galilee area. We stayed in that area for a few days touring before heading back down to Tel Aviv where we helped out at Project Nehemiah and attended Messiah Baptist Tablernacle. We then went as far south as you can go in Israel and toured one day around the Red Sea city of Eilot. Next, we stopped at the Dead sea and Masada. Jerusalem is always the highlight of the tour and we saved that for last. We went to the places where Christ spent the last of his earthly days and were reminded again of the Father's great love for us in sending His Son to be our sin-bearer. We headed back to Tel Aviv for the departure of the tour group and Jay and I stayed at the Braatens for a couple of nights. Jay was able to preach at Messiah Baptist Tabernacle that Shabbot service. We spent the next week travelling ourselves by trains, busses, and automobiles. We visited several of our friends who live there and we thank them for their hospitality. One really great thing that happened in Israel is that we met (providentially) Leeland and Mary Crotts, our leaders back in 1991-92 with Baptist for Israel Institute. They were part of another tour and we met in Jerusalem. They invited us to spend a few days with them on a Kibbutz in Galilee. We enjoyed catching up on 15 years of time with them and seeing how Baptist for Israel continues to function and bless many. Our flight home was long and included stops in Amsterdam, Minneapolis and finally San Francisco. We came home tired but God blessed us with a good nights sleep and a good meeting at a church in Daly City the next morning. We were really excited to get back up to Hayfork and see our children and Jay's parents. We want to thank them for taking such good care of our children while we were gone and carrying on their homeschool too.

I have to say I was mostly looking forward on this trip to seeing the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Garden Tomb, my favorite spot. However, this time I was really touched at the garden of Gethsemene. Maybe it was because Jay was to give the Biblical challenge there and we had been discussing and meditating on that particular site for a while. It was there that Christ agonized in prayer with His Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." But it was not possible. It was for this reason He came and God had bound Himself by His own Word to provide a sacrificial lamb for our sins. We sang a song there, How Deep the Father's Love for Us, How vast beyond all measure, that He would give His only son to make this wretch His treasure. Jay read the verse, Romans 8:32, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I was awed anew by God's amazing grace. ~Nancy

This trip has opened our eyes to new obstacles that we will face in Israel and yet we are gripped with an urgency to get there. We are fervantly praying that God will allow us to get there permanently by this coming summer. Our hearts are already there setting up a home and building a ministry. Our present support level is about 56% and we hope to see that increase after the first of the year. May God open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Think of Israel and the Babe in the manger and the Son on the cross. I remind you of the words of Yeshua to his Abba, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." May we some day be able to say the same. Shalom! Armsteads

Prayer Requests and Praises: New support, New contacts in Israel, Safe travels, More Meetings, New mercy every day. Fruit that may about to your account. Meetings scheduled through February in California, Texas, Colorado, and Montana. (And wisdom for where to go from there.)