Welcome to the Strang Report podcast!
April 25, 2024

"Bless Israel" Fund Transforms Israel's Future!

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Strang Report

Join Stephen Strang as he gives an update on the impact the Bless Israel Fund is making in Israel. Uncover the life-changing difference that your contributions through Christian Life Missions are making that are helping those in need.

To support the Bless Israel Fund, visit these sites:

https://christianlifemissions.org/

https://jewsforjesus.org/

https://mjaa.org/

https://www.visionforisrael.com/en

Transcript
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Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen Strang, and welcome to this special edition of the Strang Report

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podcast, giving you an update on what's happening in Israel with money that our viewers and

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listeners have contributed to our Bless Israel Fund through Christian Life Missions, our

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nonprofit partner. And we have a history of raising money for Israel going back many years.

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I've been a supporter of Israel personally my whole adult life. But certainly in the

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90s and early 2000s, we've raised a lot of money over the years. And I found these mementos

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on my wall. This is from the American Friends of McGendivid Adom. I hope I said that right.

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That's Hebrew for the Red Star of David. And we raised, as I recall, about $125,000 for

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an ambulance. And they gave me this very nice plaque. We did this in 2005. And we told them

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that every penny would go to them. So we raised money for the ambulance. And then we got like

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$40,000 more that trickled in. So we went ahead and sent it to them. And they, I guess

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they bought another ambulance with other donors they had. And the following year, there was

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a second Lebanese war. You may remember that. And there was a lot of bombing and destruction

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in the northern part of Israel. And through Barry Siegel and Vision for Israel, we raised

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– I'm going from memory, somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000. And we raised it very,

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very quickly. And these people sent me this very nice plaque in Hebrew saying thank you.

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Only time I've ever gotten a citation like that in Hebrew. And then here we're doing

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it again. When October 7th happened and the terrorist group Hamas viciously attacked Israel

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and killed more Jewish people in one day than any time since the Holocaust. It was just

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horrible. So we reached out very, very quickly to several ministries that we knew and said,

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how can we help? And today we're going to get an update from these ministries. And they're

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ministries that I've known a long time. I'll start with Sue Perlman and Jews for Jesus,

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who is a well-known organization, of course. I knew the founder, Moish Rosen. I knew him

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personally. He was a great man, a great visionary. And I'm a personal supporter of Sue Perlman

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and have for many years. And a couple of years ago, I found out in conversation that the

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Jews for Jesus headquarters in Tel Aviv had no bomb shelter. And Christian Life Missions

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actually had a Bless Israel fund. We had amassed a small sum, $20,000 or $30,000 as I recall.

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And we were able to help them. It covered most of the cost, I guess, of constructing

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a bomb shelter. And when the war started, they actually sent us pictures of people that

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were able to run there for shelter. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. So we had this history. Barry

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Segal, as I mentioned, Vision for Israel, we helped them with the Second Lebanese War.

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And more recently, I've gotten to know some of the leadership in the Messianic Jewish

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Alliance of America who have a Joseph project. And I knew they were set up doing good works.

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And so what we did was you basically took the money that came in and sort of divided

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it. And the war is continuing. In fact, it's gone not only from the battlefield, but the

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war in public opinion in the media, which I hope we talk about. But I felt it was important

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to get an update. Because right at the end of the year, we're trying to raise more money.

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We've raised about $135,000, as I recall. And we have a goal of 200,000. And we need

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a lot of people to give $5, $10, $25 would be a huge contribution. And I want you to

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hear how your money is being used. Because Christian Life Missions, and what we do at

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Charisma is kind of our nonprofit arm, it is 100% charitable, 100% ministry oriented,

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and it's really kind of crowd funder in a way that goes back many, many years with raising

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money. And there are a lot of other ministries and other crowd funders, but we're doing what

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we can with the platform we have and the influence we have to meet needs. And we usually look

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for needs that nobody else is helping or maybe ministries where the contributions we get

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really, really makes a difference. So let's get an update on what's happening. I just

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wanted to give that background. And, you know, in case you don't watch it all the way to

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the end, I wanted you to know that we need you to go to christianlifemissions.org. That's

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our website. It's christianlifemissions.org. And all this information will be there. We're

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going to be emailing, doing all this kind of stuff. But this was so important to me

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personally that I've dipped into my own pocket to give because I felt that the Lord wanted

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me to. And I know that the Lord is speaking to people who have a heart to help Israel

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and maybe don't know which ministry to trust. You can trust us. We have a long history,

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no controversy. We've been able to do a lot of good because we could do more together

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than we can do individually. So let me start with Sue Perlman, Jews for Jesus, who is joining

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us from San Francisco. Thank you for getting up early to be on the podcast today and just

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give us an update on what is happening and your viewpoint as you see it through the eyes

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of the ministry of Jews for Jesus. Thank you, Steve. And thank you, supporters that are

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listening in. What you have given and what you might give as the end of the year approaches

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really makes a big difference. Jews for Jesus is the largest missionary agency in Israel

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today. We have over 50 full-time missionaries preaching the gospel. And Israel is a tough

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place. But in a sense, what has happened since October 7th has opened up hearts in a way

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that we've never seen before. People who would not talk to us before are requesting New Testaments.

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Your money has helped us to get those New Testaments into their hands. People are coming

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out and saying, how can we help? This is amazing to me. We have over a thousand volunteers

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a day, Steve, who are taking part in this effort with us. And more than half of them

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are unbelievers. And what was it that you did? I know that you are real good about sending

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information and I remember a picture, maybe we can find it, of a whole bunch of bags that

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were ready to be distributed. Apparently, it had food, stuffs and other things that

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people needed. Yes, we put together these grocery boxes, bags with the L'Recha stamp

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on them, which is our ministry name in places in Israel, Help Your Neighbor. And for $50,

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people could take one of these boxes and feed a whole family for a week. And there are so

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many displaced Israelis and Palestinians in Israel right now that we're able to get those

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boxes into people's hands. Over 3,000 boxes, one by one, delivered to people in the South,

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people at the hotels. We're actually working with a hotel in Jerusalem that is housing

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all these displaced people and we're running the children's program. So all these Israeli

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children are getting care from ministry people. We are going out with trucks on the weekend

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and doing barbecues at different units in the IDF. These are like very personal one-on-one

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things. We've got coffee trucks going out to the IDF soldiers. They're just being told

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we care and Christians care. And as we've talked to Israelis on the street about the

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fact that there are Christians here in the United States that love them and care for

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them, they're brought to tears because they see a lot of what's in the public media that

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is so hateful, not just to Israelis, but to the Jewish people as a whole. And we can make

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a difference as believers that what we have to bring is our substance financially, our

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prayers as well, and our continual care for Jewish people in the midst of a horrific,

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horrific war.

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Well that's very exciting and we do need to show the love of Jesus in an unselfish way,

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which you're doing. I remember when we did the ambulance, the organization asked me,

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you know, did they want Christian life missions on the side? Did they want charisma on the

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side? I said no, just put from Christian friends in the United States. I wanted them to know

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that there were Christian friends who loved them and, you know, it wasn't about branding

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or anything else. Most of what we raise for different ministries is one time, but I encourage

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people to either give through Christian life missions, help us hit that goal of 200,000,

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or to give directly to Jews for Jesus, especially if you have a heart to continue to give on

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an ongoing basis. So Sue, tell people your website and how people could support you personally

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or support Jews for Jesus.

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It's a very easy website to remember. It's the words, Jews for Jesus, altogether.org,

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Jews for Jesus.org. If you go on that site, you'll be brought to some information about

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what's happening in Israel, but what's happening around the world and reaching people. You

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know, we're fighting a war on two fronts right now. We have Israel and we have Ukraine and

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we have missionaries in both places that are proclaiming the gospel in a very difficult

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environment. But the war is bad for Israel, but it is also good for the gospel. A strange

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combination.

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Well, it seems that when things are really difficult, that's when people call out to

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God. And so that's a good report. Thank you. And as I said earlier, I personally support

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Jews for Jesus because I believe in what they're doing. So let's move to the Joseph Project.

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You know, I didn't ask you ahead of time. We're going to talk to Hank Rich, who is over

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the Joseph Project, and I'm assuming that it's after Joseph in the book of Genesis,

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isn't it? It helps store up things. I know that you have a couple of semi trucks and

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you distribute, you have quite a network that you distribute to before October 7th. And

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just bring us up to date on what's happening now.

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Yeah, my pleasure. And again, to Charisma Steve, we want to thank you also for your

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generous gift. We, unlike Jews for Jesus, we are primarily a humanitarian aid organization.

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We're an Israeli nonprofit set up in Israel about 23 years ago. And we operate a very

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large warehouse in Bet Shemesh, probably about 20 miles from Jerusalem, 30 miles from Tel

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Aviv. And we've been distributing humanitarian aid throughout Israel for 23 years. So when

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this horrific incident happened on October 7th, we were there. Someone mentioned to us,

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you know, that warehouse was built, that fleet of trucks was there, that warehouse was filled

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with humanitarian aid for just a time as this. Unfortunately, October 7th, as you said, was

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probably the single worst day in the history of Israel. Probably in the history of Israel.

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I mean, the Holocaust happened prior to the formation of the state of Israel. But since

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October 7th, we have distributed over 415 truckloads of humanitarian aid all throughout

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Israel to about 115 distribution points. Millions of dollars of aid has gone out already. And

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you spoke earlier about the money that you have given. We have a budget every year. And

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that budget did not include October 7th. We were out every day with our trucks, distributing

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to other NGOs, governmental organizations, messianic congregations, churches, doing our

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everyday distribution. So all of the money that has come in from October 7th has really

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enabled us to really just do more than we ever have in the past in any 10 week period.

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We have distributed thousands and thousands of boxes of groceries. We have distributed,

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I don't even know how many, hundreds and hundreds of pounds of clothing, brand new clothing,

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bedding, field mattresses for soldiers. We work with Samaritan's Purse. We're Samaritan's

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Purse importer of record in Israel for the last six, seven years, distributing hundreds

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and hundreds of thousands of, I think you may be familiar with Operation Christmas Child.

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Yes, of course. Well, they chose the Joseph Project to be their importer of record. We

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warehouse and distribute. And during this conflict, we were able to distribute, I don't

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even know how many thousands of toys to bomb shelters all throughout Israel. We also work

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with hospitals in Israel, supplying medical aid, medical supplies. Most recently, we have

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a container on route with specially designed wheelchairs. So we are really in the humanitarian

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aid business. That's what we do. We receive aid from all corners of the world, from wonderful

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believers in Asia, Europe, and America. And we also have a domestic program, Steve, in

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which we partner with over 100 Israeli corporations that donate humanitarian aid in through the

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Joseph Project. I was approached in 2018 by a gentleman who was one of the managers of

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the National Food Bank, an organization called Leket. And he came to me and he said, Hank,

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you are missing a big opportunity in Israel. We understand from our work, and we had worked

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with Leket, that you import humanitarian aid from around the world. He told me that there

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are many, many companies in Israel that would love to give to the work of supplying to those

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in need. But he said there's no single address in Israel where these companies can give.

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It'll be warehoused, it'll be distributed. And really got to what I think I spent most

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of my life in business to one of the most difficult parts in any business is that last

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mile. And we brought him on as a consultant. He now works full time. And since 2018, he

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has built relationships with over 100 Israeli corporations that are now donating humanitarian

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aid. So we import from around the world. We receive a lot of aid from within Israel. We

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have a warehouse, and we have six trucks on the road right now. And those trucks were

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made possible by donors like yourself. So it's a very difficult situation. We worked,

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and probably in tandem with Sue, with J4J over at the Baptist Village, where a lot of

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ministries collaborated together. What happened on October 7th, Steve, was well beyond what

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any single ministry could handle. So we worked in tandem with J4J, with Firm, with Barry,

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Leklecha Nativa, and formed what we call the Emergency Village, but it was actually the

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Baptist Village. And a lot of aid went in there, and we had volunteers from all over

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the world come and package and help distribute. We opened up our warehouse to everyone, not

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just our trucks. We had people coming in with cars, with vans, with pickup trucks. We have

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film of all different organizations coming into our facility. So all of this was made

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possible by people like yourself, Steve, because our budget did not plan. No one planned for

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October 7th. So it's all the additional funds that came in that enabled us to make these

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distributions. And we're probably on the road doing five to 10 a day. So we're up over 400

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truckloads, as I said, about 115 distribution points. We also help relocate two schools

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that were in the Gaza envelope with our trucks, completely relocate schools into a safe area.

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So we are a humanitarian aid organization. That's what we were set up to do for such

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a time as this. People asked me just this past week or so, what is the number one need

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today? And right now, the number one need is warm clothing. As Sue mentioned, so many

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thousands, really hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from the south

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and the north. And a lot of them left with nothing. So we're now getting into the colder

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months. We're doing a winter clothing drive. And we're trying to raise as much money as

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we can for warm jackets, sweaters, long underwear, heavy socks, and shoes for people that were

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driven out of their homes with nothing. The need for food continues. We just did an event

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with Public Health Association, where we distributed in one day 1,100 boxes of food. And we have

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a food program that's a little bit different than some others. It was developed by a nutritionist.

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It's a healthy food program where all the ingredients in these boxes are healthy. And

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we also then do workshops around Israel to teach people how to use healthy ingredients.

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If you don't understand how to use them, a lot of people, oh, they're too expensive.

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Where do I get them? It's very simple. So we're not only giving out food, but we're

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teaching. We're giving recipes on how to utilize the food. So it's like instead of just giving

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a man a fish and feeding him for a day, you're teaching them to fish in a manner of speaking.

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And I'm aware of the ministry and the humanitarian nature and the infrastructure that you had,

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which is very important. You know, what you describe is a lot like convoy of hope in this

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country, Operation Blessing, some of those ministries, and you've got to have an infrastructure.

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And while there's no need to get into the politics, you know, there are parts of the

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Israeli government that make it difficult for believers in Yeshua to operate. There

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are some who would like to make it illegal. And so even getting things across the border,

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and you mentioned that Franklin Graham and so forth, you know, there's a lot of hoops

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that you have to jump through just to get something across the border. And if you're

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able to help other ministries, I mean, that is an enormous benefit, you know, in lots

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and lots of ways. So I tip my hat to you.

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One thing I would like to say, Steve, we just brought in three containers in the last week

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from convoy of hope just arrived in our warehouse within the past week. That's one of the things

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that we didn't realize it in the beginning. But after 23 years of importing humanitarian

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aid, we can say and agree it is difficult. And more and more ministries. Look, I was

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very surprised, Steve, when Samaritan's Purse called us. Let's be honest, we're not a Samaritan's

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Purse. They are one of the largest humanitarian aid organizations on earth. And they were

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calling the Joseph project because they wanted to start bringing in toys for children about

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seven years ago. convoy of hope, as I said, just sent three, we've we've acted also besides

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ourselves, we've acted as a logistics organization for ministries, who not because of ignorance,

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but just don't know how difficult it can be to import into Israel. It's not easy. So there

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are many facets of the Joseph project facets. And we thank you, because your additional

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money has really helped us and helped so many so many people within Israel, through our

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organization through Jews for Jesus, and many others. Look, Barry Siegel and I play golf

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together. And we're very good friends. When Barry was opening up his millennial center,

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like most construction efforts, things, more money took a long time and we stored a lot of

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all of Barry's product in our warehouse for months while he was getting ready to open up

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that beautiful center and Maudine. I've been there many times. I remember when he first

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put the shovel in the ground, it was nothing but dirt. And then here 10 plus years later,

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you know, it's so we're all friends. October 7 has brought us all together, much closer,

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I think, as ministries than we ever have before. And we want to continue to partner with you in

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the time we have left. I want to give each of you the last word for the Joseph project in Jews for

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Jesus. Give a last word and tell people how they can support you directly if they like to. Or of

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course, they can give through christianlifemissions.org as well. Well, ours is ours like Susan's is very

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simple. It's josephproject.org one word josephproject.org and that is our website.

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And that's the way you can support us. And they can of course find out more on your website about

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specific things that you're doing. And we'll be on there. There's lots of video testimonies. So

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yeah, that that would be the best place to go for us. Great. And Sue? I want your viewers to know

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that we are working with 1000 volunteers a day, half of whom are not believers, to get

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care packages out to share what we as believers can give to minister to, whether it's to displace

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people or the IDF soldiers that we're working with. And your help makes that possible. We're so

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grateful to God for you. I mentioned to Steve earlier, personally, but I wanted to tell you all

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a survey that recently came out asking Christians what influenced them the most about what's

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happening in Israel. They responded by saying 44% said it was the media, what they're hearing in the

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media. Only 17% said the Bible. I know you are all Bible believing Christians and that you love

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the Lord. And if you love what he says in his word about Israel, you don't have to question all this,

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some of this craziness that's going on in the media today. You need to just take your heart and give

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to what God is doing to uphold his people, the Jewish people, and those Palestinians that are also

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victims in many ways of what's going on. Pray for them all, but pray also with your wallet.

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Give to make this happen in Israel today. We need that. That's a very interesting way. Pray with

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your wallet. Well, I'm back with Barry Siegel, who I've known a long, long time with Vision for

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Israel, and we've worked together in lots of ways. And this is the very nice plaque that he gave when

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we worked with him in 2007 with the Second Lebanese War. We were able to respond immediately

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with some donations. And I actually have the English on the back, so I know what it says.

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And so when this happened on October 7th, I knew to reach out to Barry immediately because I know

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that you have so much credibility and actually your ministry has grown a great deal. So with the

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money that we sent, how did, how are you able to use it to really impact people? Well, we find

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through the work of Vision for Israel and working together with you all, it's so critical that we're

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face to face with the recipients and that we're able to meet their needs in a tailor-made way.

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Because it's useless to just dump things on a street corner. It's more effective and impactful

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in the lives of people if we can provide exactly what they need to the best of our ability and to

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the provisions that we have. And so we've been doing a lot for soldiers, for medics and first

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responders in the field, for paramedics, of course, also for individual welfare recipients.

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But now that has exploded in this country because many of the families that are in need above and

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beyond those who are already in need and on our recipient roster are all the displaced Israeli

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families. And so we're reaching out to them in a very modeled fashion. We've supplied, I'm just

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looking to my list a little bit here, already 200 winter duvet blankets, 300 medical bag kits

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for first responders and paramedics. Those alone cost hundreds of dollars of each. We've provided

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both protective vests and helmets, both for the first responders and medics, but also for

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civilian security where it was so lacking before. We've had to provide even two-way Motorola radios

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for some of the kibbutzim along the northern border and 500 plus, beyond that, winter jackets

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and fleece jackets for soldiers, reservists, as well as security patrols, especially in the north,

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which has been getting bombarded by rockets from Hezbollah. Above and beyond that, we're providing

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bath towels, hand and face towels, a thousand large food parcels, and we just reordered another 600.

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And so we're also giving, especially now, financial vouchers. As some areas are simmering down,

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the needs are much greater for practical things such as food, new clothing, diapers, especially.

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We just received a donation of 68,000 diapers which we're distributing, and I think it's something like

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three to five thousand pairs of winter socks. Some people have also sent us hand-knit,

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you know, head coverings for ladies in the winter, and we've also provided several

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sets of earphones and children's iPads for educational purposes for displaced children

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who are now attending other schools until they can return either to the southern or northern

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communities. And this list goes on and on and on, and the financial vouchers are critical now because,

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of course, we're in the winter months and people need to go out and buy food, and it's a practical

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need for both the displaced families as well as the welfare recipients because they just released

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an article that Israel is the highest or one of the highest in the OECD, the European Extended

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Countries, with poverty. So we're suffering from a great deal of poverty here in the country.

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It's hard for people to understand that, but it is real when you see the homes and the families

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in need at this point. These are just some of the areas we're reaching out to besides and above and

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beyond the bomb safety shelters and ambulances. We've now got seven ambulances, which are now

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been donated by us, and three ATV vehicles for fire and rescue needs in the Judean Samarian

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Hills where there's been a lot of terrorist activity but less known in the news. And we're so

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thankful to all of you. I mean, it couldn't happen without partners, you know, in Christian

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Life's missions partnering with us as well as others that just have a burden on their hearts

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to come alongside of Israel in these days. Well, thank you for what you do. I've been over there

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and actually seen your facilities, seen some of the things that we helped with before, and

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you have such credibility and you had the infrastructure where we were able to respond.

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We do encourage people, especially toward the end of the year, when a third of all charitable

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donations are made in December, to give to christianlifemissions.org, Christian Life Missions

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as if it's one word and then.org. But we also want to just connect people to the Christian Life

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Missions. We also want to just connect people with your ministry. And most of our donors are

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one-time donors for whatever we're raising money for, but yours is a ministry that is

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worthy of support on an ongoing basis. So tell people how they can respond directly, how they

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can find out more about your ministry. Well, there's a few ways, obviously, to connect with

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our ministry and thank you for that invitation. We have a website which is www.visionforisrael.com.

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And also we have a Facebook page, Vision for Israel. People can go online to our website and

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they can donate directly and it will list a few different areas of giving or just general and they

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can also sign up and give on a monthly basis as well. We have a toll-free number as well, which

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people can call at 1-866-351-0075. That's 1-866-351-0075. And I wanted to mention our YouTube

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page also shows visibly some of the work inside of the base of Vision for Israel, which is held

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in the Millennium Center, our central logistics center right in the heart of the country. And

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we have a YouTube site, Vision for Israel, and also update on the news, VFI News. But one thing

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I wanted to share, Steve, that so impressed me all these years. I feel like the last 30 years was

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almost a training session. All the years we've been doing this work in humanitarian aid,

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I felt like we've been training for such a time as this. And I was saying for years

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the quote, when crisis comes, it's too late to prepare. And I feel like we were prepared for

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this time. And I'm just so happy that the Holy Spirit was leading all of us. And even as far back

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as the war with Hezbollah, that previous war where you came alongside and partnered with us to rebuild

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the community center back in, well, the war was in 2006, and I believe the building of the center

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was in 2007. And how we were able to partner together, these were just ways to link together

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and see what God was going to prepare us all for. So we're extremely grateful to you and to Christian

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Life Missions and to all your donors and partners and all of our partners. And this isn't going to

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stop. I believe that we're in very prophetic end times, and it's going to take a lot more

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working together, linking together, and seeing the future together according to what's written in

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biblical prophecy. The Bible says that where your treasure is there, your heart is also.

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And we can't just talk. We have to act. The book of James tells us that. So thank you for watching.

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Please forward this or put it on social media, the link on social media, especially for people

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that you know who have a heart for Israel. And if you don't subscribe to the Strang Report,

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be sure to do so and smack that little bell so that you're notified when we're on live every

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Tuesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Thanks again for watching and until next time, God bless you.