End of the year update from the Schneiers

Dear Friends of the Schneiers,

    A month after our trip to Israel, Leslye and I journeyed to Odessa, Ukraine. (See Israel report at http://closeupsfromfaraway.blogspot.fr/2012/11/finally-back-in-israel.html). The Odessa congregation, Gates of Zion, which we helped found in 1995 and are the senior leaders of today, hosted an IAMCS congregational leadership conference. Congregations were represented from twenty-two cities in Ukraine as well as Russia,  Belarus, Czech Republic, England and the US and friends from Israel. The joining of the first Russian congregational member to our IAMCS fellowship opens up a whole new, vast area of ministry for us in the former Soviet Union.  Approximately 190 people registered for the conference and perhaps 30 more attended from Odessa. If your church or congregation is interested in attending one of these semi-annual leadership conferences and serving the Messianic movement in Europe please contact David at schneiers@aol.com. You will never be the same!

    The conference included ten hours of sharing over three days led by David, Messianic Rabbi Eric Walker of Birmingham, Alabama, Pastor Barry Boucher of The Life Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Bishop Anatoly Gavriluk from Kiev, Ukraine and three key Messianic leaders from Ukraine, Sasha Popazov (Odessa), Yura Korshun (Nikolaiv) and Victor Vilensky (Yevapatoria). They will be at the IAMCS Rabbis conference in Orlando in January. There were powerful times of worship and praise, reading from the torah, afternoons for fellowship, plenty of meals, visiting the Holocaust Survivors' Association museum and hosting a banquet for the association's members, ministry at two of the six orphanages we serve and celebrating at our shabbat service. Many thanks to Messianic Rabbis Alan Levine and Joel Liberman for gifts to make the survivors banquet possible. Rabbi Eric also brought about 80 tallts which were distributed by his team to a meeting of the main congregational leaders present at the conference. ("Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Ps 133:1)

Brothers dancing together

One congregational leader interpreting for another leader

Breaking bread together

Celebrating God's word together

Worship leaders from 6 cities praising together

Inflatible torahs from Israel (Totally Kosher)

Reading from the Torah together

Birmingham tea blessing the leaders with tallits

    

                                                       

   You can see by the photos that our time together was joyful and blessed.  It reminds me of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the imperative for the believer of "life together" with other followers of Yeshua. We were created for such loving relationships with God and with man. I have rarely seen the fulfillment of Bonhoeffer's call as I do in the revival of Messianic Judaism in Ukraine. It is intentional, voluntary and not programmatic in any way. You can see it when 6 congregational worship leaders get together without rehearsal to lead worship and praise, each not wanting to outshine the others and where 3three key leaders of different Ukrainian Messianic congregations work together without competition to provide the servant/leadership model (which Yeshua spoke about in Matthew 22:25-28) for a whole country and continent to see.  

     

    We want to focus on the ministry to the survivors of the Holocaust in this update because of the shortness of time left to share the good news of Yeshua with these precious people. At this point many of the survivors openly profess their relationship with the God of Israel through Messiah Yeshua. As much as were are excited about the survivors coming to faith, we know there are hundreds more who need to know the power of Yeshua's resurrection. This process from "Holocaust to Heaven," as Rabbi Eric so aptly described it, has taken seventeen years of service by the Odessa congregation to the survivors. They know God loves them and preserved them for such a time as this by the active love shown them and their families. Their faith is not shaken by traditional religious opposition because they can see that the Messianic Jewish believers come not with words only but with deeds on a consistent basis.

Romanian soldiers entering Odessa

A march of death of Jewish prisoners

One example is Mihail. He was a young teenager when twenty thousand Jews including Mihail and his family were rounded up in Odessa and marched to wooden barracks. Once the Jews were locked inside the barracks, the Nazis and Romanians tried to murder them all by shooting them through windows. That plan failed because those who died first created a wall of lifeless bodies which protected those who were still alive. Finally, the captors set the barracks on fire and 19,999 of the Jews were engulfed in the flames. The smoke and smell from the fire and burning bodies and the screams of those who were perishing through this horrendous act of mass murder went out into the city. No one nearby could claim that they did not know what was happening that day. Only one person survived this event and that was Mihail. He managed to get through the roof of the barracks he was in and eventually escape the compound which was surrounded by guards waiting to shoot anyone who broke out of the barracks.

Diorama of barracks burned by the Nazis & Romanians

...... and a banquet for survivors

Mihail with Leslye at the banquet

  

Mihail at our congregational service

   Mihail was present at the banquet we had for the survivors after our conference and at our shabbat service. He knows God saved him and Yeshua  redeemed him. He was the only one of 20,000 to survive and you can imagine the power of his testimony. There are many others who still have not experienced the saving grace of Yeshua's sacrifice in Odessa, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. The success of the ministry to the survivors must continue and it must grow because most of the survivors have less and less time to hear the gospel as each month passes. You can be a direct part of this ministry by your prayers and a special end of the year and regular monthly gifts. There is information below that will help you with your support.

   Another ministry of the Odessa congregation that we closely supervise is our work with six orphanages. The Birmingham team visited two orphanages, one for the deaf and one for disabled children. At the orphanage for deaf, we were treated to many presentations by the children including songs, short plays, readings and piano and accordion solos. The team had a chance to bless the kids with some treats and prayers. We then toured the facility and were shown concretely where our support has made a difference including kitchen and computer equipment, new windows to keep out the cold and new furniture and carpets for a new section for very young children. Our thanks to Rabbi Walter Lieber and his family foundation for their generous gifts over many years now. To maintain and expand our ministry to other orphanages in Odessa is possible through your support in 2013.

Short skit by the orphans

Accordionist and pianist from the orphanage

88 year old US team member passing out treats

New beds and carpets

   In all of this we are more than conquerors. Yet, we are facing a serious financial crunch in 2013. You may know that a foundation that has substantially supported us for years has ceased its operations in 2012. Because of the death of another key donor and the effects of retirement of other donors and the recession on giving, we need raise approximately $40,000 just to stay even with the annual levels of support we have reached in these past 17 years.. But time is running out for the Holocaust survivors, many of the Odessa orphans will remain in the orphanages until they are seventeen and the Lord is opening doors for us to plant congregations in Israel and gather many unaffiliated congregations spread all over Russia. These congregations need fellowship and encouragement to continue their local works and we have the experience and leadership to help them. Being centrally located in Europe enables us to travel easily from England to Ukraine and now Israel and Russia. And our connections with individual Jewish people in France continue to grow. France has the third largest Jewish population in the world but only two Messianic congregations. So much has to be done to raise up new leaders to expand the Messianic Jewish witness in Europe and it cannot be done without you.

   We need to see through a significant increase in end of the year gifts and new monthly donors because  you see what the Lord is doing in Europe and are motivated to be part of it. In 7 days we need to sign our lease for our apartment in Paris for September 2013 through June 2014. We need your help to do that because the funds we used to rely on to make such a decision are no longer available. Our home is our base for all of our work in Europe. Please consider this appeal when you receive this e-mail and let us know by return e-mail that you have sent or will send in a special gift before the end of the year towards covering the goal of raising $40,000 for ministry expenses. Knowing that you are behind us and want to invest in reaching our Jewish people in an ever increasing atmosphere of European anti-Semitism will be a much needed encouragement for the year ahead.

   If you would like to financially partner with us you can do so as follows below.

Please send your check, made payable to Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries, to:

The Schneiers

c/o Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries

PO Box 1601

Denton, TX 76202-1601 

(Please include a note with your check that it is “For the Schneiers.” (Your gifts are tax deductible).

    If you would like to make a credit card donation, go to www.glory-of-zion.org, click on "Donate" on the left side of the home page, fill in your credit card info on the "Send a Donation" page, in the "Put Toward" section click on "Designated Gift" and in the "Enter Recipient" section fill in "The Schneiers." This last step will insure that  your gift goes to our ministry. You can indicate in the comment section if your gift is one-time or to be charged monthly on the date you provide.

   Blessings, Love and Shalom,

       David & Leslye

                                  Some gifts from the Odessa congregation

                                  for Leslye's birthday in October

Finally back in Israel!!!

  Just before Yom Kippur, Leslye and I visited Israel and reunited with many of our long time friends there. Israel in some ways has not changed a lot especially when you get out of the large cities. But, the modern Messianic Jewish community is in its 3rd generation!! They are so integrated with life in Israel. Their grand children are Sabras and Hebrew is their native tongue.

  After landing in Ben Gurion airport we made our way to the seaside city of Ashdod with two GPS's and the Holy Spirit leading the way. There we met for the first time Israel Pochtar, who immigrated from Ukraine. He has planted home groups and congregations in that area and in other parts of Israel. He is involved in humanitarian aid and has partnered with others to draw thousands of Israelis together who do not know Yeshua as Messiah. Although he has been attacked by religious leaders he has great favor with the government at many levels because of the good works of the ministries he leads. Please pray for him as he labors in Israel to expand the kingdom of God.

  From Ashdod we traveled to Omer which is near Beersheva. We spent Erev Yom Kippur with Avner and Rachel Boskey and a community of believers there. We prayed and had wonderful fellowship. After Yom Kippur, Avner and Rachel took us to the site of Abraham's well and a spectacular gorge/canyon in the middle of the desert. One thing that struck us were the bomb shelters in everyone's home. They double as a bedroom or storage area when not in use. Just after we left Israel the rockets began to fall again near Beersheva. We left Omer and traveled to Haifa stopping at a farm in hot, southern Israel run by Messianic believers, Ari and Miriam. Miriam is the daughter of David and Martha Stern. Ari won an award for being the best young farmer in Israel because of his innovative changes to hot house farming. He introduced new systems to recycle water, grew plants only in perlite which permitted him to use the nutrients he wanted to grow his crops and slanted the beds to improve drainage. All of this reduces the use and cost of electricity and water. They are presently in search of new investors so please let me know if you are interested.

Leslye and I at Abraham's Well

Beware of camels!!

and shelling on each side of the road

Amazing wild desert rams

Desert canyon

Raised perlite vegetable beds

 Leaving the farm we traveled north to Haifa to spend some days and celebrate the beginning of Sukkot with our friends, Eitan and Connie Shishkoff. We were able to visit their congregation and enjoy food and fellowship in their Sukka as well as the Morrisons and Chopinskys. It was wonderful to see the fruit of all of the years the Shishkoff's have labored in israel. Following our sweet reunion in Haifa we moved on to visit a couple in Carniel who made aliyah from our congregation in Odessa about 12 years ago. They have 5 children and are planning to start a congregation in northern Israel with help and encouragement from the Odessa congregation. This is a big step for them and us as we partner within the next year to plant a new work in there. If you would like to be part of that planting please contact us at schneiers@aol.com and we can let you know how you can help. We completed our norther swing of Israel by visiting, near Tiberias, our friends of 35 years, Elkanon and Nechama Weisman. We first met them while working with Ari and Shira Sorko-ram in 1977-1978. It was so joyful to catch up on our familiy histories. We have only seen them a handful of times during those 35 years but it was like old times as we noshed in their home. Please pray for Nechama who has had serious health battles as well as one of their adult children. The Wiseman's are such troopers who are some respects unknown but greatly known and used by the Lord for decades in Israel.

Eitan and Connie Shishkoff

Youth Worship Team at the Shishkoff's 

Congregation

Decorating the Sukkah while the wash dries

   Our final leg in Israel ended in Jerusalem just in time for Leslye's birthday. We were so blessed to stay with our friends David and Martha Stern and later Martin and Norma Sarvis, who are connected with Glory of Zion and the 24/7 prayer movement in Jerusalem. This was such a peaceful time at the end of a very busy trip. We did have some time to visit the Old City especially the Western Wall which was teeming with Sukkot celebrants. One can easily imagine Yeshua and his disciples in the very same place 2,000 years ago.We left Israel with a clear impression that God has and will continue to open doors for us to minister there.Thank you so much for those of you who responded to our request for financial assistance to make this trip possible. If you would like to contribute to our new work in Israel please include with any gift you send in a note that it is for "The Schneiers/Israel."

Near the Old City

Leslye at the Jaffa Gate

Prayer during Sukkot at the Western Wall

  Thanks so much for being part of our lives and ministry, for some of you over these past 17 years. Blessings to you and your family during the Thanksgiving holiday ahead.

Love and Shalom,

David & Leslye

If you would like to financially partner with us you can do so as follows.

Please send your check, made payable to Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries, to:

The Schneiers

c/o Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries

PO Box 1601

Denton, TX 76202-1601 

(Please include a note with your check that it is “For the Schneiers.” (Your gifts are tax deductible).

    If you would like to make a credit card donation, go to  

www.glory-of-zion.org, click on "Donate" on the left side of the home page, fill in your credit card info on the "Send a Donation" page, in the "Put Toward" section click on "Designated Gift" and in the "Enter Recipient" section fill in "The Schneiers." This last step will insure that  your gift goes to our ministry. You can indicate in the comment section if your gift is one-time or to be charged monthly on the date you provide.

  

     

On to Israel

September 22, 2012

    Leslye and I are preparing to leave on Monday for two weeks in Israel to reconnect with old friends and see what the Lord has for us there at this point in our lives. We will be visiting Ashdod. Omer (near Beersheva), Haifa, Carmiel, Tiberias, Jerusalem and points in between. Please pray for our travels and safety, vision from the Lord and the Israeli GPS. We'll be reporting from Israel as soon as possible. Shalom. David & Leslye Schneier

It all begins - Jews under attack in Paris

So someone makes a You Tube film and a Jewish grocery store in Paris is bombed. Sounds insane and it is!!! Jews don't blow up Muslim grocery stores when Jews are vilified in Muslim publications, on Muslim TV and radio and on Muslim blogs and other internet sites. If you want respect. doesn't it have to be both ways? If you could see the rampant anti-Semitism in European and Arabic media, you would wonder why there isn't such a huge outcry against the Jewish and Israel bashing that occurs every day here. Shalom from Paris. David Schneier

Story from The Huffingron Post on-line

France Kosher Store Bomb Explosion Injures 4

By GREG KELLER 09/19/12 12:50 PM ET

PARIS — A small package bomb exploded inside a kosher grocery store in a Paris suburb Wednesday, wounding at least one person, according to an agency that tracks anti-Semitic attacks in France. The reason for the attack was unclear, but it rattled nerves amid global tensions surrounding a U.S.-produced film insulting to Islam. The French grocery store attack came a few hours after a satirical French weekly published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, prompting anger from French Muslim groups.
The Jewish Community Protection Service, set up to register anti-Semitic attacks in France, says on its website that two individuals dressed in black threw an explosive device inside a kosher supermarket in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles at lunchtime Wednesday. It says one person suffered small injuries, without elaborating.
Yves Jannier, the state prosecutor in the Val d'Oise region where Sarcelles is located, cautioned that evidence was still being compiled and it was too early to draw any conclusions about motives behind the attack.
"We'll need to analyze, quantify and measure all these elements, such as to know perhaps the type of explosives used," he said at a news conference. "But for now, we should avoid any extrapolation or hasty conclusions."
The Sipa news agency reported four injuries. It said the two assailants fled after throwing a rock through the shop's window shortly before the explosion, and that the victims are being treated for wounds to their arms and legs from the explosion and broken glass.
A French Jewish umbrella organization, CRIF, said in a statement that "it fears this attack" is connected to violent protests in recent days from Asia to Africa against the U.S.-produced film "Innocence of Muslims," which ridicules Prophet Muhammad. CRIF criticized those who are linking Jews to the making of the film and said "nothing can justify the wave of violence that has hit the world since its release."
France, which has western Europe's largest Jewish population, sees sporadic but persistent anti-Semitic acts, often vandalism of gravesites and synagogues. The nation also has the region's largest Muslim population, and mosques and Muslim gravesites are periodically desecrated.
Fears of a new wave of anti-Semitism in France resurfaced after a gunman claiming ties to radical Islam killed three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse in March, the worst such attacks in France since the 1990s.
___
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

From the Schneiers - September/October schedule

     We'll be on the move during the next two months so here is our schedule:

1. September 8th: We'll be with David Schiff's congregation in Metarie, Louisiana

2. September 9th: Possibly sharing in New Orleans if it's not flooded.

3. September 15th: Paris, France

4. September 24th-October 9th: Israel

5. October 12th-18th: MJAA/IAMCS Steering Committee meetings: Orlando

6. October 22nd-29th: IAMCS leadership conference: Odessa, Ukraine

    Remember us in prayer. Shalom. David & Leslye

You'll like this photo

Every so often an image so clearly speaks for itself. Here's one from I Wish News. Shalom, David Schneier

This is a must read and watch the attached video at the end, "The Notre Dame Project." This is from the CFCA website located at www.antisemitism.org.il, Shalom from David Schneier

The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism - Yearly Evaluation: 2011

18-07-2012

Baptist group pulls 'weeds of injustice' from Jewish cemetery

Paris - His hands trembled when Benjamin* saw a letter his son-in-law received, stamped with the letterhead of the government offices of Paris' fourth administrative district.


In fact he trembled all over, so much that he had to sit down.

It turned out the letter was just asking his son-in-law to renew his driver's license. But it took the rest of the day for the 90-year-old Jewish man to recover from just the sight of the letterhead.


It was too much like the letter that summoned him away from his home 70 years ago during the Holocaust and landed him in a German concentration camp for five years. When he returned home, most of his family was dead.


Seven decades have passed, but the memory is still fresh for the Jewish grandfather.


"Sometimes it's easy for us to think about the Holocaust in terms of, 'That was a long time ago. That kind of prejudice doesn't still exist,'" said Richard Hall*, a social scientist familiar with Jewish history. "But actually we are still in a generation when people can tell their children that the reason they aren't allowed to wear striped pajamas is because their grandma or grandpa had to wear them in prison camps. The memory isn't far removed at all."


And if that were not enough for Jews in Paris, there's a message just for them carved into the front of the city's imposing Notre Dame Cathedral, right in the heart of the city's fourth district.


It's been there 1,000 years. Ships 20 miles away on the Seine River could see it. Tourists from all over the world have their photo made in front of it.


The message is a statue called Synagogua, and it portrays the Jewish community as "damaged goods," Hall said. Synagogua is a woman with a broken staff, broken tablets and a snake wrapped around her eyes to indicate she's been blinded by evil.


She sits on the front of the cathedral opposite the statue Iglesia, a strong, stately crown-wearing woman representing the Christian church.


"For 1,000 years, the front of Notre Dame has been a billboard to the Jews of what Christians think of them," Hall said. "That's a hard message to overcome." Especially, he said, when Christians seem to be oblivious to the fact that messages like that are still being presented today.


But John Simmons* is one person trying to turn some of those messages around by a simple act. He travels from his home in the U.S. to Europe to take care of Jewish cemeteries. There, he and his friends work on walls, pull weeds and clean headstones.


"To honor the dead is a very high good deed for the Jews, so to do that for them is a message of love," Simmons said. "We just want to show love, to see the Jews and the Christians reconciled. We are pulling the weeds of injustice, of the things that happened, so the land can be renewed and restored and relationships can be reconciled."


It's something Christians should be aware of and working to overcome, Simmons said.


"We are just showing the love of Christ," he said. "That is first and foremost."


A six-minute documentary (http://vimeo.com/45358520) on Jews in Paris is available for individuals and churches that want to know how they can be more sensitive and show love to Jewish friends and neighbors.


"As Christians, we sincerely want to make the love of Jesus Christ visible to Jewish people," Hall said. "Yet to do so means that we must now express His love in a way that speaks more loudly than the long history of hatred and distrust which Christians and Jews have inherited from the past."

The Notre Dame project from Dougie James on Vimeo.

Update from the Schneiers June 2012

Dear Friends of the Schneiers,

   So good to be able to write you of all of the wonderful things the Lord has done this past Spring in Europe. But first, please pray for Leslye who had to return to the US to help take care of her Mom who had a heart attack one week ago. Her mother is back home now. Recently she had to return to the ER so she needs prayer to sustain and heal her. Leslye also needs prayer as many decisions will need to be made in the days ahead.

   We returned to Paris in March (1) to prepare for sharing in Dallas at a Passover celebration led by Chuck Pierce, (2) to help lead an IAMCS Regional Leadership Conference in Nikolaiv, Ukraine, (3) to join a prayer team led by Roger & Charlotte Merschbrock to places in the south of France that blessed the Jewish people, (4) to travel to Spain to meet with the only Messianic congregation there, (5) to help lead an IAMCS leadership conference for western Europe in Belgium and finally (6) to be part of a conference team in Lyon, France led by Chuck Pierce with Paul Wilbur in concert. We made a lot of new friends during this process in the Messianic movement and in churches. God gave us many opportunities to share His love for the Jewish people and His plan for reaching them through relationships and Messianic Jewish congregations.

   First, David was asked to share at the Passover service at Glory of Zion in its new center in Corinth, Texas. The title of his message was "Passing Over Into Unity. A Time for Reflection and Action on the Part of the Body of Messiah." It can be ordered at Glory of Zion's web site at https://gloryofzion.org/webstore/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1190. David connected the unity of Jewish and Gentile believers in reaching the Jewish people with end time revival in the body of Messiah. He shared that the Lord is saying that is it time for the Church to do something to help the Jewish people see their Messiah, Yeshua. And it is time to publicly defend the Jewish people which will be costly to those brave enough to do it. It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."  Here are some photos from the conference which Jonathan Cahn also shared his prophetic vision for the US from his book "The Harbinger."

David sharing at the Passover conference

                               

Jonathan Cahn receiving prayer

  Returning again to Paris, David prepared for the semi-annual IAMCS leadership retreat in Ukraine, this time in Nikolaiv. The IAMCS host congregation there is led by Yura Korshun. David's topic during the three day conference was . We had 230 leaders and congregants attend from 22 cities. There was such desire to worship, to receive teaching and to fellowship. Our next Ukrainian conference is during the last week of October and we are hoping to have Maurice Sklar come and give two concerts in the famous Stolyarsky music school, one for survivors of the Holocaust and one for the city. We need to raise $4,000 for Maurice's expenses to come so if anyone wants to help with that special need please let me know because the Ukrainian congregations do not have the resources for such a venture. Here are some photos from the Nikolaiv conference:

Men dancing in unity

A child sounds the shofar

New art emerges

           

New IAMCS congregation

Torah Procession

Former Muslim who now loves the Jewish people

      

     Leslye and I then joined up with a prayer team from Louisiana led by Roger and Charlotte Merschbrock. We will be joining the Merschbrock's in Baton Rouge on July 20-22, 2012 for a time of sharing at a statewide conference and a church about the one new man from a Jewish perspective. Before setting out on our journey we had a miraculous time participating in an exclusive remembrance in Paris of France's deportation of tens of thousands of Jews during WWII.  Ever where we turned their were French dignitaries, Holocaust survivors, politicians, rabbis and priests and military officers. And we and the team (who we introduced as our "entourage") were permitted to be part of all of this because of Leslye's listening to the Lord and our press passes from the IPA (International Press Association). Here are some photos from the day of remembrance:

A Schneier deported from France

A survivor/deportee in his uniform

Military presence

Private government ceremony

  

       

Rabbi's prayer of remembrance

Laying the wreaths

                                                                 

   Our journey to the south of France began in La Rochelle. In all we visited La Rochelle, Valence and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and nearby towns where the Huguenots through their ancestors hid and saved thousands of Jews before and during. In one town, false ration and identity cards were prepared in the city hall! Here's a photo description of our time there:

Shabbat in La Rochelle

Young girl's family saved this young boy

The two friends today

This home protected Jewish refugees

Synagogue in Valence

     

    

    

      Our next stop with little rest was a trip to Spain to visit in Madrid the only Messianic congregation in the whole country. Rabbis Mijael Sofer leads a congregation of about 12-15 people. They are officially recognized as a Jewish community. In order to achieve that status they have to have a cemetery and access to a place of running water for a mikvah. I don't know of another messianic congregation that has its own cemetery!. Upon our arrival in Madrid Rabbi Sofer took us to Segovia where the document was signed to expel the Jews from Spain in 1492. It was also the home of Spain's chief Rabbi, Avraham Seneor who our Schneier family may be related to. More on that in the future. We visited Rabbi Avraham's home which is now a museum. After Madrid we had a chance to visit with friends in Toledo, a seat of Jewish culture and learning and ironically the Spanish Inquisition. We had a chance to visit the museum of El Greco (who was from Greece). One of my favorite paintings, "The View of Toledo," was not there since it seems to reside in NYC. Spain ordered 1.200,000 Jews to leave and we were told that 400,000 did and 800,000 "converted " meaning that almost everyone in Spain has distant Jewish relative. Here are some photos from our trip there:

Roman aqueduct in Segovia

Sefarad seal marking Jewish quarter

Great Synagogue of Toledo

Shabbat with congregation in Madrid

Bridge of Tears where Jews left Segovia

  

       

    

     We had one other trip in Europe to La Louviere, Belgium outside of Brussels from June 1-3. We were joined there by Messianic Rabbis David Chernoff and Joel Liberman from the USA and Messianic leaders from Belgium, England, The Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Ukraine and France for an IAMCS leadership conference. The conference theme dealt with issues facing the Messianic movement in Europe. The worship was awesome and we were excellently hosted by Lorenzo Greco and his congregation Beth Yeshoua. This was really a turning point for unity in the Messianic movement in western Europe and we expect great things to come from this gathering. Here are some final photos from Belgium:

Lorenzo Greco (Belgium)

David Chernoff (Phila.)

Joel Liberman (San Diego)

David Schneier (Paris)

Alexander (Sasha) Popazov (Odessa)

 

   

     

     So now you have joined us on some of our travels in the last three months. God is doing many things in Europe and we thank you for your prayers and financial support for our vision to strengthen the Messianic Jewish movement there and to see revival amongst our Jewish people and the whole body of Messiah.

   If you would like to financially partner with us you can do so as follows below.

Please send your check, made payable to Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries, to:

The Schneiers

c/o Glory of Zion Int’l Ministries

PO Box 1601

Denton, TX 76202-1601 

(Please include a note with your check that it is “For the Schneiers.” (Your gifts are tax deductible).

    If you would like to make a credit card donation, go to www.glory-of-zion.org, click on "Donate" on the left side of the home page, fill in your credit card info on the "Send a Donation" page, in the "Put Toward" section click on "Designated Gift" and in the "Enter Recipient" section fill in "The Schneiers." This last step will insure that  your gift goes to our ministry. You can indicate in the comment section if your gift is one-time or to be charged monthly on the date you provide.

   Blessings, Love and Shalom,

       David & Leslye