We wanted to thank you for sending six of your very best as volunteers this summer to participate in Project Future and Hope. Their willingness to come to an unstable place and do a difficult task is greatly appreciated. Your volunteers, those from other states, local partners and our IMB team have visited almost 5,000 Palestinian homes in Gaza and the West Bank. Beyond our wildest imagination, we have seen our primary goal accomplished: to share God’s love in a tangible way with Palestinian people.
Recent reports indicate unemployment rates are up to 70 percent, and malnutrition in children is around 50 percent. There are almost daily reports of attacks by one side or the other. With that as a backdrop, volunteers visited homes to say, “God loves you, and we love you.” They listened as Palestinian mothers and fathers shared their heartaches and fears.
Through your generous contributions to the IMB Hunger Relief Fund, they were able to give food to many hungry people. They also delivered school uniforms to 4,500 children in grades 1 through 6. One volunteer couple, whose vast experience included counseling in New York last fall, conducted a workshop in six different locations to teach parents how to help their children deal with trauma. Three volunteer groups conducted day camps for children whose lives have been disrupted by the current crisis.
Although most of the families we visited were Muslim, we asked almost every family how we could pray for them. The vast majority asked us to pray for peace. We were able to pray with them and would like to ask you to join us in that prayer.
Ask God to bring both political and spiritual peace to the Palestinian people. May they experience the truth of Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.”
Paul and Harriet Lawrence
IMB Palestinian Team
Ashkelon, Israel
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