Testimonies

Alright. So I was born in Aleppo, Syria into an Armenian-Orthodox family(Orthodoxy is kind of a type of Catholicism, except they don’t follow the pope and don’t do lent and other stuff like that). My parents weren’t so religious; they believed in God and would go and light candles at the church, but He was only a theory for them, someone to mention when they didn’t know how to handle a situation.

War started in Syria, and we had to leave ‘cause it was getting really bad. So we came to Armenia (4 years ago), where everything is different, from the language to the way people think. It was really hard for us as a family to get used to living here. 

Lots of stuff happened and my dad couldn’t get a job as a doctor. So there was a heavy depression upon my family (my mom, dad and sister). As a way of escape, I started meditating to videos on Youtube. I kind of did think there was a God out there but I wasn’t sure. I would find hours-long videos and try to “activate my third eye chakra.” my goal was to activate it and “get a higher consciousness level.” Around the same time I found out about this thing called “the Illuminati”(3 years ago), and I learnt that people can actually sell their souls to the devil to get fame and money. And that was a huge shock to me ‘cause I remembered that I was told about the time when Satan took Jesus up to a mountain and said “only if you submit your soul to me, I’ll give you all these treasures,” so I started thinking that the bible is true after all. But I chose not to think too much about it and I just kept doing the meditations. 

One day I was meditating while listening to weird sounds on a Youtube meditation video, and on the right side of the screen I saw a video titled “The Third Eye Is A Portal To A Demonic Realm” so I was like “woah” and I just watched it, and in it there was this guy talking about how he opened it up and after a while it got really bad and Jesus saved him at the end. I was pretty surprised because the way I knew it, you go to heaven by doing good works, I didn’t know anything about a need for a Messiah. So after that I stopped doing the meditations, and I started feeling like there was a gap in my heart (which I had always felt, since my childhood). I didn’t know what it was about, I just didn’t feel complete. Then I don’t know how, but I started seeing Christian testimonies on Youtube, and I kept hearing people say “I became born again” and I had never heard about being born again in my life. So after a lot of hesitation about how “I’m not good enough” “These things are only for Americans” and many other excuses like that, I just went on my knees one day and I was like “I have no idea what I’m doing right now, or if anybody’s listening, but Jesus, if you’re actually the Savior, make me born again” and the minute I said that I felt a huge wave of energy and love and truth crashing over me, and I felt like the hole in my heart had been filled (2 years ago). One day later I told all that to my sister and she also prayed and became born again just like me. Since that day I can’t explain how Jesus changed my life, he saved me from depression, anger problems, hatred, and my desire to die. I can’t thank Him enough :))

The reason I joined the HLI was because I found Hebrew very interesting and I wanted to dive deeper into the word of God. It’s been great so far! 

By the way, my dad did get a job about 3 years ago at a really good place. Praise the LORD for that. And right now I study at a medical university (it’s my second year this year)!

So yeah, Jesus saves! Literally Yeshua means Salvation. When I learned that I was so surprised. But it’s true! He is the answer to everything. Congrats if you made it this far! Thanks for reading :))

Hello! My name is Liz and my husband’s name is Tom. I taught 14 years in a Catholic school and 13 years in a public school. Tom was a machine designer for over 30 years. Originally, we are from Staten Island, New York, but we now make our home in Bluffton, South Carolina. (I prayed to the Lord, asking Him to grant me more patience, and He plopped me in the middle of a 55+ Community! Our God has a great sense of humor!) 

Tom and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary on November 14th, as well as the 4th anniversary of the affirmation of our wedding vows on December 8th. (I’m entitled to 2 anniversary celebrations, so Tom and I chose to celebrate the first with family and friends and to celebrate the second with Our Lord.) As it says in Ecclesiastes, “a cord of three strands is not easily broken,” so Jesus is central in our marriage. 

This past spring, Tom and I joined a Holy Land Excursion. ‘My, my, my, wow, wow, wow‘ are the words I recall using to describe our trip! A trip to Israel alone defies description! So rich in history, architecture and beauty. To visit the places Our Lord has blessed is such an awesome experience. To quote a fellow traveler, “God definitely calls you to take this journey,” and I agreed without reservation. 

Tom was saved in his 20’s. I was saved at the ‘tender age of 55’. During the first half of my life, I was a Roman Catholic. Then, the Lord moved in my life, BIG TIME! I seek the Lord steadily, attend a phenomenal church that preaches scripture expositorily. I am looking forward to learning more and more about Yeshua and have a positive outlook on this course of study. After all, God will give you what you need to succeed!

I chose to share how my husband and I met with y’all, for retelling this story brings such Glory to God in a different way, (and I’m sure The Lord smiles each time He hears it)! 

I was saved in 2012, ending a 15 year relationship. In prayer, I told the Lord that I wanted to serve Him as a single person. However, if He felt I should have a mate, here’s what I’d like Him to “consider” (hee hee)! I wanted a man who read the bible, a man who not only asked Jesus’ advice but followed it. (I also asked Our Lord if He’d make him a little easy on the eyes this time!) Well, the leader of my bible study also knew Tom. He decided that Tom and I should meet! We did, but sparks did not fly!

When I was baptized, Tom was there supporting a member of his group, who was also getting baptized! He heard my testimony that night, met at a Christmas party later in the week, and the rest is HIS-story! We were married the next year, by the Justice of the Peace (who we believe to be a Christian) and, because this was a second marriage for us both, our Pastor affirmed our vows to God a month later! (2 weddings, 2 anniversaries, 2 bouquets of roses, yes? A Bible Study Leader may believe he played cupid, but I know in my heart it was the work of “that lil’old Jewish matchmaker, Our Prince of Peace!)

My good friend, Miriam Tierno, told me of Holy Language. I believe God was working through her for He is aware of my thirst to know Him better. I hesitated, but He’s patient. So here I am, ready and eager! And as I said before, God will give you what you need to succeed! Shalom, y’all (southern humor)!

Wow! I am so excited and honored to be a part of this group! My name is Samantha, and I live in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains with my amazing husband, Ben, and our four beautiful children.

My journey to Torah observance and the desire to learn the Hebrew language as well as gain an understanding of the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective is multifaceted in nature. To begin with, as the daughter of a pastor, I had been a Christian for the majority of my life. Worshipping Yah with singing and music has been my life's passion and I have spent many years in worship ministry. Over the years, an interesting situation began to occur. As my walk became closer to Adonai, discontent equally became a factor in my life. I knew something was wrong, but it wasn’t until Yah allowed the scales to fall from my eyes that I started to truly understand the reasoning. I had inherited lies (Jeremiah 16:19), and, once Yah revealed such, my heart turned towards His Torah. 

Just before this shift, Adonai also began to reveal my natural genealogy. That is a quite a story in and of itself, but here are the Cliffs Notes. My immediate ancestry is Italian and French-Canadian, but, while doing research into one specific line of my mom's family, I found Jewish heritage. I wasn't able to trace that particular discovery back beyond the crypto Jews of France, but, lo and behold, another Jewish line popped up as I continued my research. That is when I found that I am a descendant of the tribe of Judah, and, specifically, a direct descendant of King David (He's my 93rd great grandfather) through Solomon and down through the Exilarchs of Babylon (Hebrew: ראשהגלות Rosh Galut, “Head of the Exile”). The Exilarchs were the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon during the diaspora and were descendants of Davidic lineage. 

I was in absolute awe when I discovered my heritage. Just knowing that Abba saw this connection through ages—this connection to my great grandfather whose entire being also worshipped the King of Kings in such an unabashed way—and decided to open it up to me. That was such a beautiful experience…beyond words.

Thanks again for the honor of being a part of this Tribe! I am beyond grateful to be ‘following Yeshua in a Hebrew way, together’ with each and every one of you!

Shalom!

Shalom everyone. Allow me to tell you a bit about myself. I was raised Christian in a non-denominational home attending church on the odd Sunday. My father disliked church which naturally kept me away as well, so most all of my spiritual growth growing up came by way of my parents. They both dearly loved The Lord, and I am ever grateful for them as parents. As a result of not really going to church I avoided most traditional Christian doctrine by way of ignorance. Here is a story to illustrate my point: Ironically, one of the only things I remember learning from Sunday school was the Ten Commandments. One Sunday, as Sunday was typically yard work day, my father came to distribute the news on which yard duties we were assigned for the day. I myself wasn’t really feeling it so I responded saying, “but dad, it’s the Sabbath!” His response was a quick rebuke and a “get to work.” I remember being confused. Why don’t we rest on the Sabbath? I thought. They told me about it in Sunday school! Why isn’t this a thing?! 

Years and years later my father was witnessed to by a messianic customer of his while doing service work on his hot tub. This was the beginning of it all. My father studied Torah for a year without our knowledge until he was finally convinced. When I was sixteen years old he sat us all down on his king-sized bed and told us all that he had learned. Jesus has a Jewish name, Sabbath is on Saturday, we’re going to do Sabbath, no more Christian festivals, God’s holy days, etc. I remember being bewildered by him saying that we were going to start observing the commandments. I already thought we were supposed to! Haha. I was only unaware that there were more than ten. Everything changed from then on. I gave up my football ambitions as the events were always held on Shabbat, I turned down jobs that wouldn’t accommodate our Sabbath observance, and we started observing the festivals the best we understood. It was a very exciting time with plenty of learning and growth.

Shortly after, I met the love of my life Brandalynn and we were married July 6th 2012. By May 29th 2013 we had our first child Tirzah, followed by Boaz and Batyah and sadly thereafter in December of last year we suffered our first miscarriage: Beniah. We are now expecting this coming November/December, Hashem willing. Rewinding back to 2013, my wife, Tirzah, and I made our way to the Holy Land and served with a ministry called Hayovel for six weeks in the Judea/Samaria region. We had plenty of first-hand experiences with the Jewish farmers/families in various orthodox communities where my love and appreciation for the Jewish people continued to grow. As we departed home I was informed of a Hebrew class which the ministry founders were putting on in Tennessee that winter. Feeling inspired, I took a leave of absence from my work and went to Tennessee with my family to learn Hebrew for five weeks. There I was taught Hebrew by Izzy’s brother David and later met Izzy himself during his brief visit. My love for the Hebrew language grew immensely during that time, and to this day my Hebrew script far surpasses my English script in style and neatness. 

At this time of my life, I have found myself learning more and more about the Jewish roots of my faith; discovering not just the Hebrewness of Yeshua but also his Jewishness. Along the journey I have found him to be more reminiscent of the rabbis of old over the later church fathers in most all aspects. This discovery has pushed me into a corner, one which forces me to choose between Yeshua the Hebrew, Jesus the Christian, or Yeshua the Jew. I perceive the Hebrew roots movement to be just that, a look into the “Hebrew” roots of our faith, but what it does not provide is an authentic look into the “Jewish” roots of our faith; the roots which I am growing to love more and more. This is why I have joined Holy Language Institute. I am fascinated with Izzy’s study of the Mishnah and am only growing more and more convinced of my convictions, that Yeshua of Nazareth can only be properly understood against the Jewish/rabbinic context of Yeshua’s world. Who would’ve thought that our Jewish King and Messiah was actually Jewish! In ethnicity and in practice! 

I am very excited to be a part of a community that loves Hashem, that follows Yeshua, and has a heart for the Jewish people.

With a meek and humble heart I wish to share a very real supernatural Hebrew language experience I had near Pesach of 2015.

First, I have been a believer in Yeshua since my salvation in 1987. I am a wife and mother of 2 sons and have 2 grandsons. We own a bakery bistro restaurant in a small lakeside community in southern Ontario Canada where we do all our own hand made pastries, cakes, pies and hundreds of treats. I have been blessed.

I LOVE Israel, and the Hebrew language! I first visited Israel 25 years ago, and then continued the pilgrimage many more times, with friends and family, now over 25 visits. I now have friends there and visit often. I especially love to go scuba diving in the Red Sea with my sons. 

I have learned some "basic" Hebrew... enough to ask directions "Eifo rehov Yeshayahu?" or ask for something to eat "Ani rotze le’chol mashehu be’vakasha" or drink "le shtot" or if someone can speak English "Ata medaber Anglit?” This has come in real handy on occasion. But I only have a "pitsat" small vocabulary and "lo colchach tov" not at all so well, haha. 

I have been thinking lately I would like to try my hand once again, to read Hebrew. I studied the alphabet from a CD many years ago and was getting pretty good at sounding out words, but have since forgotten most of it. Thus, I searched YouTube and the first search brought me (not by chance) to Holy language Institute. 

When I browsed the home page and discovered it was a Hebrew language study rooted in belief in Yeshua I was thrilled! Then I stumbled upon the Audio Bible description and I immediately gasped when I saw the familiar snapshot of Abraham Shmuelof! I knew instantly that this was directed by the Lord!

I will forever praise the Lord for this man and his legacy and humble mission to record his reading and singing of the entire Hebrew Bible for people like me. I am sure he had no idea how this has impacted lives.

In 2014/15 I was going through the trial of my life. I had been in a backslidden condition for 5 years prior to 2014 after a most devout sincere walk with the Lord. I never dreamed I would turn my back on Yeshua, but I did. Many painful things I had not known, or did not want to face, left me a crumpled shell. The end result left me utterly broken in my spirit and I had lost almost all faith in Yeshua.

I was making my way back to the Lord and I desperately needed comfort for my soul. One night I found a website called Academy of Ancient Languages where I discovered the Audio recordings of Abraham Shmuelof. In time, I landed on Song of Songs, the beautiful love letter written by King Solomon to his beloved (a type of love letter from Hashem to His beloved).

I listened every night with earplugs in my ears and laying in the dark feeling the presence of the Lord cover me like a warm blanket. One night, I found myself very softly moving my lips along with the Rabbi's words. To my astonishment, I realized I was forming the exact same words he was saying in perfect unison!

Eventually, I mustered enough courage to let myself whisper the words out loud. In time, I began to speak the words along with Abraham Shmuelof. Not perfectly, but almost. Then I began to sing the first and last chapters of Song of Songs with him and discovered I could sing the words even better than speaking! This became my comfort every night, followed by random selections of scriptures I would follow along with and then search out the English translation in my own Bible. Many times I wept as I read the translation of what the Lord was sharing with me.

One night, after I had sung and recited Hebrew scriptures with the Rabbi, I pulled out my earplugs, and sat up in my bed in my pitch dark bedroom, to move my lab off my feet, and gasped as I saw a split second Flame of Fire disappear from the floor up into the air!

At first second, in my astonished state, I presumed it must have been static electricity from touching the dog, but then the reality of it all hit me! It was in the middle of my floor near the foot of my bed! So it couldn't be static electricity. It was some sort of Angelic presence! I wept like a child as I realized that an angel had taken audience in my room to listen to me sing and speak the Word of God in the divine language of HEBREW! 

I am humbled to have shared this experience with all of you, and it is my most sincere prayer that you too, will find comfort, blessing, and inspiration in the "Living" Word of God as it was written and spoken in Hebrew. 

I look forward to begin my studies when I can with my busy schedule and share my progress with all of you.

I met Jesus in 2008 when I was held in a rehabilitation clinic, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and severe depression. I was locked in my room waiting for my therapist to arrive, and I heard on the television a preacher talking about Jesus’s forgiveness through his sacrifice on the cross, His unconditional love for me and that in Him we can be new creatures, old things ended, and that I should not bear the blame anymore. I could change my path whenever I wanted. My therapist was Christian and she took me to her church. On my second visit I stood up and made my decision for Christ. Since then, my family life began to change. My journey until now is a long and interesting example of Yeshua’s mercy, the power of His blood and the unlimited love He has for the sinners. I grew as a Christian in an Alliance church and I’m so grateful to them. My older son met Yeshua there and he was baptized when he was 9. My little girl learned about the Lord too. But I still didn’t commit myself to live radically kadosh. I still had some worldly preferences I didn’t want to surrender. I still found excuses to make my own will and that kept me feeling a lack of purpose because of my pride and rebellion. I still wasn’t healed inside, even when I was not living in sin anymore. But I didn’t know why.

Religion and rituals, standing up and making a verbal declaration didn’t keep me away from sin. Not even reading the scriptures. It was about a deep relationship with God through prayer time which I didn’t develop.

I fell into adultery in 2014 and my life started to fade. I was so mad with God, so lonely and lost. I felt rejected because of my sins and I lost hope. 

Finally, at the beginning of 2016 my sister invited me to a First Fruits meeting in a small local congregation. My heart was deeply touched by repentance and the mercy of God. I confessed my sin, asked for help to change my life and I decided to surrender my rebellion. I stopped that relationship of sin and I began to congregate at Abba Samborondón, a local extension from a U.S. church named ABBA Ministries. 

I have been through some processes of liberation, healing, fasting, confession and discipleship. I’ve been letting the Lord heal my soul, break chains of iniquity and generational curses. Finally I’m not fighting against Him, and pray that there is no more rebellion in my heart.

I am a Christian with a Jew Messiah. I love Israel, I’m learning to celebrate moadim and Shabbat and I’m finally understanding the meaning of “to be holy” as a part of my inner conviction to please God.

So this is my story. This is the reason why I started to search for a way to learn about my Messiah’s context and teachings from the roots and Hebrew basis and I found HLI. I’ve been so blessed already with the teachings I have heard.

I’m a single mom of 2 kids: a 14 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. I’m a chef, nutrition adviser and a certified crossfit trainer. I love to spend time with my kids, to read, cook, exercise and learn about nutrition.

I grew up in a non-Christian home, but was fortunate enough to have a Christ-following friend and her family take me under their wing. I heard the gospel many times; however, I refused to fully believe as I became influenced in New Age culture and practices from an influential family member and stopped attending services.  I was exposed to foolish, yet captivating ideas. In university, a social perspective of women’s roles and the design of marriageeroded any notion I might have had with regards to the authority of the Bible - although I saw myself as a Christian.

I married at the age of 20, worked hard at being married, but it was contaminated in secular standards, rooted in feminism and laced in hypocrisy and self-centeredness. Over 10 years I moved countless times from military base to military base and fought from home the numerous Afghanistan combat tours my husband was enduring. War and cross-country moves left me fatigued and isolated. I saw in front of me a marriage crumpled because of mutual neglect, stress, anxiety, anger/hurt and pride. I placed a tremendous amount of pressure on my husband to be all to me. 

As the moves and combat tours continued, I engaged in more destructive and disruptive behaviors that directly affected others. I can clearly see now, during those last few years of my marriage, God gave me over to my futile thinking and heart’s desires, showing me His awesome wrath. I had no feelings or thoughts of remorse, guilt or shame during this time but engaged in whatever I selfishly wanted. I thought I was wise and right. I was a fool.

Soon after my ten-year marriage dissolved, I met a wonderful man and had a daughter. I started a dream job and bought a home. I outwardly had it all but internally I was not changed. I continued to follow in my sinful life and was engaging in the same destructive sin as before. There came a point, however, I felt I nudge, a shift…a feeling that I needed to change myself. It occurred to me that I could potentially lose my daughter. I was spiraling out of control, really. I had these deep episodes of anxiety and panic that I could, at any moment lose it all. I didn’t want to show this negative pattern to my daughter, let alone to have my husband go through it. But I didn’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t do anything about it. The lies of the world told me my issue was my inability to be authentic and find personal truth and meaning. It was at this time my husband and I agreed we didn’t want to go down the “bunny train” for Easter, serving up the gifts and chocolate lies to my daughter. I didn’t know what Easter was designed for really. I personally went on a search to find out what Easter was supposed to be modeled after - you know, to dispel any myths it held. I can tell you I wasn’t out looking for the Messiah.The Easter Story, how Christ died for us carrying our Sin and the Glory of God that was shown…Blew. My. Mind.

During this time, in the background I had a friend who would speak the gospel to me. She was heavily involved in my daughter’s life and was so confident in her stand for Christ, I bent an ear. I saw, for the first time, a Christ-follower leading an actual life every day for Christ. Like it was being played out for all the good and the bad and doubt…but always going back to the Father. Always starting and ending a conversation with His name. If anyone knows Rebecca, you will know she doesn’t sugarcoat the gospel and Truth. I mean she tells it all to you raw - the real deal. I said to her one day, “you are such an educated woman, can you seriously believe the Bible?” She said, “that should lead you to believe me even more.” This caused me to stop in my tracks. I couldn’t possibly be a sinner? I was a good person, no? I would go to heaven wouldn’t I? God loved me, right? What do you mean I was His enemy? Could I ever be good enough to go to heaven? I don’t worship myself…wait, maybe I do. Was the design for marriage I was following nothing but a farce? Could I seriously consider believing a Truth that promotes persecution and trials to its followers? Why would someone in their right mind believe that?! A literal 6 days of creation? Come on!

I was challenged to consider, for the first time, The Word – the Bible – as authority. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard to hear that my current life was racked with sin and I was a deeply infected sinner.So I read scripture.The words – His Words - were deeply convicting. I can honestly say I was left breathless at the exactness; the piercing words Christ spoke. I felt I actually heard the Gospel for the first time – although I had heard it 100 times before. What did I hear? God is doing all for His Glory. I felt deep relief from this fact. Christ came for me, us, because we can’t possibly do anything perfect for our Perfect God. So, this breathtaking God knew that we are sin-ridden and sent His most precious possession His Son – get this – to rescue us because we couldn’t possible rescue ourselves! He lived the perfect life so we didn’t, thank God, have to. It is done! He was the one that did it all. Simply believing in Him, in what He did, was all I have to do and guess what!? That is even done for me! God has called you, us, thus He has already done the work on your behalf. Hallelujah! I knew I didn’t have the strength!  

I was left with no rebuttals at what the world and I thought was ridiculous and what is, honestly, very radical. And I was certainly left with nothing more than speechless moments at how God’s character is without flaw through the whole Bible. I was won over. I was quite literally brought to my knees in awe at Him, His design for His people’s lives, and His fierce protection of His children.

One night, soon after reading His Word intensely, I found myself sweating and shaking at the side of my bed. I was internally wrestling and pleading with God. I was scared about changing – even if that difference was good. Somehow I managed to verbally/internally ask Christ in my life – to be my Lord. That night, one of my life-long sins was removed from an already heavy yoke.  I am not saying this happens to everyone, but for me I no longer had any sinful desires to pursue a specific, horrible behavior again. I directly attribute this to the work of the Spirit.

Three days later, through a dream, God told me to prepare for Him. The visual of a wave engulfing my child and I, alongside God’s command to prepare for Him, left me dedicated to preparing my immediate family and home as much as I am able. This also has led me with a desire to be apart of the church and reminding Christ-followers that we must ready our hearts and ourselves for Christ, preparing ourselves for His coming and listening to His command. We must repent and prepare for His coming.

What does preparing for Christ mean? I believe it means bowing down and accepting defeat in your worldly ways and being gently lead to the base of the cross that has utterly won my mind and heart. It means to seek first what God wants through consistent prayer and asking the Spirit to move between us as a church.

I implore the church body to not be taken by what you may think are needed ventures, but are really distractions by the world from the true mission at hand, which is to repent and seek the ways of Christ. I plead with others to regularly call on the Spirit to assist you to evaluate yourselves so you do not fall into this same death trap I was heading to. I thought and convinced myself that I was a Christian, just more progressive, never thinking I must always be under the Law of God. I plead others to not get lured into this trap.

At times now I feel haunted by my past, but I am reminded by the Spirit that I am redeemed and I am no longer what I was before. I still do all that I did before - mothering, work, wife, school, but now I deeply feel that my attitude and motives have completely changed and my thoughts and actions are being revamped to align with God’s will as much as I am able. I pray that others see this change in me as well.

Now, after two years following Christ, I still can’t stop thinking about Him. Every day, most moments, I think about Him and want to know who He is more and more. If I could talk about Him every moment, as nerdy as it is, I would - gladly and unashamed! As I continued with reading scripture it became clear that there was more to Jesus than I had originally thought. There is a whole story; the whole bible echoes Him and I found myself excited to find out more. I organized Passover and started keeping Shabbat; began reading about Jesus’ Jewishness and putting dedicated time into reading Torah…it became more and more real to me – this Messiah, this Saviour…As I began talking with other women who felt the same I was introduced to Holy Language Institute. I watched a few of the YouTube videos and felt very engaged because it opened my eyes and mind to the idea “I could learn Hebrew!” This excited my heart and so here I am! Learning! It excited me because I felt that Bible translation to English seemed like a just a glimmer of His fullness…and so this not-so-plastic-fatigued-mother-of-two-full-time-working-solo-parenting-nut is trying to learn the language of Yeshua. God’s pretty darn good to me, eh? 

And so I say: Thanks be to God, the Holiest of Holy, my Savior and King that He has come and rescued me.

I was raised Catholic until departing the Roman Church around the age of 10, in the pivotal year of 1978. This was the same year when my mother Rachel was radically saved and was motivated to change churches so that she might be able to obey God in His call upon her life as an evangelistically gifted person. Growing up, I had absolutely no concept whatsoever of what a Jewish person was or what they believed in.  I had a rather dramatic coming to faith experience myself, when I was 18, that set my entire life on a new trajectory. God was extremely merciful to me in so many ways, it was the least I could do to commit my life to His service in whatever way I could at the time.

My first encounter with a real live Jew happened quite unexpectedly.  I was door to door witnessing for the first time. My pastor gave me a small stack of New Testaments and told me to go and knock on doors on one side of the street and he would cover the other side. He had grown frustrated with the lack of growth in his church and the moral decay of the region and was determined to do something about this thing called ‘the Great Commission.’  It was scary for me but also quite exhilarating to face my fears to share Jesus with unsaved folks. I did not get too far when a door flung open and after saying my piece, a man in his 20’s responded by saying, “I’m Jewish, I don’t have to believe in Jesus.” He was nice about it. I was totally unprepared and stumped and thanked him for his time and turned to leave. 

That brief conversation sort of haunted me over the next couple of years. I would occasionally ponder that response. How does being Jewish somehow invalidate someone from needing to have their sins forgiven by trusting in Jesus?

My next encounter with the Jewish thing was shortly after I graduated from a 2 year missions/discipleship-oriented Christian Bible School on Long Island. The school had publicized that a team of Messianic Jews from the Washington/Baltimore area would be coming to teach on Jewish evangelism. They also had a music group called “Israel’s Hope” that would be playing. It sounded very interesting to me so I came. What happened during this weekend completely rocked me to the core and is very difficult to put into words. During the weekend they showed a video of Jewish life in Yeshua in the context of a Messianic congregation. I saw and heard things I was totally unfamiliar with that affected me very deeply. Things like the shofar blast, a Messianic Jewish father with a long beard standing at a table holding a cup of wine and reciting blessings at the Shabbat table, Davidic dancing, etc.

Something inside spoke to me and told me that I must do whatever possible to move to this place and join this group of believers. I felt strongly enough about this call of God that I told the young woman I was dating and intending to marry that if she felt God wanted us to marry, that it would entail leaving her family and coming to the Washington, DC area because God was clearly calling me to connect with this group of leaders and believers.  Good news is she said yes to marriage and also yes to the Jewish vision.  So within a year, that is exactly what we did. I was fortunate to be discipled and to grow in my faith with Messianic believers who loved Yeshua and His Kingdom and also placed a healthy balance on love for the Torah. I graduated from their school of ministry and was blessed to have been instructed by  Messianic leaders who are now internationally recognized, and to have studied with small intimate groups in a Yeshiva like setting.

I have had many opportunities to be around Jewish people over the years, including non-religious and religious, messianic and non-messianic, observant and secular. I have had Jewish employers, teachers, disciplers, etc.  I will tell one quick story that might amuse you. My mother-in-law, a life long Pentecostal believer full of love for people, has had a growing relationship with a New York Jewish woman who summers in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts. This Jewish woman has an astounding gift as an artist in creating stunningly beautiful Judaica. She creates things that end up being displayed on synagogue walls across the country. Well, I heard that she wanted me to see a Torah Scroll cover that she had just finished and was just days away from driving it to NY where it would be dedicated by the Rabbi before the congregation on Yom Kippur. It was to be a really big deal. She knew of my appreciation for her people and felt it would be meaningful for me to see it. It was really beautiful. It was a white one to be used, I believe only for this most holy day. 

As my eyes scanned the Hebrew letters embroidered on the top, something just did not seem right to me. A couple of the letters had been mistakenly transposed. I felt the Spirit of God high-lighting this to me. I was now in a little bind. How would a proud New York Jewish woman who is a nationally known  artist take to an ignorant Gentile criticizing her artwork.  And then I thought, “You know, I have been away from Judaism for many years, am rusty on my Hebrew. What if I am wrong?” This could be catastrophic on many levels. After discussing it with my wife and also approaching my mother-in-law for advice on how we might graciously approach her Jewish friend, God opened the door. This woman checked her sources and not being a fluent liturgical Hebrew reader, she had indeed made a mistake in her haste to complete the project in time for the Holidays. She was so thankful and overwhelmed because it saved her an embarrassment of a lifetime of presenting it to the rabbi at the last minute and having her work rejected. Because of the grace I was given to speak truth in love, she had just enough time to pull out the stitching and correct the fatal flaws in the phrase, “The Law Will Go Forth From Zion.” May God be praised!

Much could be shared but I will try to shorten things. I believe God gave me a calling to unite with the people of Israel in such a way that my heart and soul were joined to them. I felt truly one with them in so many ways, despite the fact that I am a Gentile.  I developed a deep thirst to understand the Bible in its original languages and placed great emphasis on Hebrew and Greek but the pull toward Hebrew was about 20 times greater than the motivation to study Greek for some unexplainable reason.  Just looking at the shapes of the Hebrew letters seemed to stir my soul and beckon me further.  Exposure to Jewish texts seemed to open heaven’s gates over me.

I was called by God with my young family to relocate, moving away from our Messianic Community of ten years back in 2002 to help staff a mercy ministry full time in the northeast. This was a great transition in some ways but a brutal transition in other ways, as it relates to my heart and oneness with the people of Israel. We relocated to a place that had almost no Jewish presence. I believe it was at the end of this stint of life and ministry around 2008 that I came across one of Izzy’s video’s where he was leading a time of Shabbat service for a couple handfuls of people in the open air in a park somewhere in Canada. I was genuinely touched by what I saw. I witnessed sincerity, love, truth and a communication of Jewish identity and values.  I remember being moved enough to actually look up the area geographically and even see what homes cost and what jobs were around that area. Something deep within me was yearning to reconnect with those of like heart.

From time to time I would receive some email from Izzy. I watched a few videos and was really touched by what I saw. Recently after carefully reading over the vision for Holy Language Institute, I really felt like I would like to volunteer in some way and be able to both give and receive. I was desiring to reconnect with the Hebraic calling that has never left my life but has been dormant for many years. Though I was not in the position to volunteer because of the details of my life right now, I felt it would be feasible for me  to study Hebrew regularly with other people of like precious faith, in hopes that what has been dormant will arise to newness of life. So here I am, a new member of this community. I have been enjoying the teaching materials and I highly value the love for Yeshua and love for one another being of greater import than doctrinal correctness. But I also still have a great interest in Jewish texts, culture, etc. I believe some of these needs can be met in being a part of this community.

I hope to get to know some of you as we travel this path together. Thank you for reading a small part of my story. Be strong, be strong and let us be strengthened together.  (Chazak, chazak, v’neet chazak!)

English is my second language. I was born in Rustenburg in South Africa as the second child of Douw and Sophia Potgieter (Reformed Church goers). I was raised in a very religious family and went to church and read my Bible mostly every day. We were 5 children. My father was a school principal and later became a Doctor of Education and we moved to Pretoria because he was appointed as an Inspector of Education. My dream was to become a school teacher one day. In 1972 I started my studies in Fine Art and Education and in 1976 I was appointed as the first art teacher at Bervlam High School in Nelspruit Mpumalanga. I got married in December 1976 and moved to Barberton, a small town in the Lowveld. because my husband could not get an Article post in Nelspruit.  Adriaan Lemmer (whom I met in my first year at NWU at  Potchefstroom) and I have been together ever since! (45) years!

In October 1972 I gave my life to G-d, but nothing much has changed. I was still very religious... but sensed that there must be so much more that G-d has in store for us! Teaching was my passion! In late 1983 I started  teaching Immigrants to speak Afrikaans at Barberton High School. I have been teaching them for three years. In the forth year 1987 in September, I heard an audible voice behind me – “You have to resign!” And I immediately went to the principals office and gave notice. He was shocked and said I was doing so well with the Immigrants but I just knew that there was no turning back.  

I thought that G-d called me to do a Masters Degree in Art but that was not part of His plan. I was invited to join a Prayer Seminar of 7 weeks in 1988. During that time I read the Bible as never before and realized there was so much more for a child of the Living G-d! The more I studied the Word of G-d the more I grew and only then I experienced what it meant to be born again! I was baptized in water and in Spirit in 1989, and started writing a religious book: "Stap Saam na die Ewigheid! Walk with me to Eternity!" My whole life changed. I experienced hardship and turmoil for many years and nearly lost my right leg because I bumped it against a teacher’s desk in 1994. I stopped teaching and had a near death experience in 1997 when I had been bedridden after a bone transplant in my right proximal femur. I was in a wheelchair for months and on crutches for a year. But G-d was so faithful because he raised me up to live and in 2001 I resumed service as a Senior Teacher. I was teaching for nearly 10 years when I shattered my right knee against a built in teacher’s desk. Yes! The same leg! I had another leg operation and stopped teaching altogether and took early pension. I took so much medication over the past years that my body is greatly affected and I am now battling to get rid of bad polyps in my stomach and intestines. Please pray for me for complete healing in this regard.

At home I was still working on the religious book, some oil paintings, and the usual house tasks. My daughter was separated and she and her two children moved back to us in 2010. Her eldest son Lucian (8) is an autist, and her second son Athan (6) is also on the spectrum. We encountered many very difficult times with them but G-d is faithful and has provided for all our needs. My daughter Sania started to work at Pro Gratia School for LSEN learners in Nelspruit and both boys are schooling there.

In my years of Bible studying I noticed that most transliterations of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles have been lacking depth - in the sense that the Names of YHVH have been all changed to Lord and G-d... And the true depth of the language has gone lost in the transliterations. I decided to start learning Hebrew and enrolled for an online course but it was strictly Biblical Hebrew – which is not such a bad thing – but I was looking for a Messianic Teaching Curriculum. I prayed to YHVH to guide me to the right place – The Holy Language Institute was given to me within a day! I am so very, very grateful and I am looking forward to study with you and meet followers of Yeshua! And to learn Biblical Hebrew in Spirit and in Truth. 

It is my dream to visit Israel one day. I can speak 4 languages Afrikaans , English, Dutch and German. And am now learning YHVH’s Holy Language. I am overjoyed! because I am experiencing an even closer relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Son through the Holy Spirit! (Isaiah 11;11-13).

Shalom Aleichem!

I was born again in an independent Baptist church in Marietta Georgia.  I was baptized in an independent Baptist church and eventually attended southern Baptist churches.  I felt the call to the preaching and teaching ministry and then attended one of the finest Southern Baptist Seminaries in the world, the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I was in the Master of Divinity program.  

There were times in my life that I felt an affinity toward Jewish things, Hebrew and Israel but I always dismissed it as a result of being a follower of Jesus.  I almost went to a conservative Jewish Synagogue to learn Hebrew.  I was the typical Christian, celebrating Christmas and Easter and not following any of the feast days.  That is until 2014, I was minding my own business when the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) began working inside of me in a way that I could not refuse.  I would weep at any picture or video of any location in Israel.  I was so puzzled as to why this was happening to me.  I had no control over it at all.  That fall I went to Israel with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn.  My life was completely transformed as soon as my foot touched the land.  I have so longed to return "home" for good.  

I returned to Israel in 2016 and attended the ministry school at Kehilat HaCarmel (Congregation of the Carmel) on top of Mount Carmel.  I have since learned I am descended from Israel and have Israelite blood, though mixed with goy.  I kind of consider myself a Shomronite (Samaritan).  I am trying to repent for my past paganism and struggling to catch up with the knowledge I should have.  I now love the feast days and are continually learning.  I love Shabbat.  I love the Torah with all my heart and understand it in a way that I never did before.  It is alive and sweeter than honey, filled with hidden gems to seek out.  I hope someday to be allowed to make aliyah for good.  I have a special affinity for the Golan Heights area and Galilee but I would be happy living anywhere in the land.  

I have been studying Hebrew now for almost a year.  I would love to attend Ulpan in addition to Biblical Hebrew.  I want to go back to Israel and minister, perhaps on Carmel or with Jacob Damkani in Tel Aviv.  I absolutely love following Yeshua now that I understand who I am, who He is and what He wants from me.  

This is me and my lovely wife (isha).  The Ruach actually began working in her before He did me as she adopted kashrut (kosher diet) before me.  I am thankful for my isha.  I love her with all of my heart.  We are somewhere in Israel in this picture in 2016.  Notice the "gold" color of the stone behind us?  This is one reason why Jerusalem is called the city of Gold, shel zahav.

Boker tov! My name is Rob Croyle. My wife Christy and I just celebrated our 21 anniversary! We have 4 children: Jacob 20, Joshua 18, Joy 16, and Jasmine 15. I have followed Yeshua for 40 years. I had little discipleship in my life through my childhood, teens, and early twenties. I struggled greatly with very little root. My parents had grown up in Christian homes but walked away from Yeshua and His church for twenty years as soon as they were married. At 23 one of the pastors at my church began to mentor me and I prepared for the ministry. I spent a couple of years taking classes through Moody Bible Extension Studies in Spokane, Washington. During this time, my parents came back to G-d and healing for my parents, my brother, and I started to take place—He was redeeming our whole family! For my first stint at ministry, I worked part time in the church and part time as a cleaner during the first six months of our marriage. G-d took care of our needs in miraculous ways, but I struggled with bitterness over our finances. So, I exited stage left and got into a full-time position with the Air National Guard; I would spend the next 14 years talking about leaving the guard to go back to ministry.

I retired in 2010 with 20 years of service and wondered what to do: start a business or go into ministry. I couldn’t figure out how to get from the military to ministry, so I joined up with my parents in their transmission shop. Again, I talked about going into ministry the three years I was there. My dad was diagnosed with cancer a year into me working for him. Another year later, he was trying to figure out his exit strategy from the business. I had just spent several months wrestling with G-d over His call for me to return to the ministry; I couldn’t walk away from what He was calling me to anymore. I had planned to buy the business from my dad, but G-d had other plans.

I interned as a campus pastor through our church of a dozen years. At the same time, I started to follow the weekly sermons of one of our church plants, Real Life on the Palouse in Moscow, Idaho. I had spent 35+ years pursuing Yeshua, but I was hearing something new to me—the teachings of this church plant spent a lot of time looking at the Hebrew roots of our Rabbi. I was buying books (Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Christ and the Caesars, etc.) and started to follow Rabbi David Foreman’s teachings on Torah. Six months into the nine-month internship, Christy and I started praying about where we were to go after the internship. He led us to the Moscow Real Life.

Remember when I said I didn’t know how to get from the military to ministry? I didn’t have a clue how to get to ministry period (from anywhere). But, I had a Shepherd who was willing to lead me! One of the teachings I heard from Moscow’s sermons was on Joshua 1:7–9: “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

The Lord starts with be strong and courageous, and ends with the same statement. A great question is, “How can I be strong and courageous?” There is an interesting chiasm in these three little verses, what my pastor referred to a Courage Sandwich. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall mediate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

When we were leaving our jobs, our friends, our church of a dozen years, and our families behind, to come to eventually do ministry in Moscow, I was asked, “How can you do this?” “I would go crazy?” I said, “I go crazy twice a day! Once in the morning and once at night. I read and pray in the morning and find enough courage to make it through the day. I read and pray at night and find enough courage to make it through the night.” This was the hardest move we ever made, but also the most rewarding. Eleven months after moving here, I was hired on as the Moscow Discipleship and Benevolence Coach.

As a staff, we have been transcribing Torah this year as part of our spiritual disciplines. I chose to use the Orthodox Jewish Bible to learn some of the Hebrew vocabulary. As I have worked on this, my hunger to follow Jesus in a Hebrew way continues to grow! I am excited to learn Hebrew and continue to understand this 4000 year conversation.

I have been a 30-year Washington State fan, we love to hike, walk, lift weights, and do our shopping together. Other than that, our four children keep us hopping.

In Matthew 7:16a we read, “by their fruit you will recognize them…” For those who have met me personally, I would suggest that God’s word be used as a measure of who I am. For those I have not had the pleasure to meet, here’s a bit about me… 

Husband, father, grandfather, and pastor. Lover of Christ and student of His Word. One who loves prayer and meditation as pure means of communication with God. 

Called to the ministry of His Word after having spent 17 years in corporate America, working as an Operations Manager for two of the giants in the communication industry. Served as a deacon and elder for over six years before ordination. Ministered as a servant in the capacities of associate pastor, pastor of counseling and senior pastor for many years (all in the greater New York area) before heeding God’s call to South Carolina, where I served as an Executive/Discipleship Pastor for four and a half years.

I have been blessed academically having completed a Bachelor of Arts in American History, a Master of Education in Technology, a Master of Ministry in Counseling and a Doctorate in Practical Theology with a concentration in Biblical Counseling. I hold certification through the International Association of Biblical Counselors. 

God has been very good to me…

Shalom,

Rev. Dr. John Tierno

What is the reason we are here in Jordan? Many have said we are insane for walking away from a “stable” job, medical treatment, and the list went on. I have said before and I say it again it is not about the job, people, places, or things. It is only about obeying the will of the Father. If we are not obeying the will of the Father then what is the point? Many I have talked with their reply is, “I have not heard the Lord at all and when I do, I will go.”

For about six years before I heard in my spirit that I needed to learn Hebrew so that could better understand what His word really said. So I started learning Hebrew then I started teaching the Word at a retirement home on Sundays. It was about this time we were part of a patriot group to bring the country back to a constitutional government.  One of the leaders of the group kept tossing out things of the Old Testament. I started asking questions concerning why refer to these books since they were done away with haven’t they? After much research I discovered that the law of God was not ever done away with and we are to follow it. So we, my wife and I, decided to follow Torah, as a result I felt strongly that where we found ourselves in a place in my heart I kept hearing that these are not my people and this is not my country. It was during this time I had heaviness in my heart.

On our arrival to Jordan I heard in my ears, “welcome home”. My heart leaped within me. We have been here for six months and we have never been happier. I have heard it said, “Though He slay me yet I will trust in Him.” For He has given so very much for those who truly love Him. We struggle in this life only to find it was in vain for if we trusted in Him He will take care of us.

I remember a time when I was blessed with some farm animals and I was wondering how we would get through, He, the Father, reminded me of this, He said “do you see your chickens? Do they worry as to where their food will come from? Do they give one thought as to when you will feed them? They only know that you will take care of them. In this same way you should be with me.” I am convinced that if one of the families of the children of Israel would have trusted the Father in this way that they would have not rebelled against Moses and Aaron. They simply would have said that they trusted in YHVH and He knew their needs He would have given so very much that their neighbors would have asked where did they get the water and food. It would have swept through the camp as a wild fire.

Since we have been here we have seen the hand of the Father on our behalf many times.

1.  Before we left the states Dianna had asked me for certain things in an apartment. I told her I am not the one to ask. Seek the Father and see what He says.

2.  When we arrived Dianna was so sick she wasn’t able to even respond to anything I said for four days. After Shabbat we took her to ER thinking she was dehydrated, so they gave her an IV and it seemed to help.

3.  Sunday morning Bob gets this call concerning an apartment and asked if I wanted to see it. I said that I did, Dianna was still unresponsive. Not only it was what we had been talking about it was completely furnished it had the item Dianna wanted a bath tub.

4.  Since Dianna still unresponsive  we took her to the ER again and this time I felt that they should do another test to see what else could be. As it turns out she had an UTI. So gave a series of antibiotics IV for four days. By the third day she came around and by the end of the week she was her normal self.

5.  We knew leaving the states we didn’t have a lot of money only that the Father would provide what we lacked. The landlord said that we needed three months of rent upfront. I explained to Bob and Val, our host, that we did not have that much money. We talked about various options that we could do and we knew that we were to stay in the land. So we, the four of us, prayed that the Father grant favor to us. Bob called the landlord on our behalf and explained the situation to him and said we only enough money to pay one month at a time. At first the landlord was a little put out. He said he would have to think about it. One hour later he called back and said he would do a month to month.

6.  Since we have been here Dianna health has improved tremendously!

a.  She is walking, before she came she was mostly wheelchair bound.

b.  She was on 20 different meds throughout the day, now she is on one med at night.

c.  She is happier now then she has been in many years, she is even laughing.

d.  She is even helping with meal prepping.

7.  I got a job

8.  In process in getting my work visa.

9.  The things that people were saying that we could not get the Father has provided.

10.  When we went to get our visas renewed people were saying would cost us about $80 dollars each cost us nothing.

11. YHVH has given Dianna a new name Hannah-Lynn.

As I stated before YHVH is good for those who love Him. He is good, His land is good and His people are good!

Shalom, I am Frank (Francis).  I quit high school in the first month of 1970 to join the Marine Corp.  There was a blizzard the day I went to The Recruiting Center and no one was in the Marine Corp Office; so, I went in and had a seat.  A man in a uniform came into the office and I jumped to my feet until I saw the word ARMY on his uniform and sat back down.  "Can I help you, son?"  "No, I am here to join the MARINES!"  I proudly said.  "I was in the Marines for five years.  Come over to my office and I will tell you all about the Marines,"  he persisted.  "My cousin, Mark Smith was a Marine and I have friends who were Marines who just returned from Vietnam. My cousin lost his leg there and was shot a few times.  He came home with a chestful of medals as did my friends."  "Well, suit yourself.  This recruiter gets in about 12 or 1 in the afternoon."  "Really?"  "Yep.  You must be cold with those wet shoes and bell bottom jeans.  Come on over, You can wait in my office.  I could use someone to shoot the bull."

That was the first time I believe Yahweh guided my path concerning my military adventure.  Long Story, Shortened:  I joined the Army as a Combat Medic on the advice of the Army Recruiter.

I attended church with my mom; however, I didn't believe that there was a G-D.  The minister always talk of Yahweh and Yeshua as those they were historical figures who did miraculous things in the past.  I wanted to be the star of my own story and not a supporting actor in my parents story or a spectator in my older friends adventures.  After Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training, I was the medic on the first Medevac Program in The Contiguous United States in Fort Knox, KY.  The first thing I did was volunteer for Vietnam and shortly after my eighteenth birthday, I got my orders for Vietnam.

I was assigned to Camp Eagle with The 27th Combat Engineers Airborne which was a support unit for The 101st Airmobile ( Airborne/ Air-assault).  I loved it.  I was finally on my own. I should mentioned that when I stepped off the airplane and the stench assaulted my nose and the heat of the night slapped my face, I thought, "They forgot to mention the smell and heat in their glory stories."

Within a few months two Christian Conscientious Objectors were assigned to our aid station.  I would threaten them whenever they would try to witness to me and Tom Moore, told me decades later that he would pray "Please, Jesus, don't let this guys demons kill me when I talk to him." 

After a particularly bad time in The Ashau Valley in the area of Hamburg Hill, I was granted a two week furlough to go to The States.  There was a soldier from near my hometown of Pottsville also going home on leave: and, since we were friends, it worked out great.

While at home, I got into a fight at a dance with a college football player.  I had studied and practiced Okinawan Karate from about age of 14 under John Korab (A Marine and a Legend in the martial arts world).  I was kicking the guy around pretty well until I heard people coming behind me on the hill where we were fighting.  He tackled me and I rolled into a turtle shell as he pounded on my arms and people were yelling, "kill him." (Ground fighting was rarely trained then because the minute you hit the ground you were stumped as happened to me in Basic Training when mugged by three junkies being kicked out of the military causing me to wake up in the hospital with TBI.)  So, someone hit the guy on top of me and he fell off and I made an escape in my 1969 Plymouth GTX. 

The next day, I went up into the mountains and prayed for the first time since a small boy.  "G-d, if you existed like the Christian claims and you are a G-d of the here and now.  Show me.”

Jumping ahead.  I agreed upon returning to Vietnam to listen to Tom Moore and Doug Sterner  play some Christian Gospel.  They asked me to say the opening prayer and was told just to talk to G-D like he was a friend.  Tom said, "Just started out with Jesus."  I said Jesus (Yeshua) and was on my knees crying like a baby.  Suddenly, strange sounds came out of my mouth.  Tom assured me it was ok and that he would show it to me in the book of Acts I had never heard, seen, read, nor did I have any knowledge of glossolalia , but I was Speaking in Tongues.  I began reading the second book of my life, The Bible and read it every chance I could get. 

I was an "on fire" Pentecostal for a few years.  Doug was a Trinitarian and Tom was a Oneness Pentecostal.  I have rejected both of those Theology and would say  Unitarian would best describe my Theology now. 

In 1974, my newborn son died.  I was so angry at Yahweh.  I made the prodigal son seem like he was on a day trip.  In 1992, I had purchased a kennel without doing due diligence and was losing my shirt.  I had gotten my GED upon returning from Vietnam as an E5 NCO and maintained a 3.75 GPA at Penn State University.  I had joined MENSA. And, I had trained over a 1000 Large Dogs before buying my kennel in FL.  Everything that could go wrong with my Kennel Business did.  I told my wife, Sharon, I am going to church.  Things have turned around after that and I have been spending my time learning more and more truth about our Elohim and HaMashiach. 

That's my story and I am sticking to it. :) 

On Thursday, December 22, 2016, I was on my way to my son's piano lesson. My son started complaining of stomach pain while I was driving. So, I immediately began to pray to the Father, but my son kept crying even more. So, I began calling on Yeshua to persuade the Father to heal my son, but my son kept on crying because the pain was getting worse. So, I called upon the Ruach to speak on the Father's ears and intercede for my son before the Holy Throne. I looked up and saw the gimmel. I asked my son "can you see the gimmel in the sky?" (He's also learning Hebrew) he got excited and told me he could see it as well. He stopped crying and for a while his pain was gone. The pain was back later that night, but it was on and off. However, after I saw the gimmel I begun a mixture of praise and supplication because I believed the Father had heard my prayer.

Another interesting point about this miracle. I was raised only by my earthly father because my mother left the home when I was three. My dad was physically abusive growing up. (I've forgiven both my parents and have a good relationship with both of them now). When I was like 5-10 years-old and my dad would hit me, I would dream of having a "real dad" who had money and was going to come and rescue me. He wasn't gonna care how much money he'd have to spend because all he'd care about was having me back and he was gonna love me and show me how a father truly loves his daughter. Well, it's been awhile since then, and I kind of put that in the back of my mind. The morning of the day I saw this gimmel in the sky, while on my way to work Abba whispered in my ear "remember all those years when you dreamed your real Father would come rescue you?" I said y...e...a...h... He said, "I'm that Father. I own silver and gold and I rescued you many years ago." I began praising the Father and thanking Him for His kindness towards me at that moment, but it didn't really hit on me until I witnessed to חנה on the tribe page, the significance that the Father's whispered words had in my life. I weeped for a good while once it hit me. The Father has been so good to me. I could never put what His love has done in my life, into simple words. My prayer every day is that I honor Him in all I do. May His Name be praised always and forever. ברח אדני. 

Here's a picture of the gimmel in the sky that day. I've darkened the picture a little bit so it's easier to see. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to stop in the highway and take a picture, the cloud was fading away. 

Born and raised in Idaho most of my life; with a few detours. I am the oldest of four.

I was given the name Earl Roy Gilbert, named after two of my great grandfathers; Earl & Roy. My mother and father did not believe in G-d. But, I could not see the truth or wisdom of there not being a G-d. This placed a division between me and my parents and two brothers and sister.

When I was fifteen years old I received a Bible through an inheritance from my Great Grandfather Roy. I never really read a Bible before and when I received it my desire was to read it, and know it.

The day I received that Bible I noticed a few things:

1. The Bible was in almost perfect condition!

2. It was over One Hundred and fifty years old.

3. The Bible was never read?

I placed the Bible by my bedside that same night and said in my heart, "G-d I want to know and understand this Book, then I will know you." I believed there is a G-d but, I wanted to know Him.

I will briefly digress here; I had never remembered a dream I have had up to this point in my life. And, I was at the point I thought dreams were a myth. My mother and Father worried about me when I would go to sleep because they said I had night terrors! 

Back to the point, that night after placing the Bible next to my bed, I had my first full color dream and remembered it. WOW, it was wonderful, and from that time forward I never had night terrors again. Please hang in there, I will try to make it short; but the dream is what confirmed in my heart there is a wonderful and awesome G-d who is the creator of all things and author of my life.

From that day forward I was searching for answers, and most of all love, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, strength, guidance and with great reverence for G-d that made me believe I was important. G-d was real, I fell in love with Him; It was His Love I desired with all I am when I woke that day. My quest to find G-d had begun, I checked out churches, religions of various kinds and He wasn’t there?

Almost seven years had passed, I had almost given up looking for G-d. Funny thing, I lost that Bible while I was in the Army. But, my life was empty and the desire for the love I found in my dream was burning in my heart. I felt empty!

During this time I had been married and had a daughter. Now divorced and remarried at such a young age, I had to have G-d in my life. I told my wife “We need to go to a church that has G-d in it!” So we prayed and she found a church that had just started up and was growing. We went, and for the first time I knew that G-d wanted to live in my heart, not in some building! I prayed and asked G-d to come into my life and show me how to live. The following couple weeks then I was baptized. Growing daily in G-d’s Word; at the age of twenty two almost twenty three years I gave my life to G-d and His service. I served there for 28 years. 

During this time many things happened, troubles that built my faith loss of friends & family I loved. Some gave their lives to G-d and other did not. Some had nothing to do with me because I believed and others just watched and waited to see if my love for G-d was real. 

At the church where I served I had gone through Bible training as a counselor. G-d is wonderful, through that time I counseled young couples who were going through the Bible college. One of these couples was Messianic believers who were going through the College to start their own Messianic synagogue.  Sometime after I had counseled this couple they invited me to their synagogue which they had started, to work with them and their core group. My only request was that He would teach me Hebrew and I served with them one year and then my adopted son passed away. So I stepped down from ministry to help his widow and children for the next year. 

Life has its troubles, I had almost recovered from that when I was asked to go to Israel and help with a ministry there, then shortly after that my wife of twenty eight years left me. Not to go on and on any further. I returned home and took care of my father before he died and to digress once again, before my mother passed she asked me if she could have what I have. And she gave her life to G-d and my father too. When I returned home I spent the last year of my father’s life, sharing the love of G-d whom we both love with all our hearts.

G-d placed in my heart over thirty years ago to learn Hebrew, Now I am happily married these last seven years still serving G-d and attending a Messianic Synagogue with my wife Sarah. We are both studying Hebrew to draw closer to G-d and Worship Him as we do our studies. We are planning to visit Israel in this next year, L-rd willing.

I have just turned 63 years old. Sarah and I were married only 10 months when we found I had cancer and it was inoperable; But what the doctors didn’t know is my G-d is the Great Doctor. My cancer is disappearing. G-d has heard our prayers and our fellow believers. Praise G-d and I know He has much more for me to do. Every day, I pray “G-d please uses me – here I am”, and He does every day. 

Thank you for your Hebrew lessons and the chapter Scriptures. I am in Genesis chapter seven and I follow along with Izzy. May G-d Bless you in your ministry which I am now part of the Tribe.

God has always given me the picture of a butterfly, and I don’t know if I ever really understood why until recently.

You see, when a caterpillar marks the end of its grounded life – it takes a journey inward. It literally coils into itself, wrapping itself in an outer casing where the very molecular structure is torn apart and redistributed. When the timing is right and the transformation has reached fruition, it emerges as a beautiful butterfly. Full of color, freedom, and flight.

That has been my journey.

My story began as an ongoing rhythm of pain, abuse, and trauma. Without diving too deep into the details of the painful past, I will tell you about my experience.

My journey into the inside started, because I kept running into the same patterns over and over and over. Hurt. Disappointment. Confusion. Anxiety. Paranoia. I was living in my own personal hell. It wasn’t until I became so unhappy while covering and “dealing” with my pain in unhealthy ways like smoking, drinking, and using whatever else I could find that would make me “feel better” that I finally stopped. I had enough. I couldn’t take it any longer. 

Wasn’t there more to life than this? Why I am so stuck? 

I literally felt like I was in a pit with no clear way out. I had tried everything at that point. Church (Now, Jesus is my Lord and Savior but I attempted to find my healing in performance. Thinking that I could “do” something to earn love and life – this is a survivor mentality, and it is false. You must be careful to not try and “save” yourself. Jesus does a good job of that already), meditation, toxic relationships, affirmations (they helped), yoga (it helped too), the list goes on…

My turning point was when I had just gone through yet another disappointment where I had given way too much hope for a person that was emotionally unavailable. Another pattern in my life. Then, my uncle suddenly passed away without any notice. There I was – alone, experiencing more feelings of rejection, confusion, loss, and pain. I decided that I wouldn’t run from it anymore. I decided to pray and get real with God. Get real about my life, and the terrible things that had been done to me, but owning my story and taking responsibility for my part. I had to take a hard look into the mirror. I had been going to therapy for about a month at that point, and I can honestly say that God met me there and on this journey more than I really expected.

In those painful few days, I decided to sit in it. Roll up my sleeves and confront it head on. I’ll be honest - I cried, screamed, even blamed God. It was like a lover’s knock down drag out. I’m not proud, but I am thankful that God is bigger than our pain, temper-tantrums, and has more compassion and patience than we can ever imagine. That’s when I found myself.

There’s a theory in therapy that we all have our “child” self and our “adult” self. The child is the carefree, vulnerable, honest, and innocent part of ourselves, whereas, the adult self is the one that takes action, makes decisions, ultimately is in charge of the child part of ourselves. That part gets us where we need to go. 

As I grew up, I did not have the courage, strength, or even knowledge of how to protect myself. I was abused as a young girl, so no wonder I had a pattern of choosing men, subconsciously, that were unsafe. I didn’t know any better. That’s all I had known. I didn’t understand boundaries, decisions, accepting things versus not accepting them. Instead, I just willingly let anything come into my life and heart only to feel misused, abused, taken advantage of, and broken.

That’s when I was given a dream that changed my life.

I was running and jumping over what looked like houses. I was on a mission, and I was going somewhere. I had agility, flexibility, and endurance. It was like something that you would see on an action film. I was a bad#$%.

I stopped, because I saw a young girl standing alone on a balcony to my right. She looked sad, and I felt compassion for her. I asked her why she was there, and her reply was “I can’t leave, because he won’t let me…” Then suddenly, an old dead looking zombie appeared, and the word “cancer bacon” was inscribed into his forehead.

Cancer bacon. Yea. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

I remember feeling caught off guard and scared at first. Then, the thought of Jesus crushing the enemy with his heel just crossed my mind, so I quite literally raised my foot above Cancer Bacon’s head (because you can do that in dreams – apparently I am very flexible), and crushed him down to the ground until he disappeared. That was it. I didn’t have to fight. It wasn’t some waging war. I only had to stop and confront it. I won and the little girl was now free, so I attempted to be on my way until she asked if she could come with me. So, I picked her up and carried her away.

Now, I was running, still going the way that I needed to go, but I was holding the little girl now. She was safe in my arms. As I was running, she was in my arms smiling with her face toward the sunshine simply enjoying the journey.

The little girl was me.

We can't run from our pain, negative emotions, or whatever conflict. There is a lot of research that shows that when you suppress negativity then it can be manifested physically. A lot of illness is just that - born of stress.

You can actually confront the darkness and literally put your foot down with the power of Jesus, free yourself, and continue running your race with your child-self in hand - simply enjoying the ride. 

Now, my journey is far from over and there are plenty of other “Cancer Bacons” in my life that still need crushing like fear, doubt, negativity, etc. What is interesting is the picture that Adonai gives us with using His holy language. 

Yeshua crushed the serpent’s head with His heel. By His heel we are healed! *Praise God for PUNS* 

The Hebrew word for “serpent” is nachash which has the numerical value of 358. 

The Hebrew word for “messiah” is mashiach which also has the numerical value of 358. 

Coincidence? I think not. 

Adonai is giving us a clear picture that any and all damage that the enemy has done is completely eradicated by Yeshua. He truly is the Savior of all and for each and every area of our lives. 

Shalom Izzy and Holy Language Tribe members, my name is Wanda who is now at the ripe old age of 70. You never get too old to learn howbeit maybe a little slower as time rolls on. 

I have spent my lifetime studying and learning (my passion) just to understand I have only touched the tip of the iceberg. It is my heart’s desire to know and understand my Abba Father, Yeshua and Holy Spirit in as much depth and fullness as I possibly can in this life.

I came to know Yeshua as my Messiah as a child before starting school. He has always been my life and inspiration. I can do nothing without Him, try as I may. 

I didn’t know much about the Jewish people until I began studying the Bible for myself. I knew they were God’s chosen people and Yeshua was born a Jew. The replacement theory was being taught when I was growing up but it just didn’t set right in my spirit. I learned God’s Holy Word did not support that theory at all. In fact, His Word said we were grafted into (adopted) but did not replace the Jews. We are to come together in unity into one new man. 

I have had a desire to learn Hebrew for many years but did not have the resources available. In more recent years, that desire has become overwhelming. I began to find numerous websites available with massive Jewish information. Unfortunately, I did not have the knowledge of how to organize all of this information to be able to understand how everything fit together. 

Recently, I stumbled upon the Holy Language Institute website. I determined the program for learning Hebrew was laid out well and with affordable monthly offerings. I spent several weeks sorting out the many resources and finding a study buddy. Things were beginning to come together finally! Then Izzy came up with Memrise to help accommodate long term memorization and the weekly study group completing my need to have a workable system for learning Hebrew. Also, it correlates with reading the Torah. How perfect! 

So I am just getting started with my first lesson. I am going through the video for the second time and making study notes. Thank you Izzy and the Holy Language Tribe. 

I am a recent widow of 1 ½ years. I took care of my disabled husband since 1988 and was unable to get out much. Praise God for the internet which provided study materials and messages from many Godly Ministers. I learned many Hebrew (what I call) Nuggets and the need to go back to the original Hebrew roots. It just instilled a greater desire to learn more. I get so excited each time I learn something new and I just can’t wait to share with others what I learned. It is absolutely awesome! It has inspired my children and grandchildren to want to learn Hebrew as well.

It is possible that I don’t really belong to this tribe – my religious practice isn’t Jewish.  Although I love celebrating Shabbat with my friends when I visit Israel, and I love listening  to Hebrew worship songs, as of now I only do these things as a gentile “guest,” and not as my regular practice.  I am not following Yeshua in a Hebrew way, but I am learning who Yeshua is in Hebrew way.  What has captured my heart at this point is the study of the Hebrew Scriptures, and I will tell you the story of how that came about.  If you are not interested in that, please feel free to skip to the next story.

I grew up a pastor’s daughter in a Seventh-day Adventist family and culture in South Korea.  Even through my family’s immigration to the United States, Adventism was the constant theme of my life into adulthood.  I went through their school system, served in the church, and even married in the church.  It was within this family and religion where I learned as a toddler about Yeshua (Yesu in my language) dying for me on the cross, and then formed a habit of reading my Bible every day as soon as I learned how to read. 

My parents worked at the Adventist seminary in Seoul, Korea, where Hebrew and Greek were required subjects for theology students.  Because seminary professors often preached sermons at the college church, I was introduced to little tiny bits of the Biblical languages, theology, and even archeology.  My heart leapt at these exposures, and I dreamed of studying these extremely interesting subjects when I grew up.  When I proudly told my father about it, his reaction stunned me. “But you can’t, because you are a girl! Even if you were to study theology in college and get a degree, no one will hire you. It is no use!” So died my early dreams, and it seemed unfair.

During my late twenties, when Randy and I were still practically newlyweds, I started to feel an intense hunger and thirst to meet and to know God personally, rather than being content in having “all the right doctrines,” as I was taught we had.  For a long time being a part of the remnant and being very good, even flawless, at keeping the law of God was the most important thing to me, but the hunger to meet Him and know His presence now became overpowering.  It didn’t seem fair for St. Paul to have met the risen Lord personally and I couldn’t! Or Could I? Because, if I can’t, how in the world am I to be His witness? 

Just when the hunger became unbearable God providentially led us to Randy’s former Adventist high school Bible teacher, who had left Adventism and was now pastoring a charismatic church.  This opened up our eyes to the real presence of the Holy Spirit, and we spent the next several years joyfully learning how to experience and minister in the Holy Spirit.  I don’t mean to say by this that the Holy Spirit wasn’t in the Adventist church. Quite the contrary! After we got introduced to the Holy Spirit, when we occasionally visited the Adventist church that my father was pasturing, I felt the Holy Spirit’s presence come when my father invited Him in prayer! The personal encounter with the Holy Spirit was so life giving and healing, and I began to experience increasing freedom in my life.  He was setting me free from patterns of sin I was stuck in, and training me how think & perceive according to God’s word, and how to break free from old habits of thought and destructive self talk. Head knowledge was starting to become heart knowledge, and heart knowledge was forming a new framework for healthy habits.  It was incredibly fun to watch people get miraculously healed, learn to listen to the voice of God, and to begin to minister to others in confidence that God was present right there as you prayed - speaking, touching, loving, forgiving, healing, delivering, and empowering people! 

However, there was a cost to pay for such exciting life in the Spirit – many people that I knew in this new environment weren’t well grounded in the Bible, and some were going into extremes in teaching and practice. Often the “spiritual gifts” became so elevated that people who exhibited supernatural gifts were exempt from scrutiny.  No one pastored certain gifts or called out the errors and excesses to help people grow in proper use of the gifts - maybe because everyone was afraid to quench the Holy Spirit. This resulted in some people using God as an excuse to do ungodly things that they want, some getting offended by weird manifestations, while some got hurt by the gifts that had gotten out of hand.

One problem that I could see was our knowledge of the Bible was too shallow – in my old church we often used the Bible as a puzzle to figure out the end time events. When we did that we tended to see the Bible as a collection of proof texts.  On the other hand, in some of the “spirit-filled” churches we have attended we were taking a very loose, subjective view of the Bible and let ourselves get carried away by the wind of the spirit, which isn’t always holy, and which is often indistinguishable from our own thoughts. 

Here is what I am learning. We need sincerity and obedience, and we need flexibility to learn from the Holy Spirit and to have Him correct our misunderstandings. But in order to accommodate both sincere obedience and flexibility to be corrected, we need to know what the Scriptures really say! In every generation people need to interact directly with the text of the Bible to understand what the authors were saying to the original audience, and what is the picture of God that emerges from the books, what Jesus says about that, and then how to apply that understanding to their particular time, culture, and community. In order to do that effectively I believe that each community needs to be connected to the original texts and cultures of the Bible.  It is not enough for me to figure out what God is saying to me personally, but the believing community as a whole needs to engage with the Bible to work out a common understanding of God, His kingdom, and His purpose for that community. 

Learning Biblical Hebrew and Greek is critical in that effort. Keeping up with developments of archeology and history are important. Learning even the background literatures in which the books were written is also important. Obviously this is more than a 4-year degree pursuit. It is a lifelong habit and culture, and God is worthy of all that trouble and effort to get to know. And I believe that when a community of believers, across the denominational, ethnic, and cultural boundaries, engage with the Bible and with each other this way, we will see profound unity in the body of Christ.

A parallel development with my spiritual journey was my husband’s literary career.  Though Randy was trained as a theoretical physicist, he had an intense interest in the 1st century Israel, Biblical archeology, the church history, and he loved reading fiction.  All these interests combined into a dream of putting everything loves together into well narrated, action-filled stories that bring readers into the first century Israel to the beginnings of the Christian faith.  While I was busy raising our children and homeschooling them, Randy started attending the local Messianic congregation, learning Hebrew, and he even went to Israel to see for himself the lay of the land of which he was writing.  I was glad of all that he was doing, but finances were tight and my time was being poured out into the kids, so I didn’t feel I could start learning right along with him. 

Fast forward 20 years – Around the time I graduated all our children, Randy bought for his research a software called Logos Bible Software, in a package that included the Hebrew Bible, linked with the Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew & English Lexicon, and he kindly loaded up a simplified version of it on his old iPad so I could use it to learn to read the Hebrew scriptures! The only daunting thing was how to sound things out and learn the grammar. It turned out that Randy also owned a copy of Kelley’s Biblical Hebrew Grammar, but I didn’t feel very comfortable slogging through the grammar book as my first introduction to the language.  I needed an audio Hebrew Bible, and I needed a teacher to get me started.  So off to the internet I went, and there I found the Holy Language Institute, with Izzy Avraham’s Hebrew Quest! Furthermore Holy Language Institute had audio files of all 39 books of the Old Testament, read by the fantastic Father Abraham Shmuelof on YouTube!  This completed my wish list of resources! Almost. I am still waiting for the audio files of Shmuelof to be linked to Logos Hebrew Bible word by word.

It’s been so fun to sometimes study Hebrew with Randy, and recently I started going on trips to Israel with him for archeological digs and tours to learn the place of the Bible. Strangely enough, after each trip my Hebrew study accelerates!

I went through Hebrew Quest, and started attacking the first book of the Torah.  Although progress felt very slow I kept on going.  I listened to the audio recordings over and over to get my ear imprinted with the voice of Father Shmuelof, and started working through the text/vocabulary from Logos Bible Software.  I am almost 60 years old now, and I give grace to my old age.  I don’t mind forgetting the vocabulary often, and having to look things up again and again.  I don’t mind listening to the same recording 100 times, because I only need the rate of my learning to be faster than the rate of my forgetting.  I know that some is sticking, because sometimes I can read entire sentences without pausing to look things up!

The really satisfying progress with my Hebrew learning started to happen as I took on a project to start memorizing passages.  With a printed copy of the passage and a color pen in hand, I carefully listened to the recording over and over. I marked accents, trying to understand voiced and unvoiced shevas where the dagesh caused the doubling of consonants, etc., so that everything I heard was coded into a reproducible format. Then I started slowly reading this extra coded passage, mimicking as closely as possible the reader’s pronunciation, putting into memory words, phrases, then connecting phrases into an entire sentence. Then I gradually increased speed. I also made up facial expressions and gestures to lock in my understanding of the meanings portrayed in each sentence.  This is my “mother tongue” method that I am using, with Father Shmuelof as the “mother”, to learn Biblical Hebrew as a spoken language.  

As I slowly gain fluency, I become increasingly familiar with the sounds and structures of the language, much as a baby would by listening to and watching the family speak.  Then I slowly add grammar, and it suddenly brings a chunk of text or groups of texts I have been committing to memory into a sharp focus. 

I admit that my learning pace is slow.  I started almost two years ago, but I haven’t mastered the language. I don’t mind. My goal is to become increasingly familiar and conversant in Biblical Hebrew over my lifetime, not get 15 units of Hebrew credit for a degree.  I hope I have 40 years. I want to read the scriptures that Yeshua read and see the picture of the Father that Yeshua saw, with the help of the same  Ruach Hakodesh, and and walk the walk that Yeshua would walk if he were me.  

I have a feeling that I have set for myself an achievable goal. So far I have Psalms 23 and 145 memorized, and these two psalms are my daily morning prayer and meditation, and they have enriched my life enormously. I also have graduated to using the app on my husband’s old laptop, where the vocabulary is linked to the full entry in the lexicon, rather than the abbreviated one in the tablet version.  As of now I am halfway through the book of Judges.  I now can read a chapter or two a day.  I must be absorbing more now than I did when I started Genesis 1, because even though I am reading quite haltingly, looking up things often, the passages I read at least occasionally evoke emotional responses. 

I have enjoyed learning Hebrew so much, and I see a deep need for the believing community, Messianic or not, to be connected directly to the Hebrew scriptures, that I am putting together a Biblical Hebrew reading group for my little town of Battle Ground, Washington.  It will be open to people at my church as well as anyone of any age in the community who wants to learn.  I am looking forward to having little children join us, and become fluent by high school graduation, and go on to become excellent theologians, archaeologists, pastors, teachers, and Bible translators!

A pretty suitable meeting place has been located for the Hebrew reading group at a restaurant in the heart of the town, where the owner is a Palestinian Christian, fluent in Hebrew! The game plan is to have everyone study Hebrew individually, and meet together so we can practice reading out loud in public, translating, and also present to the group something they are learning. This way everyone will have something to contribute and get lots of exposure to the sounds and grammar to speed up their individual progress. I hope that the restaurant owner can come from time to time to be our coach.  We will have regular performances, where we will present a prepared passage to the public.  Isn’t this so exciting? 

I do not claim to hold a story so profound or life-changing, one worthy of award nominations or publishing deals. But it is my story, and it is true. I am honored to share it with you and hope it will inspire, teach, entertain, and awaken something beautiful inside of you.

My story is much like many of yours. We all seem to share similar themes and patterns of how we had been lead onto this journey and that only affirms to me the fact the we are being led by and to the same source.

It all began five years ago (2011) while I was in Bible school in Southern California. I was born and raised into a non-denominational Christian home and attended a private Baptist school for the majority of my grade school education. My interests from a very young age were that of the arts. Drawing, painting, animation, and design. This passion led me to study art in college until two years later I felt the nudge to move out west. That cross country trek landed me at a University where I could study both the art of film making and the ancient scriptures of the Bible.

For four more years I dissected the Bible through and through, writing 15 page hermeneutical papers on two tiny verses. Even though I was completely immersed in Christian culture and the study of the scriptures, I felt a disquietness in my soul - something still wasn’t right.

I remember sitting in one of my Bible classes when a simple, yet tantalizing thought danced across my mind. “Why then?” I answered the call and danced with the thought a little longer. “Why did Jesus come then? Why did God send Jesus to that particular time period and that particular place in the world? Why couldn’t he have sent him to America in 2011?” 

“What if the only way to understand Jesus is to understand the culture he lived in.” I typed these words across my computer screen. Little did I know that these poignant little words would be so life altering.

I then made it my goal to learn and practice things from the culture of the first century, but not in the way you may be suspecting. I made it my focus to learn how to bake bread.

I had always bought my bread from the store, which was not the reality for the people of Jesus’ day. That week I gathered the ingredients and baked my very first loaf of bread. Through the simple action of mixing and kneading dough I felt my spirit come alive. Almost instantaneously I came to understand a whole new level of the Bible. That one little loaf of bread was baked full of spiritual revelations. All of the parables and teachings about bread, leaven, and provision all came alive and filled my tiny apartment with a sweet aroma.

I could not stop sharing with those around me all that I had learned about God and His Word through baking that bread. I knew I wanted to learn more and so I took it to a another level - I wanted to grow my own food.

Living in Los Angeles made it difficult to find a small patch of earth to till and keep, but a kind professor of mine who lived nearby allowed me to dig up his backyard and plant my very own garden. I thought baking bread was revelatory, I had no idea what was in store for getting my hands in the dirt. The amount of agrarian based parables and teachings from Jesus just came alive right before my eyes. The principles of sowing and reaping, the quality of soil, pruning, weeding, harvesting, and sharing were now something that I understood. Before I only comprehended the idea of the principle, but now I have experienced it. With dirt under my fingernails and bread baking in my oven, I came to experience the truths of God unlike ever before. Yet this was just the beginning.

While sitting in church one Sunday morning I felt a deep unrest in my soul. A holy dissatisfaction came over me and all I could think was, “There has to be more than this. Was this what Jesus and his disciples did? Gather in a building, sing a few songs, pass the money plate, then everyone go their separate ways? There has to be more.”

At the same time I felt a deep conviction that I needed to rest. That I needed to take a sabbath. I immediately scoffed at the notion and shouted out all the reasons why I had no time to rest. After all I was working, going to school full time, working on my senior thesis, trying to maintain an apartment and a garden. There was no way. I had no time to spare. So I ignored the internal nudge and went about my business. Well if you have ever been convicted by God then you know that His nudge keeps nudging. Though I kept ignoring.

While walking on the campus of my Bible College in my defiant state, I noticed a sign that had the ten commandments written across them. My eyes immediately fell upon a specific section and I read those holy words, “Honor the sabbath day and keep it holy.”

In that moment something fell off my eyes and I could see those words for what they really were. “What does this really mean? What does it mean to honor and keep it? Why do we not talk about this? It’s one of the ten commandments, it’s here above murder even!”

I knew not the answers to these questions but I knew I had to do something about it. I determined to take 24 hours to rest and not do work. I informed my roommates and friends that I would be taking a sabbath and they were welcome to join me if they wanted. Two agreed that it would be a good idea to take a day off and we collectively decided that the best time for us would be Friday night to Saturday night.

And so the first week came, I baked bread, and we gathered in my tiny apartment to take a day of rest. The sun set and we all turned off our technology. No phones, no computer, no television. No homework. We felt a desire to light candles and my female friend requested that she be the one to light the candles. With a cozy blanket over her head she went around the living room lighting the candles. We all talked for a few hours over fresh baked bread before falling asleep in the stillness of the evening. The next morning we decided we should read a Bible story. So we picked our favorite “Old Testament” stories and read them aloud for the entire day.

Looking back now I can’t help but see just how “Jewish” we were. Without any foreknowledge we were observing Shabbat on the exact time and even participating some of the very same traditions. What a mystical experience to know that God was leading us and teaching us to observe His Shabbat in His way.

That first Shabbat changed my life. The next week I was not stressed or tired and not only did I get everything done that I needed to get done, but I found myself with extra time on my hands began reading a new book for pleasure!

I continued to host Shabbat gathering at my apartment and more and more people began to show up. Before long we had a dozen people crammed into my tiny apartment seeking God and His rest.

We began to read and study books that outlined the difference between Greek and Hebrew mindsets and how God had a Hebrew calendar that was different from ours.

It was such a rich time of learning, but we had no idea what it was we were actually learning. It all felt so new and we didn’t have words or names to put to what we were learning. We had often commented about how it felt as if we were “born again” and had to learn everything from scratch as if we were babies again.

Shortly thereafter I felt a calling to move back East. To make a long story short, I packed up all my belongings and landed deep in the Appalachian mountains at a very small church. The day I arrived was Pentecost(Shavuot), and twelve of us were gathered in a room and we all prayed. One woman took out a shofar and blew it loudly. That was my first time hearing the shofar and I had no idea what it was. She would be the first “Messianic Jew” that I would ever meet, though she did not go by that title. I learned much from her in my short time there, but then moved back North to the home of my birth.

While I was there I ran into an old highschool friend, and while we were talking I noticed she was wearing a necklace that had a menorah, Jesus fish, and star of David on it. I thought it was very intriguing and I asked her about it. She timidly told me that she was now “Messianic” and attended a synagogue near by. She was shocked to hear that I was excited and interested to learn more.

I visited her Messianic synagogue and for over two years learned as much as I could. The more I discovered the more I wanted to follow and obey. I dove right in and became kosher, observed all the holidays, wore tzit-tzit, learned to dance, and then eventually taught others to dance. It felt like I had been searching for where I belong my entire life, and I had finally found my home.

Everything started to make sense. All my questions had answers and everything connected and fell into place.

It launched me on a completely new path and focus for my life. My entire life had become one big mystery to explore and discover and eventually teach.

Coincidentally, Holy Language Institute followed me on twitter after I posted a Messianic inspired tweet. I followed them back and was excited to see their mission and purpose though I didn’t feel much pressure to participate.

Last year (2015) I made my first trip to Israel to celebrate Sukkot. It was there that I felt the specific calling to learn the Hebrew language intentionally. I had gleaned a lot through the congregation and study, but I needed to make it a priority to learn it. I want to understand Torah better and Yeshua’s language and culture, and I want to be able to speak with the Jewish people, especially those in Israel for when I return.

I returned from Israel and very shortly after I saw on my twitter feed Izzy’s face pop up  teaching hebrew LIVE. I immediately clicked it and began to see and hear all that was being taught and I felt that this was a clear next step in this journey.

Already I feel such a deep connection and camaraderie with the Holy Language tribe and feel very encouraged to be able to connect with everyone here.

I know that my story is far from over, and I certainly could not have predicted how it has gone thus far. I am excited to see where Yahweh takes me and continues to lead His people as we become united for His calling and purposes. Thank you for letting me share my story thus far.