Shalom! Shalom!  The harrassment continues - On Saturday, we had arranged a trip to Nazareth Village for the chess players.  This has been planned since Spring and they were looking forward to it.  37 people signed up and then we opened up the trip to any believers who might want to come, so we had a full bus load.We had arranged for a Russian-speaking guide.

We arrived at the shuk to meet our bus and the Haredim were gathering.  Soon we had a riot condition on our hands.  More than a hundred of them prevented us from boarding the bus and laid down in front of the bus.  Two police arrived and could not control the crowd so they asked us to go into the chess club.  The bus quickly left.  A couple more policemen arrived and we asked the bus driver to return, but when he did, the Haredim repeated their procedure.  More and more Haredim kept coming.  We were facing the Hassidei Gur and also the Habad group together. WE learned later that they bused people in from other cities the day before.  Once again the bus driver pulled away.

Some of the chess players walked away and went home while the rest of us were herded back to the King's Men.  The police called to Beersheva for help and they sent 3 people (It's a 40 minute drive from Beersheva).  They asked the army for help but most of the soldiers were on leave. So the police were unable to control the crowd.  They tried putting up tape to restrict the Haredim, but in a few minutes the tape was broken and they came streaming toward the club.  The police were pushing us toward the club, but the Haredim kept kicking the door so it would hit whoever was trying to enter.  When they slammed the door against me, Eddie went after the men who pushed it.  They ran and the police cautioned him about doing anything to them.   The men shoved Rebeka in the door and slammed it, leaving her 4 year-old daughter outside. The Haredim hit Polly with their prayer shawls and spit on her.    The shouting and cursing continued from 8 A.M. until 10:30.   The police tried to get us to our cars so we could go home. But the Haredim surrounded us and laid down in the street.  One of them threw himself on the hood of our car and shouted that we hit him.  The police pulled him away and led us back to the shop.

At this point we thought we would have to cancel the trip.  The bus was nowhere in sight and it was getting late.

Then about 10:30, the Haredim began to listen to the police and started to walk away. We quickly called the  bus driver and he came.  We boarded the bus and went to several houses where we knew the people wanted to come and had been discouraged because of the Haredim.  Our bus was half-full (23 people) but we did go on our trip.  We had to cancel the picnic by the Galilee, but we managed to get to the Nazareth Village by 2:00 in plenty of time to meet the guide. We believe the Lord will have His way and His will be done.  We felt like Gideon when the Lord said "You have too many men with you - send some home."  We had certainly come through a battle and we do have the Victory with us:  Y'shua HaMashiach! Every person with us heard the clear message of Y'shua as we sat in the rebuilt synagogue of the Nazareth Village.

On the way home while the bus driver was delivering people to their homes, one of the more vocal Haredim saw us in the bus and was stunned - he pointed to us and stood there frozen - all their tactics did not work. They are fighting against the God of the universe.

Today the police asked me to come to the station so we could go over the events of Saturday - This is Monday, open-air market day, and this is the day we usually put out the 2nd-hand clothes.  I will be at the police station with two other people, and Eddie will man the shop alone. The Haredim will show up to harrass him as usual.   Pray for help, please! 

In the Service of the King, Lura