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Busy time after New Year’s Eve

Koen Carlier - 14 January 2019

When we brought the last Olim (Hebrew for immigrants) to the airport on Monday 31 December (see article: Aliyah Continues) we had hoped for a few days of rest, but we were wrong. The requests started to come in already on the 1^stof January, which surprised us. Families want to come from long distances – from more than 600 km from Kiev, the capital. So since New Year’s Day we are on the road.

Right now mainly families want to be helped with transportation to the Israeli embassy in Kiev. The winter is cold (temperatures go down to -13 degrees Celcius at night) and there has been a fair amount of snow in the last days. Most of the people prefer to go to our shelter the day before they have their interview at the embassy. Almost 5000 people have stayed at our shelter for a shorter or longer period. Nataliya, assisted by volunteer Tanya, takes care of this very well!

For the small children it is almost a family outing. They come together with mom and dad and sometimes even joined by their grandparents. This week we had three families sitting around the dining table in the shelter. Nine people in total; the youngest a seven-month-old baby and the eldest, Simon, an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor. They had been traveling for twelve hours to the shelter in Kiev.

Procedure
After the first interview, when all the required official documents are in order, people have to go back to the embassy or consulate to get their exit visa. After that they have a few months before they go to Israel permanently.

This morning we received a phone call from a desperate Jewish family from the war zone in the east. They had gone to the local rabbi for advice and he advised them to go to Israel. “But,” they replied, “we have no money for that and we do not even have international passports!” The rabbi laughed and said, “Call this number and you will be helped.”

Please pray for all our Aliyah fieldworkers and drivers, who make long journeys on sometimes bad and slippery roads. Also pray for the potential Olim. For wisdom in their decisions that have great impact on their future.More

He is faithful

In short, long-term planning is not something we do here; day-by-day and step-by-step. Every day has its own worries and problems! What we do know: He is faithful, now and in the future.

In our work we regularly think of Isaiah 62 verse 10:

“Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people.Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.”