Each year, 40,000 Israelis head to India in search of peace and spirituality, as well as parties and new experiences. Chosen People Ministries' team spent three weeks in India, connecting with these travelers on the beaches, over Shesh Besh (Backgammon), at open mic events, by traveling together, sharing long dinner discussions, playing music, and various other creative ways of building relationships and sharing the God of Israel.

Here are some stories from members of our outreach team:

Sharon:

• We traveled a ten-hour journey by bus into the interior of India. When we arrived, while I was looking for my room, I ran into Raya,* an Israeli woman who had also been on the bus and we struck up a brief conversation. Later, I ran into Raya again at breakfast, and I knew it was a divine appointment. We sat together and her very first question opened the door for sharing the Gospel. She asked question after question, and I opened the Scriptures with her. We talked about God's love, about sin and separation and the need for atonement. I explained from the book of Isaiah how Yeshua (Jesus) is God, Messiah, and the Lamb provided for our atonement. She listened, captivated and quite open... very rarely have I had this experience. I left her with a book by a Messianic Jewish author, through which she can continue her search.
  

Lisa:

• While on the main street in Arambol, a shop owner asked Tina (another team member) and I to watch her shop so she could go and have tea with her family. A couple stepped into the store, and Tina began to speak to the man about Israel while I began a conversation about Israel and Jewish people with his girlfriend. She had been raised in Thailand in a Buddhist family. I spoke to her about salvation and about the existence of God, pointing out that we can know He exists through Creation and through the fact that we understand right and wrong. We conversed about the Bible and Yeshua for about an hour,  and I asked if I could pray for her. She said yes, and I asked God to reveal the truth to her.

• I was on the beach with some of our group, and we asked an Israeli man to join us since he was sitting alone. He joined the conversation, and spiritual topics began to come up. He proposed that maybe Yeshua read the prophecies in the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible, or the Old Testament) and intentionally placed Himself there to fullfill them. We discussed Isaiah 53, and I pointed out that He could not plan His rejection by His people – which fulfilled one of the major prophecies in that chapter. Our Israeli friend did not know what to say to this. He gave us his contact info for follow-up.

• I befriended the manager of a German bakery in India when I entered his shop for an iced coffee. I had an optical illusion Gospel tract with me; I showed the trick to the manager and he liked it so much that he ran to show the tract to the cooks and fellow employees. When he came back, I spoke to him about the Gospel and explained the message in the tract. I also made him some more optical illusions out of cardboard, and we were good friends after this. Our team returned there every day and built a friendship with him.
  

Shirley:

• Arambol is a small beach town with narrow dirt roads that accommodate cars, scooters, pedestrians, and the occasional strolling cow. We went to the beach in the late afternoon, where people gather to see the sunset. Some brought musical instruments to sing. I suspected it was an idol worshiping song, so I stepped back and watched from distance along with Tina. Ganesh,* an Indian man approached us and invited us to join in the singing, but I declined, explaining that I could not participate since I believe in Jesus and I only worship the one true God who created heaven and earth. Ganesh replied that all people find their own paths to God in different ways. I told him that Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus also taught that the road that leads to destruction is wide and many find it, but the road leading to life and truth is narrow and only few find it. Tina urged Ganesh to pray for Jesus to guide him in the truth. He asked what would happen if he prayed, and I told him he had to be ready to receive God’s truth. He than asked us to pray with him, and we did.

• We did an Israeli dance night at a coffee house owned by a believer in one of the beach towns we visited, and I met some young Israelis there. When they asked me what I do in the U.S., I answered that I work for a Messianic Jewish organization. This opened a door for a very long, deep conversation about Yeshua, and I was able to share how I came to faith. I shared how the rejection of Yeshua was a fulfillment of prophecy that resulted in opening the door for the Gentiles to know the Lord. I also explained the Scripture relating to the Messiah leading to the understanding that there would be two comings and not two Messiahs as misinterpreted in Judaism. One Israeli was asking about the death and crucifixion of Yeshua, and I was able to share about how this fulfilled the Passover as Yeshua was the Lamb of God was offered up for our transgressions. The young Israeli was very interested, asking questions and listening intently. At one point he asked what he must do to become a believer. One of the Israeli girls also joined in on the conversation at times, revealing that she had read the New Testament and thought it was an amazing book. She also said that she had a Messianic Jewish friend in Israel who talks to her about Yeshua all the time.

• I met two Israeli girls in another beach town we visited. When I was asked how I wound up in the U.S., I told how I met my American husband in Israel. Two days later we met again at the beach, and I shared the rest of our love story and how my husband was going to convert to Judaism for my family, but in the process I read the New Testament and became a believer in Yeshua. I shared my faith, explaining how my family thinks I have left Judaism, when in reality I am closer to the God of Israel than ever before. Before parting ways, I gave her my Hebrew New Testament.

• I was placing some tracts at the local ice cream stand, and a German woman asked me what it was about. I told her it had the answer to life’s questions, and shared Jesus with her. She said she used to believe in Jesus when she was a child, but has lived in a Hindu temple for the past twenty-two years. She believes we are all gods. I asked her if she ever spoke to Jesus, and she said no. I encouraged her to speak to Him and see what He will do.

• We met another Israeli man at a restaurant on the beach, and we invited him to join our table. He was carrying a Jewish religious book I had never heard of, and said that throughout his life this book is always at his bedside. I told him that the book I always carry with me is the New Testament, and was able to share my faith. Although he seemed a bit taken aback, he said he might consider reading the New Testament.

• On the beach, there are many young Indian women who spend the entire day trying to sell merchandise to the tourists. That's how I met Raakhi.* She has to leave her four-month year old baby at home with her husband in order to support her family in this way. I told her Jesus loves her, He is the Son of the only true God, that He cares about her and that she is precious to Him. She listened and marveled at the thought of a God who cares about her. I drew her portrait and gave it to her as a gift, explaining about the gift of life we have in Jesus. I encouraged her to pray for forgiveness and to ask Jesus to show Himself to her.

• I spent one afternoon in a favorite restaurant on the beach, where I met two Israeli young men. I told them I was a Messianic believer. One of them said he had never heard of such a thing, and the other said he knows of a small community of believers in Israel. I shared my faith with them, mentioning that the Messianic prophecies are fulfilled in Yeshua. I also shared my testimony with four Jewish people from different backgrounds that I met on the beach.

• On our last day, before leaving the beach, I decided to sit in my favorite swing chair one last time. In front of me was a man who seemed to have passed out from alcohol. He looked at me and started to talk, saying he didn't want to drink anymore. I looked straight into his eyes and said, "The only hope for your life is Jesus; only He can take this desire from you." I shared with him that I was an Israeli and a believer in Jesus; he replied "You are weird, yes?" When working with a language barrier, sometimes things come out in a funny way. He said that I was not like most Israelis he knew. I understood what he meant, and I said "Yes, I am different!" I promised him I would pray for him.

*Names have been changed.