Dear Friends, 

Spring is upon us bringing warm sunshine, flowers, the latter rains and of course the holidays. As we open our windows to let in the warm spring breeze, we thought you might like to take a peek into something of our daily lives here at Beit Immanuel Congregation.

Serving the Elderly

For many years our congregation has been blessed with young

families and an abundance of young children. As nature would have it children grow and we now find ourselves with a large group of youth, young adults and not a few "older" saints. With each stage of life there are new challenges and we must consider how to care for the elderly in our congregation.

Scriptures command us to care for and honor the elderly. Last month we gathered the elderly folks from our congregation for a special meeting to listen to their needs and see how we can serve and care for them. It was fascinating to listen to their stories. We decided to begin a special ministry for them and want to walk alongside them and assist and support them according to their needs. We are encouraging opportunities for the youth and children together with the older folks to enjoy companionship and build friendships together.

If any of you have experience working with the elderly and would like to share your ideas or experiences with us we would love to hear from you.

Single-Parent Families

As you know we support a number of single-parent families in

Single Parent Family at Beit Immanuel

our congregation. We assist them in keeping a balanced lifestyle while raising their children in a secure home. We provide spiritual support for them through prayer, instruction and teachings. We also assist in a number of practical ways such as: balancing a household budget, job training or education in order to be able to support their families, provide household maintenance.

Currently we are caring for four single-parent families. Please let us know if you would like to help support one of these families.

Holidays and Festivals

We just finished celebrating the Festival of Purim, a holiday loved especially by the children.Unlike Passover where children as expected to sit at the table and listen to the story of the Exodus, on Purim they dress up in costumes, go out in the streets and play. At Beit Immanuel as the adults read through the Scroll of Esther, the children enjoyed activities connected to the story of Purim. There was a quiz, a play and games. The only problem was that it was so much fun lots of adults asked to partake in the children's activities next year!

This year we are also organizing a congregational Passover Seder at Beit Immanuel. We are hosting about 110 people and will let you know how fun it was!

A Family Miracle

It was about two years ago that we asked for prayer for a family in our congregation. The father of the family was using drugs, lost his job and ended up hospitalized. In the meantime, the wife and mother of the young family was diagnosed with cancer and had to go through a series of extremely difficult treatments.  With both parents incapacitated, family fell into dire emotional and financial straits. We asked many of you to pray for them.

Today we are happy to announce that God has performed a miracle. It did not happen in one day or even two, but took time, patience and faith. We can now report that the mother of the family is healed of cancer. The father has been rehabilitated from drug addiction, is back to work and has returned to the family.

This Shabbat, March 13,2015 the couple will renew their wedding vows at a special ceremony at Beit Immanuel in the presence of family and friends. All of us have been encouraged to see the wonderful works of God and the power of faith and prayer. And a special thanks to all of you who take part in praying for our people.