We gave away one hundred Russian Bibles in one day!

While in Jerusalem showing Susan, Lura's sister, around I happened to meet Geert, a very strong chess player, visiting from Holland. I told him about the chess players in Arad and he decided to check them out!

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Geert made quite a commotion. He was able to consistently beat everybody in town except the Chess Master. Until now, I never saw anyone beat the Chess Master; Geert was able to do so about 1 of every 8 games. The games between Geert and the Chess Master drew crowds!

Chess players began coming out of the wood works, lining up to play the Dutchman. One challenger was a Jew from Germany.

Geert speaks Dutch, German, and English. The Jew from Germany spoke German and Russian. We had a line of communication going!

There has been so much I've wanted to tell my Russian friends, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

I'd tell Geert in English, he'd pass it onto the German who spoke Russian, and he'd tell it to my friends. We soon had dialog going backwards and forth.

Geert was telling me that the German was here for holiday. Well, I was thinking "What holiday?" I started going though all the Jewish and American holidays still drawing a blank. (In Europe they say "holiday" instead of "vacation"). He was here for vacation, along with his wife and a group of about 8 women. They came to preach and sing in Russian and German.

This was bigger than the both of us (Geert & I) so we called on Lura, Susan, and Ida!

We met the singing sisters. Had prayer, sung hymns, and had lots of laughs.

The plan was to hit the streets that upcoming Sabbath Day and I'd bring Bibles, books, tracts, etc!

They asked me could I get about 6 German Bibles. Lura and I, with God’s help, were able to get our hands on two dusty, sitting on a shelf since '97, cases of Gideon Trilingual Bibles (Russian/French/English) that hotels in Israel were afraid to make public.

We gave away one hundred Russian Bibles, plus scores of testimonial books, pamphlets, and tracts all in one day!

Edwin Beckford
July, 2002

For His Name & His Glory, Lura Maiman Beckford, Congregation Yeruel, Arad, Israel.
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