By Sondra Baras
May 12, 2020
Sunday was Mother’s Day in the US and I was supposed to have landed in New York to spend the day with my only daughter who is temporarily living in the US. What a great way to spend Mother’s Day, I thought, with a real mother-daughter day enjoying the New York City spring. Then yesterday morning I was supposed to get on a plane to Little Rock, Arkansas, where I was scheduled to meet with friends and supporters of CFOIC Heartland, do an interview on Christian television with a dear pastor friend and then speak at evening church and private meetings. My trip would then have taken me to Texas and finally to Florida for a very busy 10 days of meetings and speaking engagements. All of that was cancelled.
Since early March, we have all experienced various levels of lockdown and social distancing. But for us at CFOIC Heartland, the most difficult part of all of this was the total cessation of flights to and from Israel. We are no longer able to come to you and you are no longer able to come to us. And no one knows how much longer this will last. And even after they loosen up restrictions on air travel and tourism, will we there be a renewed upsurge of the pandemic and further closures?
We miss seeing you and interacting face to face. So we have looked for substitutes. We have been doing Facebook live teachings and conducting zoom meetings. It isn’t the same as a face-to-face meeting but it is as close as we can get right now. If you are interested in hosting or joining such a meeting, please let me know and we will make it happen.
But for those of you who wanted to come and visit with us, or are seeking a more intimate, direct connection to Israel and to us, the people of this wonderful land, we created this film for you. We can’t visit with you in person but we wanted to stay in touch. And we want to be sure you know and can see the people you have been helping and the needs you have been meeting. Thank you for all you have done and are doing for Israel. Watch this film and remember – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Shalom,
Sondra Oster Baras
Director, Israel Office
CFOIC Heartland