I was born and raised in Argentina, which has a large Jewish population. My father had been one of the founders of the synagogue in our suburb of Buenos Aires, and my family members were active in the local Jewish community center. If there was one thing I knew, it was that there were two kinds of people in the world – “us” and “them.” “Us” were the Jews, and “them” was everybody else.
God was always part of my life. My father died when I was three years old, and when I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me that when it rained, it was my father in heaven watering God’s garden, and when it thundered it was my father fixing God’s car. I always felt warm toward God, because I knew my father took good care of Him.
My family moved to the United States when I was nine years old. It took me a while to learn the language and customs of this new country, but by the time I was a teenager, I had become quite acculturated. I was a “nice Jewish girl.” I didn’t mess with drugs, I got straight A’s in school, and had a great relationship with my family.
Who Is the Messiah?
When I was 14, I came across a book that captured my imagination-it was the Old Testament in story form. I read about my ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others, who spoke with God as if He were right there with them; and better yet, God spoke back! I wanted a relationship with God like my ancestors enjoyed.
I checked out a Bible from the library, and the more I read and learned about God, the more I wanted to know Him. I began to follow the Old Testament laws so He would be pleased with me and tried my best to keep all the commandments I could.
Over the next two years, as I continued to read the Bible, I came across verses about a promised Messiah. The picture slowly became frightfully clear. This Messiah that I was reading about in my own Jewish Bible sounded like “you-know-who!” I didn’t know much about Jesus, but I did know that I wasn’t supposed to believe in Him.
Just at that time, I “happened” to meet a group of kids in my high school who had been especially trained by Chosen People Ministries to be sensitive in telling their Jewish friends about Yeshua (Jesus). These kids told me that it was OK to be Jewish and believe in Jesus. A few weeks later, after a lot more thought, I gave my life to Him.
The past 30 years serving by Mitch’s side have been a real adventure! We both feel privileged to be able to tell our people that the Messiah has come!
Written by Zhava Glaser