Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been blessed today with all good things from above and felt the nearness of God. I had a good day on campus on Thursday and Micky, & Ann Marie prayed to receive Jesus and Dejan [deyon], whose mom was Muslim and Father Orthodox committed to trusting in Christ. He said he wanted to pray on his own. Please pray these students are blessed in their faith. Their stories are below if you want to spend the time. Thanks for your prayers.

Micky was sitting in the western most Science building in the hall on a row of chairs on the second floor. He had a sweptback mop of brown hair and squared off features, good looking Latino guy.  He wore a gray t-shirt, sweats and aviator shaped metal rimmed glasses. He had a soft mustache and chin beard of the young. He said he had gone with his family to the Bible Church in town but had moved further away when he was a kid. It made getting there difficult. When he’d asked his dad why they’d stopped going to church he said they couldn’t find a good one (near the new neighborhood). I asked him what he would say to God if God asked: “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I’d say ‘It’s up to you.’ There might be different factors that I wouldn’t know that would affect my [entrance] into Heaven,” he replied. He thought he had first a 60 then a 70 and finally decided on a 65% chance of going to Heaven. He listened to the Gospel and when I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins he knew Jesus had died. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he said. So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded with a “um hum” of assent. I said he could pray it silently and I wouldn’t hear but God would hear and he’d know he was forgiven. “Yeah,” he said. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. When he finished I said, “Your sins are forgiven,” and tapped his shoulder with an open hand. He smiled broadly. I explained living by the Spirit’s power, “Inside Out” where he would become a good man and do good things by the transformation of God’s power. I told him the likelihood he would go to Heaven was now 100% trusting in the righteousness of Jesus. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside. I gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and a Bible study. “So great to see you in the Kingdom Brother,” I said. “I’ll see you there,” he said. He thanked be and began to put the books in his pack and I headed out.

Ann Marie was sitting in the PE building lounge at a table next to the doors of the Gym with her back to the wall. She had mostly golden wavy blonde hair and a cute long tomboy kind of face, pug nose. She had fair skin that seemed to blush at her jaw line. She was thin and played soccer. She was white and seemed to have gotten her vocabulary from a slang dictionary. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she cussed and then thinking said, “I’m Catholic. I was always taught not that we’ll always do what’s right but He’s always gonna forgive us.” She thought she had a 50/50 shot to get into Heaven. She said she went to Church every Sunday. I began to explain the Gospel to her and when I told her God wanted to live in her and so would take away her sins so she matched Him inside she said, “That’s dope!” I explained the atonement and compared it to the symbolism in the mass and the righteousness of Jesus to her credit. I explained that she was saved by faith. I said your good stuff couldn’t fix your bad stuff using the example of a boyfriend who cheated on her and then told her he would be nice to his next three girl friends to make it up. “That happened to me,” she said. “I burned his stuff.” I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else explaining generically what other religions taught. “The first one,” she replied. So I said there was a prayer she could pray to be forgiven for her sins and talked her through it and asked if it was the desire of her heart. She nodded. So I said she could pray it silently and know then she was forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done to forgive her. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “F-__ yeah, say less,” she replied and took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. I told her that trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. “He gave me the grade,” she replied happily. I told I would pray for her every night until a year after spring. I gave her Bible Promises for You and put her name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside and asked her if she liked to read. She did so I gave her The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and explained that he had investigated Christianity and based on evidence become a Christian. “As he should,” she put in and I agreed. I told her to play hard and she said she would and I got up to go. “Thank you. I appreciate it,” she said. “It’s gonna be fun to pray for you, you’re great,” I replied and she grinned at me and I headed out.

Dejan was sitting in the BIC 1^st floor hall looking at a chess game on his phone. He had long curly/wavy brown hair falling to his shoulders, the center top pulled back and tied behind his head. Big tall, solid looking guy. I asked him if he wanted to do a student survey and he said ok saying he did not have much time. I asked if he liked Chess saying “Infantry is the Queen of battle, is my favorite chess quote—metaphor for war.” He said the computer programs slaughter him and it was hard. I said I’d read the best chess masters couldn’t think more than 3 moves ahead and he agreed realizing all the possible moves an opponent could make. I asked one think he would want to do before he died and he said, “Be free.” I told him when I was in college a professor had asked me why I was a Philosophy Major and I’d said, “Doesn’t it say somewhere, ‘you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’, I wanna be free. He asked me what the verse before that said and I said, “I don’t know I don’t read the Bible I’m a Philosophy Major.” We both laughed and I continued. “He said can we look it up? So he did and it read, ‘if you are in My word then you are my disciple and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’” I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven. “I’d ask Him, ‘Why should I go to Hell?’” I asked him what the likelihood he would go to Heaven was and he said 100%. Then I said the reason he could not go to Heaven had to do with Ontology, with your being, it does not match God. Heaven is not just a place it is the presence of God so to be there you have to match it, your being has to match God’s being. But everyone has sin in them, so God has to take away your sin. Then you match God and he can live inside you like a key in a lock. Then it’s like you are the Energizer Bunny God is the Batteries you keep going and going and when you died it’s like you don’t die ‘cause God is inside.” I asked if he ever went to Temple or Mosque or Church or anything. He said he was getting back into faith and was Orthodox. His mom was Muslim, but not that into it. But when he was a kid his Mom’s brother was really into it and brought them to the Mosque. But they just went there to get money and stuff.  I pulled out a booklet then and explained the atonement and the righteousness of Christ. Saying he had to be forgiven by faith I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else. “Be forgiven,” he said. So I said there was a prayer he could pray and explaining it, asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was. I said he could pray it silently. He said he would on his own time. I agreed and explained living “Inside Out” by the Spirit’s power quickly, seeing the other students entering the classroom.  I asked if he had a Bible and he didn’t so I said I had one for him for free if he wanted one offering him a study Bible and a smaller one. He wanted the bigger Study Bible. So I said quickly a few of the things inside. I then wrote his name and the date inside and paused and asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead? That it’s a true story?” “Yes,’ he replied. “And do you place your trust in that to be forgiven?” “Yes,” he said again. “Ok then, forgiven,” I said. And I wrote “forgiven!” on the inside and he smiled a grateful smile. I told him I would pray for him until a year from spring. I shook his hand and said, “I’ll see you in Heaven,” “Thank you,” he replied and he got up to go to class as I turned the other direction down the hallway.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism Thursday if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob