Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today and you found strength in the Joy of the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Noah and Sarah prayed to receive Jesus today. So that was great and God was with me. Please pray they grow in their faith. Their stories are below if you have the time. Thanks for your prayers.

Noah was a guy I had seen around school. Though he looked black racially, he had ringlets of hair coming down from instead of an afro. I don’t know if his hair was processed that way or it was natural but it looked like the later. He wore a black hoodie and black sweats, average looking, about my height. He had a thin mustache and wire rimmed aviator shaped glasses, a goatee and jaw line beard. Nice smile and very white teeth. He was leaning against a wall in the lounge area outside the student services offices. He stood at the edge of the Hall going to the Book Store. He did not have a lot of time so I asked him the one main question of the questionnaire. “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bust so you’re dead and you stand before God and He asked why should I let you into Heaven? So what would you say?” “I would say I believe in you,” he replied. “So you believe in God?” “Yeah,” he replied. “But what do you believe about Him? Say you are trying to get a girl to go out with you and she says why should I go with you and you say, ‘Because I believe you exist.’ You should at least tell her she’s pretty.” He smiled at that. I asked if he wanted to hear what the Bible says was the way he got into Heaven. “Ok tell me,” he said. It turned out he went to church sometimes with his parents. But they did not go as much lately. I began to go through the Gospel with him. At one point another guy walked past and said, “Class starts in 3 minutes man.” But he just nodded and looked back at the booklet I was explaining to him. As I finished explaining the Blood and righteousness of Jesus, I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else, explaining Islam and Buddhism a little to give him a moment to decide. “Be forgiven,” he replied. So I said there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and talked it through, asking if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded and said, “Yeah.” I said he could pray it silently and God would hear and he’d be forgiven trusting in Jesus work. He said “OK,” and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I quickly gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside of the cover. I quickly gave him a Bible study and told him I would pray for him. “Thank you,” he replied. “God Bless you man,” I said. “God bless you too,” he said and we walked off in opposite directions.

Sarah was sitting on kind of a balcony with some nice sofa chairs with end tables built in that overlooks the doors. It is near the Book Store entrance on the second floor west of the door. She said she’d do a survey. When she told me her name was Sarah I said, “Did you know your name means princess?” She said she did and I said my sister’s name was Sarah and my dad always called her princess. “My dad did that too,” she said with a smile. She had an oval attractive face, and light sandy-brown straight thick hair past her shoulders. She wore a pale green zip up hoodie and black sweats with some white lettering down the legs. Wore no make-up. I asked her what she would say to God and she said, “Hmm… I would say I always try to be kind to others. I know I didn’t always do everything right but I tried my best to follow His word. But you never know if some small thing had an effect.” I agreed we often could not know the outcome of our acts. She thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven.  She said she went to Church about every other Sunday. Her Grandmother came over to pick up her brother to bring him to church. Sometimes they got her to go if she wasn’t too busy with school. I began to go through the Gospel with her and asked what Jesus did to take away the sins of the world. She thought for a moment and then said, “Well the Eucharist and Confession.” I said that the Eucharist is symbolic of it and the priest forgives you recognizing it and began to explain the Gospel. When I finished explaining how the blood of Christ cleansed her and was a payment for her sins I then explained that the righteousness of Christ was to her credit. I gave her some word pictures and she said, “That’s an interesting way to put that.” I said the Catholic Church teaches that only God can forgive your sins. So the priest is technically not forgiving your sins he is telling you God forgives your sins. He can do that because he knows there was a payment for your sins. She mentioned penance and I said I had heard a priest say it was a way of showing you were serious about your confession. She agreed with this. I said the symbolism in the Mass is that the wafer is symbolic of the body of Jesus broken for you and the wine is symbolic of His blood. So it reminds you, you’re forgiven. I went on to explain we receive Jesus and that this was by faith and read the verses. I asked if she would like to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” she replied. So I said there was a prayer she could pray and I walked her through it. I asked if it was the desire of her heart and she agreed it was. I said she could pray it silently right now and I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “”Yeah,” she said and then as she held the booklet she asked, “Can I keep this?” “Yeah, sure,” I replied. She prayed then and I explained living by the Spirit’s power “Inside Out” asking for God’s help and transformation. I gave her Bible Promises for You writing her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front and she said as I handed it to her. “Thanks so much.” I told her I would pray a line from a bible verse to bless her each day. “That’s nice,” she replied. I gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and she was really grateful for the books. I got up to go and she said “Thank you so much,” and something like, this is great. I said you’re welcome and as I turned she said “Thank you so much, have a nice day.” I thanked her and headed off. So it seemed she was very thankful.

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

In Him,

Bob