Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was filled with thankfulness in your heart, by the Spirit. I had a good day talking to students and Leo prayed to receive Jesus today and Clare committed to Christ saying she would pray later. She was grateful so I hope to see her again to see if she’s prayed to receive Jesus. Please pray they grow in faith. The story is below. Thanks for your help in prayer. I made it through the day sitting when the sciatica in my leg flared up, so thank for those prayers too.  I hope God will decide I’ve had enough and my leg will chill out soon.

Leo was sitting on the 3^rd floor overlooking the SSC lounge. He looked Latino and had a mop of dark hair, sort of parted on the left He had a young good looking diamond shaped face. He was kind of small and wore a Black t-shirt and grey corduroy pants. I asked if he’d want to do a survey “What you think about God and stuff for a Bible study group,” and he asked what it was about. I said the main question is “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead and you stand before God and he asks, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “I would prefer not to exist at all,” he replied. “That’s not actually an option,” I replied. “It isn’t?” he replied. He did not think he would want to go to Heaven. I said, “Think of the best and most happy days you have had and think about a place where you have a day like that over and over. You would get up each day and never meet anyone who would argue with you or who was unhappy,” and wouldn’t he be interested in a place like that where that would never stop. I asked if he would like to know what the Bible says is the answer to how he could get to Heaven, “Any interest in that or not so much?” He said, “Yes,” he’d do a survey. He had some interesting answers to the questions. In words to describe himself he said he liked problems and that he thought people needed them to be happy. I said he might be right. I said that my father had told us as kids we wouldn’t be happy if we did not have something to complain about. He thought of himself as an optimist however. When asked one thing he’d like to do before he died he said, “Save someone.” In answering the how to get in question he added “Heaven is incomprehensible and Religion is faith.” I agreed that Paul in the Bible had been to Heaven and could not describe it. I asked the likelihood he would go to heaven when he died. “I think that a lot of us are doomed. They say only a small amount will be fit to, will go Heaven. But then again maybe He just loves us too much.” I agreed saying, “Jesus said you enter by a narrow gate.” It turned out he went to Willow Creek. He asked if I’d heard of it and I said I had gone to the original Church that had met in a movie theatre that was now torn down. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. He seemed to agree with everything I said and took in all the Bible verses as I explained them. The cleansing of the blood of Christ and His payment for our sin and the righteousness of God to our credit. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. He agreed that it was not only being a good person. He asked me some other questions and I answered them and then asked again, “So do you think you would want to receive Christ and trust in what He did for you on the Cross?” “Yeah,” he said. So I said if he did there was a prayer he could pray. I explained it and asked if it “expressed the desire of his heart. He said, “Yeah,” again.  He’d taken the booklet already, he then prayed to receive Jesus.  I gave him two Bible studies, the deity of Christ and the Angel of Jehovah because he had asked about Jewish belief. I explained that no Jews any longer believed in God as described in the Old Testament if they were not Christians. I told him the likelihood that he would not go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the righteousness of Jesus. I gave him Bible Promises for You writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. I gave him, The Case for Christ Answer Booklet saying Strobel had spoken at Willow Creek before. I told him he could use the booklet and if he told someone else and they trusted Christ God would use him to “Save someone.” As he’d mentioned though he said he was thinking more of pulling them out of a river or something. He was grateful and talked a bit more and I told him I would pray a verse for him each day until Spring and one year after. I shook his hand and headed off in the opposite direction.

Clare was sitting at the main entrance near the Book Store on some seats overlooking the doors. She had fair skin but was Latina, slight build. Pretty, long eyelashes, long wavy hair and narrow sharp features, she had a black fleece jacket on, wore powder blue jeans and a t-shirt that had the cartoon Betty Boop. She wanted to have kids or a job where she would take care of them. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven. “I think out of a lot of people who don’t like to admit the damage they’ve done I’m capable of change, and wanting to change and to do better.” She listened to the verses and knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. When I said her good stuff did not fix her bad stuff I said, “Say you had a boyfriend and you thought he was pretty cool but then it turned out he was cheating on you,” She made a face then and I knew that had happened. I said he was also “stealing your stuff”. “So you cut him loose. He comes back in a week and says, I know I did you wrong but I just want you to know I’m gonna be nice to my next 3 girlfriends. You’d say yeah that doesn’t help me at all. ‘Cause you can’t do good stuff over there to fix you bad stuff here.” I said I was sorry about her boyfriend and she said that had happened today.    After going through the Gospel, I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done on the cross or thought something else. “A life with Christ,” she replied. I said there was a prayer she could pray if she did not think she had asked God to forgive her before trusting in what Jesus had done.  I offered her the prayer she could pray talking her through it. She thought it expressed the desire of her heart but did not want to pray then. I said that was fine she could pray later. I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God He died for your sins and rose from the dead? Do you believe that is a true story. “Yes,” she said. I asked if She would place her trust in that to be forgiven for her sins. “Yes,” she said again.  I gave her Bible Promises for You I wrote her name in the front and the word, “forgiven!” saying when you pray that prayer you will know you are forgiven. I gave her a Bible study too. “What’s your name again?” she asked. “Bob,” I replied. “It’s on the back of the booklet.” Looking at it she said, “Oh great,” she said. Thanks Bob. I told her if I saw her again I would give her a wave. “Thank you so much,” she replied and she headed off to her ride that had pulled up.

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

In Him,

Bob