Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with gratitude in your heart, it’s a blessing to feel thankful. Pablo trusted in Jesus today so that was great. I hope I helped clear a path to truly trusting Jesus in a few Christians who had been trusting in their works. Lord willing that takes root too. It’s hard sometimes to know if people were trusting in Christ. The nomenclature of their answers is correct, even saying they believe Jesus is their savior, but then can’t tell you what Jesus did to take away the sins of the world.  Later they seem to be hoping in that they have been good people and so they’d be saved. Two back girls Moyo and Auri were that way today. After going through the Gospel, I asked if when they asked for forgiveness they knew they’d be forgiven because Jesus died for them or they hoped they would be forgiven being good enough. One said “A little of both” and the other parroted the same response. So I asked, “Do you now trust in Jesus’ righteousness and blood to forgive you for your sins?” saying twice; once to each. And each said, “Yes.”. So by confession they are in Christ. I hope they are not merely religious people any longer. Sometimes it is hard when 2 are sitting together to help them focus. I showed them the prayer and said if they had never told this to God they could pray it on their own. [Gal 3:2] Another guy (Oscar) was in the cult group on campus, they believe baptism saves with your good works, struggled with him too. But we shook hands at the end and he gave me a hug so I hope I got through. The group likes me because I am doing good works in their view I guess. I think he was in the group because he was attracted to a girl in it, but hey.

Pablo was a Latino he had a narrow mustache in two pieces (like Charles Bronson) and a chin beard. He had a gold necklace with his name spelled on it and a gold cross. He had a solid oval face. First glance he looked like a very tough guy. He was a kind, quiet, nice guy however, wore a baseball cap backward and had a black t-shirt with a scull over the left chest and jeans on. He said one day he wanted to buy a house for his parents, which reminded me I was blessed to grow up in a house. He was studying to go into Law Enforcement.  I asked what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “I would say I want to see my grandfather,” he replied. It turned out he and his brother were about to go to see their grandfather, (they had never met) when they were teenagers. It seemed his grandfather lived in Mexico or another state. But before they could get there, he died. I began to go through the Gospel with him and when I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins he said, “He died.” Other than that, he made eye contact as I went through the Gospel and told of the blood and righteousness of God to save him by faith. I compared what I had said saying in the Mass, the wafer was symbolic of Jesus Body and the Wine symbolic of His blood. So when he went to Church and took it he could just say “Thank you” because it was reminding him Jesus had died for him and so he was forgiven. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins, trusting in Jesus, or thought something else, explaining Islam, as an example of a different god where their god is not a father because he did not have a son. God does not live inside humans and there is no sacrifice for sin. He looked me in the eye and did not say anything so I repeated, “Would you want to be forgiven for your sins, trusting in what Jesus did for you on the Cross?” He nodded. So I said there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it asking if it represented the desire of his heart. He nodded again. I asked if he wanted to pray it silently. He nodded a third time. Then he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one writing his name and the date and “forgiven!” on the inside and then told him the likelihood he would go to Heaven was now 100%. I explained the Christian life “Inside > Out”. I gave him a copy of Bible Promises for You. He didn’t like to read so he did not want anything more but a Bible Study. I said I would keep him in my prayers each day until spring and a year after. He seemed appreciative and I shook his hand saying, “God bless you.” And he said, “God bless you too.” And I headed off.

Thanks so much for your prayers. For the ministry God blessed today and I hope I had the right words for the students.

In Him,

Bob