Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was a blessed one filled up to the fullness of God in Christ. I had a good day of evangelism on campus and Hubert and Lynette each prayed to receive Jesus today, their stories are below if you have some time. Jamaal (a 6 foot 5×5 offensive lineman with heavy cornrows and kind of a baby face with a smaller nose) wanted to read through the booklet again and think on it after we went through the Gospel having gone to Church with his grandmother when he was young but not since she died. He said he trusted in that Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead and it seemed he would pray later. Please pray these grow in faith or come to in, in the last case of Jamaal.

Hubert was sitting in the hall in a row of chairs just down from the tunnel going to the PE center lounge where I had talked to Jamaal. He had on a black trucker cap and looked Latino in coloring but it turned out he was Polish and went to a polish speaking Catholic Church. He wore braces on his teeth and had a small handsome face with classic Romanesque European features. He had on a grey T-shirt and black and grey half and half shorts with LACROSSE written on one leg. He said he wanted to start a family, which is a tell that a guy will become a Christian or is already in a survey. I asked him, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead. And you stand before God and he says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “I like try to be kind to everybody and try to be the opposite of selfish, as possible. I try to treat others as I would like to be treated,” he replied. I said that was in the Bible. I asked him the likelihood he would get into Heaven and he said, “I think I got a shot at least. I go to church every Sunday. I pray every day. But I could be better.” After that he listened to my going through the Gospel and he knew Jesus had died to take away the sins of the world. He smiled and was engaged and like the humor in the stories I used to illustrate the blood of Christ as payment and cleansing and righteous of God Jesus earned to his credit. I explained he needed to receive Jesus, believe He was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. Not that he just knew the story from growing up at church but that that’s what he put his trust in to be forgiven as an adult. “So if someone would say to you, ‘Why should God let you into Heaven?’ You’d say. ‘Because Jesus died for me.’” His good deeds could not fix his bad ones in God’s eyes. I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Jesus had done or thought something else. “I want to be forgiven,” he said enthusiastically like it was the obvious choice. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it. I asked if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded it was so I said he could pray it silently now and he nodded and took the booklet to pray the prayer. He was happy then and I gave him Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front as I always do and he really liked that. I explained living by the Spirit’s power. I gave him a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. The later of which he seemed interested in. I told him I would keep him in my prayers praying a Bible verse from him each day from now until Spring and one year after. He was pleased we met and I said, “Nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you,” he replied sincerely. “God bless you,” I said getting up to god. “God bless you”, he said emphasizing the last word. And I said thanks and was off.

Lynette was a “cute kind of pretty” girl with the larger sort of circular glasses on that she let slip to the end of her nose as we talked. She had full lips in an oval face and had a small diamond pierced into the center of the bottom lip that made me think I hope that doesn’t scar.  She had on a lavender fitted blouse with long sleeves which her headphones matched perfectly that she’d been wearing to be on her lap top as I walked up. She wore sweats that were oatmeal colored and was friendly. I asked her the question, “You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus. So you’re dead. And you stand before God and he says, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” “I don’t think at this time I’m ready. I’m not putting my faith into action yet, not my full potential,” she replied. I asked her the likelihood she would go to Heaven and she said, “I got a shot.”  She said she went to a Christian Church. I began to go through the gospel with her, saying all I usually do with the Bible verses and she was engaged all the way through and seemed to give ascent to each thing I said. So as the end showing her the two circles and giving her the option I said, “So when you are asking for forgiveness for your sins are you thinking that you hope God will forgive you because you are basically good and will try to do better? Or are you thinking I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for me.” She said, “I don’t give myself any credit or feel it’s from yourself,” she replied. So I asked again, “So when you are asking for forgiveness are you thinking I know I will be forgiven because Jesus died for me, or are you hoping you will be because you will try to do better?” “The second one,” she replied. “So do you think you have ever asked God to forgive you trusting in that Jesus died on the cross?” I asked. She said she hadn’t and shook her head. “OK,” I said. “Well if you want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done there’s a prayer you could pray,” and I talked her through it saying, “It says here, “Does this prayer express the desire of you heart? Do you think it does? “Yeah,” she said. “Do you think this is something you still need to do then?” She said, “Yeah,” and she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. So that was great. I explained to her then living the Christian life by the Spirit’s power. She said she had just been reading about seeking God and how the community helped that. I said, “Yes the community of all believers can help,” and I said that God seeing she was seeking Him probably then sent me along to tell her what she didn’t know yet and she agreed. I gave her Bible Promises for You and I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven! In the front and she liked that. I also gave her Strobel’s The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and she thought she might have heard of him. I told her his story and she gladly took it. I gave her a Bible study explaining it a bit and told her I would pray a Bible verse for her each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless her. “Thank you so much,” she said as I got up to go. “You’re welcome,” I replied and again she said, “Thank you.”

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

In Him,

Bob