Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a blessed day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Chris and Tessa each prayed to receive Christ. Another student found assurance of faith named Michael. Their stories are below if you have some time. Please pray they grow in their faith.

Chris was sitting on some hall chairs just down from the NE corner lounge on the 2^nd floor of the BIC. He was Latino and all I could see of his hair were short curls at the top of his forehead poking out of the tan hoodie he had up. He also wore gray sweats. He had a square chin and was clean-shaven and had a slight build. He wasn’t very expressive. When I asked him 3 words to describe himself he could only think of one, “Independent”. He looked at the booklet as we spoke, or I spoke, but he didn’t really make eye contact until the end. He wanted to travel the world. I knew that I didn’t have much time before the next class started though so I just shot straight through. 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?” “Ah,” began thinking. “I believe in you.” He said that’s all he could think to say. He thought he had a 65% chance of going to Heaven. He hadn’t gone to church in about a year. He said his family used to go together but his parents stopped going. He seemed disappointed in that. The other part of his family, his aunts, still went. In saying God had to take away his sin so He could live inside him I asked what the big thing was Jesus had done back in History to take away the sins of the world. He thought for a minute and so I added, “The obvious thing,” sensing he would know. “He was crucified,” he said finally. I agreed and I explained that Jesus lived a perfect life for him and His blood cleansed him and was a payment to God. He earned the righteousness of God perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament Law. Then God adopted us and gave us the blessings of his family. He could receive this by faith and grace by faith saved him no his works. I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else and then asked as something like: When you’re asking for forgiveness for your sins have you been trusting in what Jesus did to forgive you? I know you knew the story but were you trusting in that or was it just something you grew up with? “Something I grew up with,” he replied. “So would you want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus?” I asked. “I want to be forgiven,” he replied assertively. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it asking if it expressed the desire of his heart. He nodded so I said he could pray it silently. “Wanna do that?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said. He prayed then to receive Christ. I told him then the likelihood he would go to Heaven trusting in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus was 100%. I gave him Bible Promises for You and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front and he finally broke a smile and thanked me like my writing it made it official. I explained Strobel’s story and gave him The Case for Christ Answer Booklet and I gave him a Bible study explained a prophecy and a way Jesus claimed to be God.  I told him I would pray a Bible verse for him each day from now until Spring and one year after asking God to bless him. “Thank you,” he said as I got up to go shaking my hand. “It’s Bob isn’t it?” “Yeah it’s on the back of the booklet,” I replied. “Thank you so much, I appreciate it,” he replied. “You’re welcome, I’ll keep you in my prayers,” I said and headed off.

Tessa was sitting in a connecting hall in the west most science building just down from the dental office. The students will clean your teeth there on the cheap but I don’t think I would want to be the experiment. She is a Black girl with a pretty dark face and a smaller nose. She wore aviator glasses and they slid down to where she looked at me over the top of them periodically, then she’d push them up. She had straightened hair in a black hair band and had on a grey zip up hoodie and dark blue sweats. She wore black fuzzy clogs with outdoor waffle soles, as she sat on a bench one foot under her turned up toward me. She was either very reserved or just didn’t have much to say. She said she hadn’t been to Church at all. I asked her, “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?” “Umm,” she replied and just said, “I don’t know… I don’t know.” That was it, she thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven when she died. So I asked, “Would you like to hear the Bible verses that tell you how to go to Heaven?” “OK,” she replied. When I asked if she knew the big thing Jesus had done in History to take away the sins of the world she simply said, “No.” So I began to go through the gospel with her. She listened attentively and looked me in the eye and I got her to barely crack a smile a couple times. I finished all I say about the Blood and Righteousness of Christ and how He rose from the dead and that she needed to receive Him by faith. I asked if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else. She pointed with a long finger and a pretty polished nail at the circle I had described as Christ living in her by His Spirit on the throne of her life. So I said that if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked through it reading the line, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? So would you say it does?” “Um hum,” she replied. I said she could pray it quietly; I wouldn’t hear her but God would hear and she’d know she was forgiven. “Wanna do that. “Sure,” she said. And she prayed to receive Christ. I began to go through the Christian life with her and she didn’t have a Bible. So I gave her one and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven!” in the front. “Thank you,” she said taking it. I gave her Bible Promises for You and a Bible study and The Case for Christ Answer Booklet. I told her I would keep him in my prayers each day praying a Bible verse for him until Spring and one year after. I said the likelihood she would now go to Heaven was 100% trusting in the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus. “Thank you,” she said as I got up to go. “Oh you’re welcome. Thank you for talking with me. I’ll see you I Heaven.” “OK,” she said and smiled. “If I see ya I’ll just say hi,” I said and I headed off.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed. 70 Students have prayed to receive Christ with me this semester so far or let me know they prayed later.

In Him,

Bob