Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 24

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Wow, what a week.  This report is not going to do it justice.  Neither are the photos - when I was in Dunedin, I didn’t even have the focus to take too many photos, I was just having so many wonderful gospel conversations.

 

But yes, we were in Dunedin for the week, and then in Kaikoura on Saturday.  So a busy week, with the additional burden of travel.  But, well, well worth it.  Glory to God!

 

So, I ran some evangelism training, down in Dunedin, last Sunday, and so this week we were putting it into practice outside the University (it was orientation week), down at the Octagon, and in between (the bus stops were a great fishing hole too)!  All this in conjunction with Cornerstone International Bible Church, which is strategically positioned between these two locations.

 

So, like I said, I’m not going to be able to articulate all the wonderful chats I had, let alone the wonderful opportunities my coworkers told me about.  But here is what comes to mind.

 

Down at the Octagon I remember talking to a French tourist, a Czech tourist (closed), German tourists, a tourist from Canada, and a couple that were Dutch.  I shared with a couple of Americans - one was Jewish.  He became intensely angry when we started discussing how we know what is right and wrong in relation to Hitler.  I was quick to defuse the situation by making it clear I agreed that Hitler was evil, and he quickly rained himself in (he had lost a cousin in the holocaust), but then he quickly told me not to try to convert him!  When I challenged him to convert me, it was fascinating watching him make up a religion, and he decided it was ‘love’.  Well, that damns me, because I fail to love as I should.  He could see my point.  He was flustered, because he wanted to insist I was good, but I just kept showing him how I was bad.  I was able to touch on the gospel with him, but it came to an end when he nearly missed his bus back to the cruise ship he was on.

 

I had a long chat with a Christian Minister who was clearly missing the gospel.  Each time I checked, he would subtly point to himself for salvation.  He liked to talk, so I had to listen a lot, but I challenged him, because I love him.

 

A young lady had a click moment, when she finally grasped the gospel, after that, she nailed the check questions.  Later, she reflected, “why did you stop me?”.  That’s how I feel too!  Why me?  I don’t deserve it.  God’s grace is so good.

 

During one outreach, I saw Roger deeply impacted after 2 separate conversations.  In the first conversation he looked stunned. The young lady had come to tears as he ministered to her.  In the second, after talking with 3 young students,  he literally clicked his heels in joy!

 

I had great conversations with 2 separate sets of JWs.

 

A highlight chat for Andy was one when a young Iranian lady came who had to go to a lecture, but then came back!  She was full of questions as she wrestled with the truths she was hearing.

 

Many invites to church were handed out.  Many copies of the gospel of John, and gospel tracts were delivered to people.  What a joy!

 

But we were also focused on training.  Young Daniel was with us for the week.  It was wonderful watching him grow as he put into practice what he was learning on Sunday.  At the end of each day, we would have a time of debrief - an opportunity to rejoice and learn from each other's experiences.

 

It was wonderful to also work alongside: John, Gary, Jeff, Phil and Shane.  We had our differences, but iron sharpens iron!  And it was wonderful being able to catch up with the elders of Cornerstone - we so appreciated the support!

 

We travelled home on Friday afternoon, after a couple of hours of outreach in the morning.

 

On Saturday, I headed to Kaikoura for the A&P Show there.  Team: Joe, Elijah, Nic, Cam, Andrei, & Scott and Sharon down from Blenhiem.  Great weather.  And a wonderful view.  There were slow periods, but there were busy periods too.  Lots of great conversations.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but the highlight chat for me was with a young lad, I’d say he was 10 years old.  He was sharper than most adults I talk to.  Like an adult, he initially resisted the idea that he was bad, trying to justify himself, yet he was humble enough to follow along and hear the gospel.  He ended up sitting down on the grass, as I sat on my stool and we engaged.  Eventually he looked up at the chart and wanted to know what the other pages were about.  And so I was able to take him through all the check questions.  He nailed most of them!  And the one he got wrong only led to his understanding deepening as we discussed.  He accepted the gospel of John to read.  I rejoice thinking of the chat.  May God have mercy and save him.

 

All glory to God for using weak vessels like us in his great plan.  Thank you for continuing to pray for this ministry.  Join us in sharing about Jesus with those about you!

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

A delayed report.  I was supposed to write this on Sunday afternoon (18th Feb), but I’m travelling at the moment.  We are currently down in Dunedin - having a wonderful time working with the church down here to reach people with the good news of Christ.  I’ll write about this in my next report.  But this report is going to cover the week 13th Feb till the 18th of Feb.

 

So, in that week, we had 2 street outreaches: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton, and Friday afternoon in the city.

 

Roger was with me on Tuesday afternoon.  I know I “had a wonderful couple of hours on the streets having gospel conversations with a wide range of people.  What a joy!  I'm constantly amazed at the interesting opportunities God gives us.”  – because I copied that from a Facebook post I wrote the day after.  But I really can’t remember the details now - except I remember talking to a group of school kids.  They were being a bit silly, and yet they heard the gospel anyway.  They wanted to take a selfie with me after.

 

Roger, Andy and John were with me for Friday afternoon’s outreach.  I remember it was hot, and so I moved down Cashel Mall to get into the shade of the buildings.  The only conversation I really remember is the one I had with 2 girls down by Colombo Street.  One was Christian, the other was all over the place with her worldview.  I remember spending my time on various check questions for the Christian, and trying to get the other girl to articulate the gospel reliably.

 

Roger, John, and Andy all seemed to be having very interesting chats, I was able to snap some great shots of them - attached.

 

On Saturday morning, I did some online work, including training a young lad from Israel.  He had come to grasp the gospel last November, via the needGod.net content.  And he said it had taken away all his fear of death, in light of the conflict going on around him.  He wants to share this good news with others!  We did some role play, before getting him set up with the protection tools, and getting him to have his first online chat for himself.  It was fascinating watching who he was connected with, considering he comes from Israel - a whole different demographic from me in NZ.  He was able to have a 13 minute chat with 2 young Israleis.  They were very resistant to the idea of God being real, and the young lad wrestled with them on that for a bit, but I told him to ask, “so, are you a good person”.  It worked - he was able to get them through the law, and offer the good news, when they snapped away from their conscience and started suppressing what they know about God again.  Tough crowd.  But so encouraged by this young man willing to proclaim anyway.  God’s mercy is great.

 

In the afternoon, Roger, Andy and I drove down to Dunedin for a week of outreach with Cornerstone International Bible Church.  On Sunday afternoon, I conducted some evangelism training.  There were about 8 people involved.

 

Well, a bit of a messy report.  But hopefully, the pictures fill in the lack of details.  I really like the photo taken of Andy trying to push a Moeraki Boulder.  It reminds me of an evangelist trying to encourage the church in evangelism (maybe the broken bit of rock at the front represents the elders?  – that’s a joke, so please don’t take it seriously, I love the church, and I love the elders of the church!).  Yet, it really does feel like that sometimes: impossible.  Yet, Jesus said about salvation: what’s impossible for man, is possible for God.  I’m praying that would be true about evangelism too.  The harvest is ripe, and the labourers are few, pray to the God of the harvest for more labourers, and then endeavour to be part of the answer to that prayer! May God bless you in your feeble efforts, as he blesses our feeble efforts.  All glory to him alone!

 

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It was a beautiful Saturday and our larger-than-usual team assembled in the park near the Council Chambers.

We were blessed to have Barry join us, a warm and passionate teacher from a local Christian school.

Our crew of 8 prayed together and then split into pairs to cover the CBD.

Barry and Geoff soon encountered a Sudanese Muslim bloke. Like most Sudanese we’ve met, this man understood and firmly believed in his religion. This led to an interesting, vigorous discussion on the truth of Islam vs Christianity.

At the end of the discussion, Geoff encouraged the man to read the Gospel of John to discover Jesus’ true identity and the claims He made about Himself.

The trio parted on good terms...but this wasn’t the only conversation Geoff and Barry got into today.

They also were able to connect with J-, who was currently homeless. Together they had an extended discussion and Barry was able to share the Good News about Jesus with J-.

We find that the homeless tend to be some of the most open to spiritual conversation. Yet they often struggle with crippling addiction and/or mental illness. Many of their life stories are a combination of their own foolish decisions..made repeatedly...and their genuine victimisation at the hands of evil people around them. Their stories are heart-breaking and yet they are some of the toughest people I know.

All of them are made in the image of God and are as equally valuable in God’s eyes as any doctor, lawyer or anyone else you can name.

We endeavor to connect with them and offer support where appropriate. While Barry was speaking with J-, Merv was busy speaking with K-, another homeless bloke.

K- has a big dog and a big beard. He is relatively young and he was keen to share his story. Merv sat with him for a while and I (Doug) continued to hand out Gospel tracts. It wasn’t long before I met R- at the corner of Ruthven and Margaret Street...the same R- from my last report!

Since our discussion last November, R- tells me that he has been “checking out Jesus more”. He is keen to visit a Church in Wilsonton and R- shared that he can’t get over “the fact that Jesus is such a loving guy”.

R- and I spoke for quite a while as R- walked towards the Base Soup Kitchen. I told R- that I too feel stunned by how loving Jesus is towards people. I also mentioned that I love how Jesus always tells the truth...that because He is so loving, He always speaks the truth to people.

Besides loving the fact that Jesus always speaks the truth, I find that mentioning Jesus always speaks the truth...because He loves us...is a helpful counterbalance to the modern idea that Jesus’ love for us minimises His desire to speak uncomfortable truths to us.

R- and I parted after quite a hike together and I pray that Jesus will draw R- back to Himself.

During this outreach, Merv and I also had an opportunity to hand out tracts at the Bus Interchange.
The Bus interchange is a great place to engage people with tracts because many people are waiting for their bus and they are generally bored out of their gourds.

While handing out tracts Merv and I met two friendly First Nations blokes who were heading home after a tribal meeting here in Toowoomba. We had a good yet brief discussion and we were also able to give out a number of tracts to people who were waiting.

While all these adventures were going on, Sarah and Elisa were faithfully engaging people on the north side of the CBD. One memorable encounter involved a young couple who Elisa and Sarah offered a tract.

They replied “We’re Muslim” to which Elisa said “Oh...you’re Muslim” and proceeded to offer them a Gospel of John in Arabic.

“No” they responded “We’re Muslim!!” and continued on their way.

Their attitude was in stark contrast to the vast majority of foreign-born Muslims, who want to discuss matters of religion and generally desire to convert us. In many ways, I respect this desire to convert us far more than the sluggish, shallow, brainless apathy towards spiritual matters that charecterise so many of us who have grown up amidst mind-numbing 24/7 entertainment and the stupefying effects of 21st-century secularism.

Nevertheless, God’s unstoppable purposes and love for humanity will overcome both the zeal of the East and the apathy of the West. His Kingdom will come and His will (will) be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

I’m looking forward to the day when we no longer need to pray the Lord’s prayer because its fulfillment will be in our rear vision mirror.

But we’re not there yet. In light of this upcoming Day...please pray for our team and everyone mentioned in this report.

Jesus is doing good things and He’s got even more good things in store for Toowoomba.







 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday February 6th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

Today, I had to do solo Street Gospel outreach. In the beginning there were overwhelmingly heap of people because of the first Semester week. I could only started by catching up with the last person in the long queue for bus. Then gradually the main influx period is over and I was left with few people around, but overall speaking, the divine intervention and election was still obvious. God led me to catch up with 3 to 4 Biochemistry and medical science students which are supposed to be the elite students who choose this medical related subject as the first degree and their springboard to finally be admitted to the Medical School of UQ.

Pray that the gospel message would help them aware that they are students of excellency but in God, they have to learn to humble before God for His salvation by grace. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung

1) Mary is from Kiwi and was born there in a Chinese origin family. She was the first Biochemistry Medical Science student God had led me to meet one after the other. Her parents were from Mainland China ,so they are not religious. Yet Mary admitted she heard the gospel many times before. And she confessed the gospel message is self complete without any internal contradiction. It is all sensible and logical for any good by non-perfect person to ask for help from Jesus as our Savior.

2) Luke a local Australian Born Indian, also doing the Biochemistry Medical Science. He appeared open and receptive to the gospel message.

3) Then next was Holy again a local Aussie girl very friendly for a chat. She also showed openness and receptiveness to the gospel.

4) Then I connected with a young man from Tianjin, China. . He has been with UQ for 3 years doing engineering study. . He is willing to chat and voluntarily took a gospel tract.

5) Next was a Korean girl called Dabbie was who slightly indifferent to the gospel though still open for a chat.

6) James another local Aussie whose mother is Filipino and father an Australian. He is also doing biomedical science. He is not as open as Luke but still politely listened to the full gospels

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday February 14th, 2024 from 1300-1500

Today we had Ann, friend of CFC, Amy and Hung gospel outreach duet of CFC teaming up to serve at Sunnybank. The people flow seemingly was less than normal, but grace of God was abundantly sufficient for us to be a witness for me to people of all nations. I had comparatively long chat today with people who shared some of my life moments. It gave them a more 3 D view of the dramatical changed of my life because of the gospel. The chat with a Singaporean young man ended up a surprised gift of red rose to me which I made it a Valentine gift for my wife. She never received any fresh flower from me just some artificial flower for display. It was undoubtedly a disguised blessing from God to His humble servant. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) I was led to approach Lin ?from Taipei who is a student of the James Cook University in Brisbane majoring in IT. He chose James Cook because he has got a Scholarship. He is non-religious but appeared very open for Gospel and could not found any argument in the gospel message. May God keep guiding him to pursue this Christian faith and be converted in His time.

2) Then I was led to catch up with Adam from Turkey on a working holiday visa. Adam was overjoyed to find out I am a fan of his country having spent 16 days all over many places of his country. Surprisingly, he is also a secularized Muslim or he simply does not regard Islamic as his religion though he still remains to be religious or God-fearing person. So, he appeared very open to the gospel at least will not turn away when Jeus was mentioned. Above all he took a tract and pray that God will touch his heart and move him to seek for salvation through Christ.

3) Daniel is a Singaporean coming to live in Australia since the age of three, so he regards himself a fair dinkum Australian (I also taught him Dinkum is Cantonese of Real Gold) He claimed himself a Chrisitan so I test his assurance of salvation which he only got 80% despite he knows he is saved by grace through faith of Jesus' redemptive work dying for all of us on the cross to take our place for eternal death punishment. The reason why so many Christians are not sure of their status having been changed to the people of God readily the moment they accepted Jesus as their Saviour, is that the substance of our life is yet to be changed. But because of the guarantee provided by Jesus, God will for sure transformed us back to perfection by the work of the Holy Spirit. Anyhow, Daniel was so moved for my explanation of God's love for us that he offered me a Valentine rose. I thanked him and mentioned that it would be presented to my wife as a valentine gift which I have never done before apart from some artificial flower for home display. This is really a surprised gift of God as an award for my faithful day in day out gospel proclamation service to witness for His love and glory.

4) Finally God led me to connect with Mr Wu? from Guangzhou, Panyu, China coming here with his family for tourism. He was there waiting for his wife to do shopping as such I have a long half an hour chat with him. Because we are of similar age and lived once in a near culture geographical location, I was inspired by God to share my testimony of salvation and how my life was completely changed the moment I received Christ after 40 years of searching in the wilderness like the Israelites people. He did not react like majority if the mainlander Chinese being oversensitively fear of talking about religion. He gracefully thanks for my sharing and the time we had after his family came back for him. Pray that the tract he took will serve the purpose to lead him a step closer to eventual salvation.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday February 6th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

Thanked God that the weather turned much cooler without the radiating heat. Winnie still could join me today but not next week Feb 20 while Johnny will come back only after Feb 24. But we thanks God for every opportunity that we can serve with God as well as serving as a team. As usual, it was a fruitful outreach effort as ordained and empowered by God. We may encounter rejection from time to time. But if our meagre effort to preach the gospel to a non-believer for the first time sowing the seed, our reward in the heaven will be great. We do thanks God for the privilege being blessed be a blessing.

1) Aussie young girl volunteered to take photo for us when she saw we did the selfie. I took this chance to compliment her as a very good person but still need Jesus and asked her to read the "Are You A Good Person Tract."

2) My first approach was an Aussie lady at the bus stop. She was nice to respond to my catching up brief chat but eventually she declined my invitation to have a chat with the excuse of being busy in texting but perhaps the underlying reason was that she was not interested.

3) Next, I was led to catch up with an Australia Born Indian who is doing Engineering at UQ. Both himself and his parents were born her in Brisbane. So they are not that bounded by their traditional Hindu faith but rather comparatively open to the gospel which he found no loophole to query. I promised to pray for him and if he has any query, I suggested him to join Power to Change in the UQ campus which he agreed.

4) Then I was led to approach Zheng ?from Shandong , China. He comes to study nursing which shows he has plan to stay in Australia as male nurse is not popular in Mainland China. He also disclosed he has been Christian since young back in China . Their family belong to a certain house church branch and he is now attending CCCB- St Lucia I thus switched to test his assurance of salvation which he failed to have 100% certainty. After my clarification, he thanked and promised he will pursue to know God and the gospel better through Bible study and attending the ACTIVITY OF POWER TO CHANGE. He felt comfortable to take a self fie with me.

5) The I was led to approach Chen who is from Nanjing and came to do high school study at the Gold Coast. And now he is admitted to do medical study at UQ. He admitted it was the first time he heard the gospel and he also could not find any fault or query about the gospel and admitted that every one need salvation from eternal death punishment of sin. I also advised him to join Power to Change for pursuance of God and the salvation accepting Jesus as his Savior.

6) Then I caught up with a HongKonger who came just for a few weeks to do speech therapy. . He seemingly is a non-believer despite he has Christian relatives and friends. He anyway still listened to the full gospel and promised to pursue and contact Power to Change.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

It’s the end of another week of outreach!  I haven’t been sleeping so well this week, and so I'm feeling tired.  Because of this I ended up only making it to 1 of the 4 usual street outreaches this week and doing more online outreach instead.

Speaking of online outreach, check on the encouraging screen shot.  That was taken from an Instagram direct message.

And speaking of images.  I really like the one I’ve included from the single street outreach I was involved with: on Friday at the Bridge of remembrance.  Can you spot the gospel conversation?  And in the other picture, can you spot the orange cone?  Christchurch was famous for these, being everywhere during the big Earthquakes (well over a decade ago now, wow, time sure goes fast).

Anyway, let me report on Friday’s outreach.  Andy, John and I were out for 2 hours in the afternoon.

I decided I was going to be bolder than usual in who I approached.  Because, we can so easily fall into the trap of approaching the people who are more likely to have a chat, where in fact we have no idea who will be interested and willing.  I need the reminder to not fear man, but to fear and honour Jesus.  He deserves the reward of his suffering.

I initially paired up with Andy.  I had a couple of short chats to start.  The first was with a Christian gentleman, who didn’t do so well in the initial check question.  He was nice, but sadly didn’t have the time to stay and talk.  He left with a tract.  The next was with a young man who had just picked up 2 handfuls of hired suits for a wedding.  He obviously had places to be, and so I knew this chat would be very short.  And glory to God, that short time wasn’t wasted.  He was familiar with the truths of Jesus, but needed essential clarity.  A couple of well placed check questions were revealing and challenging to him.  I wanted to take the suits and chuck them, so we could sit down and have a good chat, but instead, we gave him 2 types of tracts, and told him to get in touch if he wanted to discuss further.  We left him in God’s hands.

My 3rd opportunity was difficult, the lady was resistant from the get go due to her entrenched worldview.  I gently tried to point out inconsistencies, but due to her closedness, this only irritated her.  Andy ended up taking over, and the chat ended soon after.

John was with us by this stage.  Andy got into a chat with a couple from Japan / France (speaking of France, we had at least 3 interactions with people who spoke French - if only we had more French speakers with us! ;) ).  Due to language issues, that chat was a bit slow, so I ended up peeling off to get into other chats.

I had a great chat with a young couple.  It was great, because of their openness, I was able to take them through the whole suite of check questions.

John and I then had a chat with another young couple.  This time they were closed, taking an atheistic standpoint.  He talked, she listened.  I sparred with him for a while, before John took over and took the conversation to the law and gospel.

To finish the day, I had a great chat with a young lady.  She had grown up in various cultures, having been adopted, and so wasn’t clear on what religion was right.  She came to hear the law and the gospel, and even accepted a gospel of John at the end.

Even though I didn’t go out on Sunday afternoon, Mike did, he said he had a really good convo during the hour he was out.  Glory to God!  Well done Mike, thank you for your service and labour.

Edit: Here is what Mike said: About 20 minutes in a lady came over to talk about Gus [Mike's dog].. she owned a schnauzer, and turns out she was a believer and had been praying for God to show her someone to minister too. Shortly after that, a guy named John came up to the chart and wanted to talk. He had many doubts and didn't understand the gospel at all. He had been to some large churches and heard many conflicting things, but not a proper gospel. So this lady (Rachel) and myself went through the flip chart checking questions with him for 45 minutes and had a deep conversation, talking about justification and sanctification and the role of the Holy Spirit. It was a very timely conversation for him. Please pray for him as he starts to explore the gospels for himself!

And thank you for your prayer and support; thanks for reading to this point, and putting up with the fact that I never proofread what I write!  Haha.  Go serve your king!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday February 7th, 2024 from 1300-1500

Praise be to the Lord, when Edwin became not available to join as it clashed with his new class attending time in the new BST semester, God moved the Gospel warrior of Christ's family Church to come instead. As a result, it became a mini-CFC squad with Hung, Amy, Peace and CFC's friend ANN working as a team to serve and work with God.

This time Amy voluntarily took up chatting and sharing gospel with Peace Mum, most of the time while Ann and Peace especially the latter setting herself a target to share with at least 5 persons which she eventually had accomplished exceeding the target. It was great joy and rewarding to see the growth of your own church members to become a fearless bold gospel warrior. For myself, I also got a few important divine encounters and conversation that may lead to fruitful result. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) Suki was referred to me by Ann for a follow up chat.

2) Two Chinese look girls but do not speak Chinese yet their English is also not good. I nevertheless, still managed to share them the full gospel in the simplest English expression.

3) Sampras a Filipino man who claimed to have chatted with Edwin last week. I took this opportunity to follow up and he was fully and truly impressed to know that it is the only way for any good but imperfect person or sinful human being to repent and accept Jesus as our Saviour. So I encouraged him to pray to ask God for confirmation to make his last step of faith to accept Christ He showed his appreciation for my passion to emphasize to him the imperative need to receive Christ by taking a selfie with him.

4) Then I was led to approach an African from Sudan. He was nice to chat though he confessed he is a Muslim. I emphasized to him religions are good but cannot address the issue of sin.

5) Last but not the least, I was led to catch up with Tada Ho, a HongKonger girl coming as a Working Holiday person. Although she is not yet a Christian, but she has Christian family members, and appeared very open to the gospel especially after I shared the full gospel with her. I seldom invited people to CFC but I was moved to ask if she feels obliged to do so and contact me later to pick her up.

 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday February 6th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

It was a scorching hot high noon weather worst for street outreach. The radiating heat dissipated from the concrete pedestrian path and the road made the bus stop feel like a furnace. Despite of the extreme situation, Winnie and Hung still were given many divine appointments with non-believers. For Winnie, a couple she met last time took the initiative to greet Winnie to allow her to do follow up encouraging them to look for church in St Lucia. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) Rejected by two women, one young and one old. Both were supposed to be local Aussie. It reflected the local territorial spirit is so low that most people don't like gospel and any religious matter.

2) Next I was led to chat with a man who is an alumni of UQ. The bus came too quick but he still managed to take a tract.

3) Francisco, a Chilean non believer, but is a chosen one who react favorably and positively to the gospel understanding and appreciating all the points and issue addressed. So he really felt all good and ready to be a Christ follower. He loved to take selfie with me and took a tract to revise on my gospel presentation.

4) Freda, a girl from Sweden doing the psychology subject greatly related to my Master of Counselling course dated back in 2008. She was all rejoice and all open for a chat. It was a pity her bus also came too quick. But she took a track and promise to read and looking forward to meeting me next week, God's willing.

5) Another atheist man from Toronto Canada. He behaved a bit arrogant but still softened to listen to the gospel though with a lot of question.l

6) Spencer, yet another local Aussie who had no argument on the points raised in the Gospel, but still taking no tract at the end.

7) Last but not the east, I was led to approach three Arabic from Dubai. They looked like a mature big brother with his two younger brother and sister. The elder brother quickly identified himself as Muslim. I initially tried to present the issue of sin in a non-religious context. But the eldest Muslim brother kept quoting Koran but not in the official format to deny Jesus as God. I shared some view of Siddique that The earlier writing of the Koran actually gives favorable comments to Christianity and Jesus. But that eldest man kept just repeating his brain wash points that there is only one god and no trinity, and that Jesus is not god. I anyway stood my ground to conclude that Jesus is one of the God head of the triune God as such He is God having equality by substance, by power, and by authority on par with God the father and God the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus has the authority and power to die for us and taking our place to receive the eternally death punishment originally due on us but not they are all forgiven. That was not even mentioned in Koran. Anyway, we set back agreed on our differences and move on. I do pray the two younger ones will be easier to humble themselves to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord of life.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Glory to God for another week of his patience, in holding back his wrath and justice so we could plead with people about his mercy.  Here is the weekly recap of the gospel street outreaches for the Christchurch team.  We were in the City on Friday (Roger, Andy and I) and Sunday (myself), and in Riccarton on Tuesday (Roger and I).

My most prominent memory from Tuesday’s outreach was a chat with a couple of guys who went to a Fijian Methodist Church.  Sadly, they didn’t understand the gospel, instead pointing to ‘reading the Bible’, ‘going to church’, and ‘prayer’ as the reasons they would go to heaven.  It was a pleasure to be able to labour with them about the gospel.  I had to labour, because it was confusing for them to realise it’s not their works that save them, but the gift of Jesus.

On Friday, I had 3 main conversations, all three with people originally from different parts of the world, and not Christchurch.  One was from the Philippines, another for Slovakia, and the last from England.

The guy from the Phillipines didn’t want a tract, but he was willing to engage in conversation, as long as I walked with him (no problem).  It was a short chat, because we went our separate ways at the lights, but it was enough time for me to touch on the law and the gospel.  He thanked me for what I was doing, and how I was doing it.  He still didn’t want a tract.

The guy from Slovakia had been in NZ for 11 months, his English was okay, but he wasn’t used to using the words you normally use in a deep and meaningful chat.  He ended up pulling out his phone to translate words, and I ended up doing the same.  But it became too difficult, he was entrenched in an eastern worldview, and wasn’t willing to be reasoned with.  Yet, we parted on good terms, and he did take a tract.

The chat with the guy from England was fantastic.  He eventually moved to the issue of evil and suffering.  I warned him the answer is easy, but it can take time to process.  As I was explaining, I was able to reference something from my recent personal / family devotional bible reading: 

     “What profit is there in my death, 
      if I go down to the pit? 
                  Will the dust praise you? 
      Will it tell of your faithfulness? 

Psalm 30:9

So, part of the reason there is evil and suffering, is because it’s part of God’s plan to demonstrate his justice and his mercy, for his glory.  Will dust praise him?  No.  But we can praise God.  We will praise him for his justice and his mercy upon us.  (Will the dust praise a person who just won the 100 metre dash in the Olympics?  No, but people will.)

He seemed to be profoundly struck by this, and other tensions in the gospel.  A simple message, and yet will give us a lifetime to ponder and praise God over.  He was willing to accept a copy of the gospel of John.

On Saturday there was a lot of rain, so I decided to continue working online instead.

On Sunday, I set up my flip chart, I pretty much instantly had a conversation started.  The girl was partially engaged, and so I worked to change that.  What made it hard was her friend standing at a distance and staring.  Eventually she said, “sorry, I zoned out, I’m not interested”.  She gave back the tract and moved on with her friend.

My next conversation was with a couple on a cruise from Sydney.  It was a good one, I was able to share the gospel, but eventually their stomachs became more important.  They left with a tract.  While this chat was occurring, I had two girls come and stand in a queue behind them.  They eventually sat down to wait.  But my chat was going too long for them.  They moved on before I could get to them.

My last chat was a bit of a set up.  But I don’t think they got what they were expecting.  He had to admit that what I was saying made sense.  But by the end of the chat, he said, “you haven’t convinced me”.  It would be great if he got in touch, I’d love to keep reasoning with him.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer for our feeble gospel efforts.  Be encouraged to step out and share about Christ with someone this week!
 

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