Battle Log

• Battle Log
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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 31st 2024 from 1300-1500

It was great that Amy can join the Wednesday Sunnybank ministry more regularly as her younger son Joshua has started attending Prep during week days. So Hung, Edwin and Amy were teamed up to serve. Through the active pursuing, in particular by Qin Hao, it always resulted in quick exhaustion of people that nobody was left untouched. Recap below is Hung's Battle Log.

1) James from Taiwan was a very shy big fellow, but he listened to the gospel very attentively and humbly and ended up accepting that the message is good, sensible, logical as such he has no disagreement on any part of the full gospel message. So rationally, it was through, we just wait for the move of the Holy Spirit to bring James home to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord of life.

2) Then I was led to approach a Sri Lanka woman. She looked very open and receptive but I could barely just start when her bus arrived. She anyway happily took a tract to read.

3) Then I was led to approach an Islander lady. She was also all welcoming for the chat but it was a pity, it again was cut short by her arriving bus. But she eagerly asked for a tract to read.

4) Then I was led to meet up with a Christian lady from who is attending the Rochdale Chinese Alliance Church, the Mandarin congregation. She anyway failed the test of her assurance of salvation having only 50% of it . I was good I can clarify with her and she is now correctly having 100% assurance of salvation.

5) A Korean couple were sceptical about our street ministry questioning if it is legal. I made use of this chance to explain that, in all Western free World. It is always legal to have free speech in public place and it is legal to take picture in public place with many strangers being taken into the picture. They turned to show understanding and I also was able to share the full gospel to her. At the end, she also was happy to take a tract as well

6) Then I was led to approach a couple that I thought were both English speaking. But I was wrong that the lady Anna is from Taiwan while her boyfriend Kevin is from Thailand. I was able to share gospel in Chinese to Cindy till her bus arrived. And Kevin was actually just seeing Cindy off for the bus. So, I stayed to share gospel in English with Kevin which he showed genuine appreciation and took a tract as well.

7) Then next I approached a Vietnamese man who does not speak Chinese. Full gospel was briefed and a tract was given out at the end.

8 ) Then I had a long chat with an elderly man Mr. Li ?from Guangzhou with home town at He was exceptionally open and soft to accept gospel He stayed long enough for the full gospel and finally had to leave to pick up his grandchild.

9) Finally, I caught up with another lady from mainland China . She also appeared very open and receptive. I suddenly realize, all mainlander I met today are all gentle, mild and receptive to the Gospel. What a miracle and praised be to God of election.

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Street evangelism in Toowoomba is never boring. People from all over the world call our city home. You never know if you are going to meet an atheist, a Muslim, a Hindu, a relativist or an “apathiest” i.e someone is apathetic to important questions in life. There are many diverse ideas out there.

Yet regardless of our personal viewpoint, we all have a God-shaped hole in our lives. We wander, feeling empty or at the very least feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

Something is “off”.

Enter Jesus. Who He is and what He has done has beautiful, whiplash-inducing ramifications for each and every person. He shows us God. He reunites us with God. His Kingdom is expanding and His unstoppable plan to bring justice and healing to this world is awe-inspiring. This is good news that every person needs to individually hear and respond to.

Our team goes out every month to hand out booklets that help people understand this good news and we strike up conversations with those who are interested.

Below are some uniquely memorable conversations that we had with people this year.

1. On one outreach I (Doug) was able to speak to an older Yazidi man named G---- about Jesus.

I met G----- outside a Middle Eastern convenience store. He was a friendly bloke with excellent English.

I asked him how he became proficient in English. He told me that he learnt English decades ago at the University of Baghdad. I was impressed that he had retained his language skills and we spoke about his journey to Australia that took place a few years ago.

We had a long chat and the topic of beliefs came up. People from non-Western countries seem to be far more open to discussing spiritual matters and we shared our respective beliefs. At the end of our conversation, I offered an Arabic Gospel of John to G--. He was surprised and happy to see a publication in Arabic and he received the Gospel gratefully.

2. Another member of our team (Geoff) had the opportunity to speak to two young blokes outside Grand Central. D--- and L--- had attended a Christian school but had since turned away from God. They had a number of serious questions and they welcomed Geoff’s responses.

3. On the same day one of our team members (Merv) was able to engage an older gentleman in a different part of the CBD. This older man was a Christian but was not connected to a local church. Merv and the gentleman spoke for quite some time and Merv was able to invite him to Merv’s church. I’m pleased to report that the bloke has come to Merv’s church a few times and that there is a growing friendship in this space.

4. I can’t neglect to mention R--, who I met at a park bench near the council chambers. R-- was a character with a fascinating life story. He grew up in a well-known Pentecostal church and both his parents were ministers. As a teenager, he walked away from Jesus and eventually went to university.

R-- graduated with multiple degrees and he worked as a scientist.

However all was not well. He had a drug problem that began to erode the life he had built for himself. He also was treated unfairly by people in his professional circles. Eventually he wound up on the street after experiencing a number of tragedies.

R-- and I spoke for almost an hour on a range of topics. He was a self-professed “man of science” so I brought up the age-old problem of induction that plagues the scientific endeavor. I also explained how Christianity uniquely solves this problem and how it alone can provide a rational basis for humanity’s trust in the scientific method.

R-- pondered this for a while and then chose to bring up the issue of evil in the world. I told R-- that we can all agree that evil is a terrible thing. Yet we can have hope that evil and suffering is not out of control or ultimately meaningless. Our desire for true justice and for a world free of unjust suffering matches God’s desire, as we are made in His image. Since we are made in His image, our desire for a better world makes sense.

I then went on to explain that the collective cry of humanity’s heart against injustice and suffering will be answered when Jesus returns. As the good King, He will punish all evil and finally bring true justice and peace to our broken world. On that day we will also begin to understand God’s patience towards humanity and His power to use all our experiences of evil for a greater good...even His experience of the death of His very own Son on the Cross.

R-- listened and said that he would consider some of these things. He is one of the most thoughtful and interesting people I’ve met and I truly hope to catch up with him again someday. Please pray for him.


Carnival of Flowers and the Christmas Wonderland Outreach

This year we once again dived head first into our two biggest Toowoomba outreach events. Thousands of people travel to Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers and tens of thousands of people visit the Toowoomba Christmas Wonderland.

The Carnival of Flowers outreach went quite well with friendly crowds and many open-minded people. Sarah (one of our team members) even had a number of Christians encourage her as she handed out Gospel booklets to passers-by.

The Toowoomba Christmas Wonderland remains a highlight of the year. We handed out a record number of Gospel booklets (2000+) across a few nights. We even had the privilege of partnering with Hailey, the passionate leader of a different street evangelism team here in Toowoomba.

Looking back over the last year we are thankful for the challenge and opportunity of sharing the good news of Jesus with people from our region and beyond. We are thankful for His strength and courage in this work.

It is with a rising sense of urgency that we realise we are one year closer to Christ’s return. The future of our world is glorious...but in the meantime we look forward to getting to work and seeing what He has planned for us in 2024.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
Psalm 22:27-28

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Another fantastic week of street outreach in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Glory to God.

There was rain on Tuesday, and so Roger and I decided not to head out.  I spent my time in online outreach instead.

But the weekend outreaches went ahead.  Friday and Sunday afternoons in the city - the Buskers Festival is on, and on Sunday people from a cruise ship were out and about as well.  So, lots of people, and gospel opportunities.  On Saturday lunch time, I was in Riccarton.  This week involved long chats for me, with: Cameron, Colin (Friday), Nathan (Saturday) & Alex (Sunday).

On Friday, it was great to have Andy back from summer leave.  Roger was with us.  I helped Roger set up the flip chart, but before we could even pray together, I noticed someone looking at the chart inquisitively.  I took the initiative and my first long street chat of the week was away.  It went on for over an hour.

Early in the chat he informed me he had had a psychotic episode that had caused him to jump off a cliff!  He is recovering from the resulting back injury.  Later in the chat he revealed that he was involved with alcohol and drugs - including psychedelics.  And so, that answered that question.  The Bible is clear that we should stay sober minded.  And Psychedelics are so deceiving: this guy was talking about the good it had brought into his life, specifically helping him realise how bad alcohol is.  Yet, not surprisingly, he still drinks to excess today.

Also unsurprising is his drift to new age religion.  He had started reading the Bhagavad Gita.

Anyway, through the chat I was able to labour with him in regard to the law and the gospel.   Yet, he wasn’t open to the gospel, because he wasn't appreciating the import of the law, and the serious nature of sin.  He did express an interest in reading the Bible, and he even accepted a gospel of John.  Praying this young man would come under conviction and be converted.  Yet, I leave him in God’s hands - God will be glorified through his justice if he rejects God’s mercy.

It had been a tiring conversation, so I spent some time handing out tracts.  In spite of all the people due to the Busking Festival, there wasn’t much interest.  I ended up over in Cathedral Square, where I tried to engage a young lad in conversation.  He wasn’t coherent, so I left him with a tract.

Back in Cashel Mall, I was still handing out tracts when an older gentleman stopped to engage.  It was a wonderful opportunity.  He had been wrestling with the issue of evolution vs creation - his resolution?  There must be God.  He was familiar with Christian teaching, but sadly he considered himself a very good person.  He was resistant to the law, and yet he was open for me to labour with him about it.  He also heard the gospel.

He said something very interesting that I will use in illustrations in the future.  He has had both prostate and bowel cancer, and has recovered from both.  Now, when he uses the bathroom in the morning, he praises God.  So, even horrible things like cancer can be good, in this case teaching us gratitude, and appreciation for the things we have - even the ability to go to the toilet!

This gentleman was also lonely, having recently lost his wife, and moving to Christchurch.  He needs salvation, and he needs the church!  He had an old and expensive KJV Bible, which he had never fully read.  So, I gave him a Gideon’s ESV Bible, and a church contact card with my number on it.  I also pray that he will come under conviction and be converted.  God have mercy!  Yet, I leave him in God’s hands.

On Saturday, the outreach started out quite slow (as did Sunday), but I ended up having a long chat with a young man who had had a rough life.  His sister had recently died, in prison.  As I shared the law and the gospel with him, he would stare into nothing, pondering deeply.  When I asked what he was thinking, he would explain things that had happened in his past.  One example was a bad car accident.  It led him to the question of: “why am I alive?”  He left with a tract, and I’m also praying for him.

After a slow start on Sunday, I ended up having a long chat with a young man.  He had also had trauma in his life, having been rejected by his Father.  He had philosophical tendencies (I.e., he was avoiding the truth).  I touched a nerve when I described the serious nature of sin when talking about pornography, but he quickly masked it.

During this chat, I had a young man break into the conversation.  I didn’t remember him, but he remembered me.  Apparently I first talked to him 2 years ago at the Canterbury A&P Show, and he had talked to me on the streets multiple times since then.  It was fascinating to see that the law and the gospel had had an effect on him.  Yet, he was still in suppression.  He explained how he was trying to hold the ball of truth under the water, I simply pointed out the flaw in his reasoning, and the ball burst up and hit him on the nose!  His Mum was with him, and calling him from down the street, but he wanted to engage.  As a compromise, I told him to go with his Mum, but to get in touch with me via socials!  I hope he does.

I finished the chat with the original young man, but all the interaction had gathered other people.  A pity I didn’t have more believers with me.  I was able to follow up with four people from Sydney who were on the cruise.  I was able to touch on the law and the gospel.  Three of the four of them took tracts as they moved on.

And then the original young man came back!  He had another question, which I answered, before I checked if he was understanding the gospel.  He got my question right!  God have mercy!

Please continue to pray for us, and even join us!  All glory to God alone.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 24th 2024 from 1300-1500

Thanks God, Qin Hao was able to team up with Hung to do this committed regular street outreach at Sunnybank. The Heat wave returned after a downcast day yesterday. But the grace of God was sufficient as the temperature was still reasonable not that hot as usual because of the ecology setting around the bus stop with many shaded areas created by the building and the trees around. In term of outreach, it was a day of mixed result. The negative experiences however were from the those who declared themselves Christian. They behaved very erratically hash with suspicious mindset to resist any discussion on religion as if they are gentile or non-believers. I can only pray that God may have further alert message to wake them up from the self-cozy feeling illusion.

On the upside, there were good and mutually building conversation that bring encouragement to both parties. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I was led to approach Daniel a Korean atheist but he behaved very open and non-judgmental to listen to the full gospel with positive reaction. He thanked me sharing the gospel message to him which he found sensible and logical. It was really a minor miracle for an atheist to have such positive reaction towards Gospel.

2) Then I moved on to approach a young man form Taiwan. He quickly reviewed he is a church goer though not yet a believer with a hidden implication that he has heard of the gospel and I should not waste time on him. Of course, I took no risk but still share him the gospel and pray that all the obstacle preventing him to make the last step of action faith will be removed.

3) Then I turned to my right to chat with a woman from Taiwan. She quickly identified herself a Christian, but when asked about her assurance of salvation, she got nervous and refuse to listen to my clarification on those misunderstood area about salvation.

4) Then I spent a longest time to chat with Mr Ho ? from Hong Kong coming here for visiting relative. He has great interest to listen to my personal testimony as many things and people mentioned were known by him. He shared that he once attended church but no more. I nevertheless encourage him to give it a go to pursue God that will be the only source we can secure inner peace and joy to live a victorious life despite of the objective environment has turned rough. He appreciated our conversation and took a selfie with me on parting for his bus.

5) Then I caught up with a Vietnamese young man who comes for Taffe study. The conversation did last long enough for full gospel but he was moved to take a tract.

6) Then I was led to chat with a mum with a young kid daughter who are from Taiwan to accompany her husband from for a special job in the Aero space avionics industry . She was very nice and friendly to listen to the gospel and took a tract afterwards.

7) Then I met with a Korean mum with three very children one adolescent and two young kids. She displayed rare temperament of critical mindset and behaved very unfriendlily and refused to have any discussion on religion. I could only attribute it to lack of patience in dealing with three kids.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday January 16th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

Despite of the week-long heat wave alert, God gave us a window of overcast but dry weather with cool temperature best for street outreach. Praised the Lord Winnie was able to rejoin the Toowong team today though with unpredictable delay due to stomach pain. So, I started solo first and Winnie rejoined me about 20 minutes later. Both had great outreach opportunities leading to many fruitful gospel sharing conversations. Recap below is the Battle of Hung. (**By the way, I have to take next Tuesday off as I need to accompany my wife for a specialist consultation appointment to determine if a spinal bond operation is needed to enlarge the shrink spinal cord tube)

1) First rejected by a non-Chinese speaking man with an excuse he was fully into his music listening happy hour. I still suspected he is a Mainlander just pretending non-Chinese to avoid a chat. One day in future, he might regret on his such decision to ignore the gospel.

2) Next, I was led to approach an Indonesia girl who appeared very open for a chat but her bus came right at this very moment but she still earnestly took a tract to read.

3) Then I was led to approach a local Aussie woman who seems to be an atheist but she was still happy to have a friendly chat but no tract.

4) Then next cam a very interesting gospel conversation with a young man from Anfai who claimed that he had listened to the gospel message many times from many of his Christian friends in UQ. He even has attended many of those Christian fellowship meeting but he insisted his heart has still not yet been touched by the gospel message to react. He sarcastically advised me to look for someone else to share the gospel. But I was moved not to let him go yet switching the topic to share my personal testimony to showed that God has different timing for every elected person.

5) Next I was moved to approach a mainlander girl whose Grand pa and Grand Pa in law are all pious Christians in China yet her parents and herself are all fair dinkum atheists , despite she admitted her grannies are godly person with great personal life witnesses. ,She was not too keen on religious issues, but she was still opened for chatting for considerable time.

6) Then God gave me a middle-aged mainlander man by the name Zhou? from Shangdong to have a long chat. Initially, he showed definitely no interest to chat and claimed he has a very established view on religious matter consideration atheist is the most sensible choice as he is convinced there is no proof of existence of God more so from scientific point of view. I did not push to convince him there is a God, but use apologetic approach to explain the scientific ground of the 6 days creation story and supplement with my personal testimony. God also helped making him missed his bus to have long enough time for me to share the gospel and the creation God. Finally, he came back to his sense to check why the bus did not turn up and I leave him the space to ponder on what I had shared with him. He also willing took a tract.

7) Chris a Chilean but not a religious person yet just falling short of declaring himself an atheist. Yet my sharing of the gospel had aroused his sense to pursue spirituality and admitted every one need Jesus. He willingly took a tract and a selfie with me.

8 ) Last but not the least was an Indian girl who responded to the gospel with Christian's language such as trusting in Jesus who love the sinner unconditionally. I even thought she was readily a Christian but her status was somewhat like the Anfai guys who has absorbed a lot of head knowledge about God, Jesus and his salvation but not yet reaching the opportune time to surrender to receive Christ. Nevertheless, she was happy to take a tract and too ka selfie in a hurry to catch her bus.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Glory to God, all the regular street outreaches went ahead this week - although shorter than usual.

Last week, Tuesday's outreach was super busy.  But this week it was incredibly slow.  I think I went for half an hour before getting into my first chat.  It made me think of my last half decade of full time street ministry.  I think in that whole time, there have only been 2 outreaches where I didn’t talk to anyone, and both of those were in my first year.  When you think about that, it’s amazing that there is so much opportunity to share the gospel.  It’s limitless.  And, more often than not, the conversations I get to have are really special.  And yet, even when they are not, the gospel is still amazing and the power of God for salvation.  I wonder how many of those ‘regular’ chats I’ve had, that have led to salvation.  God knows.  And even if no one is saved, it’s still worth it, to make known the great God of the universe, of his justice and his mercy.  What a privilege!

So, I was standing there, looking like a dork – a crazy old man, next to a brightly coloured flip chart.  People on the buses going past would stare.  When a couple of young guys went past.  I tried to engage them.  One of them turned his head and stared at the flip chart and made a comment.  But they didn’t stop.  But about ten minutes later they came back, going the other direction.  His mate blasted past, but his curiosity got the better of him, he wanted to do it - to his friends surprise.  And it was a really good chat.  He followed along with the logic of what I was explaining, and it seemed to really make sense to him, but there was a problem.  They were Muslim, and he knew what I was explaining was Christian.  Yet, he was open to reason and so I was able to labour with him about the gift of Jesus in spite of the cost of accepting him.  He got to a point where he had enough to chew on for the moment, and they decided to move on.  He gladly took a tract.

Friday’s outreach involved one of those special chats.  It was hot!  But bearable in the shade.  Roger was with me.  The busking festival has started now, so there were a lot of people out.  Our usual spot at the Bridge of Remembrance was taken by buskers, so we moved down to the corner of Cashel and Colombo.

Roger set up his flip chart (I didn’t bring mine).  But I was quickly into my first chat using Rogers chart.  A young couple passed - I asked if they wanted to do it.  She said, no and moved on, but he said, “yeah, actually”, and came over (to her shock).  She joined him, and we had a good gospel chat.  Glory to God, I had even gained engagement from the girl, because considering their time, I gave them an out expecting them to take it, but she said they had another ten minutes!  After the chat, they left with tracts.

I decided to let Roger use his own chat, and to get off his ‘patch’.  Everytime I glanced his way, he seemed to be busy in a chat.  And I had other opportunities too.  But, then I fell into my ‘special’ chat.  I crossed over to the shade on the other side of Colombo to hand out some tracts.  There was an older gentleman sitting in the shade.  I could tell he was watching me, and so I offered him one.  “Is that religious?”, he says.  “Yes, it’s about Jesus”.  “What a load of rubbish, it’s not logical!”, he says.  He had a loud bark, but I could tell he wouldn’t bite, and so I sat and engaged him.  I think he was very surprised by this!  I had to spend a fair amount of time listening, and I wasn’t able to deal with everything he was saying, but I was able to interject at times and challenge him.  I had to be patient, and work to keep him calm, but to my joy I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with him.  We were even able to talk about personal things - in spite of his very broken worldview (which centred on self happiness) he was really nice!  We talked for maybe 30 minutes before I think he’d had enough.  We shook hands before he moved on, refusing a tract.  He is 85 and has a bad heart.  He knows he is going to die soon, so during the chat, not only was I reasoning with him, but pleading with him on the urgency of accepting God’s mercy.  Please join me in praying for God to have mercy on Barry!

Saturday’s outreach (Riccarton) involved a long chat with two young girls.  They were waiting for the SoYo to open.

And then on Sunday I spent 30 minutes in the city again.  I had a couple of shorter chats, before bumping into one of my regulars that I’m praying for.  It was great to catch up with him.  I tried to swing the conversation to deeper things.  “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it, but I don’t want to talk now - maybe we could catch up sometime and have a long chat”.  No problem with me!  He remembered which church I went to, but I gave him my personal email.  The ball is in his court.

Thank you for your continued prayer for Operation 513.  May we continue to be faithful in preaching the gospel on the streets and online, and always open to correction.  Glory to God alone!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 17th 2024 from 1300-1500

Praised and thank God moving Edwin Qin Hao to join ne today at Sunnybank when Johnny is away back to Taiwan for a month. It is always good to serve the Lord as a team. Thew physical condition (weather) today was excellent, sunny but not hot or wet but the Spiritual atmosphere was low. This was in total contrast with yesterday where the Physical weather condition was bad but God's glory was over the mission field at the bus stop that, almost every single one appeared open and receptive to the Gospel proven by many willing selfie photos with me. Today, it was a different picture with a higher-than-average reject rate and some conversations also linger not long enough for full gospel message sharing. Despite of the not so favourable environment, Both Edwin and Hung still had many divine appointments made with particular persons for a longer and fruit bearing conversation.

1) I was attracted to approach a Mum and daughter combination of senior age from Guangzhou as I overheard them speaking in Cantonese but they were very sceptical to double check who I am. Eventually, they still took a tract to read when their bus came.

2) Then I approached a young man but we were immediately interrupted by a phone call. I waited for a long while but could not but give up eventually( )

3) Then I turned to a Korean lady sitting on the bench who came for vocational college. Surprisingly she holds an extreme anti-god and or anti-religion viewpoint, but I was moved to still manage to alert her being a good person but not perfect is not good enough for offsetting our imperfection aka sins. She still showed a cold stone heart to reject anything from God.

4) Next, I approached Amy who is a Kiwi of Indian origin and has no religious pursuing faith. However, she was drawn to the gospel sharing and admited every one need Jesus as she felt the salvation package devised and implemented by God through Jesus is all sensible and logical. She promised to read the tract and reflect on the full gospel message with Jesus as the central figure.

5) Next, I was led to catch up with a lady? from Lanzhou , Gansu where my God daughter used to live. I basically share my life witness seeing God's work still being visible in Lanzhou with the Memorial Hall built for William Bolton. She admitted she is aware of all those I shared with her and seemed very moved even without the gospel message shared when her bus came. God for sure will make everything work to convict this lady whom I deem is the chosen or elected one for salvation.

6) Next, I tried to approach Two high school girls from different country. Again, the timing was not right and I did not even have time to start the gospel sharing, but both of them eagerly took the tract to read. May the Will and Plan of God for them be accomplished.

7) Then I approached a mainland middle age woman She was rejective initially, but I tuned down to stay tune for a friendly chat and eventually shared her the full Gospel and surprisingly she had no sign of rejecting the content and logic of it. Even better she voluntarily took a tract at the end. So you could see the obvious work of God to soften her heart and turn around her mind to listen to the gospel.

8 ) Fraser whose Grand Father was a Catholic Christian as such he has heard about Jesus and the gospel before. But he stayed at a distance from God as he thinks God is not fair why making some people be born into very poor caste like in India. I remarked to him that being poor physically may not be the worst thing int he world, rather it often time is a disguised blessing that poor people who more often is also poor in the spirit as such they are easier to humble themself to receive the gospel and be saved by Jesus. He found my view point very interesting and realistic. At the end, he appeared moved to turn around to take the Christian faith more seriously and thanks for my sharing.

9) Then I was led to catch up with a young man from Mainland China who claimed he has chatted with us before. Before I could check and follow up on her faith status, he interrupted me and asked me to introduce a suitable Chinese Church for his friend, which I felt the Holy Spirit enlightened me that he himself is actually the one who wanted to look for Chinese Church. So, I named three churches including SDBC, SIC and CCCB Coopers Plains for him to choose. He told me he just lives behind Pineland Plaza of which the nearest church is SIC.

10) Last but not the least, I spent the longest time to interreact with an ABP Australian Born Pakistanis who was brough up in Mackay then come to do Uni attending Graffith in Brisbane. He looks much mature but just of 25 years of age. He is a Muslim by birth and seems to have a bit but limited knowledge about Islamic teaching. But thanks to Siddique, I presented him another picture of Koran that show favouritism to Christianity and Jesus. I keep stressing that all other faith guide and brainwash people that we can try to become a better person or sin less to gain more certainty to be accepted by God. I pointed out in clean cut assertion that better is never enough as God demand perfect. And all human realize and accept we are not perfect and will never be able to return our sinful life back to perfection apart by the redemptive grace of Jesus. I stressed therefor it is important not only to accept and worship a mono-God head, but to admit and accept Jesus is the only way to save us by being our Savior taking over the eternal sin punishment. He was very patience to let me make my conclusion though not readily fully accepted by him, but he clearly has got the message and hopefully reading the tract afterwards will let God to convict him in a miraculous way.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday January 16th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

I had all the reasons to skip going to Toowong today. First, it was a heavy rainy day (60%) with non-stop torrential rain the whole morning. Although there was a forecasted dry period in the early afternoon, but the rain had never stopped completely but just got eased up every now and then. Second, Johnny has gone back to Taiwan for a month, so I am left alone to do all committed regular outreach. 3) I tried to invite a couple of street outreach co-workers to join me but all of them became unavailable. Nevertheless, I still felt greatly burdened to go. God was good and really made an one hour window of dry period at Toowong and provided several Kairos moments for me to reach out to several persons with fruit bearing result as recap below: -

1) I was clearly led by the Spirit to approach a 2nd year student Zhou? from Shenzhen . He was surprisingly open and was keen to have a long chat with me on Christianity as he has many Christian friends as such, he has considerable amount of knowledge on the Bible especially about Jesus. He even claimed he sensed that I was the one sent to talk to him about gospel and salvation. Thus, I chipped in many additional biblical knowledge related to God's mega dual Kingdom and Salvation projects and How God kept revealing His plan and mission through the Bible. At the end, Zhou seemed to have been moved and have the conviction to accept Jesus which I promised to pray for him in this regard. So, this divine appointment along readily justified the reason I felt burden to come to Toowong against all odd and unfavourable factors.

2) Next was a rare PHD student from Myanmar. He was surprised I greeted him with Shingalabarand was interested to know I had been to Yangon for street outreach. The bus anyway interrupted out conversation, but I believed our brief divine encounter may serve a purpose to draw him nearer to become a believer.

3) Next, I was led to catch up with Eric a local Aussie from Townsville but is a cross breed person with a British dad and an Indian mother,

Not long after we started our conversation, he indicated he is a Christian as such I quickly switched to test for his assurance of salvation. His answer is that He may have 100% assurance of salvation that virtually means he still has no 100% assurance of salvation. But his answer to the 2nd question is right understanding it is all because of what Jesus has done dying for us to take our place for the eternal death punishment. I encouraged him to get connected with Power to Change for continuous spiritual growth,

4) Emma another local Aussie with the nutshell of the gospel shared. She is non-religious but appeared open and receptive to the gospel.

5) Then I was led to meet with Chai the Korean who came as a tourist visiting friends. Surprisingly, he is a non-believer despite majority of Koreans have turned Christians. Nevertheless, he also showed openness to the gospel with good interaction with me.

6) Lastly, I tried to approach an old Aussie Lady, but could not manage to have a meaningful chat as her bus arrived almost immediately.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Happy New Year!  The writer took a week off over new year for a camping holiday.  But this week it was back to the normal outreach schedule (finally)!  So, outreaches on Tuesday afternoon (Riccarton), Friday afternoon (city), Saturday morning (Riccarton), and Sunday afternoon (city, with Mike and Binu).  Tuesday’s outreach was very busy (good, but exhausting), Friday’s outreach was a bit slow, Sunday was good, but Saturday’s outreach stands out in my mind the most so I’ll start there.

I had my flip chart, and as soon as I set it up and prayed, 3 people passed, one of them obviously interested in what the ‘good person test’ was all about.  All I needed to do was say, “would you like to give it a try?” and the conversation was going.  It was a short chat, but the law and the gospel was explained.  They had a Greek Orthodox background.  They left with literature.

But what made the outreach interesting was the next chat.  An older lady passed and I offered her a tract.  She looked interested and took it wanting to know what it was about.  From there we fell into a very deep conversation.  There is something about being able to open up with a stranger where you might not otherwise do so.  Anyway, this lady had knowledge about Christian things, but didn’t understand what Christianity was at its core.  She knew about hell, and (rightly) feared it.  But she only knew about God’s justice, not also his mercy.  Sadly, she was actually very hardened to the gospel message.  I explicitly shared the core of the gospel 4 times through the chat, before it started to scratch that hardness.  She really wanted to talk, and process things she struggled with in her life (which is fine, I was happy to listen), but she needed to slow down a bit and process the answers too.  I had to interrupt a few times and work at swinging the conversation as gently as I could.

Sadly, in the middle of this conversation, and completely out of the blue, a man (or was it a woman?) stopped and spewed some really hateful things toward me and God, who I was representing.  It was especially jarring because of the fact that I was in the middle of the conversation with the lady.  He was using angry and filthy language, and right in front of the two little children who were with him – who seemed completely oblivious to the way he was acting.

I said I would be happy to talk to him, but that at the moment I was in a conversation, would he mind waiting.  He just continued with his hatred.  The lady I was talking with wasn’t leaving.  Again, I asked him to wait, and he said, “this is a public place, I can say what I want!”.  I simply responded with, “yes, but we should treat people without hate but with respect”.  I think it shamed him a bit, because it was obvious what his agenda was, and it was clear how hypocritical he was being.  So he decided to move on, but not without firing a few more shots.

I was shaken by the suddenness & intensity of the attack, but I quickly recovered, the lady was still there, and we went right back to our conversation.  Afterwards, I actually felt encouraged, although I do my best to be gentle, respectful, and loving - people don’t like the truth, and I don’t want to compromise that truth just to please people!

Going to Friday’s outreach, it was slow.  I didn’t have my flip chart, and it was hot.  I wasn’t really getting any decent chats going.  I decided to wait for a few minutes, and if nothing got started, I would head home early.  As I was leaving, I was putting a rubber band back on my tracts when a guy passed in the other direction. I asked if he wanted one, and lo and behold, I fell into a great gospel chat with him!  He was extremely open, and so the ‘presentation’ went quickly, as he grasped the concepts so well.  He made a profession.  I told him to start reading the Bible from John,  and  asked where he lived: Chievot (up north).  I didn’t know any churches up there, so I gave him some tips on how to find one.  I left him in the hands of God, but he knows how to get in touch if he wants to.

I can’t really remember any specific conversation from Tuesday’s outreach, but I was very encouraged by how busy it had been.  A great way to start the year off!

It was great to have Mike and Binu join me this afternoon in the city.  Both Mike and I had our flip charts up.  I had many opportunities to engage people with the gospel.  Mike was in a chat as I left, he sent me this: “That last chat was really good, they were both into works based salvation, and the gospel was good news to them both”.

So great to be back to my normal schedule.  Feeling tired, and so looking forward to a day off tomorrow, before getting back into the harvest next week.  Please continue to pray for the Op 513 team here in Christchurch.  May the church grow in gospel activity to the glory of God alone!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 10th 2024 from 1300-1500

Today, only Johnny and Hung were available and we both got many divine encounter chatting opportunities to share His words and testimony. It was a really dramatics and drastic day of street outreach. The weather changed like roller coaster from extreme heat high noon, to stormy flash flooding rain falling, to quiet cooling aftermath then back to a big sunny and shiny great dry afternoon. No matter in whatever circumstances, God's great presence can be sensed when he orchestrated His elected persons to be reached by us for some life changing chats. When I look at the gospel targets list, I just found out to day all of them are mainly from Mainland China except a girl born here but with a father from Hong Kong. It was very rare that for the same day, I could have reached out to the hardest people for gospel yet all with very promising result. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) First I was led to catch up with a skinny guy by the name of Chan? from Jie Yang , who claimed to be a Catholic Christian by family heritage. . As typical Catholic Christian, he was lack of assurance of salvation . He was appreciative for my clarification of genuine redemptive grace that we have been saved 100% by the time we received Christ as our Savior.

2) Next was a matured lady from mainland. . She was all open and welcome for a gospel chat and was willing to take a tract when the bus came a bit premature before I finished the full gospel.

3) Next I caught up with Wang from mainland China to work here as an IT person. He just lived near around the Sunnybank shopping mall and wandered out to do shopping but got stuck at the bus stop when the weather turned dark with a sudden severe storm pondering down torrential rain causing flash flooding and bus stop was turned into a big splash site. Thus, God let us have the longest chat during the storm and through my gospel sharing as well as my own life testimony, ? Wang could see the presence and the work of God in his own life that God has brought Christian friends living with him here now in Brisbane and his wife back home is also a Christian as such he proudly showed me to his wife through a video call that he had made friend with a pastor. He only has one practical hindrance for him to become a Christian and I ensured him that this is a personal decision between him and God so he should feel free to make this important last step of faith that God has already planned long time for it and NOW is the time.

4) Then I chatted with an ABC girl who claimed to be an atheist. Nevertheless, she still reluctantly listened for the full gospel.

5) Then I was led to catch up with a young girl Wang? from Changsha , because of this geographical connection, she opened her heart to tell me she has committed mental health issue and is now under treatment before she can resume her study plan here. The Gospel does give her light and hope that she will be set free from both her illnesses as well as the bondage of all depression from sin in flesh.

6) Lastly, I caught up with two black and white girl that does not look like Chinese, but the black girl Chelsea is actually daughter of a Hongkonger father but PNG mother while the white girl Brigette is a local Aussie. Curious enough Chelsea is a Christian while Brigette is a non-believer. I first treated her issue of lack of 100% assurance of salvation and used this to evangelize her non-believer friend with good result. The joyously took selfie group photo with me to show appreciation for our good chat.

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