Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 45

Christchurch (NZ) Team

So good to be at the end of another week of street outreach in Christchurch, NZ.  Praying that Jesus will return, but if he decides to hold his patience, that I will have another week to proclaim his mercy.

Roger is away in Australia, so this week I’ve been alone in my 2 outreaches to Riccarton (Tuesday and Saturday).  It was great to have Andy and John with me on Friday in the city.  And Susan was with me on Sunday.

Tuesday afternoon's outreach in Riccarton was really slow for the first half hour - only one short engagement, but then I was busy with epic chats for the rest of the outreach.  2 chats in particular come to mind.  (I had to really think, but I’ve finally remembered!)

The first with a young guy.  He was very open to chat, so we talked for a long time, but I had to labour with him towards understanding the gospel (check questions to the rescue).  By the end of it, he was professing faith even after counting the cost, and he was keen to start reading the Bible.  So I gave him a copy of the New Testament (tract marking John) and told him to get in touch in regards to finding a church.  I haven’t heard anything as of yet, so I leave him in God’s hands.

The second one was also with a young guy (maybe a bit older).  It was a short chat, because he followed the logic of the law / gospel presentation flawlessly.  He was making comments like, “that makes complete sense”, and “I’ve never had anyone explain it like that before”.  He too left with a copy of the New Testament.

On Friday, it was great to see Andy and John busy in chats (pictured).

I started out with a difficult chat with a guy who was sadly drunk (he even pulled a bottle of beer out of his bag part way through the conversation).  What was also sad was that he was also completely closed to reason.  I couldn’t really make any progress in the conversation, because he kept cutting me off and taking the discussion off on tangents.  I didn’t try to control the conversation, because he just wasn’t open to hearing the gospel.  So I instead laboured the law, when I could, and even looked for opportunities to end the conversation (and spend the time talking to someone else).  I was eventually able to do that, and we parted ways on good terms.  He stayed in the vicinity, and I noticed him watching me from time to time as I handed out tracts and engaged people in conversation.

The highlight chat of the day was a difficult one.  It was with two young ladies (there was a guy hanging around too, but he was on a phone call and so was never involved in the conversation).  There was much resistance from both of them, and yet, I held much hope that they would open up.  I managed to keep them engaged as I worked through the logic of how we know God is real and cares about justice.  One of them, in particular, said “I really hope there is a hell, I really really do”.  That was a sign that she had been deeply hurt.  Yet, she really really hated Christianity.  I was amazed that these girls had hung into this conversation as long as they did!  I was able to explain the gospel, which was a joy, and even start working on check questions.  The 2nd girl was rejecting it because, “I don’t like the rules” (in other words, I want to be god of my own life and live my life my own way).  But, the first girl trusted me enough to share the tragic hurt in her life - and she had associated this hurt to Christianity negatively because her father prayed to God and yet condoned this terrible injustice.  I pleaded with her to not make the mistake of misappropriation: to associate true Christianity with a misrepresentation of it.  There was still much resistance, and yet she thanked me for being patient with her (seriously, my thoughts were the opposite, I thanked HER for being patient with me).  I pray that she would be able to work through this pain, and find forgiveness for those that hurt her, and mercy from Jesus for the wrong she has done.

The highlight chat from Saturday was with a young couple.  We talked for a long time where they seemed to come to an understanding of the gospel.  They both left with: a challenge to accept the gospel, bibles and tracts.  Later they came back and shared about the fact that they were to have a baby!  What a blessing!

Speaking of babies.  I grieve over the 13,000+ babies that are murdered every year in New Zealand through abortion.  And yet, there is hope for forgiveness of this terrible sin because of Jesus!  It was an honour to be able to take part in the March for Life in Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.  Thank you to all those that were involved.  May we continue to be a voice for the voiceless, and bring the hope of mercy in the gospel.  The root of change is the gospel.  God have mercy!  Raise up labourers for the harvest, for your glory.

There were many short opportunities for gospel ministry on Sunday afternoon.  I shared the gospel with a couple of teens who were interested, but seemed a bit distant.  I shared the gospel with another couple of guys - one of whom was openly resistant.  I was able to catch up with a regular (actually one of the owners of the SoYo I minister outside of on Tuesdays and Saturdays).

But the last chat of the day was interesting.  I had my “What happens after life?” flip chart up.  A group of late teens / young adults went past, and one of the kids was really interested in the question.  I was able to get him engaged in conversation even though all his friends kept walking.  He said he had been Buddhist for 2 years, having converted from Christianity (Catholic background).  The conversation was warming up when his friends came back to pull him away, yet, they ended up becoming engaged in the conversation as well.  Sadly, one of the guys kept pulling it off onto rabbit trails.  I did my best to bring it back, but then the conversation was railroaded when a streetie walked into the middle of it ruining the flow that was there.  Sadly, the kids walked off at that point, but Susan made sure they all had tracts.

God willing, those kids will have other opportunities to hear the gospel.  Maybe from you?  Are you ready and willing to share the gospel in your everyday life?  Maybe you’d be interested in some training?
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 14th, 2022 from 1300 – 1600

Today still only Johnny and Hung were available with all others either was away or still sick to come. Since Johnny did not have to pick up wife after work, we decided to extend our outreach by one hour to four O' Clock. It was aimed to cover the East side of the Main Road to cater for school kids and parents after school hour. Even though we served for longer hours but time still passed quickly as by grace of God, we both got a couple of longer chats that made us forgot about time. The general situation of today was still of mixed result with both blunt rejection and willingness to chat. Gold intervention was also apparent that Johnny and Hung can cover and back up each other with good team work. Some one rejecting one of us but later, God would miraculously change their heart to go for a chat. In Short, the Street is still the best outreach mission field that you can easily feel the presence of God and how our lesser faith can be boosted by mean of the manifestation of His Mission Power. Recap is the Battle Log of Hung : -

1) Peter was a very willing listener despite it was interrupted by David Kong, one of my nonbelievers friend who took the trouble to show up to giving me the moral support. Peter obviously is not yet a believer but was very receptive to the Gospel and understand that his name bears significant biblical meaning as the rock of the church. He did show intention to pursuit for the free gift of eternal life.

2) Then I faced a set back after the first fruitful chat. A lady seemingly a Chinese but pretend she do not understand either Chinese or English. She also refused to take a tract.

3) Then I caught up with Mr Lau from Hong Koing. We only had a brief chat and he got the tract to read.

4) Arian, an ABC with father from HK and mother from SGP while he was born in Australia. His Cantonese is very good possibly because he was sent back to live and work in HKG for four years. As an Australian, he is very open minded and receptive to the gospel message showing seriousness to pursuit God and receive Jesus as Saviour. He was happy to take a selfie with me to let me remember his face for more chat in the future.

5) I then approached Two English speaking high school girls with one saying that she had got the tract before. But she was still happy to engage into conversation about the implication of the tract on her mindset. The understanding still needed refreshing so I went thru the gospel briefly with her till teh bus arrived.

6) Then I intercepted the conversation between on Cantonese speaking Hong Konger a一港人，and one Mandarin speaking Mainlander Chinese 一中人，I ended up sharing Gospel in English with them. The Hong Konger took an indifference attitude claiming he is an atheist as such the gospel is irreverent to him.開始玩世不恭.稱無神論，I pray for patience and positive attitude to emphasize that I was sharing a cross cultural concept rather than a pure religious message. As long as he admitted he and non one is perfect, and that imperfection attracted a consequence of punishment for eternal isolation that only Jesus can save, then the conclusion that every oen need Jesus can be established. After a skillful friendly chat, the Hong Konger did finally turned more inclusive rather than in an antagonistic manner.

7) Carman is an Aussie lady with no religious background though she claimed she was grown up in Christian school. Yet she still hold an open mind to listen to the gospel and promise to rethink if she really need to invite Jesus as her Saviour and Lord of Life.

8 ) Michael is a Half Maori and half Hungarian and his religious view is also a mixture of a bit of everything or half Christian and half the secular thoughts. I was surprised to find out later from Johnny that Michael initial rejected to chat with Johnny but let me sit side by side with him. Perhaps I first address his country of origin guessing right he is not just pure Maori but with other blood. It was a good long chat and finally, he cannot deny that every one need Jesus as long as we are not perfect.

9) Then I tried to catch up with a Chinese couple but the man pretend he does not speak Chinese while he was watching iPhone with app in Chinese. 中國人裝不懂，被識破，被動的聽. The Spirit moved me to disregard his trick and simply sat besides him to started sharing the full Gospel. He did not ask me to stop or left his seat, so I regarded this as the work of God to get him heard about the message.

10) Then we switched over to the East side of Main Road at 1500 hour. The first divine appointment was with Leow Yong Kwan and Yong Dan who were brothers from a Malaysian Chinese Christian family. Despite they are still young possibly just 12 to 14 years old, but they have the clearest understanding of the Gospel and had 100 % assurance of salvation. They attended Acacia Ridge Presbyterian Church.

11) The I stopped a McGregor big guy fro a brief chat but could not hold him for long as he needed to run for some personal matter.

12) Then I was rejected by a Chinese Grand Pa, waiting to pick up his grand children.

13) Next, I approached an Indian mum with a kid. She was not patient enough for a chat though the kids showed OK to listen. At the end, she asked for a tract to read by herself.

14) Then I had a longest chat of the day with a Singaporean old lady who was eating her quick lunch. She appeared hostile initially but melt down to have a sincere conversation on deeper thought of life. She initially tried to establish she is good enough and feel proud of herself as such she reckon she needs no faith adherence. But after a long chat, she finally came to her sense admitting no matter how good you are, as long as one is imperfect with sin, every one need Jesus. Her name is Lam Hoon.

15) The last for the day was with an Aussie lady who was unwilling to chat initially but still chatted on for a while till the bus came.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday Sep 13th, 2022 from 1330 – 1500

It was a very warm early Spring afternoon. I had to dress less clothing to withstand the heat of the sun at high noon. Johnny was arriving a bit late so Winnie and Hung started and pray first, but Johnny actually joined us very soon later. The turnover rate was very high today that produced a mixed result. The very frequent bus schedule kept cutting our conversation short, but allowing us to have been able to reached out to more people. Winnie had made 18 outreaches sharing the gospel to 20 persons. I reached out to less people as I did some photo shooting in between the gap of my outreach chat. As for Johnny, he also had many interesting conversations, of which the one with a Yemen Muslim woman would certainly be the highlight. The Holy Spirit moved him to ask the lady if she accepts her husband to have other woman as wife as the Muslim ruling allows a man to have 4 wives. The woman said no and Johnny could identify with her feeling because God is also a jealous God that would not tolerate His people to worship other idolatry gods. Overall speaking, it was a fruitful day with lesser rejection rate but more fruitful chats. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) Samuel, a local Aussie from the Sunshine Coast. He admitted this was the first time he heard the gospel. He was a good humble listener. Pray for work of the Holy Spirit leading him to make the step of faith.

2) Then I thought I had approached an European lady but she actually was a Chinese but dressed in European style. Yet she did not show resentment but willingness to listen. Though the sharing was cut short by the bus.

3) Then I chatted for a considerable long time with an Aussie lady who only disclosed at the end she is a Christian when the bus arrived. Thus, I had no time to test the assurance of salvation which I hope it has been explained via the gospel message.

4) Then I chatted with Jason a tall young man from Jilin of North Eastern China 東北吉林，he also was a willing listener with good interaction though he refused to take a tract at the end.

5) Tracy is a student mentor helping the overseas student to adapt to Australian's life. She was talkative and responsive to the gospel message.

6) Then I caught up with a Singaporean Christian lady who has 100% of assurance of salvation.

7) Next was a High School guy that I just had time to share him the nutshell of the gospel.

8 ) Then my first rejection for the day by a typically Mainlander Chinese students. 中生拒絕

9) Then I approached a local Aussie young man of Catholic Christian background. He was friendly to chat but conversation did not last long enough for me to test his assurance of salvation

10) Norah is an Indonesian girl. Despite Muslim back ground, but she appeared very open to chat about the gospel.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Three street outreaches to report on this week (I’m taking tomorrow off! :) ).  The usual schedule.  This week it was just me in Riccarton on Tuesday and Saturday, and there was a team of 5 in the City on Friday (although there were heaps of other Christians out sharing the gospel with other groups - praise God).  So, that was 1, 5, 1.  All odd numbers.  I guess I like patterns ;)

As Roger was away on Tuesday, I took his usual spot on the other side of the street.  And it’s a great little fishing hole!  I had a busy time with all the fish to myself ;)  I literally had people queueing up to talk to me!

I know I talked to plenty of people, but the only two conversations that come to mind at the moment are the ones I had with groups of school kids.  It was two groups of four kids each.

In the first group, one kid stands out the most in my mind.  I remember him being very impacted by the bad news of the law.  I even remember his eyes bulging at one moment.  It was such a pleasure to finally share the good news with him.  All four of those guys were in different places, but they were all very engaged, and it was a wonderful conversation.  At one point, one of them asked about abortion.  So I simply said, “Think of it like this, if you had a 2 year old toddler would you kill them?”  He thought for a second and just responded with “that makes complete sense” and the conversation moved on.  After I had shared the gospel,, one of the other guys asked about “gays”.  So I simply said, “who gets to make the rules?”  His answer: “God, oh so therefore it’s sinful, but, Jesus died on the cross for their sin, but that means you won’t want to keep doing it”.  I was amazed, by God’s grace, they were joining the dots so quickly.  I was super encouraged by that chat.

The conversation with the second group of guys (one of whom was the brother of one of the guys in the first group) didn’t go so smoothly.  One of the guys dug his heels in hard and refused to acknowledge that God is real.  I gently reasoned with him while continuing to move the whole conversation through the law and the gospel.  But he wasn’t having any of it, and it was interesting seeing the impact on the other guys (one in particular started agreeing with his friend).  Who knows, maybe he is under conviction and close to the kingdom?

Friday was a busy and exciting outreach.  Nice sunny weather, I even put sunscreen on for the first time of the Summer! Yay :)

I was straight into a chat with a tourist from Ireland!  Double Yay - more people from overseas coming to NZ to hear the gospel.  The chat went amazingly well.  A smooth, short and sharp gospel conversation.

I then went seeking around the area politely approaching people and fell into another amazing chat with a young lady who I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to before.  Again, it was another smooth, short and sharp gospel conversation.  I asked if she had any questions at the end and she said, “no, you explained that really well, it makes sense”.

I love it when unexpected chats occur.  Certain demographics tend to never stop, e.g., older people.  But today, an older Asian lady stopped to engage!  I could tell she wasn’t going to stay long, so I just did my best to labour the law, and point her to the grace of Jesus.  She left with a tract.

The outreach ended up going long - 30 minutes over, but it was so good.  A couple of years ago I had to call the police on a guy.  Well, today he was back spewing his anger on members of the team.  I simply went over and told them to ignore him.  I then moved away and started taking some pictures of him (attached).  He pointed to me: “Are you taking pictures of me!! How dare you?”  He came over to me then, as he approached I simply said, “If you touch me, I will call the police”.  He came right into my face and started spewing his hate, but he didn’t once touch me.  And I wasn’t phased at all.  All bark, no bite (little yelps actually, it was so sad to watch).  I ignored him and he got sick of me, so he went over to abuse the other guys again.  Roger finally got rid of him.  In the meantime, I continued the gospel conversation that Roger had started with a young autistic guy.

The outreach finished with prayer, but it was interrupted with chats with 2 regulars, the last one was Simon the Atheist.  Unlike last week, we actually engaged in spiritual conversation, with a focus on how we know God is real via logic.  Simon doesn’t have the same ‘bite’ he used to, is he softening?  God, please have mercy on him!

Saturday was busy and amazing.  A flat earther and his girlfriend heard the gospel.  A young couple with Biblical foundation and yet still trusting in works came to grasp the gospel and left challenged and encouraged.

And to finish off, one of my regulars that I haven’t seen for a long time came past.  It was so good to catch up!  I was shocked to hear that he was considering suicide earlier today, and had even pre attempted but bailed on it (thank God).  He seems to have remembered nothing of what I’ve shared before, so I went hard on the law with him today.  Great chat.  We shaked hands multiple times before he left.  Oh God, please answer my prayer, have mercy on him, for your glory alone.
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 7th, 2022 from 1300 – 1500

I rested for last week because if my day surgery but Johnny did come to do it on singleton. Today, still only the two of us teamed up as all others are either still sick or not available. It was a tough day for me with many rejections and majority of the outreach were fragmented. Johnny on the other hands seemed to have many long and meaningful chats. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung: -

1) Very arrogant and indifferent person simply gave me a cold face and walk away.

2) Vietnamese young man rather wanted to listen music than to chat. Just took a tract instead.

3) A couple by the surname of Pong龎 from Quanzhou rejected Johnny but when I heard him speaking Cantonese, I approached him in Cantonese and the Spirit softened his heart to chat. Interestingly, it was found out that we are the same age and same sign of Leo. I was moved to do a testimony by first asking him to guess my age and health status. He suggested I was about 40-42 but was totally shock to learn I am already 70 and even lost his jaw when he knew I am a bladder cancer patient. I just use my physical wellbeing to witness anyone who chose to lead a God centre and mission-oriented life will be blessed with good health defying the aging process and even the threat of caner, it will appear just like a thorn only in your body as a mark of the sufficient grace to carry me on to do His work. He was impressed as he looks much older than me despite, I am a couple of weeks older than him. Pray that this divine encounter and the tract will draw him nearer to know God and accept Jesus as his saviour.

4) Then I chatted with Mr Huang黃 from Shanghai上海. He was 86 years old and have come to Australia for 50 years. He lived 10 odd years in HKG so he speaks good Cantonese。His mindset is to lead a peaceful and comfortable life even though without any goal of life thus he reckons Australia is a country bet suit his living mentality. I challenged him to think broader and deeper that the peace he now enjoyed is no guarantee that can go busted any moment. But eternal life and blessing of God is an everlasting value for human. He talked the words to leave and pray for God's continuous follow up action.

5) An ABC Malaysian Chinese but English-speaking Student. Her bus came quick so just a brief contact.

6) Brendon felt amused when I approached him saying that I met you two weeks ago,(17/8) then three month ago(18/5) and even earlier about 6 months ago. So, this was the 4th encounter. Praise and thank God to keep using me to bump into him. He is still skeptical about the Bible, querying that there are so many different versions of Bible that he doesn’t know which is of orthodox correctness. I clarified with him that there is only one version of original writings, i.e., the OT was in Hebrew and the NT is majority in Greek. It was just a matter of different in translation. But of course, the human writing from those horsey and cult sects are not counted as Holy Bible document. Unfortunately, the bus came and pray for our next encounter.

7) An Aussie Jailer joke about his career that he is not a good person as he is in Jail but as a worker. So the tract are you a good person if decided by any Jailing record. He joked to be not qualified as Good Person. There is no time for any more follow up conversation as his bus came quickly.

8 ) Then I chatted with a lady lives near Beijing近北京 who however has not visited the great wall more than I did，however, her bus came too fast 車來太快，as such I could only give her a tract.僅發單張，9) Two Filipino ladies

10) The I approached a middle age man from the Mainland China who had heaved a big sigh. 大陸大嘆氣, I tried to chat with him to let out his unhappiness then follow on with the gospel. But again, I cannot beat the time schedule that his bus came also quickly.

11) Then I approached a man from Indonesia who claimed himself as a Catholic. 印尼天主英，靠行為 But his understanding of the gospel and salvation is far too deviated from biblical teaching. He still considers salvation is by work to do more good deeds. It was a pity the bud again came very quickly.

12) Then I approached a Vietnamese English-speaking lady. But she was not very keen yet still listen on to the gospel.

13) Chris from Kaohsiung 南部，he was not yet a believer but was brought up from Christian School教會學校，thus he felt no resistance to Christianity though his understanding of the gospel is also very shallow, if not incorrect. Still managed to share him the nutshell of the Gospel.

14) English speaking people with a brief chat only and finally took a tract,

15) Christopher a Brazilian Christian but has no assurance of salvation. I clarified his blind spot and he happily took a selfie with me.

16) Another Mainland China mature lady 中國大媽，who was not interested to listen to the Gospel but she also did not reject被動的聽，, so I still endeavoured to share her the full gospel while she is distracted to do something else on the iPhone. Eventually, our conversation was interrupted by and incoming phone call. I still managed to finish the sharing of Gospel after all those interferences.

17) Finally another ABC who was indifferent to the gospel and even rejected the tract at the end.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday Sep 6th, 2022 from 1330 – 1500

It was a warm Spring afternoon with heap of sunshine giving people the sense of life in Spring. It possibly impacted the mood of most people with a more positive mind for a chat. All the three of us were getting more conversation with much less rejection, especially from the usual hard ground people group from mainland China. We all had many interactive and responsive conversations showing high prospect of leading to the last step of faith. Recap below is the Battle log of Hung: -

1) My first gospel target was randomly picked by the Holy Spirit amongst the long queue for the bus whose name was Huang 黃from Jiang Xi, Nanchang江西南昌. He claimed we had met before and he got the tract readily. I followed up on his impression and understanding of the message of the tract. He showed great opened mind to discuss and came near to accepting the way of God salvation is fair and just. So it is just about time that he will make his last step of faith to accept Jesus as his saviour.

2) I was over joy to meet Hi Har from Yangon, Myanmar. I greeted him with the Burmese custom "Mungallala" when handing out something to a person. He readily identified with me as a friend of Myanmar. He actually came in 2016 as such his time in Australia is quite long making him a more open-minded person. He did have heard the gospel before, but my sharing renewed and deepened his understanding about God the Father and Jesus our Saviour. He appeared receptive to the message and showed willingness to pursue the gift of eternal life created by Gd for each and every one of us the sinner cross-culturally. He was happy to take a photo with me to remember this divine encounter.

3) Pete is from Thailand when he was young starting his primary school here up till now doing Uni at UQ. He thus has grown up here as an Aussie but the Buddhist family background prevented him to consider to accept any other faith despite, he has ample chance to contact and learn about salvation by grace through faith in Christianity. Actually, he said he met us 3 times and got the tract, the more we met, the more he become receptive to the gospel message. Just pray for God's final miraculous touch to help him cross over the Buddhism barrier into the promised land of Jesus by making his last step of faith.

4) A young girl by the name of Hsieh 薛，from Jiangsu江蘇，claimed to have a Christian Grandma奶奶信主，thus she has fond impression about Christianity 她有好感. I shared the full gospel to her once again and trusted she is now more ready to follow her grandma foot step to receive Christ as her saviour. I recommend her to get connected with Power to Change for my Bible knowledge nurturing and fellowship with likeminded Christian.

5) Appleby, is an Indonesia Christian but was not clear about assurance of salvation. Thanks God I had just enough time to clarify it with her.

6) Then I caught up with Emily, an local Aussie Christian who also has no assurance of salvation but only 80% certainty. She was thankful for my clarification.

7) Finally, it was a young man by the name of Yuan 阮 from Quandong 廣東, so we could speak in Cantonese 剛來. He just arrived to Australia after the lock down was lifted. As he knew much about Hong Kong as such, I can share more about my life witness with lot of Hong Kong affair. 有見証. He was very positive towards my sharing and showed genuine interest to pursue Christ. Again, I referred him to approach Power to change if he wants to pursue God.

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

I’m feeling a bit tired as I come to write this on Sunday afternoon, I’m looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow.  It ended up being a good street outreach today, but I’ll get to that soon.

Reviewing the week, there was a team of 2 on Tuesday in Riccarton, 4 on Friday in the city, just myself on Saturday in Riccarton (anyone want to join me?  It’s a day off for you, right?), and then, to my joy, a team of 4 today in the city.  2, 4, 1, 4 - they are all a power of 2 – that fills me with joy too! ;)

The weather is warming up!  Spring has arrived :)  On Saturday I was thinking I need to get the sunscreen out.  And just now I have put my sunscreen in my outreach bag for the next outreach (God willing)! :)

On Tuesday Roger was with me. I’ve just taken a minute to think all the way back to Tuesday to remember what happened, I knew something cool happened… and now I remember…  2 things actually.

The outreach was a bit slow initially, and so I went for a wander down Riccarton Road to seek the lost.  On my way back down the other side of the street, as I was going past the bus stops, I saw 3 young ladies and simply asked them, “Excuse me, may I ask you a question?  It’s a deep one, do you ever think about what happens after you die?”.  To my pleasant surprise, they were all keen to stop and talk.  One of them responded with, “yeah, I think about that all the time”.  It was a straightforward conversation.  One of the girls knew a fair amount of Christian lingo, one was quet, but they all listened.  It was so awesome seeing them get it.  The simple message of the gospel is truly powerful.  At the end of the chat I asked if they had any questions, and the first girl asked if I had any recommendations for churches in Christchurch.  I certainly did!  They all left with tracts.

The other cool thing that happened was similar.  At the end of the outreach, a security guard went past, he took a tract and stopped when I said: “it comes with a question if you have a moment”.  Again, it was a fairly straightforward conversation.  The penny really seemed to drop when I was asking him the ‘sin again’ check question: “if someone trusts that Jesus died for them today, but then tomorrow do 10 more sins and then die, is it heaven or hell?”  His initial response was hell, but when I explained that Jesus even pays for our future sin, the doctrine of justification by faith alone really seemed to strike him: “ahhhhh, I get it now”.  I followed up with a for more checks, he was getting them perfectly right now.  He made a profession, so I got him to consider the cost of the gift - it didn't put him off.  He accepted a bible with a tract bookmarked at John, and he was considering checking out the church I’m part of.  He didn’t turn up this Sunday, yet he is in God’s hands.

Friday and Saturday’s outreaches were busy.

On Friday I set up my flip chart near the bridge of remembrance, but I never used it the whole time, instead I just approached people.  First there were a couple of buskers taking a lunch break, then a chat with a kid from the UK whose dad was a soldier.

Next, a chat with a guy who was struggling with how meaningless life is - he was depressed and we discussed suicide a bit (these things are all very familiar to me, I’m so grateful for the book of Ecclesiasties!)  I laboured with him in regards to the law and the gospel, but he wasn’t really soaking it in at all.  I decided not to push it, but give him some time to ponder.  He had 2 tracts (1 from me, and John had also talked to him prior and given him a tract).

I approached 3 girls who were discussing one of our tracts, one of the girls in particular didn’t want to have another chat about it!  But they did accept a different kind of tract from me.  I turned and immediately 4 guys were walking past, and I got straight into a conversation with them.  It was a difficult chat, because they were in different places and it was hard to get a flow going with all of them at the same time, they all kept interjecting different questions (good ones), I did my best to answer the questions without getting distracted from my goal of sharing the gospel, when I feel like I made a mistake (or did I?)  The MP for central Christchurch, Duncan Webb went past, I’ve talked to him a couple of times before (briefly, he won’t stay to engage).  As soon as I saw him, I said, “Oh, Duncan, I want to talk to you”.  I wasn’t expecting him to stop, but he did.  The mistake was that I should have kept my focus on the four guys I was talking to.  Those guys instantly lost interest and split without hearing the gospel - I feel bad about that!  Yet, I’m pretty sure I gave them all tracts at the start.  I have to leave them in God’s hands.

Anyway, now I was into a discussion with the MP.  And, I feel like I fluffed that opportunity too.  I really wanted to challenge him on some social political issues, and so my questioning turned philosophical.  What I should have done is stick to the script from the word of God, I should have gone with Romans 1:19 and asked him, “Hey Duncan, if I told you that building made itself, would you believe me?” and then took him through the law and the gospel.  He didn’t have much time, and lost interest in the conversation and bailed on me.

So, I was now doubly disappointed with myself!  And yet, who knows?  God can use even our most feeble mistakes to show his power.  I’m praying I get further opportunities to talk with Duncan, as I want the best for him and want him to truly understand the grace of Christ (I know he had a Christian background).  Lord, raise up labourers who will faithfully share the gospel with the leaders of this nation!  Change our culture through the power of the gospel.

I think that was the end of that outreach (I can’t remember having any more chats).  I left that outreach with Andy in deep conversation with one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses there.  Oh, and earlier the Hare Kristna’s went through, I’ve read their pamphlet, and I have a million questions, God willing I’ll find some time to write some of those questions down to give to them next Friday (also, God willing).  Oh, and I was able to have a brief catch up with Simon the Atheist at the start of the outreach - that was nice.

Saturday I was on my own, and it was really busy.  I turned up to my usual spot, and there was a guy there who was sitting looking at his phone.  I ended up having a long chat with him.  He wasn’t grasping the gospel well.  With the check questions he kept slipping back to “because I’m good” as the reason he would get to heaven.  I continued to gently labour with him as best I could.  The chat was interrupted as an old workmate stopped to talk.  I was stuck, I wanted to share the gospel with both, but I couldn’t do that.  I let my work mate go - he left with a tract.  Lord, raise up more Saturday labourers!

Later, I was sharing the gospel with a couple of kids, when two people joined the conversation and kinda killed it.  The two kids left.  And then the conversation for the new couple didn’t last long.  It was subtle, but she wanted to justify being her own god, and so denied clear logic. She wasn’t willing to back down and so the conversation died.   Apparently I talked to the guy before?
I had a long chat with a guy who knew some of the right language, but didn’t understand the gospel.  He seemed truly blown away when he did come to understand it.  He said he needed time to process it.

The outreach ended late with a chat with a young lady and her partner.  She knew the Christian lingo really well.  She was talking about Jesus, and quoting John 3:16, she said abortion is murder, don’t be unequally yoked, etc, etc.  But as we talked it became clear she wasn’t saved.  “I think I’ll go to heaven because I sin less”.  By the end of the chat she agreed that she would be currently going to hell.  She now understands the gospel.  She made a comment: “now I know why God got me to come over here today”.  She was happy to take a tract, “I’ve got heaps of these, there is even one on my fridge” (did she ever read them?).  I was grateful for the opportunity to labour in the gospel with them.

I left with a feeling of frustration: the harvest is ripe!  I will pray for labourers.

Wow, this report is too long.  Well done if you are reading this - maybe you are the answer to my prayer? ;)

Sunday’s outreach I was tired.  And the outreach was slow to start.  Susan joined me, then Binu, and finally Mike!  Binu was handing out tracts, and when Mike arrived, I left him to man the flip chart with Susan while I went to roam a bit.

I approached a young man and it turned into a great chat!  He gave me a strong handshake at the end.

I then found out that Binu had started a chat with a tall, open hearted basketball player.  Binu brought him over to Mike and Susan who shared the gospel with him (a real team effort).  I was really encouraged.

And then Mike got into another flip chart chat with some kids, while I followed up with a guy who was watching the chat from a distance.

I ended up leaving the outreach with Mike in yet another gospel conversation with a guy I’ve semi-talked to many times before over the years.  May Mike make progress where I failed!

Well, that wraps the week.  Heaps happening online too!  God is so good.

(I’m starting to feel a slight sunburn on my face.)
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday August 30th, 2022 from 1330 – 1500

The weather has turned gloomy since Monday. There was even light drifting rain while we were on the street reaching the Bus stop. The mood was very unfavorable for outreach. and the long queue around half past one when students flocked to school for afternoon class, also imposed negativity for our chance to get a chat. But we were taught not to be bothered by external circumstances but focus on preaching the gospel. Once we overlooked the hardship, the grace of God was then sufficient to carry us through and getting more chat opportunities than blunt rejects. It is all the sovereign power of God to make all the divine appointments feasible. Recap is the battle log of Hung: --

1) Jason is an ABC with parents from Singapore, we were at the end of a long queue as such I have long enough time to share him the full gospel and he appeared very receptive.

2) Jo is a Filipino young lady with no religion. She anyhow was not too resistant to the gospel and showed reasonable receptiveness of the message shared.

3) Then I was led to approach an Indian couple. Only the husband interacted with me. He was polite yet skeptical, but he also could not rebuke the gospel.

4) Ravi a Sri Lanka engineer students. He was a big guy and was very talkative, and Interactive. He was happy to know my Family Practice doctor is also Sri Lanka. He also finds no bug in the Gospel.

5) A mainlander lady appeared very cautious did not want to disclose her names and where she lives in China 大陸，小心，nevertheless, she still is willing to listen 還願聽，She at the end disclosed to me she actually had attend Bible Study class in UQ possibly by the Logos Church.有參加過查經，可能是恩道會

6) I tried to approach an old Aussie man who was reading a book. Though he declined to chat but I still managed to challenge him to show same open mind to gospel then he shows to all the knowledge he get from the books.

7) Well, was another Singaporean who has no religious background but still willing to listen to the Gospel.

8 ) Then I approached a Chinese young man from Shandong 山東who claimed he had heard the gospel before but still could not figure out its meaning聽過，還是不大了解，. I anyway still gave him a nutshell explanation 總結性before the bus arrived 車到.

9) A Malaysian Indian loved to chat but interrupted by a call

10) Shen沈，just arrived from Shanghai上海。剛來，He showed rare welcoming gesture to chat about the Gospel. He said he studied OT but had QUERY why God does not punished all bad guys and they seemed to live a punishment free life and died peacefully. I rightly said if there is no God and heaven and hell, it would be most unfair. All human good or bad will face judgment after death. God will uphold His righteousness and locked up those non-repentant bad guys.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The street work this week felt a bit slower than usual.  I often found myself praying in those moments - and that was a real blessing.  Just reflecting on how impossible it is for me to save anyone.  Just praying that God would be glorified.  And knowing that he will, people will come to know more about God, he will demonstrate either his justice or mercy, that his kingdom will come.  I’m so grateful that we get to be involved in all of this. He condescends to use us, in our weakness, to proclaim who he is, and allow his strength and power to be displayed in spite of us.

On Tuesday (in Riccarton) it was so slow that twice I went for wander down Riccarton Road in search of people to talk to.  I looked down a side street (which has an entrance to the mall) and I noticed a large group of kids.  I was up for the challenge, so I headed towards them.  It turns out there were about 20 of them!  Oh well, they need to hear the gospel too.  So I dove in.  I tried to get a conversation going with as many of them as I could, and I passed out a few tracts.  Suddenly a large part of them took off, and then the rest of them ran off as well.  A guy in a tie ran past me chasing them.  Then another guy came past and told me that a car had been broken into :(  Putting it all together, I guess the kids were involved?  I told them I was trying to tell them about Jesus.  He smiled, knowing that’s exactly what they need!  He accepted a tract from me as well.  Anyway, there wasn’t much I could do, so I headed back to our normal outreach stop via the bus stops.  Low and behold, the group of kids were coming past from the other direction (they had done a loop).  I was able to offer more tracts as they piled on to a bus, I don’t think any of them accepted one, and sadly, as I continued to walk, I found discarded tracts that I was able to pick up.  God willing, I (or other Christians) will have opportunities to engage with them in the future.

I can’t remember anything from the rest of the outreach, I’m confident I had other chats - I just can’t think of them right now.  I know Roger did, I took a photo of one of them (attached).

On Friday (in the city), the Hare Krishna’s went through, and this time they remembered to bring a pamphlet for me! :)  I exchanged it for a gospel chat.  They didn’t want to stop to chat.  But I’ve started reading it and it is interesting getting some more background about what they are all about.  I’m hoping I’ll have more opportunities to engage them.

But the conversation that stands out the most for me from Friday was the last one.  A young lady came over and accepted a tract from me.  She started out by saying she used to be involved with Christian ministry, but is no longer, because she is queer.  We fell into a long conversation starting from there.  I think she was challenging me with her introduction, so I decided to not give her the answer she expected, but instead ignored it for the moment.  It was one of those conversations where I couldn’t take the standard direct approach, I just had to be patient.  Her worldview involved no absolutes, and yet her conversation was full of absolutes.  From time to time I would gently point this out, but she wasn’t open.  Through the conversation, I was able to talk about the law, and even explain why homosexuality is sinful.  And I was even able to explain about Jesus - as closed as she was.  We could have talked for a very long time, yet I don’t think we would have made much progress, and so I wrapped up the conversation.  She left with a tract and an offer to continue the conversation via electronic means.  But I won’t be surprised if I don’t hear from her.  What overwhelmed me in the conversation is how selfish relativism is.  Basically what it’s about is ‘me’.  What ‘I’ want.  It’s idolatry.  And it grieves me.  Oh God have mercy.

This theme rolled into Saturday’s outreach in Riccarton.  Again, a slow start, and prayer.  Finally a couple of guys stopped (and a girl who kept her distance).  They were very pleasant and respectful.  One of them really seemed to respect what I was doing.  I took them through the script and was working through the law, when the demeanour of the main guy suddenly changed.  “Are you telling me I’m going to hell?”.  “Yes”, I said, “God is angry at us for our sin, but I’m here to talk to you about God’s mercy”.  That didn’t help, he suddenly declared that he is Mormon, and then his friend parroted what he said, “yeah, I’m Mormon”.  The main guy ripped up the tract and threw it and stormed off.  His friend went with him, and the girl laughed as she joined them.

I grieved, and yet I rejoiced at the obvious conviction that came upon him.  God, please have mercy upon them.

Later in the outreach, a young lady stopped.  She had deep questions and was open to chat.  She had a Russian Orthodox background, but considered herself to be agnostic.  Due to the nature of the questions, I responded with deep answers.  The key question was over why God allows suffering and evil.  So I addressed that, as well as explaining how we know God is real, the law and the gospel.  In hindsight, I think I needed to labour the law more.  None of what I was saying was making sense.  I checked in to see if she could remember what was getting her to heaven, and her answer was, “keep the ten commandments”.  Totally wrong answer.  So I went back to explain, but I think she had checked out.  She was esp. offended when I explained that even murderers and rapists can be forgiven (touching on a question she had earlier) - she just wasn’t understanding the mercy of God and that’s because she wasn’t understanding the justice of God, or how they work together in Jesus.  We parted on pleasant terms, but there was a real look of disgusted in her eyes as she left.  I think that’s partly my fault for not explaining well - I’m reflecting on that a lot and want to improve.  But also, I had an overwhelming sense of how much she hated the idea of God telling her how life was to be lived.  She wanted to make her own rules and be her own god.  Again, it so grieves me.  God, have mercy on us all.

Sunday was interesting.  I received a text in the morning from the Russian guy I had talked to a couple of Tuesday’s ago in Riccarton.  He was interested in coming along to church.  I gave him the address and he came.  It was perfect timing, because we are working through Romans at the moment, and today’s preaching was on Romans 3:9-20 - this is exactly what my Russian friend needed to hear (Jerome preached this passage really well) and it had the desired effect.  After the meeting, Andy and I were able to continue the gospel conversation.  I ended up leaving Andy in that conversation as I headed for the streets.  (It’s now evening and I’ve now got some fresh texts from him. I'll be responding with an invite to come to church next Sunday where we will be studying from Romans 3:21 - the good news!)

Sunday’s outreach in the city was again a bit slow, but the time went really fast.  I had one solid gospel conversation with a couple of guys - it was a really good one where they seemed to grasp the whole message well.  I challenged them to count the cost and respond.

James the glue sniffer turned up later in the outreach.  He wasn’t in a good state at all. :(  I came over and sat next to him to see how he was.  His speech was very slurred and his eyes were glazed.  But he was keen to talk about religion, and I was surprised at how well he was understanding (by the questions I was asking and the answers I was getting I could tell he was actually processing what I was saying).  As I was taking him through the law, he took the two tracts I had given him and found a pocket to put them in.  Maybe when he has a clear head he will read them?  But suddenly he said he wanted to die, and then got up and walked off.  I went back to my usual spot away from my flip chart.  A minute later, he comes back and goes over to my flip chart and steals my outreach bag!  I was close enough to stop him.  I told him all it had were tracts and Bibles.  Realising there was nothing of value (but ironically the greatest value), he gave it back.  And then we wanted to talk about religion again.  2 minutes later he suddenly got up, went and got his glue bag he had left and walked off.  Interesting.  Apart from the grace of God - that’s me.  God have mercy!

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday August 24th, 2022 from 1300 – 1500

Today, all others still got sick or occupied in some other business so only Johnny and Hung were turning up for the regular Wednesday outreach at Sunnybank. Johnny was late for taking his car for service, so Hung started alone first for a short while and later joined by Johnny. Here in Sunnybank, the rejection rate, especially from Chinese is high. Nevertheless, we take it as a training for faithfulness and perseverance to hardship still hanging on by faith to fish for the next available gospel target. Hung's day started with grace to meet up with an old church member. Recap below is Hung's Battle Log.

1 ) Dou Leeyun was an old church member who was impressed by the street ministry and conveyed her blessing to Hung. Pray that it will be a witness to her moving her to make the step of faith to do likewise in her own day to day life.

2) Sheila was an Australia born in Indian, who seemingly has no religious background. She reacted positively to the gospel shared with her.

3) A Woman from Mainland China was welcoming for a causal chat but once hearing the gospel, she turned on a cold face and show great annoyance to hear anything about the Gospel. 中國婦人，不奈煩，不願聽.

4) I caught up with Mr Chu 朱，from Vietnam 越南華僑 who appeared very sociable and talkative. He talked about the people trafficking gangster business exposed in Cambodia.近日柬甫寨，I used this to illustrate this is a biblical doctrinal statement about human nature that without God, no human can be immune to sinning 人性敗壞極。I then led him into the question if we are good enough for heaven? It was a pity the bus came at this time, but God will certainly make him aware of his own imperfection that only Jesus can save and heal us.

5) An ABC girl bluntly rejected first johnny and me. So, we had to let go.

6) Then I approached a Filipino lady who was also welcoming for a chat. But after sharing the nutshell of the gospel, she received call from friend to meet in Sunnybank so she had to go. But she actively asked for a tract to read afterwards.

7) Then I caught up with a Chinese from Inner Magnolia內蒙古. We chatted for a short while but he was soon interrupted by a phone call.

8 ) Ruth is a young Aussie lady with brain damage disability on the wheel chair. I was moved to approach her and had a very good chat. She was very encouraged by the gospel message and was very excited about the salivation that not only will set us free from the bondage of sin, but will allow God to transform us back to perfection from both physical and spiritual aspects. Christians will be given back a perfect healthy body when Jesus comes for the 2nd time. That gives Ruth lasting hope to withstand the inconvenience brought by her disability.

9 ) Another Aussie lady who was very friendly to chat and appeared positive to the gospel message.

10) Finally I caught up with Mike whom Johnny had met and chatted before. He is from Philippine and is a church going Christian attending Citipointe Church. He passed the test o assurance of salvation 100% and showed his support and encouragement for us doing the street Outreach. Pray that he will be inspired to do likewise in his day-to-day life.

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