Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 84

Christchurch (NZ) Team

Today I’ve spent most of my report time writing about a difficult gospel + abortion outreach we had.  So this report is going to be short.

Thursday we were at the bus stops again.  Not many people out, I guess due to school holidays.  I wasn’t able to get into my usual run of gospel conversations.  Yet Andy seemed to be having long conversations: one after the other.  Praise God for that!

Yet I had two highlights:

The first was so shocking, I didn’t know how to react.  I had two Christians approach me to share the gospel with me!  Praise God for that!  They were Uni students who can’t be on campus due to Covid-19 restrictions, and so they were venturing out!

The second was an odd pair of follow up conversations.  I approached a guy who looked vaguely familiar - he smiled and said he had talked to me before in Riccarton.  Him being a satanist, we fell into an interesting conversation when we were interrupted by another guy I’ve talked to before.  It became a three way discussion that, frustratingly, I couldn’t bring any gospel focus to.  The first guy's bus came, and then the second guy's bus came straight after.  Lord willing I will have another opportunity to talk to them again.

On Friday, the sun was shining bright!  After the gospel + abortion outreach, we were in Cathedral Square - it was nice to see lots of people out and about.  And there were lots of Christians around engaging those people in gospel conversations!

Later, a team of five were at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.  Most of my time was dominated by a long conversation with a Muslim girl I had talked to before at Northlands bus stop.  I was on the flip chart sharing the gospel with two people when she walked up and waited - obviously wanting to talk with me.  Sadly, she was as resistant as the last time I talked to her.  And yet, I was encouraged that she wanted to talk again.

Very grateful for all the opportunities God gave us over these two days.  May we continue to grow in our ability to represent Christ well.  And may He, in His grace, use our feeble attempts in the meantime.  Soli Deo Gloria.
 

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West Country (UK) Team

Back into the Open Air!

After several months of lockdown, it was wonderful to once again return to the open air in order to proclaim the Lord Jesus. With the restrictions being eased in England we discovered that Newquay is becoming quite busy; since this is the case we thought it would be a good idea to carry to gospel back into the public arena. In order to ensure that we were operating safely we made sure to wear gloves while handing out tracts, and we also had hand sanitiser on our literature table.

At around 12:30pm we made our way down to the high street of Newquay in order to evangelise. The main tract we used today was Roger Carswell’s “Hope Beyond Coronavirus”, which seems to have been readily received by many in the town.

Upon arrival we started to set up the “Free Bible and Literature” table, but before we could get any material out a man stopped to ask if he could have a Bible. This man said he was interested in Christian things and that he was looking for a church to attend. We were able to share the gospel with him and also invite him to services at Newquay Baptist Church.

Since there were four of us out today, Josh Williamson, Tim, and also Nigel and George from the Faith Mission, we were able to hand out quite a number of tracts and engage in several good conversations. One such conversation was with a man named Patrick. Patrick is the kind of man who loves to talk and who has a story for every occasion. He stopped at the table to see what we were offering so we were able to engage him in a gospel conversation. What was sad is that until today Patrick had never heard of God’s love, or of what Jesus did upon the cross; here is a man who was not young, yet he lived in England and had never heard the gospel - truly this nation needs missions!

As the afternoon went on we decided that it would be good to engage in some open-air preaching, so George, Nigel and I all took turns proclaiming Christ. Every preacher was blessed with people stopping to listen to the good news. Personally, I found it quite wonderful to once again proclaim Jesus in the open-air, after I preached I understood what George Whitefield meant when he said,

“I believe I was never more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields. Some may censure me; but if I thus pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

I was truly wonderful to be back in the open-air! Please pray for all those we encountered today.

SDG!

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday July 8, 2020 from 1300 to 1500

Praise and thanks God for yet another consecutive day of grace that four faithful servants were called to turn up to serve at Sunnybank including Johnny, Allen, Col and Hung. Johnny teamed up with Hung on the East side of the pedestrian bridge while Allen teamed up with Col on the West side.

Like yesterday at Toowong, God kept showing us that it was Him who are sovereign to take control of who were to stop and listen to the Gospel with a softened heart. Johnny had more than 10 chats with variety of people including many Chinese Mainlanders. I had 6 significant divine appointments with a few Chinese from Mainland that I used to label them as die hard atheist beyond redemption but God certainly has a different view and plan for some of them. Here is my recap of my conversation with them.

1) Shilba is a Filipino of India origin. She was very receptive to the gospel even though she considers herself embracing pan-animism or ethno-religious faith with also Hinduism in her family history background. She acknowledge the gospel message is logical and sensible but she might need the final push from the Holy Spirit to make her final step of faith to accept Jesus.

2) A grand ma by the name of Huang from mainland China was minding her grand kid waiting for the bus. She appeared very friendly to have a chat. She thought she is a good enough person for heaven but eventually understood that only those who are perfect are qualified and every body in a human society are all sinner susceptible to punishment of eternal death. She felt everybody including herself should need Jesus. The arrival of the bus cut our conversation short, but I pray that God's plan for madam Huang will continue until her salvation plan is finished.黃大媽，帶孫

3) Susan and Christy are twi high school friend. Susan is an ABC while Christy is an ABK. Christy initially was reluctant to stop, but Susan appeared to have been moved by the Spirit to stay with determination. So both of them listen to the sharing of Gospel. Susan was much more impressed than Christy and promised to ponder and pray to God for that final moment of accepting the free gift of eternal life by grace through faith in Christ.

4) A Chinese guys from mainland who was in a hurry, but still allowed me to walk and talk with him. But the attempt to finish the sharing of gospel was interrupted by a phone call.

5) A Christian from India but has no assurance of Salvation. He was also in a rush for work before I can have time to clarify and help him to establish 100% assurance of salvation.

6) An UQ student by the surname of Huang is from Guangzhou China. He did not prepare to stop not to mention a long chat but eventually chat for a long long time over half an hour. He noticed my accent of Mandarin and chose to switch speaking with me in perfect Hong Kong style Cantonese as his father is actually a Hong Kong Citizen. It helped to draw us closer for deep talk apart from the Gospel. I shared also my testimony of salvation and appealed him to response to the guide of the Holy Spirit like I do while living away from home and out of his own comfort zone. (黃廣卅港爸) After my long chat, God moved him to have another chat with Col. Pray that the Will of God be done for Huang.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Still plenty of rain about on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there were enough breaks in it for outreaches to Riccarton and the city to go ahead.

On Tuesday I started with some online outreach before meeting Roger in Riccarton.  I didn’t take any notes, and I talk to so many people online, I just can’t remember any of the specific conversations.  But something in my memory suggests I had a run of open hearted people to talk to (in contrast to Saturday).

But I did take notes when I was in Riccarton.

My first interaction of note was with an older lady.  Her demographic doesn’t normally stop, so I was surprised that she did.  When I asked her what she had to do to go to heaven, she said, “believe the gospel”.  I instantly assumed I was talking to a Christian… but she wasn’t.  She was an ex-mormon who still had “works for salvation” engrained.  Sadly, she didn’t stay for me to explain the true gospel, but she said she would read the “After Life” tract I gave her.

Next I had a lengthy follow up with an elderly lady - a doctor who had been a missionary in Africa (I think I’ve written about her before?).  We discussed justification in depth.

Between conversations I was standing next to my flip chart, when a car came round the corner.  The girl in the passenger seat instantly recognised me, and she tapped on the window a few times.  I smiled, thinking I might know her.  But then she gave me the finger as she went past.  I felt like I’d been punched in the gut, but then I felt honoured that I’m even recognised… and why I’m recognised.  All this happened in a split second.  I have no idea who it is, but I genuinely want the best for her.  (I prayed for her at the revival prayer meeting that evening.)

I then had an intellectual tussle with some vegan’s.  They resisted the clear proof that God exists.  I mentioned a few times that they didn’t have to stay and talk with me - but the guy kept wanting to discuss.  They heard the law and the gospel.  It felt like I didn’t get through, but at the end, the guy shook my hand and thanked me for the discussion.  Maybe he will think about it?  I leave them in the hands of God.

By the end of the outreach the rain was falling, I stuck around, and I’m glad I did as I guy stopped to talk.  It turns out I’ve talked to him twice before - once in the city, and once in Riccarton (about a year ago).  I didn’t remember him (he said he used to have long hair).  He was from Colombia.  He wanted to go through the flip chart again, and was keen to allow me to go in depth - even in the rain!

While this was happening, Roger had a good conversation with a Muslim man from Somalia (pictured).  Roger also had lots of good conversations through the outreach.

Wednesday I was feeling tired and timid.  I was in the city.  To get myself going, I prayed and then I parked myself at the southern entrance to Cathedral Square to hand out tracts.  Within moments I was into a good conversation with two skater girls (school holidays have started).  From then on, I ended up having follow up conversations.

I got home in time to join the Aussie team for online outreach.  I had some great conversations.  A highlight was with two girls from Texas who were trusting in their goodness to get them to heaven, came to grasp the gospel (justification through faith alone in Jesus alone).

And this chat with someone I couldn’t see or hear (but they could hear me), it’s interesting reading their side of the conversation:

Stranger: Hi
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: I think we go to god and god will take care of me
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: You have to be responsible and not do bad stuff
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: No
Stranger: Maybe a brush from my mom though
Stranger: No
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: I would be guilty
Stranger: Hell
Stranger: No one
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Was it evs husband I forgot his name
Stranger: Santa
Stranger: He was hung or nails to the cross
Stranger: I really don’t know
Stranger: Hell
Stranger: Oh heaven yes
Stranger: You have to be responsible and don’t do anything bad
Stranger: Jesus?
Stranger: He died
You: TRUST
Stranger: Yes it actually does I’ve never thought about it really
Stranger: Agreed
Stranger: TRUST
Stranger: God
Stranger: Jesus ?
Stranger: He died
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: No but thank you for teaching me this
Stranger: Yes u can it’s ok
Stranger: Heven
Stranger: Beacuse Jesus died for him to cross to heaven
Stranger: I would feel grateful for him risking his life to save me
Stranger: No way I would thank him
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Yes it does
Stranger: Yes me and my mom always go to church but now we can’t beacuse of corona
Stranger: I don’t remember I always read it with my mom but she’s been busy
Stranger: Yes
You: "ESV Bible" in the app store, or at ESV.org
You: it's free
You: start in John - in the second half of the Bible
Stranger: Ok thank you
Stranger: Low country
Stranger: Catholic I think
You: to find a good church in your area: 9marks.org/church-search/
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Thank you really
Stranger: Bye 👋
You have disconnected.

Very grateful for God’s great patience holding so we would have two more days to reach people with the message of his mercy!  Praying for fruit, and that it would glorify Him alone.
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday July 7, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

Praise and thank God for yet another sunny and warm winter afternoon good for street evangelism. We prayed to ask God to provide divine encounters to stop people who are ready for Gospel. In a sense, we cannot avoid stereotype labeling strangers that some may tend to avoid gospel like people from Mainland China. But today result proved that God is sovereign to stop two mainland Chinese to listen to Gospel by Winnie and appeared willing to accept Christ after the way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ is explained. So it is always the mission of God to elect and move people to repent and receive Christ. Johnny and I had our opportunities which can be referred to his separated post on Face Book.(*) For me, there were five divine appointments as recap below: -

1) Jean a Scottish old lady who has no religion but surprisingly appeared very receptive to listen my full gospel sharing. At the end, she acknowledged that it is logical and sensible for her to consider to accept Jesu as her personal saviour. Pray that God will move her to make this final step of faith.

2) A Hindu man deemed that as a good man is good enough to go to heaven. I walked with him for a long enough distance to clarify that this is a wrong concept that good person will have better chance than bad guy to escape the eternal death punishment. He could not argue with me that there is no consequence for a good guy but still with imperfections or sin. Pray that God will keep changing his mind to repent and receive Christ.

3) A typical mainlander girl took the tract but then tried to walk as fast as possible to avoid listening the Gospel.

4) J.T. a Fijian young man had great interest to listen to the gospel and declared at the end he is a Christian but without assurance of salvation. He was glad to have it clarified and can now affirm he would have 100% certainty of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. Out fo grateful appreciation he took a selfie with me.

5) Patrick a local Aussie young man like J.T is a Christian but no assurance of salvation. After going through the gospel sharing he was completely clarified to regain 100% assurance of salvation. Likewise, he took a selfie with me out of appreciation.

Attached here below is the recap by Winnie for her six divine encounters four of which were with nonbelievers Zag from Myanmar, Terry and Ann from Mainland China and a local Aussie students. All of them indicated they were willing to receive Christ. Two were with a local Aussie Mum, and Rebecca from Singapore who are Christians but without assurance.

感謝讚美主 今天的帶领。可以與人分享基督的愛。

1) Zag 缅甸學生，無宗教，願意回教會 學習多的真理，才信靠主耶稣基督。

2) UQ 本地男學生，講完福音後，他説 他曾犯很多罪，不是好人，我想回答他的問题，但巴士到逹，他趕着上巴士。

3) & 4)Terry & Ann, 中国留学生 Ann 未聞福音，聽完我講的福音後，想到教會寻求多的真理。她上巴士後，Terry 在後面聽着我對Ann 講的福音，很有感動，想我再講多次，他聽完後，願意接受免费禮物，信靠主耶穌基督。

5) 澳洲女士推着 baby , 她説 她是基督徒，她好肯定她會上天堂。不願再聽福音，趕着走。

6)，Rebecca, Singapore 來的，基督徒，她説 她都會犯罪，我説禱告，對神講述，認罪悔改，罪得赦免。我問她願意傳福音给其他人嗎？她説可以，於是我给她福音單張。願神憐憫今天聽到福音的人，認罪悔改，回轉歸向神！感謝神！

(*) Sharing by

Johnny Hsieh

下午Operation 513有三人在Toowong 傳福音，感謝天父上帝的帶領和祝福，有許多人停下來聽到了福音，祈求上帝賜福憐憫，讓他們願意悔改並回轉來信靠耶穌成為他們的救主。

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

On Saturday morning we had more rain and cold wind, and so I opted for online outreach rather than heading into Christchurch city.

It was one of those days where you just get a string of difficult conversations.  Most of them were with deeply resistant intellectual types - very tiring mentally.  But the last conversation was quite good - although I have to admit to getting frustrated, the young man just wasn’t getting key concepts, and I had to continue to go back to re explain.  Yet, he heard the gospel, and was quite appreciative of the chat.

On Sunday the weather was quite mild - even warm.  The first day of spring? :)  Andy, Thomas and I headed to Cashel Mall.

Andy seemed to be pretty much constantly talking to people about the gospel or related concepts.  Not using a flip chart - just politely approaching people.  He mentioned that one of the guys he talked to lost his wife in the mosque attack a year ago :(  Our city has some deep wounds.

Thomas also had a number of gospel chats via the flip chart.

My conversations were mainly difficult ones right up till the last conversation, which was really good!

An example of a difficult conversation: two young ladies express interest in trying the good person test, and then just as I was starting, two other young ladies want to be involved.  But there was much resistance.  One of the girls kept insisting she would be innocent if judged by perfection.  Eventually I said, “well, if you are perfect, I can’t help you - I’m here to give good news to people that aren't.”.  She and her friend left.  I asked the last two if they wanted to hear the good news, but they weren’t really interested.  And then one of them said, “oh, actually I take all that back, I think I’d be innocent too”.  Sadly, they left without the good news too. :(

Yet my last conversation of the outreach was with a young man with an Iranian background.  He wasn’t a muslim any more, and he was investigating a local church some of his friends went to.  Yet he didn’t know the gospel and was mildly resistant.  Yet he slowly warmed to the conversation and, after working through checking questions a number of times, came to grasp what the gospel really meant.  I pleaded with this young man to respond to it.  He seemed to appreciate the conversation in the end.  I leave him in the hands of God.
 

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Friday night in Brisbane City again was a wonderful outreach. The team spread around the area, some in pairs, others on their own. It was as always a great night of reaching the lost with the gospel!

The first conversation of the evening was with Luke and Sid. Luke sadly was very hard hearted, proclaiming that it was "facts" that stopped him believe in God, when it was continually displayed that not only did he have none to support his claim but rather on the flip side all of the information considered pointed toward God existing, having acted in history and Jesus Christ being the only way of salvation. His friend Sid on the other hand was open, he intially said that he didn't think God exists but upon consideration he acknowledged that He must and wanted to hear the way of salvation.

Sid ended up taking a tract and Luke continued to reject it, without basis. Praise God for enabling Sid to hear, even when Luke was so hard hearted.

The next conversation was with an African man and he was really open to chatting! He knew God existed and thought that trying his best would be the reason that God would "hopefully" let him into Heaven. He saw his guilt and upon realising how seriously God takes sins exclaimed, "That's means everyone is going to Hell". It was clarified that everyone deserves Hell but there is good news and a way to get into Heaven. He then heard the good news and was so thankful he said, "You've really made this make sense. It has changed how I view my whole way of living, no longer do I have to obey in fear, I can serve God in love!"

He took a tract and said that he would open up the gospel of John and take a read tomorrow morning! What an exciting encounter!

A third conversation took place with a man named Ryan who ended up chatting to three different team members. At the beginning not sure what was happening he came to understand the gospel relatively well but needed some clarification and by the end seemed to have a solid grasp that his goodness and future obedience contributes nothing to his right standing before God but it is simply reciving the gift of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ that He lived the perfect life and took the punishment we deserve.

Ryan was encouraged and went on his way with some very good news to consider!

Please be praying for the conversations that took place that God would have used them to pierce hearts and draw people to repentance, a renewed understanding and therefore that they would believe in Christ as the only reason they are going to Heaven!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

We finally get some sun in Christchurch (NZ) - and rainbows to boot!

Andy & I were able to do full outreaches at Northlands and Eastgate on Thursday afternoon.

But in the morning, I did my usual stint of online outreach which included conversations with people from the UK, Egypt and Brazil.  The highlight was a conversation with two teen girls who came to grasp the gospel (had to run through checking questions quite a few times).  One of them said, “I’ve learned more from you in this conversation than I have from my RE teacher!”

At Northlands I had a couple of highlight follow up conversations.

The first was with a guy who was drunk the last time I talked to him.  He remembered our previous conversation, and he was a whole lot more reasonable now.  It was fascinating getting the other person's honest insight into a previous conversation.  I wasn’t able to talk to him for long as, sadly, he was heading to meet someone to buy drugs.  But he took a tract.  I hope to see him again.

The next was with a guy who had alcohol on his breath.  Because of our previous interactions, we fell into an easy conversation.  To my surprise, out of the blue he came to tears over his sin of drunkenness.  I told him of the hope of the sacrifice of Jesus to pay the fine for our sin, and if we trust in Him, God won’t leave us as we are.  He opened up about his past involvement in the church and that there was a point in his younger life where he was like me - telling people about the gospel.  I gave him my contact details, and I hope to see him again, also.

At Eastgate I had some fascinating conversations with a guy who believed in Norse mythology (closed, resistant), and a kid who believed in Greek mythology (open, switched on).

Andy and I then had a very interesting conversation with a guy and his daughter.  Believe it or not, he worked in the paranormal - getting rid of bad spirits (or something like that).  And he said something amazing: “they hate the name of Jesus Christ”.  You’d think that would be a clue, but this guy hadn’t looked into who Jesus Christ is.  We worked on changing that for them this day.

I spoke to two kids who went to Christian schools and went to a local church - sadly, they thought keeping the 10 commandments would get them to heaven.  I did my best to share the gospel in the short time I had with them.

Friday was a difficult day for me.

It started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital.  You can read about it here.

We then moved into the city for open air preaching and one to one gospel conversations.
My time that afternoon was focused on a conversation that started with a guy walking up to me and said, “Hi Glen!”.  My face was blank, so he said, “we talked for about half an hour in Riccarton a while back”.  I apologised that I didn’t remember him, but then asked, can you remember what I said you have to do to go to heaven? (I assumed I would have shared the gospel with him.)  He went with, basically, “be a good person”.  (if I had shared the gospel, it certainly hadn’t stuck).  We feel into a deep conversation where we pretty much disagreed on everything (just like with the guy I talked to on Tuesday), yet it was a very amicable conversation.  At one point I thanked him for being so nice about what we were disagreeing on - a refreshing change from the usual way people talk to me.

With the intensity of the discussion, I became very tired.  I told him this, yet he didn’t want to stop.  I wonder if he was trying to prove something to himself?  He brought up a controversial subject and wanted my opinion.  But I refused to answer saying that we needed to resolve what the basis for right and wrong was.  He then started to lose his cool, “I don’t want to talk about that!”, and then very subtly he went into attack mode.  I stopped him.  And I said, “you’re slipping”.  He was confused.  I reminded him of what I said earlier.  “You’ve started doing what other people do, attacking God and me” (rather than the argument).  And the conversation finally wrapped up then.  We parted amicably.  But I was exhausted.

As I reflect back, just like with the guy I talked to on Tuesday, I was able to address his conscience with the law - and he didn’t argue.  And I was able to explain the gospel (yet he certainly didn’t appreciate it).  I just have to leave him in God’s hands.  Oh God, please have mercy!

The day finished with an evening outreach with Mike.  And it was a highlight on a tough day.  There were lots of people out and about, even though it was a really cold evening.

I only have time to talk about the highlight conversation (but there were many wonderful conversations).  A lady walked past, and I offered her a tract and asked her what she thought happened after life.  She stopped, took the tract, and looked at me.  She said she had been thinking about that a lot, especially in the last few days.  Her dad was a Christian, but her sister and she were not.  She didn’t understand the gospel, and it was my privilege to share it with her.  I ended up sharing with her from Matthew chapter 6, about how we don’t need to worry.  I talked about how God feeds the birds - how much more valuable are you?  And then I remembered the big new bird mural behind me - she was looking at it!  I said that I don’t believe in coincidences - that we were meant to meet so she could hear the gospel.  She thanked me, and moved on.  She said she would study the tract.  God, change her heart, and save her for your glory.  This is the part only you can do, Lord.

 

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Dandenong (VIC) Team

Praise God! for enabling Melbourne team to start Dandenong evangelism, Dandenong outreach was something that I was thinking about it for last 4 months. By God's grace, He has sent us 2 labourers. The weather was quite cold and windy and I was surprised by how there were so less people near Dandenong Library. 

However, God graciously allowed me to have good chat with several people near Dandenong outreach despite of cold weather. Surprisingly, no one rejected my approach.. ! and people were all very engaging. I met a person who works in delivery (I am guessing uber eats or door dash) and when I asked him about his view on eternal life, he answer in agnostic point of view so when I shared the law he looked slightly offended as he was realising that I am indirectly making him realise that he is actually not a good person. As expected, he had some objections and after answering his objection, gospel was shared and he seemed to grasp the concept of the gospel. please pray for this gentleman as you read this report. 

After Holly arrived, Holly told me that there are more people in Dandenong station (to be honest I was little bit scared to go to Dandenong train station as it was dark and I heard that it is not very safe place to go haha..) on the way to train station we met couple of guys who consider themselves to be Christians but they were putting their confidence on their good deeds and church attendance for their salvation so I had to explain gospel with them and went through checking question to make sure that they understand that it is not about what they do but it is about what Jesus Christ has done and we just need to believe in Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

In Dandenong train station, I met a guy (as you can see in the picture) who told me that he sees people who are not real and he wanted to touch me if I was real. However as chat went on, he was quite open to the gospel and he wanted to give me a hug after we have finished our conversation but due to COVID 19 safety I had to reject the offer. please pray for this man as you read this report !!! 

From Holly :-

Evangelism. When I hear that wonderful word my heart jumps with joy and gladness yet simultaneously, a sense of nervousness and angst. This week's evangelism was yet just another glimpse of how God can use anybody to speak to anybody about Him. The initial hesitation I felt about witnessing to people in a suburb that is very close to home..and work.. proved to be a wonderful opportunity for me to share the good news with those within my close community, and even a past client whom God allowed to cross my path. Dandenong is such a multicultural suburb and this was reflected through the various conversations I had with people from Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist backgrounds. I must admit I was quite nervous as I am not well-versed with the belief systems that these religions uphold. The wonderful thing is that even with my limited understanding and lack of knowledge about these beliefs, God by the working of His Holy spirit allowed me to share the good news with these people, that we are lost in sin, heading to h***, however God through his son provides us with a way out because of His great love. What intially statrted off as jittery movements and tounge tied words soon changed to a feeling of boldness and Joy as we shared about our amazing saviour. Praise God that He really goes before us and paves the way for his word to be deposited into the lives of those who will listen.

I particularly enjoyed watching the facial expressions of people change as I shared about my own faith journey. It truly is such a humbling and invigorating experience to share the good news with others. God spoke through a donkey, if you have a desire to share, believe that God will honour that and go before you, preparing the hearts of people as you step out in faith and obedience.

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Online Evangelism

Thursday was another exciting day of outreach, topped off at the end of it all with an answer to two prayers (so stick around)! Usually I write battle logs in third person but occasionally when it is so exciting I will write in first person. It is hard to encompass in words how exciting today was! Over the past few weeks, instead of just sending up a quick prayer, a more lengthy and specific prayer has been put before the God of the universe between each gospel conversation and it has been so worth it!

The reason, each prayer prayed is another opportunity for God to display His glory and He has been doing just that. Each prayer answered is also and opportunity to rejoice in God for His kindness!

The prayer at the beginning of today's outreach, included a request to bring someone across the screen who would not only grasp the gospel but would believe it as well! The first conversation of the day was just that. A guy who initially was being silly, was challenged to be serious about this and the result was a conversation with a man who thought he'd left Christianity behind and today (based on his profession of faith) became his day of salvation! He saw the impact this would make upon how he lived and as a result said that he would start reading his Bible so that he could find out further who God is and see how he should live.

At the end of this conversation, I was able to rejoice, praising God as the sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth who answers prayers that are for His glory and the good of those who love Him! And then prayed a similar prayer and sure enough God answered it again in the positive. Conversation after conversation!

The final conversation of the afternoon slot was much the same! An Australian who'd had a past with the law and with Christianity and had the right information regarding the good news but was sadly unclear on it being faith alone that made someone right before God. Over the conversation at one point when it was stressed how deseperately I didn't want him to go to Hell he was actually moved to tears! At the end of it all, he knew the gospel well, he understood the impact it would make on his life and this change would be a result of the gospel, not a cause of his salvation, and he too was thankful for the conversation!

The day was glorious already. Nine conversations so far where God had been very kind in answering these requests for someone to comprehend the gospel and believe it, time after time. Cut then to the end of the outreach, the final conversation! I prayed once more, asking God to bring me whomever He pleases, knowing that I can't choose the person I pair with. I also requested that it would be someone open to the gospel, understanding their sinfulness and desperate to hear the good news! Moments later across my screen came an image showing a camera that wasn't working. Intially I was about to skip but the person on the other end hadn't. I said a few things, with no answer but I could hear noises.

Then I typed, "What do you think happens to us after we die?" and seconds went by. I was about to skip but just as I went to press the button, His response came though, "We go to Heaven or Hell". I agreed and then he turned his camera on and started talking. He shared that he was worried, he knew he deserved Hell because of his sin and that he had been trying to overcome some specific sins with very little success. This was noted and I mentioned that it was important but we would come back to that as I thought the gospel would be more important to clarify first.

When asked what he was trusting in to get him into Heaven he shared that he was trying to clean up his life so that God could accept him. With some simple analogies and explanations he grasped the gospel and was surprised and overjoyed. It made sense, the implications made sense and he acknowledged that he could be 100% certain that he was going to Heaven because of what Christ has done and him recieving it by faith! On the basis of this we then were able to talk about how life will look as a result, seeing that Christ is beautiful beyond description. He now understood that the primary desire of his life will be to serve and savour Christ! This was emphasised with a comparison of two stories from Greek Mythology.

There is an island that must be sailed past in order to arrive home but on the island are Sirens (half monster, half woman). They sing enchanting and tempting songs, trying to lure those who would sail past to come to them. These Sirens are surrounded by dead men's bones and rotting flesh from their many victims. As they sing, those who hear their song, get drawn in by the sweetness, lost for the death that awaits them. Having been warned of this upon approaching the island, Odessyus prepared his sailors, by taking a large block of beeswax, breaking it into small pieces and giving it to each of his men, telling them to put it in their ears so they will not hear the song of the Sirens and to row on no matter what he says until they are far away from the island.

He then orders them to tie him to the mast and once prepared they sail by the island. Odessyus as he hears the song, longs to plunge into the waters and swim to the island. He wants to embrace the Sirens. He strains against his bonds so violently that he tears the flesh on his arms and his back. To Odessyus the Sirens look as beautiful as "Helen of Troy", to the sailors they can see them for what they are, hungry and ugly monsters, seeking whom they can devour. But with the wax in their ears the crew are able to sail past, despite the great temptation to their captain. This is how Christians often try to defeat their temptations to sin, in their best efforts and their own strength they try to block out the song.

But there is another captain who sucessfully made it past the island with his crew. Orpheus, known for his great music, as his vessel was nearing the island, he walked to the front of the ship and played a song so much more beautiful than that of the Siren's the crew was so enthralled with his song, they didn't even notice the call of the Siren's.

The point, as Christians we can restrain ourselves and tie ourselves down thinking that in itself will be a solution but a far more powerful tool to overcome the calls of sin upon our life, is to sing the sweeter song. The more beautiful you see Christ to be, the more you savour His holiness, goodness, kindness, patience, love, mercy and justice... the more firmly your gaze is fixed upon Christ, the more the temptations of this world will grow dim, in the light of his glory and grace.

Upon hearing this story Cornelis was greatly encouraged and took the challenge to get into his Bible daily, to see the beauty of his Saviour and the commands and promises He has for him! Upon this he mentioned though that this conversation wasn't an accident! He said, "Five hours ago, in a moment of desperation I called out to God saying, "God, I am far from you, I need you to send someone to talk to me". So in that single conversation God bought together two men from opposite sides of the globe, to answer two prayers, prayed in secret, for the salvation of one soul and the encouragement of another, all resounding to His glory!

There are things that won't happen if we don't pray. There are opportunities missed to praise God if we don't pray and there are priviledges in this life that we will never have in the next. In Heaven, you will never be able to tell someone who does not know Christ of the glories of the gospel. Your only hope to share Christ with an unbeliever is this side of Heaven! Why not start today?

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