Battle Log

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Monday afternoon's outreach was an excitement. The team have continued to find new avenues online in which they can share the gospel! Omegle is awesome and the majority of the time is spent there but the discovery has been made that people are stumbling across the live stream and they are getting to hear the good news there as well. People who have been spoken to or disconnected on Omegle have also come searching for the team on other platforms as well! God is very kind to so many!

The main part of the afternoon was taken up with an almost three hour conversation with Desert. He was shown early on how we can be certain that God exists and this was followed by a look at God's law. Then Desert asked a few more personal questions and shared some things about himself. After the next bit of conversation he came to see that we are all guilty and in very serious trouble, that our eternity is destined for Hell, if we're being judged based on our actions. Then he saw the goodness and loving kindness of God the Son that He chose to enter history, taking the form of a man and humbled Himself to the point of death, to take the punishment we deserve.

Desert saw the good news and then talked through the implications to his life as well as how we know it is true and was a patient listener at times as well as being a thoughtful speaker. It was a conversation of great length and great depth and many different topics were covered. At the end it was noted that it had been a pleasure to chat with him and he said, "I know a lot of "Christians" but I feel like you're the first actual Christian that I have met. You seem to be genuinely interested in listening and hearing me and didn't just judge me but were willing to discuss and talk that I could understand. I am really thankful for this conversation and am glad I came on here tonight, even though I wasn't expecting to have a conversation like this".

It was an exciting conversation and well worth the time. Please keep Desert in your prayer as he considereds what God has to say and starts to read the Bible for Himself!

The evening was filled with many other very exciting conversations but two quick summaries will be most encouraging.

The first was with four teenage girls and one of whom we being very rude to begin with. Though they didn't disconnect! Over the course of a twenty minute conversation each of the four of them came to be able to articulate the good news of how someone is forgiven and after talking about the life change that will take place the girl who was initially rude and hostile even apologised for the way she had spoken in the beginning!

The last conversation of the evening was with a man who initially proclaimed to be a demon but after twenty minutes of patience and encouging him to engage seriously opened up and came to discuss it seriously, coming to understand the good news for the first time in his life and was profoundly impacted. He was challenged to respond in faith knowing that it will cause him to have a total life transformation.

Please be praying for these five as well that the gospel would be the fragrance that leads to life rather than the strench of death!

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An exciting weekend of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).  Crisp but sunny days.

On Saturday I headed into the central city and decided to set up my flip chart close to the bridge of remembrance.  And I stayed in the same spot for four hours.  Initially it was a bit quiet, but as the day progressed, it became very busy.

Three other groups came to set up beside me: Falun Gong (very dedicated to street “evangelism” in Christchurch), Hare Krishna (I’ve shared the gospel with one of the leaders a number of times over the recent years, and we are friendly), and a group protesting the CCP involvement in Hong Kong.  For people walking past, they had to walk the gauntlet!  And I was right in the middle of it.

With patience, I ended up having many wonderful gospel opportunities.

One stand out involved a special conversation with a lovely Muslim lady.  I noticed her walk past me earlier in the outreach.  When she walked past a second time, she decided to take a tract from me, and I was able to start a conversation - she was mildly curious about the good person test.  Sadly, this lovely lady lost her husband just over a year ago in the Mosque shooting!  And she shed some tears in remembrance while she was talking with me.  She received my heartfelt sympathy.  She allowed me to discuss the gospel with her, but she was mildly resistant.

The other conversation that comes to mind was a long (but amicable) debate with a young man who was very intelligent - it turns out he studied physics at university.  Eventually I was able to move past his intellect and start addressing his conscience - the law is a powerful ally indeed!  But he admitted to loving his sin and was suppressing the truth.  It was fascinating watching him do it.  He denied a basis for truth, then made moral judgements, and then claimed he was the standard.  He could see the absurdity, but he didn’t want the alternative.  I eventually shut the conversation down, I was getting a headache concentrating on my discussion with him while filtering out the Hare Krishna’s and the music from the CCP protesters!  We parted on good terms, and he took a tract.

On Sunday I had two opportunities to open air preach!  In the morning I was teaching at my local church (Redemption Church) on 1 Peter 1:3-5, and just as I was coming to the end, a fire alarm went off!  I had to finish off outside without amplification!

It was also our church's monthly outreach Sunday where we wrapped up fellowship a little early so we could get into the city for gospel outreach.  There was a team of nine.  We paired up and spread out and had a wonderful time in flip chart and walk up conversations with people.  Super encouraging!

Andy had two follow up opportunities with people he had talked to on Friday.  Toby and Mark had some great opportunities - including with a group of teen boys (pictured).  Beth and Haley had a great conversation.  And Thomas had a wonderful conversation near the end on the flip chart.

To finish the outreach, we went to Cathedral Square for some open air preaching - my second opportunity! ;)

The team ended up having some wonderful one to one opportunities as well.  I finished the outreach with a couple from Canada who were very eager to talk with me, but resisted the truth I was trying to share.  They ended up disengaging - I left them to it.

Praise God for another week of gospel outreach in Christchurch!  Next week I’m taking a break from the front lines for some R&R - praise God for that.  Looking forward to recharging my batteries with my precious family and then getting back to the harvest fields!  Thank you for your prayer and support!
 

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Saturday night in the city was a thrill of an outreach! The levels of people out are basically back to normal and the result is lots of gospel conversations! The team of fourteen met up, prayed together, and spread out through King George Square and the nearby areas, seeking to engage people with the gospel.

The night was a whirlwind. In fact, after ten conversations, almost without a pause, the night was over! What an exciting three hours!

It all began with a man named Etchie. He is a Pastor's son and yet didn't know the gospel. He came to see how desperate his position is before God and that he was definitely on his way to Hell but when asked for the solution suggestion only "changing his life". He came then to hear the good news and was surprised by it. But was struggling with the challenge as he knew he wanted to hold onto his sin and the pleasure that it brings. He saw that God's rules are for his good and that no pleasure in this world is worth going to Hell for and was left with the sobering reminder, that death could come at any time and only those who trust in Christ alone, as the payment for their sin will enter Heaven.

There were six people who saw God's existence and that they were heading to Hell and then for one reason or another left. First were two guys who were trying to justify their sin and kept being shown how we know God exists and at one point, upon realising how serious this rejection was they left. Next was a "Mormon" girl and her bf who saw the gospel in part but said they preferred to live their own way and last was Jack and Jay, two Aussie guys who were a little intoxicated and ended up leaving without the answer to their biggest problem.

A brief chat with four teens, enabled them to piece together the good news of the gospel for the first time and ended with them being challenged to consider the seriousness of this response. But this was followed by a conversation with three Muslim men.

The first was a professing Christian, who went asked could not explain what Jesus said the way to Heaven was. The next was an immensely proud Muslim who had many words but every time he was scrutinised it was shown that all his bold claims were based on very little. He also kept trying to avoid the most important question, "How can someone who is guilty and deserves Hell not end up there".

He kept attacking the Bible as reliable but was constantly shut down with simple questions about it. The first time he raised it, he was asked if he'd read it? He said no. It was pointed out that it was unwise to criticise something you haven't read. He raised it again, he was asked what language it was written in. Again he didn't know. It was pointed out that it was probably unwise to criticise something he knows very little about. This repeated itself. At one point he said, "I know the Bible more than you". He was asked if he could summarise the main point of the Bible, how a guilty person gets to Heaven and again he had no answer. It was pointed out, that making claims, regarding something he knew nothing about was not a wise idea.

Finally as it came to a head, the trio was shown, that God declare Himself as just and yet they believed that He wouldn't uphold justice. They declare God as merciful and yet they argued that God would "let people off" based on merit. And lastly, they had no answer to how God paid for their sin, so that He could forgive. They were too resistant and would constantly avoid the question and sadly they didn't get to hear the good news.

But the finale was intense. The "leader" declared that Jesus never claims to be God. He was challenged, "If I can be demonstrated where Jesus claims to be God, would you at least listen to what He declares is the way of salvation?" He agreed begrudgingly and then the group listened to John 10:27-33.

The first two verses were read, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

They were asked, "Who gives them eternal life?" (Jesus, and it was pointed out that only God has the power to give eternal life) and "Whose hands are the sheep in?" (Jesus' hands). Then the next verse was read, " My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

It was re-iterated, "Whose hands are the sheep in?". This time it says, "The Father's hand". The point, Jesus and the Father have the same "hands". They both together have the sheep in their hands because as Jesus says in the next verse, "I and the Father are one". At this moment, their anger was rising but to emphasise the next two verses were read, with the question asked, "How did the hearers of this respond?"

"The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The final nail in the coffin, "Why did the Jews try to stone Jesus?"

The final verse was read, "The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”"

They had no argument, they had no answer, the only thing the ringleader could get out of the overflow of his heart to his mouth, "That is utter #$^%%#$".

He had nothing. The text was clear, Jesus declares Himself as the one who gives eternal life, one with the Father and they left in anger, cursing the God who gave them life, pursing an idol who cannot save. It was made clear to these men over the course of the discussion that the desperate desire for them was that they would not end up in Hell. Please be praying that would be the case, that they really would consider the fatal flaws of their idol and come to the true and living God who is able to uphold justice, give mercy and forgive sinners based on His own righteous work, in the person of Jesus Christ!

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Thursday and Friday are my two busiest outreach days of the week.  Glory to God, by his strength, we have made it through. :)

Thursday started with some Online evangelism.  I had two fascinating conversations.

The first was with a guy who was happy to discuss the gospel (and related concepts) but who just struggled to understand what I was saying.  I had to step back and take different avenues to try to bring clarity.  And I just had to labour with this guy - which is understandable and fine.  We need to be patient with people.  Eventually, he was able to articulate some facts of the gospel to me, but I’m not sure if it was really taking hold.

The next guy I talked to was playing a computer game at the same time!  So he was distracted by that.  Yet he still engaged with me, and to my amazement, he seemed to grasp what I was saying pretty much instantly - answering my checking questions pretty much flawlessly!

It was an important reminder that the people we share with are complex and very different.  We need to be attuned to them as a person when we are talking to them, and be willing to patiently labour with them on the most important subject anyone will wrestle with: what happens after life.

In the afternoon Andy & I were at the bus stops: Eastgate and Northlands.

I had a hard moment, where I was talking with a young female high school student.  The traffic driving past was busy and backed up.  Suddenly, a lady in a car called out: “Excuse me, are you ok?”  She was talking to the girl, and the implication was obvious.  The girl was as surprised as me and said: “yes, I’m fine?”  I looked at the lady in the car, she glared at me, then drove off.  I was deeply hurt by this, but sadly it comes with the territory.  Thankfully I was able to finish my gospel conversation with the girl.  She smiled and thanked me as she walked off.

Also, I had a follow up conversation with a young male high school student.  He said he had seen a video of me on the Internet (trying to bring the gospel to the issue of abortion outside the hospital).  He seemed supportive (“you have every right to do what you are doing”).  But I also felt sad.  It’s not easy standing up for what is right.

On Friday we were outside the hospital for our usual gospel + abortion outreach.  A team of six which was encouraging.  We had the usual attacks, but nothing serious.  Someone called the Police and they came to have a chat with us.  They confirmed that we weren’t doing anything wrong - which is encouraging.  We will continue to be salt and light in our society in this regard - no matter the opposition.

Marty, Andy and I all open air preached in the Square.

Later some wonderful gospel conversations occurred in Cashel Mall.

I was having a wonderful conversation on the flip chart with two ladies, but then I had three high school kids stand right next to them - obviously wanting to talk to me.  The two ladies ignored them and continued to engage in the gospel conversation we were having.

Once the two ladies had moved on, I was able to talk to the high schoolers.  I’ve talked to at least one of them before.  Sadly, they were there to “take me on”.  They knew about my work standing against abortion (they went to the same high school as the girls who had attacked us outside the hospital two weeks ago), and wanted to argue.  But they weren’t being logical.  I gently tried to bring this up, but one of them just said, “what is logic?”  I refused to really engage them for this reason.  I’m not there to have shouting matches.  I was frustrated, but I just tried to show that I cared for them, and tried to explain why.  Oh God, please use our feeble efforts for your glory.  Change people’s hearts by your gospel, Lord.

Later, Mike and I headed out for the evening outreach.  There were a lot of people out and about - very encouraging.  We had many wonderful gospel opportunities.  We even encountered a Christian who had watched American Gospel on Netflix and was challenged and pondering - praise God.

The highlight from the evening outreach was an engagement with a guy and girl who were out distributing flyers for a strip club.  We had two encounters during the night.  The first was when they interrupted a potential gospel conversation.  Then at the end of the night we got into a direct conversation with them.  My initial reaction was to be snarky - but, praise God, I stopped myself.  Because we got into a wonderful conversation with both of them.  I could tell they were surprised by the way we were talking to them (gently, respectfully, yet faithfully).  We ended up talking for about fifteen minutes on various topics, including the gospel.  One of them said they would get in touch, and the other asked to take some of my tracts to distribute!

So, a wonderful two days of ministry - not without sadness, and many mistakes (Lord, forgive us!).  I can’t wait to be in heaven with our Lord, but till then be encouraged to reach out with the gospel, no matter the cost!
 

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Friday's outreach was a cracker! What an exciting outreach filled with conversations. It started with a text chat, then with three incredible video chats and all eight participants came to profess faith!

The text chat was with a guy who said that he was a Christian and then through discussion came to grasp the gospel and was challenged and said, "It all makes sense now!" - He even said that he would start reading his Bible today (unprompted).

The end of that overlapped with a video chat with Jack and Everett. Everett was less sure of himself than Jack. Jack kept saying the answers or whispering them to Everett. But it was pointed out that we don't get to whisper answers to one another on judgement day and it would be better to not know the answer now and have a chance to understand individually then to be caught short on judgement day, not believing because they didn't understand.

Over the course of the conversation the pair came to comprehend the gospel clearly and were saying that, "Today we will believe that Jesus paying for our sin is the only thing that will get us to Heaven". Everett said he wanted to start reading his Bible to know how God wants him to live and they were even encouraged to share with their friends.

Next was a conversation with four Americans! There were professing some level of faith and then had their hopes smashed regarding their own goodness as they were shown God's standard of perfection and His law! They realised they were in desperate trouble and even said, "So no one goes to Heaven then?" Then the good news was proclaimed and it hit home!

They got it, each of them at different stages able to explain the way to Heaven and why a Christian desires to obey God. It was exciting to see that they stuck around, were seriously engaged and then came to hear to good news professing to believe it this very day! On top of that, they were encouraged to take this message and share it onward with their friends as well.

Lastly was a chat with Aaliyah, she to professed to be a Christian and then came to grasp the gospel. Upon understanding it, there was a moment as a final check when she was asked, "What would you say to God if He asked you, "Why should I let you into Heaven?"". Aayliah responded by saying, "I know I deserve Hell but Jesus has taken the punishment that I deserve". It was a beautiful moment and a great display that she really had grasped it!

She was then asking questions about how she could specifically evangelise to her Muslim friend who lived on the other side of the world! It was wonderful to hear her so quickly thinking about how to share the good news and was given some simple resources for this.

What an exciting string of conversations, displaying God's incredible kindness, that people who had intended to waste time of act sinfully had been confronted with the gospel and by all outward signs, had their hearts changed and profess faith in Christ!

Please be praying for those who heard that today would be the day of salvation, they this wouldn't just be knowledge but that they would trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins!

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Tuesday and Wednesday saw me in Riccarton, the central city, and online.

Riccarton is new to me now.  With the road works complete, I have easy access to bus stops similar to Eastgate and Northlands.  There is much opportunity for the gospel.

I was walking down Riccarton Road and I saw two high schoolers.  As usual, I directly but confidently asked them what they thought happened after life and was quickly into a gospel conversation.  They were engaged and open.  They were from a Catholic high school, so I was very surprised when one of them got the question, “what do you have to do to get to heaven?” right!  It turns out this young man actually has a protestant background.  But they were both still keen to go through the law and the gospel with me.  And they were very appreciative of the conversation.

Later I approached a group of young people and offered them tracts and got into a conversation.  Sadly, it turns out they were all stoned.  I could tell I was wasting my time trying to engage them.  I hope to have an opportunity to talk to them in the future.

I asked a teen couple that were passing what they thought would happen after life.  They smiled and said they had already had a long conversation with me a year ago.  So I asked, “So what do you have to do to get to heaven?”  The guy looked at me blankly for a second, then said, “you have to be a good person.”  Wrong answer sadly.  They didn’t want to stop and stepped into a shop and were gone.

I was able to share with three guys on skateboards.  None of them had had a religious upbringing, and they were happy to engage in gospel conversation.  They seemed to understand the logic, but sadly didn’t seem too interested.

I was able to chat with a Muslim guy who had tragically lost six friends in the mosque shootings last year! :(  He seemed challenged by our brief conversation, but didn’t have the time to stay.  He said he would read the tract I gave him.

I ended the outreach with a thoughtful young man who believed in reincarnation and denied a personal creator.  I challenged him by explaining how he knew there was a personal creator.  He seemed to enjoy the brief conversation, and said he would read the tract.

Wednesday afternoons outreaches started in Cathedral Square.  The Christians I had met the previous week were there again: open air preaching, handing out tracts, and engaging people in conversations.  I listened to some of the preaching and I was very impressed.

I managed to get into a lovely conversation with a rough looking guy.  He had been deeply impacted by the JWs, and he liked to talk, so I had to patiently listen to him.  It was fascinating getting a fresh insight into the implications of this deeply works based religion.

Whenever I got a chance to talk, I tried to move the conversation to the reality of hell, and the good news of Jesus and justification by faith.  At one point, I was explaining how wicked I was - and he stopped me.  “You aren’t wicked.”, he said.  And so I had another opportunity to explain from Matthew 5 the serious nature of sin.  Compared to a murderer - we look good, but compared to God, who sees anger like we look on murder - we look, well: wicked.

I then explained how a wicked person, like me, can go to heaven.  I think it was having an impact.  He took four different copies of gospel tracts from me.

Later, I joined the Aussie team for some online outreach.

Today I had a great run.  My very first conversation (no skips first), was with a young Catholic guy who was hoping he would go to heaven.  He heard the gospel, and proclaimed he would trust that Jesus had paid his hell fine from today - even after considering the cost.  I pointed him to a local church.

I then got into a wonderful conversation with a physicist!  Whoever it was (their camera was off) didn’t want to talk, just type, but they were a very fast typist.  We had a very amicable conversation.  They were a dream Omegle pairing.  I had to be very patient, but I was able to swing the conversation to the law.  But sadly, I became distracted, and that killed the conversation - I wasn’t able to share the gospel.  But I did tell them about needGod.net.

I had a number of other great conversations.  I give God all the glory for a fantastic outreach.
 

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Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday June 10, 2020 from 1300-1500

It was yet another day full of the amazing grace of God.

First , God stop the rain for us to have a window of about 80 minutes to do our street ministry. Despite the rain came again at around fifteen past two pm  to cut our work short, He already left behind numerous if not a major three amazing stories(Chats 2, 5, and 7) for His glory sake. OK, let me count our blessings one by one:

1) A much bigger team than expected had turned out with 3 more apart from Johnny and Hung, i.e. Ann Yeo, Col and Gary.

2) Great team work

2.1 One of our team mate  got rejected but other unknowingly still approach notwithstanding to the initial rejection and got a great turn around of acceptance for a long and deep chat fruit bearing chat. ie the Chat (3) with Madam Wang from China.

2.2 Some one already approached before but did a follow up chat with an effect of confirmation of their faith status/progress. i.e. Chat (1) with the Taiwanese lady, & Chat (5) with Kaspar from Estonia

3) Changing hard heart for some but not all as per Chat (6) and Chat (7)

All team members have good chat, especially Johnny whom I normally paired up to keep on watch for each other including taking pictures.

As for me, I had 7 divine appointments within the cut short ministry time of 80 minutes.

1) Taiwanese lady talked to Johnny before

Johnny yelled out to a lady in a distance from the sloped ram of the pedestrian path to get her attention yet the lady seemed to have given a dead ear making no response. I suggested to Johnny may be she is a Filipino. Anyhow I just managed to check her out to see if she would like me to chat with her in English. But surprisingly, she is a Taiwanese and claimed she actually had chatted with Johnny before Covid-19. That was why Johnny failed to recognized her. It was a pity that I did not have long enough time to do a thorough follow up, but my gut feeling is she is still receptive and in pursuant to the gospel or else she would have refused to talk with me.

2) Mary an Asia woman with an Aussie husband

The lady took the tract despite the Aussie Husband did not show interest. I nevertheless still invited them for a chat and again the Husband refused to stop, so I compromised by sharing the gospel while walking with them across the bridge. The Asian lady appeared very impressed for the message and thanks for my sharing. God really has His sovereign right to chose and elect people that He knows are within his net of grace.

3) Wang from North Eastern China with her daughter

They were waiting for 590 that takes long interval lap time to come. I did not know this but anyway was moved to approach them. The mother Madam Wang delightfully chatted with me. Soon she found out I am from HKG and she said how come you Hong Kongers are all so keen to share the Gospel to strangers? I had to clarify did she mean people in HKG but she said she encountered many Hongkongers here all enthusiastically try to share gospel to her. (Ha Ha, would this include Carol, of the Great Commission Church ,Thomas of the Gospel Hall in Southport and Thomas of the Living Water Alliance Church?) I commented that definitely not only Hongkongers but many more Christians from different places like Johnny from Taiwan and our local Aussie OPN 513 mates.  I explained to her, as a Christian, our overarching objective is to share the gospel to as many people as possibly irrespective of races. I shared with her before receiving Christ, the fight for democracy was my top priority mission, but now Living and testifying for Christ always comes before my support for HKG. I will still exercise my right to stand up and voice out for our struggle for freedom of speech and a democratic life style for HKG, but I will leave the result in God's hand. I told her that actually we don't hate mainlander, we are against only the rogue regime. On the contrary, I love to learn and know about customs, cultural legacy of China by watching their TV programs with a side objective of brushing up my Mandarin. So, I think my genuine sharing and relating with her as a mainlander really dissolve the iceberg in between us. She happily listen to the full gospel and acknowledge she understand and is willing to accept the gift of eternal life from Jesus. Please pray for her eventual decision to receive Christ only under the deep soul touching work of the Holy Spirit that had been working amongst us to accept and closely connected with each other as the people of the historical mother land of China.

What made this gospel sharing appeared even more amazing was that I learnt later from Johnny that he received an outright rejection to talk when he approached her just less than 10 minutes ago. So, God did have a better timing and a better tactic to guide me to move her by  associating with her as kinship of Chinese people with no regard to political stance.

4) Nic walk and talk

A tall local Aussie initially avoided to stop and talk, but finally let me to use the walk and talk tactic to finish sharing the Gospel. His attitude greatly changed at the end and appreciated my companion and the tract.

5) Kaspar from Estonia

This was yet and other miracle today. I shared this with Johnny after we were stopped by the rain and chatted inside Sunny Park. As well I just copied what he shared in Chinese and what Ryan has translated it in English.

“We met one young man from Estonia, God had several 513 brothers to preach the gospel to him on the Omegle chat platform on the internet, today Col also preached him the gospel at Sunnybank, and Pastor Kwan asked him, "do you believe it?” he said, "I believe!”

6) Refused by a Buddhist lady while she seemed to be waiting for some one on the pedestrian bridge. She even resorted to leaving the bridge to avoid me and refused to take a tract.

7) Then just before the rain started pouring down again, I stopped an Indian couples and handed the husband a tract. He took it and read it briefly while crossing the car park to look for shelter from the down pour. He walked with a running steps far ahead of his wife. Initially I tried to follow him to get him stop under shelter for a chat, but I slowed down instead to accompany his wife who appeared to have difficulty to run in her Indian costume on the slippy ground.  Without knowing why the husband suddenly and rudely returned the tract to me, I said you could keep it and read it at home if you did not want to chat now under the rain. He anyway still insisted to return it to me and left with his wife into the shopping mall. A miracle happened 20 minutes later after I sat down to chat with Johnny inside Sunny Park. This Indian husband returned and approached me to ask me to give him again the tract politely. He did this with intention as he saw me and Johnny sitting there so he walked directly into us with his wife watching him to do this. I guess, his wife was impressed by my unintentional care for her slowing down to walk with her under the rain on the slippy car park ground. God did not let me chat with them any more but I am sure life witness is better than  a thousand word.  I am sure God may have His special grace for this couples especially the Indian Wife.

May all glory be to God for all the amazing things He has done and let us play a part in it.

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On Wednedsay the team had a wonderful day of outreach! It was filled with many exciting conversations! But there were four great ones in a row, so here is a brief summary.

The first was with an 11 yr old young guy who saw the seriousness of his sin and was visibly worried but heard the good news and was so thankful for it! Upon grasping it he realised he wanted to consider it further and it turned out he had a Bible. His father three years prior had picked up a Gideons Bible from a hotel room and so he grabbed it and said he would read it.

Next was two girls, Mia and Zakia. They saw that God exists and they are guilty and realised this was not good news. When asked for the solution they concluded, "Oh is there any way to get to Heaven?" Then they heard the good news and was challenged, excited to have heard it and were left pondering the implications of how their life would change upon trusting that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin was the only thing getting them into Heaven.

This was followed by two guys who were in a very similar boat. They also grasped it and saw the bad news, comprehended the good news and were serious about trusting that Jesus had paid for their sin this very day. When asked about the implications for them they said, "We won't want to sneak out tonight as we were planning". They were exceedingly clear on salvation being by faith alone but also grasped the impact they would have on their lives.

Lastly was a slower chat with Ryan and Brent, But with a little bit of effort the pair came to see that previously they had not been trusting that Jesus paid for their sin as the only reason they were going to Heaven, rather they hadn't yet understood it and worse yet were looking to other religions and what the world had to offer as their hope. When finally it became clear that prior to this moment they were in big trouble and that Christ alone can provide the eternal life He promises they made a basic profession that they would start believing it.

Please be praying for these seven, that this gospel comprehension would result in justifying faith and that their lives would be genuinely changed as a result as they desire to live for the God who saved them. And with the fields being ripe for harvest, why not consider joining us sometime, God may even use you to bring someone to a saving knowledge of the truth!

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Tuesday's outreach online was wonderful! And was marked by two most exciting conversations!

The first with Chase, had a slow start as he was proposing some of his own ideas. Then it came to light that he had recently in the last twelve months, been asking questions about Christianity to his local church who hadn't really been able to answer his questions and so he had pursued his sin and left Christianity.

But then paired with the team on Omegle and he firstly came to grasp the gospel in it's fullness and came to see how Christianity isn't a religion based on fear but salvation is a free gift from God and is based on love. Then the life and obedience of a Christian is a gratefulness and love based response to the salvation that has been provided.

Chase then asked all of his questions and over the next hour had each of them answered, simply and clearly and he responded after all the answers, "Wow, I think this is the first time in my life when I don't have questions! You've really given me something to think about"!

He was then asked if he'd read his Bible and said he'd never opened it in his life, he was encouraged to do so because the vast majority of the answers came as direct quotations or at the very least paraphrases. He was surprised by this and said he would start reading for himself!

It was an exciting conversation and he was encouraged to consider further as he read!

The next conversation was with three late teen girls. They were havving a sleep over, laying outside on the trampoline and had their whole world turned upside down! They saw God's existence and their minds were blown! At this moment one girl was like, "WHOA you've just change my whole understanding!"

Then seeing their guilt and that they deserve Hell and then grasping the gospel they had a second outburst of joy! One blurting out, "OH MY, THAT IS SUCH GOOD NEWS!" and another said, "WOW I've just changed my mind, we're cancelling our plans to go and party this weekend and instead we're going to church!"

They came to see the seriousness of their eternity, understanding the good news that God has to offer and were keen to learn more, saying that they would read their Bibles to find out more. These girls talked about some serious things in their lives that they knew they would want to stop doing but just as the discussion of implications to how they will live in the future was raised a possum dropped out of the tree above them, landed on the trampoline and some loud screams began.

The conversation was interrupted, they were left with the link to needGod.net. Please be praying that these three girls would be serious about this good news, trusting in Christ alone for their forgiveness and as a result be totally changed people, desiring to share the gospel with their friends, rather than joining them to sin.

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Monday on Omegle was another double outreach. It was exciting to see people from all over the world come to hear the good news about how a sinner who deserves Hell can be made right before God and end up in Heaven!

One of the first conversations of the day was with Sia a man from Adelaide, just on Omegle during a lunch break. He had a Muslim background but was surprisingly humble and honest about himself. He acknowledged that it hadn't worked and he was just living his own way. He saw God's goodness demands justice and therefore that sin cannot go unpunished. He saw that mercy can't be merited and therefore he was in very serious trouble!

He then came to hear the good news of salvation that is offered to guilty people, on the basis of God Himself, coming, living perfectly and dying sacrificially taken the wrath of God for those who believe. He was shocked! In fact he went on to say, "I grew up in a Christian school and all my years there no one ever really explained this to me but I am glad you did".

He said that he would definitely look into it further and was thankful for the conversation!

On the livestream through the afternoon there were some encouraging chats and some sad ones. God ultimately glorifies Himself through the salvation or condemnation of sinners and the Christian never ultimately knows the destiny of those who are spoken to. One exceedingly sad conversation was with two girls who were totally spiritually blind. They would propose things that contradicted themselves, were purposely trying to avoid understanding very simple concepts and were incredibly hostile to God, despite by their own mouths declaring that He doesn't exist.

They showed by their actions that they were certain of His existence and it wasn't an intellectual thing but a moral hatred and outrage. sadly they weren't able to comprehend clearly any of the most simple truths of Christianity but were looking for any excuse. They were left with the challenge to check out needGod.net. Please be praying that they do, and read it because they can't argue with a website and God may use it to reveal Himself to them.

Lastly were two men who were in a similar state of mind and yet had quite different responses. The first man was distracted through the conversation, able to give the correct answers but totally unmoved. The second man was initially distracted and took a little while longer to comprehend it but he was visibly moved.

He went on to share that he has never thought about the afterlife before this conversation but this had really opened his eyes (even mentioning that he had changed his mind) and that he would trust that Jesus paid for his sin and start reading his Bible to find out how God wants him to live!

It was a very encouraging conversation and a great finale to the days outreach!

Please be praying for all those who heard this good news, as well as those mentioned that they would see their position without Christ, trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sin and therefore love and serve God with their lives, as the one who saved them!

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