December 2009
Shalom Dear Friends,
We are writing this newsletter at the end of October because we will be in Israel for the first two weeks of November. When we return, we will face a mountain of backlog (and jet lag) to work our way through. That means we will have very little time to write an entire newsletter, produce it, and distribute it in November. We thought it would be wise to get as much of ahead start as possible. Please pray that we will efficiently tackle the mountain of backlog we are working through as you read this newsletter!
UCI BOOK TABLE
We experienced an interesting Friday at the end of October. We distributed Bibles and about 300 Gospel tracts. Here are some of the highlights of the day.
Pray for the salvation of Chamsa, a very open and non-prejudiced Muslim student. Olivier talked with him for about half an hour and is planning to get together with him and continue the dialog. Please pray that the Lord will give Olivier the right words to say and that Chamsa will be open to the truth of the Gospel.
Pray for the Asian young man who literally took a tract, stopped, read it, chewed it up, and spit it out. He destroyed the tract directly in front of our book table and seemed enraged at the Gospel. I sensed deep hostility in his actions and bearing. Please pray that the Lord will heal the deep bitterness that would provoke such a reaction and bring this young man to salvation and the peace that only God can produce. This is the first time we have witnessed such and extreme reaction to the Gospel on the UCI campus.
Pray for the Jewish woman Bob talked to who is into rabbinic mysticism and refused to take an Old or New Testament. Please pray that she will change her mind, come back to our table in the near future, and ask for a Bible.
Pray for Nicole, a Jewish woman Bob talked to who took a Hebrew/English New Testament and Bob's testimony on DVD. She was biblically ignorant and said, “Mid-terms are over and now I want to spent some time studying this,” and she pointed to the Bible we had given her. Please pray that her studies will lead her to the One who is the “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
Pray for Christine, a woman who prayed to receive salvation and then wanted to find a campus ministry and/or church. In spite of keeping her friends waiting, she spent about one-half hour with Morey as he carefully worked through his Gospel presentation with her. We gave her the address of ICC and encouraged her to find a church home and to get involved with a Christian campus ministry. Please pray that she will find a good church, good fellowship, and grow in God’s grace.
Pray for the middle aged man who talked with Don for an hour and took Dr. Rydelnik’s testimony on DVD. Please pray that Dr. Rydelnik’s testimony will be used by the Lord to bring this man to faith in the Gospel.
Pray for the young woman who was led to the Lord by her friends and came to the book table for a New American Standard Bible. When I asked them when she came to faith, her girlfriends said, “Right now. Then we looked over here and there was your Bible table, so now we can get her a Bible.” They were bouncing with excitement. Please pray that they will encourage their friend to grow in the Lord.
Please continue to pray for our ongoing UCI outreach.
ISRAEL 2009
This paragraph is being written in mid-November. The Lord blessed our study tour. I will give a full report next month. Until then, please pray for these Jewish people we had contact with: Rony, one of our bus drivers who is very resentful at God; Uri, our other bus driver who became a friend to many in our group; the lady Mark talked with both on our way to Israel and on the way back two weeks later; Jeremy, a French writer who accompanied us for a day and interviewed a number of us; and finally, the Israelis who threw a barbecue for us.
FINANCES
Please pray with us that our income will be strong and solid through the end of the year.
2009 DONATIONS
END OF THE YEAR GIVING: Just a reminder that tax-deductible, end-of-year gifts must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2009.
Thanks for being part of our ministry team.
