Battle Log

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday Sept 16, 2020 from 1300 -1500

It was a day of grace that I received heavenly rewards by meeting with many ex-Gospel conversation targets who recognized me and showed their appreciation and encouragement.

As usual , we worked as a team with the regular team mates Johnny and Gary. God made us work seamlessly supplementing each other to get those initial rejective people turning to receptive on our 2nd approach by another team mates. We all had almost non-stop opportunities to chat. Recap below was my personal battle log of 12 persons/groups: -

1) A Chinese young girl who claimed to be non religious not willing to enter into a conversation, but God still opened her a bit to let me just touch base on the Gospel before the bus came.

2) After seeing that Girl off, I noticed a lady in mask looked at me with a grin smile. Actually she took initiative to greet me and said we met before. With so many people met every week, I asked if it was last week or last month. She laughingly said it was two years ago in 2018 and prompted me that we had a long chat on matter about mission. Then my vague memory came back that it was Moon Suk a Korean Christian Girl who are curious in mission work and admire our persistence to do street evangelism every week. She said she actually had been watching out during the past two years and noticed we are the rare Asians amongst the local Westerners to preach Gospel to people of all nations on the street competing with the Mormon who are active here. She said she is a member of the Korea Presbyterian Church in Sunnybank. We parted with blessing for each other to continuously serving our Lord as led by Him. (Johnny later told me, Moon Suk declined to take tract and did not stop. So he was a bit curious how come she was willing to talk to me)

3) An elderly man from Sichuan called Luo Tsang. 老曾四川信徒 He was not keen to take tract or chat but when I noticed his accent of Sichuan, and associated with him by my 3.5 year Earth quake relief work from 2008 to 2011, he then opened up to admit he is a Christian. It was a pity there was not enough time for me to diagnosis on his assurance of salvation, which I can only give him the Benefit of the doubt. and pray that he would not remain stagnant on his spiritual growth.

4) Ellen and another HKG girl both were not very keen initially but showed more interest when we found that we are from Hongkong. They have no religious belief. They came here as working holiday and had done hard yard at Bundaberg which gave me another affiliation with them. I shared the gospel to them in brief before the bus arrived. Hope the message and the tract will do the job.

5) David Wu, an ex-GCCCC now a SIC member, also took initiative to greet me. I was at a loss to recall who he is. Finally I came to the knowledge that he was the Kairos graduate at GCCCC in 2015 and had removed up to Brisbane in 2017 to buy up the Physiotherapy clinic from Alice Poon. Pray that his sense of Bottom Line blessing to reach out to people of other nations will be carried out through his work practice at Time Square.

6) Sebastian from Arlee beach near Townsville but moved to Brisbane 7 years ago. He answered my diagnosis question correctly to prove that he is a fair dinkum Christian. I encouraged him to do likewise to share the gospel to more people around.

7) Victoria a mum with two kids who is local Aussie but with Italian and British parents. So she is adaptative to cross cultural relationship building. She is non- religious, but found the gospel sensible and logical to take heed of the salvation offered by Jesus. I encourage her to read the tract and make the decision as guided by the Spirit first so that she can help her two children to get saved as well.

8) A young lady from Canton China who was on a rush to work.鍾廣州來很久沒信仰感謝 She allowed me to walk across the Pedestrian foot bridge with her so as to share the gospel in this short time gap. She thanked me at the end and promised to give a heavy thought of the salvation of Jesus.

9) An Indian boy was happy to listen to the Gospel but was cut short by the arrival of the bus. Pray that he will read the tract and we can meet in future.

10) Teresa a Taiwanese student coming here to study but uses her spare time to do bulk purpose for shipping back to Taiwan. I met here last week. She was first approached by Johnny, but quickly we recognized each other and continued on chatting along. She showed great interest in Gospel and asked me to have her more tracts to hand out to her friend. She bided me good bye and looking forwards to meeting me same time next week.

11) Two Japanese couples took the tract but did not stop to chat

12) A Vietnamese girl I chatted last week or so stopped to greet. Just had a few words to encourage her to keep pursuing for eternal life.

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On Tuesday, to get myself going, I started with an online text chat, and it didn’t start well:

You: In the same way, we know there is a universe maker, that had no maker that made this universe
Stranger: <bleep> and stop spreading that <bleep>
You: It is hope
You: Because God is so rich in mercy
Stranger: no it is <bleep>
You: Why the anger and hate?
Stranger: because you are trying to force me to believe in something i don't
You: Impossible
You: I can't force anything on you.

I ignored the toys being thrown out of the cot and persisted, and surprisingly the person calmed down a bit:

Stranger: wait time out can i ask a question

Amazingly, I was able to share the gospel!  Yet they were still very resistant.  Eventually they opened up about suicide - and I was able to speak words of hope before they disconnected on me.

I then switched to video chat and had a number of conversations.  The final one went long.  I was talking to a guy from India early in the conversation he asked me about “batting”.  I instantly knew he liked cricket - something I enjoy myself!  Instantly the conversation became very warm.  We talked about cricket players from New Zealand and India for a while.  But I brought the conversation back to spiritual matters.  He heard the gospel.  But the concept of justification by faith alone was so foreign to this guy, that I would explain it to him, and then ask him to explain it back, and he would instantly revert to his goodness as why he would be justified!  He was open, and so I took the time to labour with him.

Later, there was a team of four in Riccarton - Roger had two friends with him.  We had a good time sharing the gospel with a number of people.

The highlight conversation for me was with an older guy who had been with the Jehovah’s Witnesses for three years - but he “couldn’t hack the pace”.  He was very aware of the fact that he wasn’t a good person, so I was able to focus on the good news of the gospel, and labour with him on it.  He came to understand (checking questions confirming) and really appreciated the chat.  I gave him follow up contact details - oh Lord, change his heart!

Wednesday was sunny, but there was a strong wind.  I’m glad I didn’t have my flip chart!

I started in Cathedral Square.  I approached all the construction workers.  A lot of them said they had already received tracts and weren’t interested in talking.  But I persisted and one of the Phillipino guys opened up to a chat.  I didn’t have long with him, as he had to go to work, but I was able to share the gospel.

I started to move towards Cashel Mall when I encountered a fellow evangelist, and we ended up sitting down for a brief chat of encouragement.  In the middle of the conversation three people walked past, and I suddenly decided to engage them.  One was not interested, another so so, but the third decided to take me on.  It was quite a fiery conversation - he was very resistant to the logic I was presenting.  I soon discovered why.  He had been a Christian for ten years, and it hadn’t worked out for him.  I instantly asked him what Christianity was about - specifically, what you have to do to go to heaven.  Unsurprisingly he explained how you need to go to church, and be a good person, and maybe you would go to heaven.  I told him he had never understood what Christianity was.  His comeback was, “I was taught by good Southern Baptists”.  Inwardly I sighed.  He’d had enough and decided to disengage.  We parted on good terms and with hand shakes.  To my surprise, he accepted a gospel tract!

From there I started walking towards Ara.  At the basketball court on Manchester street, I saw a guy with a camera and decided to approach.  We fell into an easy conversation.  It turns out he was American and worked with the Antarctic program.  He heard the gospel, but he wasn’t interested.

To finish the day, I was back online with the Aussie team.  I had two highlight conversations:

The first was with a guy from South America.  Using Google Translate, he came to understand the gospel.  But then he asked: And what if I am bisexual?  A very good question, I was honest yet loving in how I answered.  Sadly he disconnected.

The other one was with someone who didn’t show their video and only typed in reply to what I was saying.  He heard the gospel, and then I started working through the checking questions, explaining repentance, and the cost of trusting Jesus died for our sin.

I started talking as though Jesus had died for his sin.  I asked him when he had done that, his response: 5 mins ago.  So I pointed him to a Bible and to a local church: 9marks.org/church-search/  He is from Toronto in Canada.

He then started asking questions, e.g.:
Stranger: i don't wanna be rude but are u from new zealand or australia?
Stranger: does it cost money to go to church?
Stranger: are u at a church right now?

So a wonderful couple of days filled with gospel conversations.  The gospel is so wonderful, and I’m blessed to listen to it time and again as I try to explain it to people.  Thank you for your support of this work in Christchurch (NZ).
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on Tuesday September 14, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

It was a sunny Spring afternoon that was perfect for street Evangelism with the four of us like last week, i.e. Johnny, Winnie, Yan and Hung serving again as a team. God did again teach us a good lesson of team work that we supplemented each others unknowingly under the directorship of God to make no one escape His pre-destine election.

I was able to watch the trace of God's work as a sideline- observer because I managed to let Winnie take up most of the available opportunities. For at least four occasions, God moved Winnie to approach the 2nd time with success for those either having rejected the initial approach by the Johnny and Yan team at the Traffic light outpost, or those who even had rejected Winnie first approach. I believed it is not done in flesh as normally we will give up when rejected once. But because it is the work of God, so as His obedient servants, we will be sensitive to God's direction against our human reaction in flesh. As a result, Winnie had got an amazing count of nine divine appointments occasion to share the gospel. Both Johnny and I had our chance though lesser in number. For example I only had 6 chances. But all of them served the purpose of God to either doing follow up with people we contacted before or getting chance to learn the mind set of Muslim which may be helpful for my future handling of Muslim background non-believers.

1) Jerrod reminded me he met me before. He still had the tract in his back pack that he had not yet read. Then I recalled I did not have enough time to finish the gospel last time. So it was perfect for me to pick up from where we left off last time and finished the gospel sharing this time. So it was God who made our 2nd encounter happen to serve His purpose to save Jerrod.

2) Then I approached Lily she alo said she had chatted with Winnie last week. I did the needed follow up to make sure she fully understood her need for Jesus as her saviour.

3) Then I talked to a Caribbean girl just in time before the bus came. She took the tract which I was determined to give her to make sure that the message I shared will be reinforced by the tract.

4) A South American lady took the tract but had to rush away to avoid further chat.

5) Another Chinese girl could only take the tract as the bus came that ended our conversation right away.

6) Finally, I saw a Middle East look person who took the tract from Johnny but did not stop for a chat. Instead he started reading the tract when he walked to the bus stop. He read the tract seriously so I waited until he finished. Instead of letting me to evangelize him, Jiam declared he is a Muslim and taking the initiative to elaborate on the differences of doctrine between Islam and Christianity. I opined that this was again God's design to let me know from a Muslim perspective about their faith so that I can find a better angle to evangelize Muslim in the future.

Basically Muslims deem that Allah God have the full power to forgive sin. As long as human admit we are sinner, simply ask for direct forgiveness from God should be enough. Noticed here that Muslim has no sense of the need for taking punishment of our sin. God's verbal approval is good enough for anyone one's sins be waived. Also in Muslim belief, God only cares about major sin that we have really acted them out. For all other trivial sins especially those that remain as thought but no real act of crime. They will not be counted. So this mind set would fit best in the Good person scenario. The more good work we have done the better chance we can earn forgiveness from God on major sins. I will never learn this Muslim mindset if not prompted by God to let this friendly Muslim guy to tell it to me.

感謝主今天的带领，讓我可以傳福音给十人。，

第一位是中国少女， Lisa 願意想想耶穌基督的愛。(*)

(*) She declined the approach by Yan but was intercepted by Winnie not knowing she had rejected to even taking the tract.

第二位是香港來的青年，偉行。初時不願意接受單章，當他們坐下，我行過去問他們是否認識耶穌基督。他的朋友不願意聽，行開了，而他願意留下聽我講的，願意接受免费禮物，到教會尋求更多真理。

第三位，澳洲女士，Anne從 Darwin來的。明白救恩，願意去教會尋求真理。

第四位，中国少女。Mary, 當我講完福音给她，巴士到達。

第五位，中国青年，古賓，聽完福音後，需要時間想想。

第六位，澳洲女士，Lilian. 初時不願意聽，後來當她停下查看巴士時間，我便行過去，問她是否認識耶穌基督，當我講完福音後，她説她是基督徒，每周都去教會，每天都有禱告。我問她願意傳福音给其他人，她説可以，我便给她單章。

第七位是印度女士推着婴儿车，初時亦不肯聽福音，當她坐下，我便問及她是否認識耶稣基督，跟着傳福音给她。

第八位，是印度夫婦，當我講完福音，巴士到達。

第九位是澳洲老人，我也是問及他是否認識耶稣基督，他説不認識。我便傳福音给他。

感謝主的教導，今天我所學到的功課，就是如果他們不接受單章，當他們停下來時，如果不反對，便可以馬上傳福音给他們。 感謝讚美主

 

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I really enjoyed my two hour outreach on Saturday morning in front of the Bridge of Remembrance.  It was a cool morning, but nice and sunny.  There seems to be a different demographic of people on Saturday morning at this spot - I think that’s part of the reason why I enjoy it so much - it’s different.

I had three long gospel chats, and three smaller interactions in the two hour outreach.

The Hare Krishnas were out.  There were two evangelists at the same spot as me.  I approached one to talk.  The guy recognised my flip chart from up north where he lives.  He was nice, but didn’t want to waste time with me.

I then had an older man stop to talk.  My opening question of “what do you think happens after life” seemed to intrigue him.  He said he wouldn’t normally stop to talk about that, but he was waiting for someone.  We ended up having a good long chat where I calmly listened, and gently gave reasons for the hope within me.  He heard the law, and the amazing good news of Jesus.  He was resistant, but something kept him from leaving.  Eventually his phone rang - it was the person he was to meet, that ended our conversation.  He left with a tract I had handed him during our chat.

A guy was curious about the flip chart, and I was able to start a conversation with him.  He kept trying to steer the conversation into conspiracy theories.  Each time I would cut him off with the reality of a deeper problem: that we will all die one day.  And then move back to explaining why.  He disengaged, but left with a tract.

The next chat was special.  It was with an Asian lady.  This was probably the longest conversation of the morning.  She had Christian friends that had impacted her, but she wasn’t willing to commit herself.  She ended up asking very deep questions, without even realising it.  Like, why is God only merciful to some people.  I calmly, logically, and biblically addressed her questions, and kept coming back to the gospel.  She was trying to work out why I would spend so much time doing what I do, in the face of so much rejection.  The answer is Jesus.  I love Jesus.  And he has asked me to go and tell people about him - what other motivation do I need?  I warned her that she may not have another opportunity to accept the gift of eternal life provided by Jesus.  I pleaded with her to respond to the gospel today.  She also left with a gospel tract that I had given her during the conversation.  I vividly remember watching her put it into her bag.  A silent missionary, ready to remind her of the conversation and what was said when the time is right.  Salvation is of the Lord!

By this stage, a larger group of Hare Kirishnas had gathered and were singing.  I approached a young lady who was listening - she smiled at me.  So I offered her a tract.  At her query, I said I was a Christian.  The smile on her face was replaced by a look of revulsion!  I ignored it, and responded pleasantly.  She handed back the tract before moving on.

Another older gentleman approached me for the last conversation of the outreach.  He was very pleasant, and wanted to know what I was up to - he wanted to know what I was smiling about (I didn’t know I was smiling).  He didn’t look it, but it turns out he was a Hare Krishna!  He was open to talk, and so I just asked him about Krishna, and going from there I was able to take him through the law and the gospel.  He was mildly resistant, but much more open than I was expecting.  He left with a gospel tract.

So a wonderful couple of hours sharing the gospel.  What a privilege and an honour being able to do what I do.  Thank you so much for your prayer and support.

 

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On Friday, we had rain in the morning.  So Andy (pictured) & I did some online evangelism.

The weather improved, so at lunch time we headed into Cathedral Square to preach the gospel in the open air.  It was a fascinating time.

I had just sat down when a guy, I’ll call him “Bob” came and sat next to me.  I recognised him as someone Andy & I had interacted with a long time ago - he was very resistant to the gospel.  But I smiled and said hello.  Instantly he started talking about his depression and thoughts of suicide!  I had immediate empathy, and wanted to share hope.  I said that the root of change is in Jesus.

He exploded in rage.

I listened for a while, but he just got worse, I had to move away.

He started loudly proclaiming his hatred of “evangelists”, and how we are not loving (a very false assertion).  The irony was lost on him.

Ari (the younger “wizard”) turned up and managed to get the guy to calm down.  Ari was sitting next to me, and Bob came and sat next to Ari.  Bob was talking to Ari (relatively camly) - but he was really firing barbs at me, which I just ignored.

Andy took the lull in activity as an opportunity to start preaching the gospel and It was going well.

Then one of our newer hecklers turned up and sat down to listen.  I decided to go over and say hello.

Bob exploded in rage again - even worse than last time.

I assume Bob had interpreted my movement as me withering from his “logic” and he went into attack mode against me again!  Very loud and verbal attacks.  Andy had to stop preaching.  And I just had to walk away - it was bizarre.  Amazingly, Bob started verbally abusing the heckler I went to talk to!  Other people had to get the guy to calm down.  Thankfully he did, and Ari managed to hold his attention for the rest of the time.  I stayed away and, thankfully, there were no more outbursts.

All I said was: the root of change is in Jesus (in the context of empathy)!

Andy was able to finish preaching in relative peace, and Marty was able to preach as well.

It was interesting, as one of the “punks” that I’ve had many gospel conversations with, made a comment about the exchange - he understood the irrational reaction was because we are speaking truth - and people don’t like the truth.  Lord, save the punk!  He knows it's true!

I had a great gospel chat with a guy on Colombo street, as I was walking back to my car.  God is good!

And I had some wonderful gospel chats online later in the day too.  God is so good!

Thursday - the weather didn't look good, so I decided to reach out online instead.  Although, the weather did improve and Andy ended up spending his time at the Eastgate bus stops reaching out there.

My prominent memory from Thursday was having difficult gospel conversations with people who were resistant.  But even the difficult gospel conversations are good conversations.  People are hearing truth, in love, and God can use His word powerfully in people’s lives - even when we don’t see it outwardly.  The gospel is the power of God for salvation!

 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 9, 2020 from 1300 to 1500.

Today was a sunny day fine for street evangelism, though there were only the two of us , Johnny and Hung working as a team. It proved well later that God made best use of our team work to stop some initial reluctant passers by to the first approach by Johnny but somehow changed their mind to stop by my 2nd approach. It is time and again the witnesses of how God works miraculously amongst us to reach out and touch people as chosen by God himself. We are always a vessel emptied for the service of God as He deems fit. Both of us had almost non-stop consecutive divine appointment to chat. Johnny comparatively had more longer conversation. I recorded below were the 9 divine appointments of mixed results but still serving the purpose of God beyond our full comprehension: -

1) Nadia a Mexican Catholic young girl coming here for one year English learning but has been detained here because of Covid-19. She initially did not want to stop as she is going to meet someone. But I asked for permission to shared the nutshell of Gospel by walking her across the pedestrian bridge. Finally she was moved to stayed for a much longer time allowing me to first shared the basic gospel message then tackling all doctrinal question resulted from her Catholic background. At the ned, she took a selfie with me as a gesture of her great appreciation for my explanation and clarification to her questions. I was able to identify with her because my father was born in Mexico.

2) Rejected to stop by a Chinese girl but God still moved her to take my tract which she initially rejected to take it from Johnny.

3) Zaire is a Filipino Catholic girl. She only has 90 % assurance of salvation as she deems not yet good enough to go to heaven. This is the common misunderstanding by most of the Catholic Christian. She finally got it right after being asked checking questions.

4) A Muslim man excused he was in a rush but still stopped by my questions to have a brief chat. I quickly touched base on the nutshell of gospel on sin and Jesus salvation. Pray that this will serve well for continuous work of God on his life.

5) An Indian lady took the tract but did not want to chat. I could only let go and trust that the tract will do the work of passing over to her the word of God.

6) Daniel and Victoria a pair of Vietnamese boy and girl friend with a cross ear ring but do not know the meaning of the cross. After clarification and listening the full Gospel, they agreed it is logical that we all need Jesus. I use the triangular relationship of marriage with God as the head that in future when they are married, their marriage would become much closer when they individually get a deepen relationship with God towards complete oneness in Christ.

7) Fiona a nonbeliever from Shandong who again claimed to be in a hurry, but she let me walk with her across the bridge to hear the gospel.

8) Mr Li is an old Singaporean of Cantonese speaking background. He initially responded rudely to Johnny's question if he knew where would he go after death. He felt challenged and offended as such he replied rudely that as a person without any religion, he is OK to go to hell. Somehow, God made him feel bad for his rudeness thus he voluntarily stopped to chat with me instead to explain his position against Christianity. He himself is considered a Buddhism follower which he understands well that Buddhism is not a religion but way of life towards self perfection. I gave enough room for him to speak and express his skeptics against Christianity so that I earn in exchange the chance to share the gospel as well as addressing all his questions against God and Christianity. He eventually had to leave after 15-20 minutes chat with his wife left already for a clinic appointment.

9) A Christian by the name of Christian of PNG/Irish mixed blood thought he knows well about the Bible and was proud of his spirituality having seen many vision from God as such he rejected Johnny outright not bother to stop and share. But some how, God moved me to approach him immediately and somehow he stopped to chat. Our conversation last almost over half and hour. He claimed to have faith in Jesus but when asked if he has full assurance of salvation. He answer 90 % but later, I found out that he actually thought his 90% certainty was basing on his action love deeds. God guided me to turn around his twisted understanding of Jesus redemptive grace by not ridiculing him but showing him the right version of real salvation by grace through faith. I complemented his effort of pursuing for deeper spirituality experience in God, but in the mean time correcting his thought that any Charismatic experience has nothing to do with salvation but only serve to boost his love for God. My empathy with his charismatic background earned me a much longer time to share the gospel as long as I wished. Actually I was the one to close the conversation after all queries were clarified and needed advice (warning) were given. May God continuously guide this man by the name Christian to really become a world Christian. 

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On Tuesday I was online sharing the gospel before heading to Riccarton for a couple of hours.  I spoke to a lot of high school students.

The first kid barely stayed initially, but as the conversation continued, he became more engaged.  He heard the law and gospel.  He opened up about being a Buddhist and we were able to talk about that some before he finally moved on with some gospel tracts.

Next up I had three guys stop.  They made it all the way through the flip chart - including the counting the cost page.  One of them said that nothing was stopping him.  They didn’t have any questions, but I asked him to get in touch if he did.

The next guy also made it all the way to the last page of the flip chart.  I used some examples to explain the cost of accepting the gift of Jesus - the examples hit home, and he started to really understand what I was meaning.  I challenged him to respond to the gospel and left him in God’s hands.

The last conversation of note was not with a high school student.  It was with a man originally from Chile.  He was engaged right from the beginning.  He didn’t like “ism’s” (e.g., atheism, communism, Buddhism, etc.)  He felt that it was used by powerful people to control.  Starting from here, I was able to share the gospel with him.  He rejected it, and started fighting against it.

Interestingly, while I was talking with him, four teens sat across from us and started listening to the conversation.  It was like they wanted to talk, but were waiting their turn.  They eventually left - I was able to hand one a tract though.

Wednesday was a nice warm spring day.  I went into the city before going online afterwards.

I headed for Cathedral Square first.  There was a preacher getting severely heckled - it sounded terrible, but quite a few people were hanging around watching.  It ended up being a gold mine of gospel conversations.  There were two other Christians out (from different ministries) as well, so we were all sharing the gospel.  I had about six one to one gospel opportunities.

The first was with a Christian lady who was enjoying the sun and listening to the preaching / heckling.  She was lovely, but when asked why she is going to heaven, she pointed to her obedience!  I explained that we will want to be obedient, but why can we be forgiven - she drew a blank.  I was able to explain the gospel to her, it was like she had never understood it before.

I then shared with a young couple with a young family.  They had been listening to the preaching, but hadn’t understood the gospel yet.  When I explained it, the guy came back with “that makes sense”.  He seemed relieved.  Yet I was careful to help them understand the cost of the gift.

Next up, two young men - one wasn’t interested, but the other was keen to talk.  I suspect he had a Christian background - he wasn’t interested in the gospel that he heard.

A construction worker rejected a tract but was open to chat about the preaching / heckling.  He heard the gospel and seemed very open.  He had to head back to work - he took the tract the second time.

As much as I disagree with the preacher being a lone ranger (not connected with a local church), the heckler was getting really nasty - and demanding evidence.  I decided to take him on and explain why he didn’t need evidence - that he already knew God exists.  He wouldn’t let me speak.

But he did calm down, and started talking directly with the preacher instead of yelling at him and calling him names.  I was grateful for that.

One of the other Christians (who is associated with a local church) took the opportunity to preach (pictured).

The highlight conversations from my time online was with a young Jewish lady who had been through some terrible stuff and was suicidal.  She gently argued with me, but I was able to slowly work through the gospel with her (she wanted to hear it in the end).  Eventually I ended the conversation.  And it was then she changed tune.  She apologised for arguing (she didn’t need to - she was fine), and said she would check out needGod.net.

My last conversation was with a Muslim from Egypt.  I focused on how God can be just and merciful - something that Islam can’t explain and Christianity can.  During the Tell Me Conference, James White had talked about a particular Hadith that leads to the gospel.  This guy brought up this very Hadith!  And I was able to use it in our conversation!  But sadly, he was resistant to the gospel.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong Village on September 8, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

Today was a warm day . It was also a bit dry despite it is just he beginning of Spring into its 2nd week. The dryness applied also to today outreach. It was rare that all the four team mates persistently face rejection and got comparatively less divine chatting appointment for Gospel sharing conversation. This was particularly a testing lesson for the new members Yan Chang who joined us the 2nd time after a long rest. We all have to learn that , God is in control in all circumstances and there is always a lesson for us to learn to be patience and submit to God's timing and plan.

Comparatively, Winnie had got the most number of conversation. So it also shows that the election of God to be His messenger does not depend on our experience and skill level. It is all the sovereign work of God in operation. All is needed is trust and obey.

Recap below is the four significant conversations I had after being rejected numerous times.

1) A Black Christian did not stop when Winnie approached him. But when he took his seat to wait for the bus, he responded to my approach asking what the tract is. When he found out it is a gospel tract, he declared he is a Christian. I immediately switched to ask him the two diagnosis questions. But it was too late to get a response as the bus just came by that time. Anyhow, the man express His respect to our street evangelism ministry. Hopefully he will be motivated to do likewise.

2) Another Old man also rejected Winnie's approach but agreed to talk while waiting for the bus. The bus came very fast. I could only manged to share the nutshell of the gospel and handed him a tract.

3) A Muslim background UQ student showed initial rejection. I changed tactic to chat on migration policy and finally shared the full gospel before teh bus arrived.

4) Oscar was the only one who show receptive attitude toward gospel. He was very attentive and agreed on whatever I shared. Pray for him to read the tract and touch by God for a fruit bearing conversion.

感謝主今天的带领，讓我可以學到，傳福音给五人。主安排需要福音人士给我們，讓我們可以個别傳福音，對像不是我們㨂選的。

第一位遇上的是澳洲少女，Celina, 她願意信靠主耶稣基督。第二位是中国青年，初時他不願意接受單章，後來當他停下 查看巴士時間時，我行過去 問他認識耶穌基督嗎？跟着傳講福音给他，當我講完後，巴士到達。第三位是 Tegan, 澳洲女士，當她遇見 Johnny時，不願意留下聽福音。當她坐下，我嘗試問她願意查考你是否一個好人。她願意 便傳了福音给她。第四位，澳洲少女，Angella，願意接受耶稣基督。第五位，Leo, 澳洲男士，聽完福音後，他説要詳细想清楚。

留下聽福音的人，不是我們選擇的，是神預早安排好给我們的。有的人不願意留下聽我講的，願意聽關牧師講的。有的不願意聽 Johnny 講的，卻願意聽我講的。所以完全都是神的安排，固此我們要順服神的带领。感謝讚美主 今天學到的功課 是要信靠顺服。

 

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On Saturday Ed, Laurie and myself planned to meet in Plymouth City Centre for a couple of hours of outreach, and didn't expect to have such a packed time and were so thankful for God already preparing peoples hearts and minds that day. After dropping off the outreach stuff and then trying to find a parking space, I asked two passers by if they could watch the back of my car whilst reversing into a tight spot. I said 'than ks a million' afterwards and gave him a million pound note tract, and he was totally shocked. He said he had seen them before somewhere and wanted to use the idea in his advertising business and had been wondering where he could get one! I showed him the tract on the website and gave him an evangelism card and he was very grateful- I explained this was no coincidence but a God-incidence, of all the people walking past at that time and for him to be the one to be there was amazing.

As I was setting up the flip charts etc in town, 6 lads in their early twenties were sitting on a wall opposite eating their lunch, and looking across inquisitively at what I was doing. I told them it was an intelligence test if they fancied it, and they came across to have a go and then onto the good person test. They really listened and were engaged and for around 20 min listened to the gospel message and why they needed a Saviour. They all listened and at the end one of them asked about purgatory and people spending time there to pay off sins. I tried to explain that this was not in the Bible but made up by the Roman Catholic church a few hundred years ago as a way of scaring people into giving money to the Church to try and get dead relatives to spend less time in Hell, but that it was not in scripture and really a scam. They agreed and all took some tracts and a gave a firm handshake which was really encouraging.

Whilst this conversation had been going on, Laurie had been speaking to 2 Catholic guys from Portugal and Poland that were part of a larger group of Missionaries here from different countries. The conversation was about the role of good works and faith and salvation and knowing we are saved as supposed to hoping we will be. The guys did seem to understand what we were saying and mostly agreed, and took some gospel tracts to look at.

Laurie felt led to read a chapter of John 1 for first time and stood up to share this which was a prompting from her Dad, and she was encouraged and hops to continue to do this again. Ed was handing out gospel tracts to people and stopped to talk to a young guy that was interested in taking a Bible and some tracts which was good, as well as a DVD about Dinosaurs in the Bible and the age of the earth.

That day I had read in my J.C.Ryle devotions book Luke 17 v 26-37, where Jesus talked about Noah and the judgment of the worldwide flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and his wife, and future judgment to come before Jesus returns. I tried to show people that in these really challenging times we needed security and hope to know where we would go when we died, and the judgment that fll on people before would one day fall again finally.

I was holding a Bible in my hand, and a man stopped to listen and then started to engage with me saying we cant trust the Bible as it was written by men and had been changed lots of times and was written before he was born. He said it couldn't be trusted and was full of contradictions. I asked him to tell me when the Bible had been changed and what the contradictions were. Funnily enough he had never actually read the Bible, but attended a Catholic Church with his daughter, but didn't believe in God. This was a perfect preaching opportunity, and so I tried to show the man the foolishness of his position, how we can trust the Bible, how there are no contradictions, that its the most read and studied book ever and many people who have started off as atheists anting to discredit it, have actually ben saved from reading it and know it to be 100% accurate. 

I spoke about the Dead sea scrolls, and how without God and believing in evolution and the Big Bang, people have no idea where we came from, why we are here and where we are going when we die. The gentleman continued to shout and argue, which drew a crowd of about 20 people, and a man who had stopped to listen asked the man about Shakespeare etc and if he believe he existed before he was born. The mans very strange stance was exposed and people could see his argument was non existent, and the man listened while I tried to show him he didn't want to read the Bible because of sin, and that any excuse not to believe it was being used. He put on his sunglasses and actually became quiet and listened, I offered him a Bible which he didn't accept, but he did take some tracts and the two DVDs and he shook hands before leaving.

A few of the people that had been listening stayed while I finished preaching, which led to some conversations to different people listening; a young lad took a bible and tracts, two women took bibles and tracts that Laurie said were listening intently and looked concerned. She told them it's true and its important to think about and take action on, to turn to Jesus. A man had been sat listing listening and took some tracts, and we managed to speak to the man that was a Christian that had engaged the heckler. We all had a great chat with Steven and his family that were previously from London but now pastored a Church in Exeter. He said he had come away from the Anglican Church and was now part of the Free Anglican Church, and he had been praying to meet others to go out onto streets with, he is reformed, likes Living Waters ministries and we exchanged numbers to meet in Exeter one Saturday to preach which was really encouraging for both of us.

Laurie also had a chat with older gentleman called Edward who had asked questions about channeling spirit guides. She said that the Devil masquerades as an Angel of light, and he said that made sense. She told him the gospel and he said he believed that Jesus is the only way of salvation. Laurie gave him a bible and he said he would read Matthews gospel and digest it well! .

It was a truly amazing day and we prayed afterwards for the people we had spoken with and handed out tracts too, and were particularly encouraged to meet Steven and his family and hopefully team up together soon.

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The end of another weekend of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).

Saturday was a bit slower than normal - I positioned myself in my usual Saturday spot near the Bridge of Remembrance.  I managed to have a few good follow up conversations, and hand out a few tracts.  Even the busker who was near me said it was slow!

I did have two good opportunities.

A middle aged couple walked past.  The wife beelined away from me, but to my surprise the husband walked past and accepted a tract.  I asked him what he thought happened after life, and he stopped to engage!  His wife abandoned him - but he wasn’t concerned.  It was a straight forward gospel conversation where he grasped the concepts quickly.  I challenged him to respond before he moved on to catch up with his wife.  The gospel is the power of God to salvation.

I approached a father and son.  Later it turned out I had talked to the father (a Christian) on a previous Saturday, but at the time he subtly indicated that I should talk to his son - which I did.  The son considered himself a Christian, but pointed to his good deeds as the reason he would be going to heaven (sigh).  He seemed impacted when I explained the gospel.  This is not a judgement, but a plea: Fathers - It’s not the ministers job to share the gospel with your children, it is yours.  You need to be constantly going over the gospel with them!

By this stage, the buskers act was in full swing, and it was loud, I decided to move locations to the Colombo and Cashel corner to finish the outreach.

Sunday afternoons outreach was the opposite of Saturday, it was busy and interesting - very interesting.

I started the outreach on my own, but I had Daryl join me.  I prayed for gospel opportunities.

First up was a conversation with a liberal American Muslim whose son (with her) and husband (who survived) had been shot in the terrible mosque shooting of the previous year.  We ended up talking for about forty minutes.  Her defensive walls to objective truth were very high, and she really liked to talk.  I knew tackling her defenses directly would be futile.  So I just patiently listened, and waited for opportunities to communicate.  Amazingly, I found a way to be able to explain the gospel to her a number of times and then watch her process it and reject it.  Every opportunity I could, I would gently lead her back to the critical issue of how God (who made the universe and has the right to make the rules) can be just and merciful.  And how Jesus is the only answer that makes sense.  When we finally parted ways, I re-expressed my deep sympathy for what she, her family, and community had been through.

By this stage, Daryl was with me - it had been a long while since he had joined me for outreach, and so I took him through the new flip chart we use.

Low and behold, two girls walked up and wanted to give the flip chart a try!  I quickly read it as a set up - they just wanted to attack.  It turns out I was only partly right.  One of them was Wicken.  Like Friday, the issues of why God allows suffering and homosexuality came up.  And also the issue abortion.  They were following the logic of my explanation of the gospel, and picked it up quickly, when one of them suddenly got angry at me.  I asked why, and she quickly calmed down - but it rattled me.  She was deeply resistant.  Later, she asked me why I do what I do.  She even said it annoys her that I’m out on the streets - it was actually a very encouraging thing for her to say.  I work very hard to not be offensive myself, but the gospel will offend!

We got into another conversation with a couple of girls - but it was quickly interrupted by a guy I’ve spoken to before who was in passive intellectual attack mode!  We lost the conversation with the two girls.  I had to work to turn the guys attack mode off - I refused to engage him otherwise.  It worked, things calmed down, we didn’t have the time for a proper conversation so I offered contact details so we could continue the chat.  He initially refused, but then he gave me his email address.  I’ve emailed him, and he has responded!  I will continue that conversation on Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon was exciting, I don’t think my writing has captured it.  We are standing against this culture with the gospel, and I’m seeing little signs that it is having an effect (all glory to God alone).  Please pray for strength and protection to continue the fight.

Excuse the photo, it’s the only one I took over the weekend of outreach!
 

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