Meeting with a College Student

About a month ago I mentioned a college age girl that had contacted us and wanted to meet. Below is what my teammate wrote about the meeting. Please pray for this young girl.

My family and I traveled to a nearby city to meet with a university student there who wanted to learn more about Christianity. She said that she has been interested in Christianity for several years. When I asked her about what she believed, she told me that she was believing in Jesus Christ as her Savior. However, she was a little confused about doctrinal beliefs because her first contact with Christianity was through the Catholic Church. Since that time, she has done her own research on the internet. I explained the difference between salvation by faith and salvation by works and also talked about how Baptists and Catholics have important differences in belief concerning the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. She had brought her roommate with her to the meeting, and her roommate listened closely to what we talked about, especially the fact that Christians do good works because they are saved not to become saved. I gave the girl I met with a Bible, the New Testament on MP3, and a few Turkish hymns on MP3. She later said that she was very encouraged by the meeting.

Back in the States

Just over a week ago we made it make safely back to the states. It was a little crazy once we got to Chicago. We went through Customs and for the second year in a row I was randomly chosen to be questioned. I have no problem with this, but it caused us to miss our flight. I waited 40 minutes so I could be asked 5 questions. The whole time my wife was stuck with our three kids. One was yelling, "My stomach hurts!" for a solid 30 minutes. The other didn't want to walk and the baby was crying. It was not good for my wife. When I finally came out she cried. Thankfully there was a flight 1:30 minutes later. So we finally made it home at about 9:00 p.m. We'll be keeping you up to date on our time in the states. Right now, we are visiting a church that we feel God is leading us to. We would appreciate your continued prayers.

I'll be talking in some public schools next week in Mississippi. Pray that God would give me some creativity to think of how to weave the Gospel in to my time in the classes.

Update On College Student

Well we were not able to meet with the college student I mentioned in the previous blog. She said it seemed like her mom knew something was up so her mother made her go to another city where they had some things to do. We have chatted over the internet with her. She is definitely different from the others that we are working with. She said she believes that Jesus died for her sins. She said that she had a fear of Hell. I asked if she still had one. She said no because Jesus suffered for our sins on the cross and when we believe in Him we don't have to fear Hell. It is hard to know someone's heart without meeting them but from the way she talks she has a testimony of belief. She has a lot of questions but they don't come from a skeptical heart. I did ask her about how she fell in love with a Catholic priest without meeting him. She said since she was 12 she has been researching Christianity. It sounds like most of the information she has is from Catholic sources. She wrote to this priest for years not sure if this was before or after she ran away from home. Thankfully this priest was not in love with her. Trust me I was getting scared as she was writing me her story. I thought, "Oh no what kind of crazy mess is this." It appears that we will wait to meet with her until she goes to school, which is next week. We pray that we can discern what her relationship with God is and how to best help her.

Interesting Contact

Recently, we received an email from a college age girl. It said, "I want to be a Christian. Can you help me?" So we told her that we could help her and that we would like to talk more. It appears that her family is religious or very possessive, because she said once she goes to university she would be available to meet. Well a couple nights ago we get a message on our cell phone. It was the same girl. She wanted to know how to become a Christian. If you are a text message guru then you do know it still takes quite a bit of time to text long messages. Anyway I typed 1. Corinthians 15 where Paul tells us what the Gospel is. Then I typed out John 3:16. We messaged back and forth for an hour and a half. Anyway long story short she worked it out where she will be able to meet with us sooner than later. Please pray that nothing will hinder this meeting. Pray that she is being honest in her desire to know more. She said she will come secretly. She wants us to bring a N.T. Pray that she would be protected and that she would clearly understand how she can be saved. She said at the age of 12 she ran away from home and went to a Catholic church in the south of our country. She went here because she said she was interested in Christianity. She has been researching Christianity for some years. What's great is that she is from our city and studies in a university in a city near us. A city that we've been praying for opportunities to minister in.

Singing Away

The end of this week we had a couple different meetings. One meeting was the study that we're doing through the book The Stranger on the Emmaus Road and the other with some friends of mine. I took my guitar because the one group of guys wanted me to play the song Man of Constant Sorrow. Go figure! What are the chances that Turkish guys want to hear blue grass? They love it, though. I still have to learn it. We played hymns instead, English and Turkish. It was a great opportunity for them to see the songs we sing in worship. I also did the same at my other friends who are teaching me the baglama. It is such a privilege just to be able to do this with people. In America people would be like, "Big deal!" Here, they are like, "You sing in your worship." They want to hear it. We had the opportunity to sing songs talking about our redemption, God's love, Jesus being our Savior, etc... Sometimes when they won't listen to you talk they might listen to you sing.

An Understanding Heart

And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9.Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 1 Kings 3:7-9

These days I'm really thinking about Solomon's desire for wisdom so that he could make the right decisions. His main purpose was of course he was the leader of God's people. My main purpose is because of the people that God has given us to work with. They have so many questions. There are so many rocks to move and so much dirt to remove while laying a foundation. "Why is the male pronoun used for God? Is it a contradiction to God's mercy when God says he will judge the father's iniquity on the children to the fourth generation?" (Exodus 34:7) God blessed Solomon with wisdom and He has also sent us a Comforter and Guide. May the Holy Spirit guide us all in the relationships that God has given us.

Living the Gospel

Today I had a good conversation with a friend of mine here. He is teaching me the bağlama. It is a Turkish instrument used to play traditional Turkish music. He is a materialist. He asked me some good questions. He asked, "Why am I so joyful?" He also asked why I didn't take a pastorate in the states. It was a great opportunity to explain to him what God has done for me and the honor I have to live overseas and tell people about the Gospel. I must say I was convicted to really stop and ask God to help me live the Gospel. We discussed in depth what made him believe in materialism. There were a lot of things. One of the major things was all the injustice in the world. He doesn't understand if there is a God, why does he allow all these injustices? I thought about many times how I don't think about the poor in my city. I don't pray like I should for those starving to death in Somalia. So many areas that if I stop and think, I notice I'm missing some of the things in my life that Jesus regularly touched on. The early N.T. church was instructed to make provision for the poor and take care of the widows. It is so important that we shine as the lights we are supposed to be. Everywhere I go and everyone I meet has their own view of the Bible and Christianity. Only when they meet us and talk with us, do they realize most of what they know is wrong.