Salvation

Hello all, I hope this update finds you well and God uses it to encourage you today.
Praise God,
I am happy to report we experienced the most fruitful week yet. We were able to get out on Thursday without much of a hitch. Thank you for your prayers, we definitely feel them and see the fruit from them.

On Thursday, Andy Hirko and I went out. Andy is the College Ministries director at Good News here in St Augustine. We met up at 12:00 and Dolores, who is the person in the neighborhood that had asked us to do bible study right there on the street, had set up a table and some chairs for us to meet and eat and study. We handed out some lunches and invited people to come to the study. We came together and asked everyone if they each had anything specific to pray for. Some were stand-offish and some such as Dolores were bold, and said pray a car/transportation for me, I don’t care what it is, I’ll take anything the Lord will provide. Others could not narrow it down. We had one gentleman say “you can pray for me for anything, I will gladly take any prayer that you will pray for me.” And then there was one man, John John that said he didn’t need prayer for anything. The people from the neighborhood would not let him get by with that and they rebuked him saying, “everybody needs prayer for something, don’t be too proud, you need prayer too.” So then Andy prayed for the group and the needs of the group. We got out the bibles that we had brought with us and we got into the study, which was about the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It was very interactive and we had a good discussion. At the end when Andy was going to close, he said that he did not know where everybody stood and asked if they knew what was going to happen to them when they die. The all said yes they did, with the exception of John John. Now very similar to the week before, this is the point where God overwhelmed us. Instead of John John making it known, others in the group (not one but a few) said “he doesn’t” pointing to John John. So Andy asked John John if he knew for certain that he was going to heaven when he died. He said no, so Andy then shared the gospel him. After sharing, Andy asked if he would like to pray to receive Christ. He said yes, so we all prayed together and John John prayed to receive Christ. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke 15:4-6

Before this day, I had not had the privilege to be present when someone has prayed to accept Christ. All Thursday I was in shock at what had taken place. Someone’s eternity had been changed that day. It is just now becoming real to me what happened that day. Thursday 4/20 was the 8th week that we have gone out. I am truly amazed and humbled by what God has done with this ministry in such a short time. It is awesome to see God literally giving people bread to eat then calling them to himself just as it says in John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. God has been busy on all fronts of this ministry. It is amazing to me to watch God grow this local ministry in this small poor neighborhood, by using the gifts from his children from all across this country. Praise God for email! We have had donations come in from Alabama, Maryland, and Indiana so far. These donations will allow us as fishers of men to cast a wider net by making more lunches each week. I thank you and write this so all can see God moving in the lives of his people. I ask for your continued prayer support and thank you for the financial support. Who knows how God might overwhelm us this week as we go out on Thursday. Praise God for all he does is good. For His glory, Mitch

Attached is a picture taken Thursday of our first bible study. John John unfortunately is not pictured, but Dolores however is, she is in the white shirt.

P.S. We wanted to help our new Christian brother, John John, in his walk with the Lord so we asked him if he would like to keep the bible that he had done the study in and had in his hands when he prayed to accept Christ, and he said yes.

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