Do you remember when the police showed up to our apartment during our Bible study, and we had pudding all over our hands? That night, Sylvia brought a friend to the study named Sarah. After the meeting, Sarah asked if I knew Target Ministries (our parent organization), named the leaders, and said that she had been involved in Bible studies with Campus Target (our organization) here in K-town a few years ago. I was floored! I knew I was supposed to protect my cover, for my sake and everyone else. I had to say that I didn’t know what she was talking about, but it was an extremely difficult situation. I talked with one of the long-term missionaries working with Target later that night, and he said that Sarah’s brother is one of the Chinese house church pastors working with Target. Sarah is one of the few Chinese that actually knows about what we do and who we are! Out of the millions of Chinese students in all of China, we “happen” to meet her, and she “happens” to be Sylvia’s roommate. I just shook my head and said, “What are the odds…”

Since then, Sylvia has been eager to learn more, comes regularly to our Bible studies, and has been the most interested out of all our friends. She studies the Bible in her dormitory with her roommates, and they talk about questions together. She essentially leads a Bible study in her room! I had been encouraging her to check out Sarah’s house church so she could have something more permanent to hook into when we leave, as well as answer her questions regarding culture and how it works to be Chinese and a Christian. She has gone for the last few weeks, and she loves it!

This morning, Sylvia and I met over rice noodles for breakfast. In that two-hour time period, we discussed again what it meant to be a Christian, and she decided that she wanted to become a Christian! There, in that noodle shop, I prayed with her to join the Family, and we talked about finding a pool to baptize her in before we leave in two weeks. We were both crying tears of joy, and I am incredibly excited for her new journey in Christ!!

Please be praying for her. Since she is connected to the Chinese house church, I am not worried about leaving her without any resources. However, she will be telling her friends and family, and I know she is worried if they will support her in her decision.

This year, we were faithful to sow seeds of truth and talk about the Gospel with our friends. We might see fruit like we did with Sylvia today. With other friends, we might never know what will happen. We are just to stay faithful to the task God has given us, and He does the rest. It has been an honor to be here, serving Him in this way!

That all might know,

Joy

P.S. Lots of new pictures are up on my Shutterfly site! We’ve had Easter parties, book studies, a makeup modeling gig, and lots of other strange happenings since I last wrote. Check it out! ]]> http://www.campustarget.org/blogs/joy/2011/05/what-are-the-odds/feed/ 0 http://www.campustarget.org/blogs/clive/2011/04/happy-easter-and-prayer-request/ http://www.campustarget.org/blogs/clive/2011/04/happy-easter-and-prayer-request/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:59:52 +0000 laura http://www.campustarget.org/?p=3435 I pray you all have a safe and blessed Easter holiday + T +   We have SO much to celebrate every day!  Here in our city we have plans to join a “house church” service on Sunday. Please pray for us, as we’ve heard about recent persecution taking place in this country.

The fellowship we have become involved with do their work very boldly and are seeing some awesome fruit – we have a new brother as of Wed. night!  We all realize persecution is very real and unpredictable, so we always want to be operating in great wisdom and discernment. However, we don’t fear . . . . the One who is in us, He who defeated sin and death, is greater than the one who is in the world!

He is RISEN!!!

Clive

•    My request that you think of me. I hurt for those I love. I need more comfort and trust in Him.
•    I also ask still for Terry. He is so close!
•    Also for our new friend Vincent. His story is very sad but his girlfriend lives in America but he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t have the money or the plan if he did go to America, he needs guidance.

 His favor is on me and I’m blessed to have you all who read this blog and think of me.
                             IN HIS HANDS

So last night the guys on my team decided to go back to the basics and have their first Guy’s Night. Unfortunately I missed most of it but got there right at the end. As people were leaving and I started to help clean up, I noticed a new guy that was lingering. His name is Vincent, and he said he wanted to talk. The four of us sat in the living room while he poured his heart out to us. He’s desperate. The girl he loves is in America studying at a law school. He’s stuck here unless he can get a scholarship and enough money to go be with her. The situation looks hopeless. He’s afraid that if too much time passes, he’ll lose her. She has so much potential, and he sees himself as nothing compared to her. But she’s a Christian and has told him that love is patient. And she told him that if he asks, God will help him.

As we talked about what it means to follow Jesus, I told Vincent that more than anything else, God wants his heart. Yes, He’s a powerful, amazing, and loving God that can rescue us from the impossible. But He’s also a Father that wants a reciprocal loving relationship with His children. For that to happen, He first needs to save us from ourselves. Until He removes the sin from our hearts, we remain unwashed, unjustified, and profane; separated from Him like the dark from the light.

Vincent knew what sin was because of a brilliant (meaning, it was my idea) demonstration that the guys did during the party. You take one dish and smear the inside with something dirty & repulsive but unnoticeable on the outside. Then, you take another smeared inside and out, and bam, you have mankind. All filthy & dirty despite some appearances. Unless, of course, Jesus washes you clean and makes you like new. It was enough to get the point across to Vincent, and he decided to put his faith & hope in Christ. With one prayer of repentance, he’s been washed, justified, and sanctified. He’s been made new and given a fresh start, just like countless others.

As excited as I am about Vincent and his new life, it only increased my awareness of a fatal flaw in my  world view; I’m nearly blind to this act of redemption. I sometimes look at people who are genuine new creations, and I still see the dirty dish. Deep in my heart, I believe people are still smeared from head to toe. Unless of course they can fall into the lower end of my categorized sin list: “not so bad,” “bad,” “unforgivable and unforgettable.” If you’re in the higher end of the spectrum, well then, I’m simply appalled by your sin and wish you the best of luck with your horribly rotten life. I will forever see you as marked by your past.

I seem to prefer the idea of white washed tombs or bowls that are clean on the outside but neglected on the inside as opposed to what Jesus actually  taught about repentance and redemption. I’m hard hearted, unforgiving, and self-righteous. On the plus side, I hear there are lots of opportunities for Pharisees nowadays and am updating my résumé.

But lets say I don’t make the cut. Maybe I’m not so good at strict adherence to countless laws and am more fond of grace than your typical Pharisee. What will I do then? Is there any way for God to pry open my calloused heart to allow some mercy in? Right now it seems like a more impossible situation than Vincent and his girlfriend. Maybe I need to go back to the basics, because the truth is that we all grieve God’s heart. He’s a Father that has to endure watching His children throw away all that He’s given them again and again. One who has to watch His creation turn away in selfish rebellion. And One who has to watch the self-righteous judge the ones that He’s forgiven and pronounced innocent. Yet from the beginning His love has never failed and never changed. In an act of unconditional love, He sent His only Son to endure His perfect judgment and wrath to restore hope in the hearts of us all. In light of that, maybe I’m better off leaving my résumé as is and just asking Him to soften my heart and renew my perspective.

 So we had a BBQ the other night, and I was holding up a metal bin for my friend to scoop out the last of the tomato soup when suddenly the previously unseen flame contraption underneath rolled out onto the ground and before I knew what was happening, the tablecloth was on fire! We both kicked at it idiotically before someone with a little sense came with a glass of water and put it mostly out. What could have been disastrous was held in check by the Lord, and made me think of our mission statement:  “To ignite CPM’s (church planting movements) on every campus in C…” I guess it’s so embedded in me that I can’t help myself sometimes;)  To illustrate with an ongoing testimony……

 Many of you probably remember that last year when we were here, I took a bike ride down the road with two friends (one a Thai TM worker), and a woman who had a little shop, a daughter who was a Christian, and a prepared heart, received the gospe1 that she heard that day and prayed to accept Jesus as Savior. Well, of course we had to go back to see her this year, and found out that in the past year, she has been connected with a Thai church, and not only that, her husband has since become a believer too!!! Hallelujah! It reminded me of the verse, “be ready in season and out to give reason for the hope that is in you.” Every time we walk out the door (sometimes God even brings things right to our doorstep;) we, as carriers of His Presence, can ignite fires that burn for the kingdom of God.

Let His joy be your strength, 

Clive

ps. GO PACK!

My buddy Frankie got saved! It was absolutely amazing. There were two short-term guys staying at my place getting the Asia experience so they came with me to meet with Frankie on that day. It was really great to see how God has really touched his heart since I first met him not so long ago. When we first met, Frankie was a Buddhist. Not only was he that, but he was very quick to mention this and let me know that he defined himself as such. This quickly changed as he told me he had pain in his mouth. Naturally, after hearing this, I prayed for him. He was touched that a foreigner would do this and a spark of interest was ignited for learning about the Bible.

The next week I met with him and another friend named Michael for a Bible study. It was one of the short-term guys and me that went to meet them. For the next few hours (I lost track) we went over the last 5 or 6 chapters of John. Every word. Five verses at a time. We stopped and thoroughly explained everything. They shot questions at us like crazy. We somehow got through the whole thing and made the bus to go home. A few days later we had a Christmas party for our friends, Frankie came and we had a great time. I wasn’t able to personally sit down with him and talk but it was a real blessing to be part of his first Christmas.

The next time we met was the day before New Years. Two visiting short-term workers were there. We started off going over another chapter in John but it quickly turned into us explaining to him what faith is and a few other key aspects of being a christian. For another 2 hours or so we talked and then there was only one thing left to do…

 We prayed in English and in his language. Frankie joined the family. It was an amazing experience. I am so blessed to have been there to see it. A little more than a week later Frankie got baptized! I was honored to be the one to pray over him then baptize him. He shows so much love in his heart it amazes me. The Lord gave me some words about him starting a Bible study next semester and he was very excited about it. I can’t wait to see how he does it!

This last Sunday Fay, Atlas, and our friend Esther and I went to the New Campus to meet with some friends. We met with our friend Tea and went for a long walk. We stopped and sat down in some grass and talked. Atlas shared his own testimony and I told her how God had been providing for me in so many areas in my life. She began to share how she wanted to be a Christian and asked us what she has to do to become one. We told her about the things that she must believe in her heart, and she said that she believed them. We led her through prayer as she decided to become a Christian! She’s the first student to make a decision about God on the New Campus, and it was so wonderful to be a part of. Please keep her in your prayers as she starts her new walk with God. Another awesome thing that you can be talking to God about is the outreach we are doing. One of our friends decided it would be a great idea to show our Asian friends how to put our Bible teachings into action.

This Saturday we are taking many of the students from our Bible Study and showing them what it means to serve others. We are getting bread, fruit, and water and handing it out to the homeless. I’m really excited for our friends to be a part of this experience! Please pray that we will make a positive impact; this is something I hope to do again in the future.

Some Prayer requests:

This Wednesday I will be heading to another Asian area for a retreat. Please pray for continued good health and safety during this trip. It’s intended to be a time of rest and regrouping, so I’m asking it would be just that. Also, I may be getting a cold; can you join me in asking for healing?

Please continue to lift up our friends like Jacqueline, Sally, Qing Qing, Annabelle, Susie and Scarlet (Old Campus) and Zoe, Nikko, Cherry, Ruth, and Tea (New Campus).

We decided to meet with Tea during exam week. We met and got, you guessed it, tea. Then we went for a walk and found a nice sunny
spot to sit. Tea started talking about her friend who had come to the U.S., and become a Christian! This friend had told her all
about Jesus and his desire to now become a pastor. Tea looked thoughtful, and said, ‘One day I hope to become a Christian.’ We
were all so excited! We answered questions she had, and told her the amazing difference God had made in our lives personally. She
decided to become a Christian right then and there! So amazing. Tea, whom we had only met for the second time, is now a citizen of
Heaven!

I love how God is the One who really does the work. We had sown only a little seed in Tea, but it was her friend that really sowed
into her the truth of the Gospel and what it would mean for her. I thank God so much that we are able to reap where another has sown. It is never our efforts, but always God who gets the job done, and brings people into His kingdom!

Most people send out their holiday letters weeks in advance, so everyone they know gets it, in time for the actual holiday. I
however, am different (or just late.) I started to write a letter wishing all of my dearest and nearest some sort of holiday
greetings and wishes, but failed not once not twice not even three times, I wrote it 4 times… It was a grand failure (did anyone else
see that the word epic is now a banished word?) it greeted, and I wept. It was awful. It was full of cliché’s and utterly
disappointing. So, I decided to write a letter to you telling you what I’m thankful for:
1.    The gift that God has given me by letting me travel half way around the world.
2.    My awesome roommates.
3.    My dear friends Kyle And Sunny
3.1    Their Salvation
3.2    Their wanting God
3.3    Their baptism
3.4    Their Friendship

My last blog had some mentioning of Kyle’s and God’s first meeting. Well, let me paint a picture of it. It was a Thursday night; we sat
on our orange and black striped couch. Kyle had finally made the decision to meet God after 3 months of decision making and
questioning. my roommates and I were all there we asked him some questions to make sure that this was the decision that he wanted to make. Then we let him have it.

We had Kyle ask for God to forgive him in his own words. He discussed at length with God asking him to forgive him and to come
into his life. God who is always willing to show up did. We then laid out some things that we thought that God was saying. As I was
talking, Enoch was quietly talking to God in his(God’s) own language. We wrapped up our time & Kyle says to Enoch. “Hey, I
didn’t know that you knew those words in MY language. Enoch says “What do you mean?” Kyle replied “God, Would you use Kyle to doyour MAGIC, in his friend’s lives!” Now at that point I just satdown and thought to myself “Well, only God would say something like
that.”

Now, at this point this story is suspended. A week passes by, it’s Thursday night again. We are waiting at a bus stop, with Kyle on
our way to baptize him, its freezing cold it snowed that day. We get on the bus; ride 45 min to get to a place where we can dunk him. Weget there; the water is cold so we boiled some water to warm the water a tad(it didn’t do anything.) Kyle then was baptized a week to the day of him meeting God! I asked him what he felt like. And he simply made this statement “I feel Peace for the first time in my
life.” Even though the water was cold, even though, I was over an hour late, due to the bus. He felt peace.

So, it’s because you listened to God that I am here able to do the things that God asked me to do.  In this new year, I pray that God
would bless and keep you; love you bountifully and show you how much you are His.

 So.. there’s more…. when he came something happened. After my friend received Jesus, each of us prayed for him. But while one was praying over him, I was whispering and was speaking in tongues over him. After we were done, I showed him Acts 2. He already knew it and said, “Actually you know I remember what you said over me while you were whispering. You spoke in my language and told me of my friends and I seeing God’s Magic”! I was speechless for a moment. I was just whispering I didn’t think anyone heard me. I was speaking his heart language!!! Wow, I prophesied he would see miracles and I did’nt even know it!! haha I love God. My friend will be getting baptized this week, praise God!