Reason number one: Julie, one of the girls I disciple, came with me on campus for a form of "bare handed evangelization". We decided to get lunch and sit with someone who was sitting alone. We grabbed food at the UC (their student union of sorts) and headed to the dining area. There she was - the girl we were going to sit with - at the first table. Her name was Brittney. We got to know her a little and then one of her friends joined us, too. Meet Kayla.
[Aside: Being a missionary, it's super easy to nonchalantly turn the conversation to Christ. All I have to do is ask what year they are or what they are studying and they turn it right back and ask me. I get to say something along the lines of, "Actually, I'm a missionary here!" Works every time. :)]
Brittney wasn't very interested in this piece of news, but Kayla was. She kept bringing the random conversation back to it by asking little questions. She was very interested in what I did and told me that she was Catholic and sometimes went to church at another parish in town. I invited them both to our ugly sweater/Christmas karaoke/gingerbread house making/white elephant party at the Catholic Campus Center on Thursday. Brittney works, but Kayla wants to come! She didn't want to show up alone, so we exchanged numbers and talked about meeting up sometime for coffee, too. Yay!
Reason numero dos: A girl randomly came up to me and a few students and asked if we were with BearCatholic. She said she wanted to get involved, but didn't know how. One of our students, Natalie, immediately started talking to her about our events and Bible studies and grabbed her contact info so they could stay in touch! The Holy Spirit truly is working in people all around us and they are searching for Him!
Reason three: No ballroom class. sad face.
This was the first Tuesday that I didn't spent two hours dancing! I don't know if I can explain how much I love this class or how much I've grown in my relationship with God through it. It's also been a great way for me to make contacts with students in the music/theater department. I need to be clear - I'm not actually IN the class. They were short 4 girls and two of my students are in the class, so they invited me! I showed up and the teacher was glad to have another girl and let me come every week even though I wasn't registered. That brings me to why I wasn't there this week. They have started testing. Two of the boys were injured over the course of the semester and dropped so they didn't need another girl for testing - especially since I didn't need to test for the class I wasn't actually in. ie the class is over for me.
I was sad to not be guaranteed two hours of dancing a week anymore, but also sad that I wasn't sure how I was going to keep in touch at all (and not be TOO creepy!) with the people I met in class.
But PRAISE JESUS! God is bigger than I. I ran into two of the students on campus - and they happened to be two that I had formed more of a relationship with. God grants us divine appointments when we ask for them. (and a lot of times even when we don't.)
Reason four: There was an exorcist in town. Yes, you read that right. Have you seen the movie The Rite? The priest whose life the book and movie were based on, Father Gary Thomas, came to our campus. We ended up getting a crowd of about 1500 people to come hear him talk about exorcism, satan, and Christ's victory over sin and death. He spend about half an hour speaking and then another two answering questions from the crowd.
I was excited that his talk was a similiar format to what we call a "Gospel presentation". Basically, when you are sharing the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone there are four main parts:
1. We are made for relationship - specifically relationship with God.
2. Because of sin, this relationship has been broken and the consequence of sin is death.
3. Christ came into the world and died once for all of us so that our relationship with the Father can be restored.
4. Do you want that relationship?
Fr. Thomas did just that - he shared the salvation found in Jesus and then offered all of those in attendance His gift of life through starting a relationship with Him.
Last, but not least... Reason 5: Some friends from out of town came for the talk and we were able to hang out with them afterward!
Now, after a typically long Wednesday, Guten Nacht! Buenas Noches!
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