In Merced, we are beginning to focus much of our attention on following up with the positive and open contacts that we have received from UC Merced, Merced Community College, and the community. There have been a number of contacts who have met with us for personal Bible studies and they have really been receptive to the light in the Word as revealed by the ministry.

On January 30, we had a BBQ for UC Merced students and it was wonderful! There was a prevailing family atmosphere that was conducive to much intimate and warm fellowship. We really enjoyed singing with one another and sharing our enjoyment from the Word with one another. Several new ones learned about their human spirit and received the Lord into their spirit by calling on the Lord for the first time!

On January 31, about 40 saints from the Bay Area, CA and San Diego, CA joined Merced to go door-knocking. It was awesome seeing the members of the Body support Merced! We had eight teams go out to hand out Bibles, ministry materials, and tracts. When the saints returned, all of their faces were glowing with the joy of preaching the gospel and spreading the Word!

Prayer burdens:

• Pray that there would be the proper follow-up with the UC Merced and Merced Community College students and the community.
• Pray that we would continue to pray ourselves into the oneness of the Triune God before doing anything.
• Pray that there would be at least one baptism in Merced.

1/30/15: Today we traveled about 1.5 hours North to Grand Forks and spent the day there on the campus. There are three couples currently living in Grand Forks burdened for the campus there, University of North Dakota. There are around 15,000 students on the campus, but there was a tremendous hunger! 34 Bibles were given out and nine prayed to receive the Lord! Four sisters had two separate appointments with two sister students for over an hour and a half to get into the ministry. Another student from Nigeria just began his PhD program in Geology and he enjoyed realizing that he is a living stone in the building of God. He really would like to meet for a further appointment. Another student was not able to make it to the home meeting, but responded with this text message regarding meeting the local saints, “I would love to meet them and talk with them. It was great to meet you and your friends today. It truly made my day a whole lot better!” The fields are white in Grand Forks at the University of North Dakota!

1/31/15: Answered prayer, today a new sister was baptized! Afterwards, we had an overflow and report session with all the local and visiting saints regarding the activities this week. The meeting was filled with glorious testimonies and praise of the Lord for all that He did this week. Our labor this week was truly a corporate effort of fruit bearing. We experienced how the ones we met were the fruit of the prayers of the saints from all over the world. The Lord is truly sweeping and gaining the hearts of men in North Dakota and Minnesota. In the evening, we had the first meeting of the mini conference here in Fargo regarding God’s Building and God’s Goal, 88 saints were able to attend. One student had dinner with us before the meeting and received the Lord! Another student happened to walk into the meeting about halfway through. He was planning on attending another event on campus, but ended up in the wrong room. He stayed for the rest of the meeting and really enjoyed it. He is a believer from Saudi Arabia! He received a Bible and was connected with the local saints.

Prayer burdens:

• These open seeking students would be vitally connected with the local saints in Grand Forks and that the Lord would superabundantly grace the local saints to care for these hungry ones.
• May the Lord gain the student from Saudi Arabia for His move in Fargo and in Saudi Arabia!

1/29/15: Isaiah 45:11—”Thus says Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel and the One who formed him, Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And concerning the work of My hands, command Me.”

Hallelujah! We can cooperate with the Lord through our prayers. We command the Lord concerning His sons and concerning His work. Through much prayer, we had some very positive experiences of seeking ones wanting second appointments. One of these prayers was for a student who was so encouraged after her follow-up appointment. She really enjoyed having someone to share testimonies with and have sweet fellowship with. Another prayer answered was for another appointment with a young lady who is eager to study the Bible in Greek because she doesn’t want to miss anything that is lost in translation. She was so happy to get a Bible! When I met her for our appointment, she was eating lunch with some of her friends. I thought they would leave or we would go somewhere else, but her friends were enamored by what we were talking about. When she got a Bible she also took The Normal Christian Life, which is one of the free BfA books. She’s been reading it and taking extensive notes as she reads. She likes it so much that she sometimes reads it instead of studying. She told me, “I never knew before that we needed to be delivered from our sins. I knew that we got saved and I thought that was good enough. But we actually need DELIVERANCE!” She is reading Romans alongside The Normal Christian Life. She asked me how to study the Bible. She wants to get into it in a deeper way. We had very sweet fellowship, and eventually I shared with her and her friends the benefit of pray-reading; and we practiced right there in the cafeteria! When I left the appointment with these girls, they were so happy! May the Lord bless them in their study of the Word that they would learn how to mine out the riches in the Bible!

On our fourth day on campus, we were still approached by many seeking students. The total for our day we gave 38 New Testament Bibles, 149 ministry books, and 45 gospel tracts.

1/30/15: Phil. 2:18—”And in like manner you also rejoice, and you rejoice together with me.”

Rejoice! Praise the Lord for all He has done this week on this campus. We are just full of rejoicing and full of thanksgiving to our Lord! Today was our last day at SHSU and some more prayers were answered. Some seeking and hungry ones came by the table today, and overall a total of 20 Bibles, 192 ministry books and 20 tracts were given today. Also, we had more second appointments. Two girls were the highlight of these past three days. One of the girls kept saying, “What you guys are doing is awesome!” and lingered with us for more than one hour. We really felt the Lord’s drawing for her was so strong that she was observing everything we shared with her. At one point she said, “You are speaking with the Holy Spirit right now. I had been praying about something and the Lord is speaking through you!” She came by the table about three times. And she came to two dinners. Her heart is just like soft soil, absorbing everything that we shared with her. She was even taking notes when we told her about the radio broadcast program. She also told us that she sensed that there is grace surrounding our BfA table and that was what attracted her to come.

The second girl also came to the group time and dinner and she said, “It doesn’t make sense for me to come because I have homework to finish but the Lord just said ‘go!’ So here I am”. They both now are connected to the local saints. Please pray for their going on. The Lord truly rewards those who seek Him diligently. The Lord answered our prayer to draw these two Himself personally. We truly testify that we are so privileged to be channels used by the Lord to reach out to His sheep.

Prayer burdens:

• Many more students would be open for follow up appointments and/or join us in our activities this weekend
• Many connections would be made with the local saints
• Door-knocking this weekend with saints from different localities
• Bless us with remaining fruit

Activity highlights—1/29/15:

• Thursday afternoon, we distributed 27 Bible study invitations on campus and joined an appointment in which two of our students were taking a newly baptized student through the New Believers series. How encouraging it is that our students are already learning to feed others!
• Thursday evening was our semester’s first Bible study. We had 19 attendees, five of which were new and one contact ended up inviting two of her friends. We went over the basic yet foundational truth in Romans, that Christ has become our subjective and experienceable God! All five new ones were very involved and had very positive feedback, and we’ve established further contact with all of them.

Activity highlights—1/30/15:

• Today, we distributed Bibles at Sugarhouse Park. We distributed a total of 12 Bibles, six Basic Elements of the Christian Life, and 13 tracts. One person received the Lord, and two expressed interest in further contact to read the Bible. We also distributed 15 more invitations and had two appointments on campus today.
• Tonight, we split into two home meetings by language. In the English speaking home meeting, we had a total of 21 people, of which were four new students and four saints visiting from Boise, ID. One of the saints expressed that our team coordinations have been a real highlight.
• To date, the campus team on the University of Utah has consisted of saints from Lyman, WY, Los Angeles, CA, Albuquerque, NM, local saints form Salt Lake City, and FTTA trainees. We are all learning from one another’s experiences.
• The Bible study was another highlight. Attendance was not great, but every new student was very involved and we have established further contact with each one in some way.
• Another highlight was preaching the gospel at the park. We gave two Bibles to two high school girls and one confessed that she had been wanting to get into the Word. So we exchanged information and are hoping to meet sometime.

Prayer burdens:

• Pray for the strengthening of the local Salt Lake City saints who are serving on the University of Utah for the continued care of the contacted students.
• Pray that the connections we’ve made this week would remain and continue.

1/29/15: Praise the Lord for the one work in the Body! On January 29th we were able to distribute 119 Bibles and 955 tracts at both CSU and Case Western Reserve University. Today during the distribution, we all of a sudden started to rejoice in the Lord; we began to sing and college students started to join us in singing. One student in particular came to the table and asked if we knew “Blessed Assurance”. We gladly sang this hymn with her. She was very happy! We felt that today was more of a reaping day since there were students visiting us for Bible studies.

1/30/15: On January 30th we were able to distribute 96 Bibles. It was our last day in these campuses and the Lord blessed us with three appointments. In the evening we hosted a seminar and five students showed up. It was a great time, not only to go over the features of the Bible with them both, but also to connect them with the saints. At the end of the meeting the room was filled with singing. Students expressed their gratitude by telling us how blessed they were because we invited them to the seminar. Praise the Lord!

Prayer burdens:

• Follow up with contacts-these students will respond and get connected to the saints.
• The students who are connected to remain in fellowship with the saints and that they can receive the proper shepherding so that they can be remaining fruit.
• That the Lord can have a way at Purdue University, since we are heading there today, January 30th.