We just had a wonderful retreat with about 14 nonChristians (22 people total) where we discussed “Who is Jesus?” We met in Gatlinburg, where we combined Bible study and fun.
MK is now meeting with two more women who wanted to learn the Bible stories!
“The best part was the Bible studies” said one new Christian. He led a small group for the first time.
“It was a perfect retreat, I wouldn’t change anything” said one seeker.
In small groups seekers expressed their concerns about hell. Young Christians sharpened their apologetic skills.
One woman shared her mother gave her a cross necklace, meaning that she had her mom’s approval to learn about Christianity.
Another young man publicly shared how he didn’t want to be converted, yet he had chosen to come to the retreat which we had prominently advertised the Bible studies. He had deep questions.
One young man called two days before, and said he would drive himself and sleep on the floor if needed, as we were already full! He did come, one person had canceled without telling us!
It was also a great time working with coworkers from ISI (International Students Inc).
Wow! Thank you for your prayers to getting a great start to the year!
We had 10 visiting scholars from the East, for Christmas parties at our house this year!!
We felt like Mary and Joseph, who also had visiting scholars from the East. I think they enjoyed hearing the parallel, and they also loved seeing the story, new to almost all of them, of the first Christmas. We saw the Nativity Movie together, and discussed it afterwards. We shared presents and good food and saw Christmas lights. My wife, a Yankee, even learned how to cook a Virginian ham! (She asked for help from a New Yorker!)
But the dearest, was when one student told us, with tears in her eyes, that we had made Christmas really special for her and her husband, for the first time.
Keep these Virginia Tech visiting scholars, most of them from China, in your prayers.
We are having a retreat with nearly 20 non-Christians, in Tennessee, on the theme of “Who is Jesus?” We are working with two dear friends from International Students Incorporated (ISI).
Please pray for this retreat!
good weather,
travel safety,
open hearts,
clear teaching, and that everything would be smothered with
the love of Christ from our hearts.
That’s January 5 to 7, Monday to Wednesday just after the New Year.
I (Fred) try to play racquetball every week for my health. I play with a group of “mature” men (not their real picture). As typical, sufficient Americans, they are generally non-conversant regarding religion, if not smugly against it. So I don’t share much, until yesterday….
racquetball
My athletic friend shared how he went on a six day wilderness hike, got lost, and wound up in a poor Indian village and soon to miss their plane back. While without hope, someone led them to a missionary, who kindly gave them all a ride, barely making their flight on time (but no time for showers!). Being extremely thankful, he listened to the gospel message during the whole three hour trip to the airport .
He listened carefully, he didn’t want to be kicked out of the car! And he said he was surprised by the missionary. He had had a dim view of them, thinking of them as subverting other cultures and being cultural imperialists. But while in the village he had seen the utter drunkenness of the people — mothers with children strapped to them, passing out and crushing them. Now he says he really respects what this man is doing to help change their culture. Not only did he pay for the gas but he donated to him!
I asked him if was familiar with Star Trek and the Prime Directive, which says that Captain Kirk and the Enterprise were to never interfere with primitive societies. But every other episode Kirk does just that, because the societies that he encounters are highly dysfunctional. The Prime Directive is good in theory, but in reality there is the stark realization that there are cultural absolutes of right and wrong, and there is a cross-cultural mandate to assist all others, no matter where they are in the evolution of their society.
Assistance of a missionary is a tacit admission of cultural absolutes, and eventually of a Right and Wrong by which we ourselves will be judged. Now I pray for him to discover his own moral poverty.
Do pray for this man and his friends to find the Savior before he meets the Judge.
We were Exhausted after our Thanksgiving trip to Ohio, looking forward to sleeping in our own beds!! But at 4 in the morning we heard a scuffling sound behind our bed. We tried to sleep, but it kept going on. Finally I (Fred) pointed out to my wife that in my family’s household, it was my mom that took care of animal pests in the house and mouse traps and all of that stuff.
Mary Kay reflected. “Well in my house it was always my father….”
mouse (changed to protect the guilty)
We giggled like school kids. Expectations. She expected me to take care of it, I had hoped she would rise to the occasion. Finally we decided just to hold each other tightly, and discuss whether a mouse could climb up a bed post.
But the noise continued, so I looked very carefully behind the nightstand. Nothing. I went to get a flashlight, I came back and the noise was on the other side of the bed! But I saw nothing. So, having looked, we turned off the lights, got into bed, and waited. And then the theory. The second noise was because of the trash can being rattled when I went to get a flashlight, and the persistent noise, was in the wall.
We finally decided it was a Chimney Sweep bird, as we had problems before with them. We camped out downstairs for the rest of the night. The next night he returned. So I rose to the challenge, covering the only opening I could think of in the attic, and waited. He still returned early in the morning!
So later that morning I cut a hole in the wall and discovered not a bird, but 3 mice!! One was still alive, and very much afraid — just as I was afraid to touch them, dead or alive. I tried chopsticks, but I needed one hand to hold the light and my free hand wasn’t that good with using two sticks.
Inspiration struck. Aspiration! I wheeled my shop vac upstairs and sucked clean the hole perfectly. Then I set him free in the woods, he seemed very thankful and unhurt, though a trifle blinded by the light.
The mouse was probably much more scared than I was. Ideally I could have coaxed him out of the hole with water and cheese, and gently escorted him outside. But he probably would have been too afraid.
How unlike God I was. God had a problem with people in the Earth that He had made. They were making a mess. He could have just sucked us all up in a gigantic vacuum cleaner and thrown us out. It would have been a lot quieter for Him then. Are we as disgusting to Him as the mice were to me? Nevertheless, his solution was to enter into the disgusting hole, as a man, that would take away our fears, and who would lead us out of the hole we were in, leading us to a new home.
And that is the story of Christmas. We truly hope you have silent nights to help remember that most silent night.
Saturday was a special October event where we took our international friends into (and out of) a corn maze, chucked some pumpkins, listened to folk music (first time to hear a banjo), and learn about common barn animals.
And we love working with our new co-workers who helped in driving!
– says Dr. D, not his real name (or picture). I have been reading the Bible with him for several months, and answering questions: “What about people who aren’t Christians?” “Why is there still so much evil?” …. But I had noticed an acceptance on his part, and eagerness to read ALL of the Bible. So I asked him direct questions, he replied “Yes, Jesus is my Lord, yes, he is God, Yes, he came back to life and is now alive with God.”
This arrived in our email box, but I think it was meant for you, our supporters, who made this possible:
Dear Fred and Mary Kay,
I’m M, this is my new email account for my VT email had been expired. I will back to China this Saturday, so I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to you for your care and help.
You are so nice person and I’m very luck could meet you. We had a very wonderful time during Florida trip. We went to Holy land experience, Disney world and Tarpon and enjoyed kayaking at Wichi Wachi. I’m really appreciate for all you did. It’s hard to say good bye with you, but I believe all these wonderful memory will keep forever. Keep in touch and welcome to China.
We were explaining the two greatest commandments to this young Chinese couple who have recently started studying the Bible with us. Suddenly I asked the question
Can you love your neighbor as yourself, without loving God first with all of your heart, soul, and strength?
She quickly nodded her head, “Yes.” But the husband slowly thought about it, and said clearly “No.” I asked why. Here I paraphrase his answer:
I don’t think I could truly love my neighbor because some people are very difficult to love, and because of prejudices, I don’t think I could really love people without God’s help.
Previously we thought he was far from the Kingdom of God, but Now I think he may be close!
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Thursday I (Mary Kay) met with an Iranian couple. They brought their Koran in Persian to see how it compares with the Bible – for 1 1/2 hours, we could have continued even more! They explained how they’ve been told that Jesus didn’t die but someone else did. My question to them was:
why would Jesus ever want that because He was the Only Perfect One that could die
