Salt Lake City, UT
January 28
Thank you all for your prayers. Apart from Him, we really can do nothing. We are merely here to present our bodies. Not much has changed in our day-to-day activities. On Tuesday, after a vitalizing coordination, we departed for campus where we distributed 196 Bible study invitations and 3 gospel tracts; 3 students signed up at our table. We met a decent number of students who either expressed
interest in attending the Bible study or affirmed that they would, as well as 6 students who were open to further contact. In that evening’s prayer meeting, which consisted of 12 attendees, we spent much time praying over these contacts, name by name. Wednesday, after another vital coordination, we left for campus: 28 flyers were distributed and 2 students signed up at the table. We had 3 appointments with
students today (2 additional appointments had canceled), of which 1 agreed to come to this Friday’s home meeting. In the evening, we had dinner and team fellowship at the meeting hall.
Again, our labor here is truly upheld by prayers of all the saints. There is a marked difference between days that we give ourselves to much prayer and days that we don’t. Divine appointments happen, and we are just flowed through our labor. It was not until we prayed for people to come to the table that people came, and it was not until we prayed for contacts that contacts were made. Today, we also met with a girl who was so refreshed that, in the midst of the dominating prevalence of Mormonism, the Lord led her to a group of Christians on campus with whom she could read the Bible. We invited her to this Friday’s home meeting and she is excited to come.
Prayer burdens:
Bible study: Please continue to pray for tomorrow night’s Bible study. We will be going over the book of
Romans. We will also use this time to gauge our energy expenditure among our contacts for our
remaining time here. Please pray not only for numbers (keeping in mind that there is very limited
It is He who will build a house. On the Lord’s Day, we had our Lord’s Table at the aforementioned house-turned-meeting-hall. There were 43 attendees, including seven FTTA trainees, seven saints from Lyman, Wyoming, and two from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Blending, blending, hallelujah! After a superabundant love feast, we formed 10 groups of 3-4 saints and went out door-knocking in Sugarhouse, a key community that neighbors the University of Utah. We knocked on 184 doors, out of which there were 22 positive contacts and one phone number exchanged, and passed out 27 Bibles and 24 Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1. In the evening, we gathered for a physical and spiritual dinner at the Herpin’s.
Today, we began the day with coordination, where we came together to touch the Lord as a team and practiced sharing to feed and nourish one another with Christ. Then we departed for campus where some of us were at the table while others dispersed throughout the university, contacting students and distributing invitations for this Thursday’s Bible study. We passed out a total of 183 invitations and made one follow-up appointment. In the afternoon, some of us toured the area while others had an appointment with a freshman student. In the evening, again we gathered for another physical and spiritual dinner at the Aviles’.
Activity highlights:
- Just the fact that the Wyoming saints came out to blend and even distribute Bibles with us was so encouraging. Some even stayed to contact students on campus with us this week. Door-knocking was not just a time of feeding others, but a sweet time of blending.
- Also, a freshman named Sarah who we had been having regular Bible reading appointments with, testified that she looks forward to these times of reading the Word with us.
- Lastly, our evening dinners going from house to house have been so simple and sweet. No sermons, messages, or laid-out agendas; simply singing hymn after hymn and psalm after psalm. Not only are we fed, but the saints are so supplied that Christ is brought into their homes.
Prayer burdens:
- TABLE: This is Christians on Campus’ first table, located in the entrance of one of the freshman dorms. Pray that more of our own students would be available to man the table. Also, University policy stipulates that we cannot be in front of our table recruiting students, i.e. we must stay behind our table and the students must approach us. No one came to our table today. Please pray that the Lord would release a way for students to come to our table! Also, that the Lord would go with our invitations and bring seeking ones to the Bible Study.
- CONTACT: Pray that in our contacting people on campus, we would meet students who would be open and available for further contact, who we can contact again and again while we are here.
- MIGRATION: This is a big one, but the saints keep asking for it. Pray that more saints would migrate here, because otherwise, there is no way for the new ones to be taken care of.
Salt Lake City, UT
January 24
Praise the Lord, saints! The Lord is surely moving in Salt Lake City! The saints have testified that ever
since the church has taken ground here, there has been a shift in the spiritual atmosphere from that of
oppression to one of clear skies.
We all arrived by plane yesterday and spent the afternoon resting/working on the meeting hall in Salt Lake City, which is in fact a house that the church bought and converted into a meeting hall. The saints
are currently working on it, and we have joined in their labor. In the evening, we split and blended with the
saints in two different home meetings, Chinese and English-speaking. Today, we spent the day continuing to work on the meeting hall and packaged 400 New Testament Recovery Versions to be
distributed in these coming weeks. Tonight, we had dinner and orientation at the Eliason’s, where we
prayed and went over the focus of our time here (contacting people at the University of Utah and joining
their church life), our gospel work as BFA volunteers, and some things to know about Mormons, as Salt
Lake City is the Mormon capitol, and thereby heavily populated by Mormons. All our labor, whether
construction or handling Bibles, is preceded by prayer. It has been a joy just going from house to house,
blending with the saints and entering into their burden.
Prayer burdens:
We will be going door-knocking tomorrow in the Sugarhouse neighborhood nearby the campus.
Pray that we would find the sons of peace, those that the Lord has prepared to meet us.
Pray for the campus work. At the University of Utah (aka U of U), there are 2 core “Utes” and
many new ones. There were 5 newly baptized students last week. Pray that in our appointments
these ones would be properly nourished and fed. Pray also for our first Bible Study this coming
Thursday.
Pray for the blending among the saints; that the saints would learn to depend on each other, to
see each other more and to shepherd one another.
