Scotland stories

A little update on my time in Scotland. Cool stories about how God used us to impact Edinburgh.

I went with Campus Crusade for Christ to Edinburgh, Scotland February 21 to March 4, 2007.

Who went?
Week 1: 30 students from MacMaster, York, Calgary, Ottawa, Halifax and UBC
Week 2: 8 students from Western, York, Windsor and SFU
For most it was their first evangelistic project. They were all familiar with the 4 spiritual laws booklet, had experience sharing it on their home campus’, and were passionate about telling the Edinburgh students about who Jesus is. Our intent was to call back the children of Scotland to their rich spiritual heritage. We felt fortunate to be used by God to place a few more stones across the river of faith for the non- believers.

Impact on the Agape staff members
Encouragement. We brought them a new hope at a time when they were very discouraged and doubting in their efforts on campus. They had not seen any students come to Christ and their vision that God could "turn students into believers who know God and change their world day by day" was blurred. Now this mission statement is clear to the staff and students of Agape ministries and they have a renewed desire to share their faith on campus.
Truly a blessed experience.

Meagan from the University of York
Although the spring break for the University of York did not coincide with the Scotland project, Meagan opted to miss a week of classes to join the project for week 2. Meagan’s grandmother was from Aberdeen and was in full support of this project. Grandma had been in and out of the hospital with poor health, but had strongly encouraged Meagan to go. Two days into the project, grandma went into a comma and passed away. Meagan decided to stay the remainder of the week as she felt her grandmother would have wanted her to stay. That evening she met with a girl (from India) with whom she had shared the gospel the day before. The girl had read parts of her new bible and was very familiar with the 4 laws booklet. Just before praying to receive Christ, she asked, just to clarify, "so I don’t pray to any other God’s now?" Meagan reassured her that there is only one God to whom we pray. Excited and refreshed, Meagan was also assured of her call to Scotland and her grief was postponed.

Question: Who is Jesus?
Son of God or just a prophet? Was he really God? Why did he die? We asked this question a lot. The bible clearly states that Jesus was the son of God (part of the trinity), actually was God (the great I am), fulfilled the prophesy about his life, lead a perfect life and died on the cross as payment for all of our sins. However, many of the students we spoke to either didn't believe this truth or didn't even know.

Moral Pleuralism
Many students we spoke to didn't have a strong belief in God or in religion. Just like here, in Canada. This made me realize that I don't need to travel a huge distance to have the same sort of spiritual. I did gain a lot of experience at sharing my faith and learned to ask many ‘why’ questions to get people thinking about God and what happens when they die. Because we don't preach at or force people to repent from their sins, we actually have meaningful conversations that include listening and thought provoking question asking.
Pluralism= belief in multiple beliefs/religions…. and that each religion is equal

Personal Impact
I found my niche in leading a team and discipling girls. I enjoyed helping them sharpen their skills in initiative evangelising and in their own personal walk with God. Being staff for a week was a glimpse of what life will be like for me as a full time Campus staff in September. It's not an easy job, but very fulfilling!

Some other interesting things we did Toned our legs walking everywhere- up hills and staircase; tried deep- fried mars bars (crispy, sweet, chocotaly good yum). Saw many people wearing kilts and heard random bag pipers. I introduced week one group to real ceilidh (scottish country) dancing and had a very good time! also went to John Knox’s old house, to St Gilles Cathedral, to an amazing tartan factory, the impressive royal museum (an amazing wildlife and insect collection!) and ate fish and chips!

Stats: 9 students came to Christ and 160 heard a gospel presentation.

Personal Update
I will find out in May which University (likely in western Canada) I will be placed at as a Campus for Christ staff worker. Due to a new and improved staff training curriculum, I haven't had time to start building my support team, which I intend to start towards the end of April. I need to raise my own monthly salary via the financial donation of people who are willing to support the campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.
If we don’t tell them the gospel, who will? Lou Leventhal once said, "You might be the only bible a person reads".

*School is almost over! Just a few more weeks and it will all be over! We’ve had an amazing semester...

C4C ministry at SFU:
- Women’s outreach focusing on body image and success. Gail and Marissa shared their struggles with these issues and, using non Christianese language, shared their testimonies. 12 non-Christians came out and 4 wanted to meet with someone for more information and to learn about how to have a personal relationship with God.
- Cynthia (the girl I led to Christ in October) is beginning to really live out her walk with God (she skipped class to go out sharing this week). She regularly attends her bible study, prayer meeting and socials.
-10 students from SFU c4c are going on a missions trip this summer (to the orient, Calgary, Halifax, Zambia, Mozambique and Turkey). They are trusting God to fiance the cost of the trip, keep them safe, and to help them lead people to Christ.

*Thank you for prayers and encouragement! *God is good!