The Free Presbyterian Church of North America launched an initiative to encourage and facilitate outreach in the local churches. We've been in Victoria since 2006. It is a very beautiful city attracting thousands of tourists each year from around the world. Although there is a rich spiritual and ecclesiastical history here, secularism, materialism and many other distractions of the devil have captured the hearts of the people. and the Church of Christ in this area languishes. Going out and talking to people for me is a good stretching, spiritually for me. Not only to see what other people are believing or what they think, why they think the universe is here and why they're here, but also to get out and talk to people. and to go outside my comfort zone in that area and talking to people. Walking up to someone to talk to them isn't the initial asking them if we can talk to them. It probably is the most unenjoyable part of it. But once we start talking to them, then I think that's the most enjoyable part of downtown and being able to share the gospel with them. I can remember one instance specifically going over the questionnaire and just going through some of the different questions with a fella and his his fiancee and we got to the question of how do you deal with the problem of sin in your own life. And the different questions were on it, like some was do you feed sin or do you ignore it? And the guy thought to himself for a minute and then he's like, you know, that's kind of a hard question to answer. And he asked me, he's like, well, what would you do? And to me that was probably one of the highlights of my week is just the way he asked it. And you know, he's like, well, how do you deal with the sin problem in your life? And I was just like, well, let me tell you. And it was just really comforting, just in a way that the Lord had that man word it. Because for me, I know it's hard maybe to ease in and start just kind of sharing the gospel, but just the way he asked it, it was the perfect opportunity to just, pure and simple, this is what the gospel is. You may not be the best with words or the best public speaker or something like that, but the Lord still gives grace. He gives grace. He gives courage to just do things that even though you don't feel comfortable with. I know for me, I mean, I'm an outgoing person and I like, I do enjoy talking to people, but it's, it's, it's hard. You don't want to feel like you're pushing it on someone. You don't want to feel like a bother, but the Lord gives you grace and he just helps you. even if we just, you know, ask the first question and then we're rebuffed. At least people saw the t-shirt, saw the card, knew where we were from, and they have a resource right there, because a website is usually pretty easy to remember. And, you know, even with just the first question, for them to start thinking, you know, well, why would somebody come down and walk up to a perfect stranger and ask them, have you ever read the Bible? and to just get them to start thinking. Because I talked to several people and, you know, they didn't really want to talk, they just wanted to do their own thing, but just the fact that they were asked to defend why they believed what they believed and why they didn't believe something else, I know for me that helps me solidify and even reconsider some of my own opinions when people do that with me. So I'm just hoping and praying that the people that we talk to, they will start rethinking what they believe and turn to the Bible. In a way, it was discouraging because no one came out right and said, oh wow, that's new to me and I want to accept Christ as my Savior. But at the same time, it's encouraging because We've given them the Word, and it's not up to us what comes of the Word. Like we talked about in 2 Chronicles 32, that man is flesh, but God is one who made man, and He has the power to turn their hearts whichever way He wants them to go, and it's not up to us. There was one girl I talked to today who said she was a Christian, but didn't know what was going to happen with sin. And to me, that was kind of like, that doesn't match up. So, you know, some people grow up being taught you're a Christian just because you're good or because you know all this stuff. But at the same time, they don't know even why Christ came. And to me, that's, they're in even more of a need for salvation or for, to see Christ than those who've never heard of him, because they know Christ is there and he's within reach of them. I actually found the initial part fine, like going up and telling them what we were doing. I didn't really have a problem with that. But then you meet such a wide range of people that it's so hard to be really prepared for what's going to happen. And I think that's one of the things I learned that I need to be. more prepared. I know you can't prepare for everybody that comes or for every conversation you're going to have, but that you know exactly what you believe and be able to articulate it. Because I guess a lot of times we know it in our head, but we've never had to explain it in a way that someone who's never heard. And like some conversations we had, people had heard of Christ, they knew that he died on the cross, but it just wasn't personal. But then you had other people who didn't know anything. And so you were starting from the very beginning trying to start even with who wrote the Bible, and so the difference is. And you meet such a range of people. Today we talked to someone who was Roman Catholic, and when we asked them that question about dealing with their sin problem, they said they had to take it to the priest. Then we met with other people who believed they were God and didn't really see a sin problem at all. And then there's other people who readily admitted that they knew the Gospel from when they were growing up and so they realised that but just hadn't made it personal. And so I think one of the things I learned is you've got to be more prepared to meet people where they are. And yes, they all eventually, the end goal is that they get the gospel, but sometimes it takes a little bit more to get to that point than it does with some other people. I knew a lot of those things that were out there. I knew that there were people who believed they could get to heaven with their own works. I knew there were people who didn't believe in God, but I don't know that I've ever been in the position before where I've had someone look me in the eye and say, I don't believe there's a God or I believe I'm going to heaven because I've done good things. And when I get to heaven, God will say, well, you've done enough good things. I don't think I've ever had anybody look me in the eye before and tell me that. So I know I shouldn't be shocked, but it's a little unnerving when you hear someone actually say that. We can so often depend on our own selves and we can have a confidence in our own selves when we come into a work that maybe you're used to. I know some of the other guys have been speaking about being fearful of going in and sometimes whenever you get so used to doing the same thing over and over again that fear can be replaced by a misplaced confidence in yourself. So I guess what I've learnt in general doing outreach has been forced again to me, that I need to take my confidence away from myself and place it on Christ. He's the only one that can do it work. and my voice and what I say and what I plan to say to some soul isn't going to do anything for them and it's only by what Christ can say through us as these vessels that he wants us to be. I guess there's one guy, James, that we were speaking to yesterday and not that it was anything new that we learned but it was just sort of another person that maybe comes across and they have a lot of intellect, they have a lot of knowledge, they obviously study things but it's kind of It's scary to think that somebody that has studied so much in one area neglects the truth and neglects the word. Pray for the work of Christ in Victoria. Pray for the young people who came on the team. Pray that this week might have lasting effects on their minds and hearts. That in the future they might look back on these presbytery initiatives as turning points in their lives. foundational to their growth in Christ and their usefulness in the future of the Church, and perhaps formative in their calling to serve the Lord in the Church.