OL2 Olympic Games Gospel Trips (Part I)

As we are entering into the last 30 days of our consecutive 50 days of gospel trips, we are seeing baptisms and the continued contact with ones we have met.  These ones are coming to gatherings with the saints in the church life. In some places, the emphasis is already beginning to turn from Bible distributions to the shepherding care, follow-up and the building up with these ones. This gives us confidence that after the Bible distributions are finished there will be remaining fruit in each of the places where we have been laboring! As we approach the end of this phase and the beginning of the crucial next phase of strengthening and raising up churches, may the Lord call those who will migrate for the shepherding and the raising up of churches in French-speaking Europe. We fully expect the Lord to bless the migration for the establishment of new churches. We see that the fields indeed are white! May He thrust out the workers to labor one with Him! May all our hearts be opened to hear His call in these days. May we respond, “There will I show you my love”(Song of Songs 7:12) in joining with Him to migrate to the French-speaking places in Europe.

 

We began on July 11th to have distributions in the Paris Palaiseau area. What is unique about the teams coming here is that we live, coordinate, and eat together in the new Paris meeting hall. This has been a real blessing! It also has blended the saints together. From the start the young people and the university students we have met have been so open to the gospel! We are able to invite ones to dinner with us and afterwards we have a short Bible study. So far 4 from previous trips and 5 from OL2 have joined us for these times.
 

Another blessing is that the young people from the church in Paris join us! It is so marvelous to see them introduce people to the free Bible and use the Mystery of Human Life, MHL, when sharing. They are also good at helping translate for those of us who don’t speak French. How we thank the Lord for these young people and their participation!
 

One of the Bible recipients that we met yesterday and a friend of a college student in Palaiseau attended the Bible study. We had a rich fellowship on John 7 about what it means for “the Spirit to be not yet”. He was really touched that everyone has a chance to share their portion. He wants to join our Bible distribution/gospel preaching time.
 

We had a good Bible study time with eight new ones reading John 11. One Bible recipient came to the Bible study in the evening on John 5. She was happy to join us and is hoping to come again.
 

In the evening, eight Bible recipients joined the Bible study. Three were from previous trips and five from OL-2. One we met during yesterday's distribution time, who called on the name of the Lord, and came to our Bible study group in the evening. Instead of joining the larger meeting, saints spent time with her in a small group setting to cover baptism. Initially she had a lot of questions about baptism, and she shared that during the past 20 years of her searching through different religions, people always told her that she would become prosperous if she joined. This didn't impress her. We shared with her Matthew 16:20 ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”  That really became the turning point of our conversation. In the end she made the decision to be baptized today! She is now our sister. Praise the Lord!
 

 

Pray that the Lord be with us in our shepherding care and that there would be remaining fruit!

 

There have been a few families living in Versailles for some years. The burden during these trips has been to raise up the church in Versailles. The teams began laboring here July 11th during the last Torch Relay trip. It has not been hard to contact university students and young adults during our Bible distributions. Versailles is a very Catholic area and we have met genuine serious believers. This is the first time the teams had appointments and follow-up appointments with ones met during the distributions. We are so very encouraged by this!

 

At night we had dinner and a Bible study with a new one that the saints met during OL1. She is very open and enjoys our time getting into John.

 

We had two that we have met (one who had come before and a one new) join us. That night for our Bible study dinner we had a new sister join us. She was previously contacted during OL1 and shared with us how she had prayed for the Lord to lead her to a group of genuine believers to fellowship with. We had a sweet time sharing our testimonies regarding how the Lord became real to us.

 

In the evening, one who met us during OL1 again joined the Bible study. We touched on consecration and the Lord's loving us and our loving the Lord, being the content of the gospel. This one enjoyed the time and even lingered afterwards, walking with the sisters back to where they were staying. She stayed with the sisters while waiting for her bus and eventually she missed her bus to continue fellowshipping with the sisters.

 

At the Lord’s table, we had one that we met during the OL1 trip come and a family of four who are gospel friends of the local saints.

 

Prayer Burden
Pray that the Lord would speak a personal word to each new one and capture them with the vision of the church!

 

The Paris team has been laboring in central Paris since July 21. Since our burden was to meet the people living in Paris, we did not set up anywhere close to the Olympic venues. But sometimes we could not distribute because the area was closed off due to Olympic activities. We expected to meet many people living here in Paris but this was not the case. Many Parisians opted to leave the city just as the games began. None the less, the Lord granted us a way to meet new ones! Thank You, Lord! The team now meets for coordination in two places according to where they are staying. The two groups meet up at the distribution site and then go to one location to debrief, have dinner, and have Bible studies with new ones. We also had young people and older French speaking sisters join us at some of our distributions. They add so much in their zeal for the gospel!

 

Today I was paired up with a young person. We were praying for at least one person for her to share the MHL with. After a while, she said that the Lord did not answer our prayer. We again prayed, "Lord within these 50 minutes left, bring one seeking person." Close to the end of the distribution, a lady came straight to us, and she was hungry for the gospel. The young sister started to preach God's economy using the diagrams of the MHL tract. When the person got her Bible and agreed that God created us for a purpose, my young companion's face was beaming with the joy of our Lord Jesus!

 

We were out at our table distributing Bibles and ran into one we had met before. She invited us for coffee which eventually turned to lunch. We shared sweet fellowship together and look forward to more appointments.

 

Sisters had two appointments today. The first was with a young woman whom they prayed with to receive the Lord yesterday! She was very open to meet. Actually, she didn’t wake up in time for our appointment. We suggested meeting the next day instead, but she asked if we could video call so they could still read the Bible together. Her desire to meet was a great encouragement to us. The second appointment was with one we had met during OL1. This was the second appointment with this one. We have been enjoying pray-reading the Word together. At the end of the appointment, we agreed to set up a weekly Bible reading time, so today we started the book of John. We pray-read many of the verses together and really exercised our spirit!

 

A family joined us for a Bible study in the evening. They have been joining our meetings since the harvest meeting at the end of OL1. We sang two hymns before getting into the Word, and the parents declared many of the stanzas with us. We then read the second half of John 2, and also found many verses that show us that we are the temple of God! The Spirit was truly flowing, and after the Bible study, when asked about their plans the next evening, the father simply said, “We’ll be here.”

 

We had about eight new ones join our harvest meeting tonight. During the group time, a group of sisters enjoyed pray-reading Ephesians 2:22 together with a new one. Afterwards, one of the sisters set up an appointment with this new one. The family who has been joining the Bible studies for the past three days also joined us. At the end, the father said, “We will be staying here and meeting with you all. We have the peace to stay here.”

 

Lord, gain these one for the church life in Paris.

 

The Lord has given the teams an excellent location for our distributions in the Nanterre area. It is by a famous arch in a La Défense plaza where large amounts of people pass through every day. The teams easily talk with people, distribute Bibles and exchange contact information with many young people and young adults. Now they are getting appointments and follow-up times with the ones they have met.

 

Three out of the twelve that we met during yesterday's distribution have replied positively to invitations for follow-ups. Although they won't be available for the next few weeks because of summer vacations with their families, they are very open to read the Bible and be invited for the Bible seminars in September. Hallelujah!

 

A teenager was walking with her friend when she suddenly stopped and asked her friend to wait for her. She came over to the table to ask for a Bible. When I asked her if she already read it before, she said "No". But she told us that she has recently had the feeling to start knowing God more! It was timely that she saw the table. She is very open to read the Bible together with us.

 

A brother, a believer we had met came to our evening session and enjoyed the time of fellowship. The testimonies of all the saints were encouraging to him.

 

We had six new ones come to tonight's harvest meeting. It was a glorious time covering the divine romance in the Bible! For one of them it was her second time coming. Another one came whom we had met at the table earlier that day. He originally came to the table to get a Bible for his girlfriend who is Christian and was invited to the seminar. His response was "Why not?" and he came! He is not a believer, but he is interested in learning about different religions. In the small group fellowship he told us how much he enjoyed hearing about the divine romance. He was touched by the kindness of the saints. We encouraged him to invite his girlfriend next time. His response was again "Why not?" Another one who came told us that she had read Watchman Nee in the past and asked a question about "What is God's economy?" She enjoyed the fellowship with the saints. A mother we had met at the table brought her three children to the seminar. Her children happily played with the children of the saints as the mother joined in the fellowship. May the Lord continue to gain with all these ones for His Body!

 

Pray that we would have the best follow-up with the ones we have met.

 

Prayer Burden

Pray that all those who have applied to serve full-time in France would get their visas approved in a timely manner. By mid-October these ones will join with the Lord for His shepherding care for all the ones saved and baptized since the beginning of the Torch Relay Gospel Trips which began in May and continuing with the Olympic gospel trips which are currently going on.  

Giving

Saints who are burdened to give for the Bible distribution and other expenses can give through LME by following instructions at lordsmove.org/offerings.html. Designate offerings for “Paris Olympics.”

Archived Reports

Read all the past gospel reports here.