Then on Saturday evening I will be speaking at the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union – leading a seminar on evangelism.

I’d really appreciate your prayers for both opportunities.

The following report is from Triff, the IFES staff member in Bulgaria. I thought you might be encouraged to read it:

The motto of the mission’s week was “2012: is the end coming?” and the talks centred on topics such as truth, sex, suffering, stress, career, end of the world and life after death.

What happened in Shumen was not less than a miracle. In a country where law bans religious organisations from holding events on campus, we were not only allowed to advertise and hold lectures on campus but also were given permission to put tables in front of the three university buildings, exhibit there our picture boards, do questionnaires, flyer and chat with students and professors. We even held our planning and prayer events in the morning in the university café!

Each day we advertised a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon our events. (By the end of the week hundreds of students already knew us by face and said hi to us.) This gave us the opportunity to hold many improvised discussions on spot, usually with groups of students who were sitting and smoking there. Some were curious and would come to our picture board just to see what it is all about. Others asked ‘what you guys aim with this?’.

There were some who were at first reluctant to respond to our questions (we asked them “Which picture describes best their emotional status/religion/God/their dreams”) but then opened and later on came to the café to listen to Michael’s talks! One girl said in the beginning: “I don’t want to talk about these things” but later her friend called her to come and she shared about her brother’s death and said that this had made her very cynical and fearful of sects. Another one asked so many questions after I gave her a flyer and after we talked about 15 minutes she started crying and came to 5 of our meetings, bringing other 4 people with herself!

All our students also had many interesting conversations. Even though it was the week after Easter in Bulgaria and some students still hadn’t come back to uni, we had about 50 people each evening and 30 in the mornings. About half of the people came to at least 2 of our events, and there were some who came to almost 5 or 6 of them.

We provided free meal, sweets or cookies for each evening talk. Some came because they were attracted by it but then liked very much what Michael said. Two Turkish girls (born in Bulgaria) said that they liked Michael’s talk so much that they couldn’t sleep in the night and couldn’t wait to come again on the next day.

Other two girls were overheard by our students to chat on campus. One said: “What kind of a guy is this English man here on campus?” The other, who had come to the first meeting and heard Michael speak, replied: “He is an evangelist” “What does ‘evangelist’ mean?”, the first one said. “It means someone who talks about Jesus and God”, was the answer. Just a few years ago most people would think that ‘an evangelist’ was a synonym for ‘a sectarian’. Now almost no one we met asked us this.

Some quotes from the feedback from Michael’s talks:

“Thanks to you I found the answers to many questions! It was an unforgettable event for me”

“I like everything up to this point and I completely agree!”

“I believe deeply in God! I entered the café nervous and anxious. I thank you because I am leaving now with peace in my heart. I got to know that God cares for me. I believe. Thank you!”

“It was very nice! Everything was organised perfectly, starting from the music in the beginning to the end of the talk. I believe in God, but from this day on I am closer to him. I have believed in one thing until now even when I have suffered. He’s been with me always.”

Another interesting thing was that on the feedback forms after Michael’s talks almost everyone(48 students in total) wrote that they wanted more information about Christianity. Of all 4 evenings we had just few students who said they didn’t want to receive more information and invitations to our further events. The student group in Shumen is holding follow-up events: a picnic tomorrow, Sunday, and a seekers discussion on Monday, and they hope to meet with those who were mostly interested. Please, pray that they would come!

So, it was great to see about 20 Christian students from 4 different student groups work together for the advance of the gospel at one university. They’ve learned a lot and got so much excited about it that some are even returning for the picnic! I am sure that next year, after they share with the others about the week, we will have more than one student groups, where students will be willing to hold similar events.

Trif Trifonov is the director of the student work here and he writes:

Just a quick note to ask for prayer for the mission’s week starting today in Shumen. From April 17^th to 20^th we will run a series of 7 talks at both Shumen University and the Retro club nearby all united under the motto “2012: Is the End Coming?” Main speaker is Michael Ots who in four evenings will tackle the topics of “Sex, drugs and rock-&-roll: why God wants to kill pleasure?”, “Crisis, poverty and suffering: what kind of a God allows all this?”, “Stress: don’t worry, be happy?”, and “Is There Life After Life?” Before and after each of Michale’s talks famous musicians (X-Factor) will warm-up the atmosphere and provide a nice setting for chats and sharing. There will be also free food provided!

In the mornings we have invited a famous Bulgarian film director to speak on the topic of “The truths we don’t want to know”, a university professor to tackle “Is there future for humanity: what do the Mayas, Nostradamus and other prophetic voices say about the end of the world?” and another one to speak on “Is there life after … university: career in the context of debt crisis and a disintegrating EU.”

There are already posters put up everywhere at university. Students from the local student group, with the help of students from the three neighboring student groups, will each day invite non-Christian students to the talks by flyering the campus and serving juice to them. We will also ask the non-Christians to point at many pictures and say which one expresses best their emotional status, and then try directing the conversation towards God and the spiritual reality. We got permission for all this in spite of the law saying that religious groups are not allowed to run events on campus, thank God!

Please, pray for:

1. Smooth organisation and running of the talks.
2. A good number of non-Christian students to attend the mission’s week and the follow-up events.
3. Meaningful conversations before and after the talks that will help non-Christians see the reality of Jesus in their world.
4. Boldness in sharing about Jesus and encouragement for students and the local churches as they see God moving on campus!

By the end of the week around 60 had indicated they wanted to investigate Jesus further and some had professed faith. A highlight for me was speaking to the lady who was working at the venue all week. She shared with me how at the start of the week she was not interested all in Christianity but now she was hooked… She had listened to every talk, read the gospel and signed up for the follow up course. I was reminded how attractive and intriguing the Gospel is. We don’t have to make it attractive but it already is!

More reports from the missions will be in my prayer letter which will come out in a couple of weeks. For now I’m off on holiday for a week! I’m ready for it!

After a weekend training our mission team for Romania I’m now into the final Uni mission of the term here in Leicester. It’s a similar format to last week with lunch talks at 12 and 1, but I’ll also be doing the evening talks each night at 7:30. Please pray for energy as I speak 15 times in 5 days and the countless conversations and questions as well. I’m pretty tired so pray for unusual energy and strength for this final leg.

We have a smaller CU guest team so pray for the guys who ate organizing who have lots to do. Pray also we’d be able to follow people up really well. Thanks!

We’ve had good numbers coming along to all the events and many people coming back to each one as they were so interested by what they heard. It’s been brilliant to make contact with others that have come in previous years as well and see them progress. A real highlight has been the evening events with good crowds coming along to hear really clear and persuasive presentations from Michael Green. Each night we have seen people profess faith and others sign up to find out more.

Another encouragement has been the noticeable change in the attitude of people as the week has gone by. On the first few days the questions were quite hostile and antagonistic but in the last couple of days there has been a softening and people have asked more from personal interest rather than to prove a point.

As we move into the last few events do pray that people would continue to response to the Gospel. Many seem very close so pray that the barriers and obstacles would be cleared away and that they may come to Christ. Please also pray for energy at the end of a busy week to keep going, to speak clearly and to love people well.

There has been lots of faithful seed sowing over the years here, but it would be wonderful to see that bearing fruit this week. We have massive team of 27 CU guests to help which is great. Pray they would all be well used to talk to others about Jesus and lead people to him. Pray for the CU to be bold and loving in their witness. Pray for many to come to the events. Pray for Michael and I as we speak – for clarity, warmth and a persuasive and loving manner.

I’ll keep you updated with how things go!