cc: FI Newsletters date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:27:03 +0200 from: Tim Mitchell subject: Update from Tim and Suzanne to: Tim Mitchell Dear friends, This week there is not much going on in Guildford. Ruth and Chris (two of our co-workers) are both away, and we have no more events arranged until a walk on Tuesday 13th. So we are taking the opportunity to spend some time in Norfolk (maintaining the flat, and with the church at Great Ellingham on Wednesday), and then have some time off. Last Wednesday we had half a dozen students join us to talk together in the sunshine (see last week's email). In the course of a conversation with one of the Chinese students (B.) - mostly about travelling - she asked me which country was the first to have churches. That gave me an opportunity to explain about the history of the early church and the spread of the gospel. This student has often heard the gospel and has a good intellectual grasp of it. Pray that she will have her eyes opened to see her own immediate need of salvation. Yours in Christ Tim and Suzanne ___________ One day a couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the office at the chaplaincy, doing some work. We were selling tickets for an event, usually several at a time, as each person who wanted to attend wanted to bring some friends with them. A knock came on the door and a man came in. He was clearly Asian, and I guessed that he was in his thirties. I welcomed him in, and he asked for a ticket. Just one ticket. So I sat him down and introduced myself. His name was H., he was from Pakistan, and he had arrived at the beginning of January to begin researching a PhD (which usually takes 3 years). I asked him what he was studying. 'Environmental engineering', he replied. I was immediately interested, because my own PhD had been on an environmental subject - on climate change. I asked him what his special area of interest was. 'Climate change', he said. How amazing! When I got up that morning I had known nothing of what the Lord had been preparing...! At the event, a couple of days later, I made sure that I spent some time talking to H. I introduced him to Suzanne and invited him to join us for lunch last Sunday. So after the church service I drove to the university to pick him up. (Our Kenyan friend was not able to come.) He spent the whole afternoon with us. During the afternoon I had the opportunity to explain what Christians do in church. H. has a Hindu background, but does not seem to be religious himself. Back home in Pakistan he has a wife and three children, the youngest of whom is just eight months old. He wanted to bring them over immediately, but found that the house prices were too great, and is missing them very much. Now he hopes to bring them over in the summer. Please pray for this man. Pray that we will have opportunities to spend more time with him, and be genuinely friendly to him. Pray that he will come to a church service (he expressed a polite interest), or that we will have the opportunity to explain the gospel to him. ____________________________________ Dr. T. D. Mitchell --- 07906 922 489 tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk