The month of December was a very blessed month as we have many reasons to thank the Lord for answering many prayers in many ways. One thing in particular that we are very grateful for were the Thursday morning prayer meetings. After the national conference one student took the initiative to start a weekly prayer meeting every Thursday morning at seven o'clock. I did not believe many students would come, but to my surprise the first week we had fourteen!

We had a very blessed time of prayer together and left the meeting revived and very encouraged in our spirits! The following meetings were blessed as well. May the Lord help us continue them! I noticed that more than anything else Satan attempts to hinder the prayer meetings from taking place. It seems that not even the evangelistic events are as hindered as the prayer meetings! In these meetings we interceded for the evangelistic events we have every December, and the Lord graciously answered our prayers above our expectations!

In the beginning of December we went in the dorms with questionnaires about the meaning of  Christmas. We went to a different dorm this time and were helped in our outreach by young people from our church. We had just presented OSCEB's ministry in our church's youth meeting, and the pastor encouraged the young people to join us. So, there were six or seven teams the first night. I think all teams had very good experiences as students were very open to talk about spiritual things and listen to us telling the gospel even for more than an hour! It seemed to us that the students in this dorm were more receptive that the ones in the other dorms. We invited all of them to the evangelistic Christmas concert we were having on December 15th. All four nights we went we had great opportunities to share the gospel. May the Lord work in these students. We pray that they would continue thinking about what they heard and read the literature they received.

One of the greatest encouragements was that one guy that my coworker Loredana spoke with for a long time and shared the gospel with came to the meeting with brother Don Currin and brother Jim Elliff. This was so encouraging for us!!! Especially because it is so difficult to get them to come to our events, and so much more when you invite them to an evangelical church! Many students are used to just going to the courses and hanging out in the dorms. The last evening we went in the dorms I had a very long discussion with a guy. He seemed so eager to hear everything I was saying and listened very, very carefully. I think he would have stayed much longer but we had to leave at a certain moment. May the Lord have mercy on him!

We are also very grateful to the Lord for the evangelistic Christmas concert, December 15th. This is the second year we have rented a well known public hall to have this concert. We had given away several thousand invitations to students and to our great joy many non-Christian students attended. I was especially encouraged meeting one student at the concert that I had talked to in the dorms! Actually I had talked more to his roommate, but he was also listening as I shared the gospel. He came with a friend, and so did many of the classmates of our Christian students. This concert was such a great answer to our prayers! I was especially glad that students did not leave during the short gospel presentation, as many did last year. Please pray that the Lord would use the seed planted in their hearts. Probably many of them were at their first encounter with real Christian songs and Bible message. Probably many did not understand much, but please pray with us that many of them would be drawn by the Holy Spirit to seek God.

As I said before, the Lord encouraged us greatly during this month. Another great encouragement was the fact that one day one former coworker of my mother called my mom and told her that her daughter wants to come with me to church. I had taught this girl English when she was in second grade, and now she is pursuing her Master's degree. So for the last three weeks or so she has been coming with me to church and to the student meetings. I presented the gospel to her one night after church, and Lord willing, we will start studying from the Bible very soon. Her mom also came to church several times and we are very hopeful that the Lord is working in this family.

We are very thankful for the meetings where brother Don Currin and brother Jim Elliff were able to come and teach. Both meetings on true faith and on relationships were very, very helpful. I am so sad to see that there are so many young people who are not taught rightly from the Word of God. There is so much superficial Bible teaching and so little sound, deep biblical teaching. Please pray with us that the Lord would raise up pastors and teachers who would faithfully preach the Word of God! We are so glad when brothers from HeartCry are able to come and teach our students!