Stat line: 15 books, 28 magazines, 19 brochures, 16 tracts, showed the "Why Study the Bible?" video twice to about 10 students.Additionally: 5 orders for next week, at least 5 requests for english Bibles, two students left their phone numbers and asked about weekly meetings.
Should have stayed home...
So lets start at the top shall we? The UNAN campus is located in Jinotepe, a 10 minute bus ride south from San Marcos. Unlike Keiser University in San Marcos (an all-English branch off of its main US campus), UNAN is not all English. However, when we did our initial census back in March 2013, we found out that it has an english program. We tried to get something started with the school but it didn't really go through. Also, over the past year or so, we've tried putting our public witnessing cart out in front of the main entrance. Never really had a lot of success so we dropped it...
Turns out we were just in the wrong spot.
How did we figure out the right spot?
I have a Bible student, Carmen*, who attends UNAN and is in the English program. I've been studying with her for a couple months now in the "Good News from God" brochure. Every week I go, I ask her to take out her brochure. She tells me, "Oh that. I don't have it anymore." The first time I figured, well she misplaced it. The next time, I reasoned, it must be the dog. Third...her little cousin? Finally I asked her what happened to the brochure, and all previous brochures, and actually all the literature I've ever left with her!?!?
"My class mates stole it."
Ah hah! I'm a tad slow, so I asked "Why?!?" She explained, "All my classmates study English too. They love to read in English and its hard to get information in English. When they see my stuff, they always ask me for it. I say ok take it because I know you're coming back the next week."
Makes sense. An entire department of English hungry minds! BINGO! I told her she should direct her classmates to our public witnessing cart at Jinotepe central park every Wednesday; its only a few blocks down the road. She said she saw it before, but the problem is they don't have time to go down there. They only have a few minutes between classes. So I said, "what do you think if we bring the cart to you? We'll sit right in front of your school. When you have time, bring your friends out and they can get their own information."
"Great idea," she says. "Now they won't take my stuff!"
That set the ball in motion. I went through the proper channel and got approval to borrow the cart for the side mission. Stocked the cart with literature appropriate for college students. Then picked a partner, the lovely Gwen as you see in the picture, and off we went. What we thought was the "main" entrance, that it was for the administration building, wasn't the entrance to where the English students were. We had to go to the next block over. Carmen told us the morning session started at 8 am and ran to 11 am. So we were out there from 7:30 am to 11:15 am.
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| Our spot right in front of the entrance |
One young man, walking briskly towards the entrance, glanced at us. We said "Good morning!" He smiled, stopped walking, and came towards us. "Good morning! Hello!" he returned. His name is Frank* and he is an english major. He talked with us for a good 5 minutes or so. Excellent english. Apparently the English professor was late so he had some time to kill. He asked about the literature, how much it cost (shocked when we said FREE), and where we were from. He also asked about a Bible. Said he has been looking for an English bible and it would be "so amazing" to read the Bible in English. We told him to come back next week and we'd be sure to have one for him. Before he left, he paused with a pensive look on his face, and said "You know, its so good what you are doing. The world we live in is so insane! People need to learn more about God. Its great that you've come from another country to help us. I really really appreciate it. Thank you." Frank said he would be back next Friday to get his Bible.
Frank was the first of the avalanche! Next was James* and a friend. The friend didn't speak much english, but James did! He asked all about the literature. He picked the Bible teach book and Gwen explained it to him. I was observing then the next thing I knew we were surrounded! A group of students gathered and was asking about everything. They were all english majors too. Surprised that the literature was free, we just asked them to promise they would read it, they started grabbing at the cart. They grabbed books, brochures, magazines, tracts...They flipped through the contents, smiling and remarks as "Oh that looks good," "Interesting," "I like that," came from here and there. We told them that we will be there next Friday and they could return to ask us questions and to get more information. Someone saw that the tardy professor arrived and all the students filed back to campus.
Gwen and I grinned at each other. "How awesome was that?" "That's why I love cart witnessing." It was only 8:45 am and we were already rolling! We reorganized the cart and prepared for the next wave.
Around 10am, students started leaking out again. We saw Frank and James, literature in hand. They motioned others in our direction. I also saw Carmen and she brought a group with her. Surrounded again. More questions. "How much does it cost?" "What religion are you?" Students grabbed at the literature and a similar scene as before unfolded. Oooh. Ahhh. Then..."hey! I want that one too!" "hey! She took the last one!" We were running out of literature...students were taking the last copies of the "Young People Ask" and "Family Happiness" books. Other students saw and wanted their own copies. So I said, "who wants what?" and took their orders. I told them, "come back Friday to pick up your books ok?"
One student asked if we had classes. I told her no, but we have meetings that are all in English. This perked her interest and I explained more. We exchanged numbers so I could send her the address.
Carmen was happy. She told her classmates, "Now get your own so you don't have to steal mines!" She also went through the cart's contents and took more literature. Even back issues of the Watchtower and Awake. She had to go back to class but she thanked us for being out there. And also confirmed that I would be coming by the next day for her Bible study.
After that rush, a few students dropped in here and there. I showed the video to a couple groups. Around 11 am, we could see students leaving class but just hanging around for lunch time. Our stomachs were rumbling so we decided to pack it up.
After we wrapped up the cart and went back to town for lunch, we saw Frank again. Apparently he knows Carmen, my Bible student, and asked me how I knew her. I told him I visit with her once a week to talk about the Bible in English and asked if that was something he would be interested in. "Of course!" he said. "We'll tell you more about it next Friday," Gwen says.
Not a bad morning...who knows where those 78 pieces of literature will end up or what action the cart will get next Friday? Whatever the result, it was a privilege and a blast to contribute to a "loud shout of praise to Jehovah" in the public witnessing.
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| What students see when they exit the campus |
