September 2008
Dearly Beloved of Our Lord:
We send you greetings of our Lord’s wonderful grace and love and want to share a few more stories from our open-air ministry in downtown Portland. May our short testimonies be an encouragement to you in all that you do.
... Generation Young!... Pray for a Harvest among the Youth!
Karen spent about forty-five minutes talking with a very young Israeli woman who lives in Jerusalem. She was visiting in Portland and had lots of time so she spent it with Karen and a little time with the two of us. She is practicing Judaism and has even read many books of the New Testament. She talked with us about Israel, religion, sin, forgiveness, and “Yeshu” which was her way of saying Jesus. When she talked about forgiveness she also talked about how she could receive it and then about the temple that may be built someday with sacrifices given for sins. This opened up the gospel message of the cross and forgiveness available to all through the cross and the blood of Jesus the Messiah. This was a great joy for us to be able to share the good news with someone living in Jerusalem, who is so young, and searching for understanding. God has put eternity in our hearts. (Eccl. 3:11)
One afternoon about seven girls and boys who were about fourteen years old stopped by the Square and started grilling Ron with many questions and when Ron would answer they would give their answers and explanations.
~ Do you believe that people really landed on the moon? I think it was all just staged.
~ Did 9-11 really happen the way they say? I think the US government is behind the whole thing and they are just using this as an excuse to do what they want.
~ Do you think Kennedy was really assassinated the way we have been told? I believe there is a cover-up and someone else did it, maybe someone in the government.
~ There can’t really be a god can there because look at all the “stuff” that’s happening and if He really existed He would never let all this happen would He? I don’t believe He exists and Jesus was just a great teacher who got killed because He bothered the wrong people, right?
Well the questions went on and on and on as they were taking our literature and the calendar cards. It was quite an interesting experience to be grilled by seven young teenagers just out of middle school. We asked them where they are getting all this information and they said they were getting it from the Internet and from YouTube. A couple of them made reference to the zeitgeist movie, an Internet movie which denies the deity of Jesus Christ and a lot of other things, including 9-11. They said we should check it out as well as a bunch of “neat stuff” on YouTube so that we would know what is really going on.
On the way to our bus stop we ran into the same group in a park across the streets from the courthouses and some pulled out their calendars to show us they still had them. They talked about their progress toward high school and wanted to know which high schools we had gone to. When they learned that Karen went to Cleveland some of them said that is their school too. When they learned that Karen was Japanese American they began to share their different nationalities and backgrounds which were quite diverse. We shared a few more things about our own journey with the Lord and the need for His love in our hearts and asked them their ages. They were all about fourteen. There was over fifty years between us – Generation Young and Generation Old meeting on our different journeys. We shared a little of what we knew was going on here – outside the Garden, somewhere along the road leading through the Valley of the Shadow. They were just starting high school, young and open to just about anything that came their way on the Internet. The god of this world blinds minds. (2 Cor. 4:4)
Many Nations!
Many tourist groups pass through the Square from various countries, especially Japanese groups of young students in middle school or high school. They come in large groups and if one takes some literature, then usually many will follow. They are learning English so we get to share about Jesus and His love for them as they walk by.
During the summer we meet many tourists who are traveling through the city. We hear many languages being spoken by people of all ages as they pass by the Square. Many read the signs, look at us as we pass out literature, and observe us as we talk with and pray for people. Sometimes the tourists get confused as they look at their maps, the street construction, and the confusing traffic patterns. This gives us opportunities to interact and help them find their way in the confusion of downtown under construction. Most will take a piece of our literature as they leave looking for their destination.
One afternoon a young Japanese High School student from Connecticut came by and talked with Ron about love, sin, forgiveness, the cross, and Jesus for about a half an hour. He was visiting the city and had a lot of time to ask questions and get some very personal, one-on-one discipleship and teaching. He was very polite and attentive. Refreshingly different!
People of many nationalities also work in or pass through downtown Portland and Pioneer Square since the light rail MAX stops at our corner. We have been meeting a few men and women from India. Some have knowledge of various religions but few know much about Jesus. One young man in his twenties stopped by for about twenty minutes and talked with Ron asking many questions. He said that he was now not a believer in any God since he had been raised a Hindu by his parents. We see this often where some young person is raised up in a religion which they now reject, trying to live a purely secular lifestyle. Some of the young Muslim men talk this way privately but would never admit it when with a group.
Many Latino men and women come by the corner and take our Spanish language tracts and calendar cards. Some are very expressive about their faith in Jesus, especially the evangelical believers. There are also a few Latino gang members and drug dealers who come by and many of them will take our literature when they see that it is in Spanish.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support, love, and encouragement. You are going with us to the streets of downtown Portland. We carry you with us in our hearts and in our prayers as we write this letter. My you be greatly blessed by our Lord.
~ Ron & Karen
E-mail: awakening1s@comcast.net
Home Page: awakening1s.net
church @ 24/7
Ron & Karen Rohman
PO Box 14292
PORTLAND OR 97293