cc: FI Newsletters <tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk>
date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:27:03 +0200
from: Tim Mitchell <tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk>
subject: Update from Tim and Suzanne
to: Tim Mitchell <tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk>

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

