I had my first successful one to one (1-2-1) witnessing encounter in Manila today. After several failed attempts at the airport in Taipei China, I was finally able to take some one through the Way of the Master and bring them under conviction about their sin and need for a savior.

I met John Torrez (not his real name) on the street in front of our hotel while trying to arrange for transportation for our luggage to the bus station. He was helpful and trying hard to convince me that we should do business with him and allow him to drive our luggage. We have encountered many of these street "wheeler dealers" already in Manila and so far I have been able to avoid most of their scams. Suddenly God opened my eyes so that I could see John as an opportunity to share the gospel. I had been praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with someone who, first, could speak English, and secondly, for someone who would talk with me. John was the answer to my prayers. I finally got to the good person test but he did not want to take it. When I told him I was going to trick him with my questions he saw it as a challenge and he took up the gauntlet. When we talked about the penalty of sin being hell. He told me "no one really knows what happens after death." When I told him that there was a person who died and came back and told us about it he was amazed and for the first time truly interested.

When I explained that the person was Jesus Christ, and that Jesus had overcome, the grave, death, and hades. He was amazed even though he was a Roman Catholic. When I told him that Jesus has the keys to death and hades and that he has defeated death for those who are His people. He was amazed at this. I explained about the many people who witnessed His death, and the hundreds of people that saw Him resurrected from the dead. He told me he had never heard of this before. When I explained faith in Christ as a parachute and repentance as "denying yourself", changing your mind, following Jesus and "walking as Jesus walked." He said, "I have never heard this before but I like it". He then went into a long list of sins he had committed and about his failed marriage and his anger at his wife. I explained that part of "walking as Jesus walked" requires us to forgive those who have done us wrong and that Jesus tells us that if we donʼt forgive others he will not forgive us. I explained that he should make a list of all the people he was not willing to forgive, so he could remember exactly who he was going into the lake of fire for. He would be spending an eternity in torment for those that he refused to forgive. This shocked him out of his self concern.

We talked about many things and his eyes filled with tears on several occasions. He told me he had never met a priest like me before. I corrected him, and explained the only good thing about me was the time I had spent with Jesus and in His word. He showed me a Bible he had with him and he committed to reading it and asked for my new address in Baguio City, (a 7 hour drive from Manila). He promised he was going to come and see me again. Again he told me, "You are my favorite priest" then he corrected himself and said "pastor". I introduced John to my wife and the rest of our evangelistic team as my friend. He was very proud that this big American was calling him, "my friend." Please pray that John, follows through on his commitments to God, that the devil does not snatch away the seed I planted, and that he will come and talk with me again. Pray that he never has a moments peace until he repents and fully submits to the Lordship of King Jesus.