Happy New Year from the Tuttle-Tribe! 

As the new year marches forward we are excited to get back to our jungle home! This year we will be there from January 10th until to May 2nd, thus we are in full preparation mode for our fast approaching journey. Please pray for us as we hope to be an encouragement to the river churches and a challenge to anyone who will listen to the gospel. We have many teaching and preaching and evangelism events on the schedule and we desire to take full advantage of every moment we’ll have with the Peruvians! 

During the course of this last month we've been able to focus our energies on evangelism and preaching here in the midwest. Atlantic Iowa, Jefferson City MO, Cedar Rapids IA, Dubuque IA, Kenosha WI and Milwaukee WI were all on the schedule recently and it was exciting to see how the Lord worked in each place.  My passion is to preach Gods word wherever I can, but one-on-one gospel conversations seem to  always be a highlight for me. Out of my many evangelistic encounters that I've had recently, the following conversation with a taxi driver that was taking me to a conference stood out the most: 

Me: "Hello, where are you from?" 

Taxi driver: "India"

Me: "Wow India! I've got a lot of Indian friends. What part of India are you from? 

Taxi driver: "The north"

Me: "Oh, most of my friends are from the south... Whenever I meet people that are from places that I'm not too familiar with I like to ask: How's the gospel doing in your part of the world?" 

The taxi driver looked at me through the rear view mirror and inquisitively asked in his indian accent: "What is the gospel?  I don't understand this word..."  

I replied: "Oh I'm sure you've heard the message of the Bible.... it's the good news that God who is Light and Life and Love has come down from heaven to solve our problem of darkness and death and disconnection." 

At this point the taxi driver said (in his unmistakeable accent): "I don't think this 'gospel' is doing too well in India.... I have not heard this message... please tell me more." 

After an hour long ride and an epic gospel conversation we arrived at the conference hotel where there were hundreds of Christian Indians. When my taxi driver helped me out of the car I asked if I could pray for him to which he enthusiastically said "yes".  I called several of the nearby Indian brothers and together we prayed for my new friend.  When we finished praying, the taxi driver said: "Maybe this 'gospel' is doing better in India than I thought.... I believe God has sent you to speak to me today."       

We need to meet sinners where they're at, and then engage their greatest need. We must pray and look for those divine appointments. We must try to see their darkness and their disconnection and then try to present the only answer... Jesus Christ crucified and risen again. Every evangelistic conversation must be centered around that truth. We are speaking to real people with real struggles and they need real answers. I am confident that if we are praying for divine appointments with needy sinners God will set them up for us. If only we were on the lookout for them....... 

Quote for the day paraphrased from C.T Studd: "Don't go into your study to prepare a sermon... that's nonsense! Go into your study to meet with God... doing that you'll catch fire for Him. Soon your tongue will become a burning coal... soon you'll be weary of holding it back and soon you'll have no choice but to preach a sermon."        

Micah for the Tuttle's