Two New Friends

By Vitaly Samodin

With the beginning of the academic year comes a new outreach season for us. Outreach now, much more so than in the past, has to compete with many other activities that students have besides their studies. This year inviting students to our activities was not that easy. At first we wanted to conduct an orientation for freshmen but the director of the university was strongly opposed to the idea. At God's mercy, Grady Bryan invited us to his class so that we could invite students to our activities. I made a presentation and passed out flyers which detailed our outreach activities along with UEC brochures. Thankfully, this year we had a fresh supply of English Bibles delivered by Joshua and Maurie Hanauer. Since the presentation was done in a Bible class, we offered free Bibles to the first 60 students who came. A few got interested. More people came, flocking in later closer to the midterms.

Two young men in particular have become our most frequent visitors among the first-year students. Max and Denis (pictured above) live in the same district of town and seem inseparable almost. When you see one, you know the other is lurking around the corner. We saw them a lot using computers and books at the UEC. Every time we play frisbee, they are there. They come to every student night and movie night as long as they are in town. But they come to the UEC not only for study and fun. When the renovation at the UEC (before the 5th anniversary) was in full swing, they were there to help. One day we had a delivery of carpets coming in to replace the aged carpets in the library and the small room upstairs. Naturally they were very heavy and a trick to get inside since the UEC is located in an apartment building with narrow staircases connecting apartments. It took some skill and strength to get them in. That day I was very thankful for Max and Denis being there. They've become our true friends. Please pray for more opportunities to share faith with them.

Posted on December 8, 2006