Yabuki Breeze Blog

As the Spring Semester came along, ISI, its partner ministries and volunteers worked together to help the many new students as many of their senior students were on Christmas Vacation. This culminated in the Spring Howdy Party where over 200 students from 22 countries got together to celebrate the beginning of the school year with line dancing and great food donated by local churches and businesses.

In December and January, Roy got calls from some of the student organizations on campus because they were short handed in picking up students from the airport. Roy was able to mobilized friends, ministry partners and volunteers to help with very short notice.

Serving Students at Spring Howdy

Kenny and his Indian Friends

Electric Slide Line Dance

Tags: Big Howdy, Spring, Spring howdy

January 17, 2007, we woke and were surprised that in the night it snowed. Schools were closed and we all HAD TO stay home. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Roy also talked to one of the international students who arrived the weekend before from India thinking he would be affected negatively by the cold. Not true!. It was the first time he had ever seen snow and he had a great time!

CLICK TO SEE ALL PICTURES

Tags: Snow, Winter

We want to start by wishing you a wonderful Christmas season and a New Year full of hope for the future.

This past year has flown by for us, and we would like to let you in on some of our highlights so you can know what we’ve been up to.

This year marked our 10 year anniversary of working for International Students, Inc., and Roy’s 4th as the city director for the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Also this year, Roy finally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his ThM! It is hard to say if Roy or Lisa was more excited at the graduation ceremony on  May 13. After all, we moved to Texas 9 years ago to start this degree, so its completion was sweet.

Our kids are growing up, too. J-10, age 10, accompanied us on a 2-week trip to Japan this past July, where he enjoyed learning about his heritage. As a 5th grader, he is about to end his tenure as a Cub Scout and graduate into the Boy Scouts next year. Jonathan is our technology buff (where did he get that?) and enjoys using media to entertain and educate.

T-6, age 6, is now a first grader and budding reader. He continues to be fascinated by all things Lego and to have a zest for life that makes him a delightful member of the family. This year he joined the Cub Scouts and was the first in his den to earn a Bobcat patch.

C-3, age 3,  has emerged from toddlerhood and is becoming a charming and communicative little girl. Many of the Chinese students with whom we work are especially enthralled with her. She shows a lot of spunk and determination in tackling any project, with her favorite activities being cutting, gluing and taping.  She also enjoys singing in English, Chinese, and Japanese!

Fun Christmas Snack

Heat oven to 170 degrees. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss or Hershey’s Hug. Bake for 4-6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M candy into the center of each Kiss. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. If you like, place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons to give to your friends!

Tags: family news, Recipe

Okara Ovey

I wish you a happy new year.

To say that I am richly blessed by this convention is an understatement.
My exposure to fellow Christians sharing together in the word of God,preaching and talks from renounced men and women of GOD,worship,drama,music,meeting people of diverse culture and background,food,and the general atmosphere has made me to make a redefined definite commitment to Christ.It was my first experience in the 358 days I have been here in the US.I have now a focus on the Mission Iam to embark after my studies.Urbana was indescribably beautiful.I am blessed that I made it to Urbana early in my stay here.
I want to use this opportunity to formally thank you for the investment of time and resources for me to attend the conference.
I am also for ever grateful to my sponsors whom I do not know in person trusted and granted me scholarship to attend this great event of which on my own wouldn’t have been able to fulfill this dream.May the great Lord we serve bless my donors in all aspects of their expectations and work.
Pray with me too so that the devil would not over power me .Because I made definite commitment to serve God and lead others to Christ more diligently now. I have vowed to put away those things that could hinder my vision for mission.
I thank you so very much.

Aklesso Egbendewe-Mondzozo

Catherine and I are really greatful to God and to people who gave money to
us in order to be able to attend the urbana conference.
First,we understood from the conference that we do not need to wait to
graduate from Texas A&M to go to mission, but we learn from urbana that we
are already in mission in our campuses. Our prayer is to leave a life worthy
of the calling during our stay here at College Station.
Second, we expect to take online seminary classes along with the Ph.D
classes in order to be ready to orther missions in Africa when we will go
back to our country.
Finally, we learn from Urbana the importance of the unity of the body of
Christ which is the Church. We expect that this unity will be helpful for
the ministry of cross cultural mission on our campuses.
Once again, we want to thank you all that make this urbana conference
possible for us.
God bless.

Mari Satani

I would like to express my appreciation and thankfulness to every one of you who has supported me in making my trip to the Urbana Conference 2006 possible.  It was a great experience to attend this Conference. I have always wanted to know more about the plan of God for me and I had been praying that He is going to show me some directions through this meeting. As I am praying, a strong desire to reach out to the international people who stay in the States develops

Meeting with people of different ages from different schools and countries, and meeting with missionaries who have been in the mission fields were my favorite part in Urbana. I was saved in Japan, but I met just a few Christians there. Now I am studying in Christ For The Nations Institute, a Bible College; I see Christians who have a heart to serve God. As I came into contact with Christians who do not attend Bible school at the Conference, I discovered that they also have the same passion for God. These Christians inspired me a lot. They love Jesus and are diligent and zealous telling about Jesus. I enjoyed meeting with the Japanese Christians who either go to Bible College or serve God as missionaries in the States! I really understood their hearts when they shared their live experiences with me. We worshiped and prayed together in our own language. It was an awesome opportunity.

The teaching sessions are also good, especially the Bible Study which I most enjoyed.  Discovering the Bible with other people is so fun and exciting!!!  I can see God is talking to us in many different ways.

Again, thank you so much for your support. It was a wonderful experience. God bless you and keep you,

Mari Satani

Mu-Chia Chen (Nadia)

Thank you so much for your support that gives me an amazing experience in Urbana 06.   23,000 people from 140 countries gathered to worship God, listen to His words and praise Him with several different languages songs. The missionary exhibition opened my eyes and mind. I can’t believe there are so many missionary organizations that work for whole world via different ways. So many things and so many ways we can do for serving God and helping people.

Two amazing things happened in Urbana. I attend the International track and lived with hundreds international students in the same hotel. We had small prayer groups separated by country every night. At second night, the Korean and Japanese students decided to pray together. They sang songs, prayed together and sought reconciliation for the past sins of their nations. My group (Taiwanese) heard this beautiful news that encouraged us to do something. We want to invite Chinese students to pray together for misunderstandings, both sides of governments, and the development of the church. It was the most joyful thing for me during the Urbana.

Forgive me my poor English grammar. All I can say is: Thanks Lord and thank you for giving me a chance to know more God’s power, will, and goodness.

May God bless you!

In His Love,
Mu-Chia Chen (Nadia)

Irena Fajdetic

THANK YOU NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO GAVE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
Big THANKS to all you who contributed to the scholarships for trip and conference Urbana 2006!Thank you for enable us to partake in this big event,without your help I would not be able to participate and learn about global scale missions and movements and quite significant, to be the only representative of my country (Croatia) at Urbana. Even though already knowing a lot about AIDS disease itself, I learned much about underlining issue of AIDS and its problems. Rick Warren gave powerful message and clearly stated the differences of the World’s way and Church’s way of fighting AIDS epidemic.

I was encouraged at the Urbana to live each moment for the purpose God created me to, to reach more other people with acknowledgment of God, sharing boldly the message of Christ, with God’s wisdom and the power of Holy Spirit to glorify Him. “God is not God to download on IPod only for the personal consumption.”, but to share His Good News with all His creatures. Here is a part of the summary of one seminar: Discernment and Holy Spirit -It is so mandatory in today’s world to be able to discern what is from God and what’s not. We need more than ever before Holy Sprit in our lives to help us see what is from God. We are too fleshly today. Jesus said in Mathew26:41b     “The Spirit is ready, but the body is weak” Opposite is true for Christians today-we have a weak spirit and strong flesh. We need to strengthen our spirit. Holy Spirit is sent to us to help us. We must acknowledge the importance of the Holy Spirit for our spiritual lives/beings. We must allow Holy Spirit to work in us to be strong and not confused with waives of new teachings.  To determine Who is speaking, consider the character of one speaking and the content of message. How much we truly know God; as much as we really are searching after His heavenly treasures that much we know Him and the more you know somebody, more easily you recognize the voice of one speaking.

I wanted to share more of the words that had impact on me as a hearer, but this letter would be too long.
Irena Fajdetic

Tags: Student Leadership, testimony, Urbana

I (Lisa) have fond memories of my first Urbana experience in 2003, so I was excited about participating again this year. Altogether 30 of us from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, including ISI staff, volunteers and students loaded up in 2 church vans and 2 individual cars to make the 11-hour drive to St. Louis. This year the theme was “I Have a Calling.”

We were challenged from the book of Ephesians to see how God poured out His grace on us so that we could bring glory to Him through our lives. Different ones of our students were touched in different ways. Sam was challenged to pray for others and for the world, realizing that prayer is more than just asking God to bless us. Mari talked with reps from different missions organizations trying to see where God’s plan for her might be when she finishes school. Yoko, a recent graduate, made preliminary applications with a couple missions organizations. Irena participated in the HIV/AIDS track to learn more about how to minister to people with this devastating disease. All of us enjoyed the powerful worship.

There’s something electrifying about praising God with 22,000h 22,000
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin people in several different languages. It kind of reminds me of what heaven might be like. As for me, I really enjoyed learning about the technique of manuscript (inductive) Bible study. I’m looking forward to trying it out this year in our Friday night group.

Thanks to the many churches and individuals who helped make the Urbana scholarships possible. Altogether we were able to give 17 scholarships or partial scholarships. Urbana is only 5 days, but it is powerful and life-changing. Your investment will bear fruit in eternity!

Tags: Student Leadership, Training, Urbana