Yabuki Breeze Blog

Roy & Lisa had the priviledge of welcoming three new NCN students to UTA’s language program. These Japanese students are entrusted by their parents to the NCN corportation to navigate through the university experience and NCN working with Ron asked us to make sure the students get off on the right foot. We picked them up from the airport, took them shopping for many different types of things, and during the memorial day holiday, we had them over for a special barbeque with some of our friends who love Japan. We really got close to them as they depended on us for many new things. We will be sponsoring other trips and gatherings for this special group of students in the future.

Tags: ELI, Japanese, new students, UTA

We were going to Colorado to learn how to be better leaders! In June Roy attended ISI’s Advanced Leadership Conference (see video) with most of the local staff. This is a very important conference as we work this year to work on tuning up our strategic plan for the DFW area and as we invest in our already gifted team. We learned about the importance of mentoring and how intensive it has to be to be effective. We learned about the nuts and bolts of strategic planning. We learned about technology and how important in or type of ministry to stay on top of technology that makes the world flat. Finally, we learned about how to do networking from the new president of Biola. It was excellent training that was truly mindbending for most of us. Very well done by our national traning team. I roomed with Ron Bunyard and we were up almost every night thinking about how all this applied to our personal ministries. Wow!!!

Tags: 2007, Conference, Leadership, Summer

In Late June we went on a 2200 trip to Chicago (our pictures & friends pictures) and back. It was a great time of fun and fellowship. We enjoyed seeing some of C-4′s old friends from the orphanage for this reunion three years after we returned from China. They have all grown up so much. God also allowed us to strengthen the relationships we have with their parents.

We all stayed in an apartment “brownstone” next to Wrigley Field and we hob nobbed around on the “EL” trains to see world class sights like Lincoln Park Zoo, Millenium Park, the Chicago Blues Festival and the Field Museum. We topped it off with a wonderful dinner in China town. It was a fun time for the kids and a great sharing time for the parents. It was also nice for Lisa and the kids to see some of the places that meant so much to me (Roy) in my year at Moody Bible Institute (one of the best years of my life)

On the same trip we had the privilege of visiting Willow Creek Church, one of the more unique churches in America and we visited with some old friends and supporters of our ministry.

On the way home, we stopped in two very rural places where ISI staff live, near Branson and in the Ozarks and the kids had a blast spending time on “the farm.” God really worked on all of them in building their confidence in different ways. Jonathan, T-7 and I (Roy) got to jump from the top of a waterfall into a swimming hole and C-4 even rode a horse. T-7 was allowed to wear a harness on one of our friends’ trampolines and I think he did 18 summersaults on one jump… I think we really are closer as a family after this 2200 mile journey.

Tags: Adoption, Chicago, China, Friends, Reunion

“In my first day in America, I have a warm feeling…” one Taiwanese student commented. Unlike domestic students, international students typically stay during the summer. Many also arrive for the first time during this quiet time on campus. It is a perfect opportunity to really shower Christ’s love on them and give them our full attention. This week, Roy, Ron, and the team were able to welcome many new international students to campus.

In addition, Roy & Ron and others on the team picked up others from the airport and helped the students get settled. One student commented, “In my first day in America, I have a warm feeling…”  because of the love he felt.

Ron also shared to all 50 new English Language Institute students at UTA about American culture. He was then able to visit all of them to our welcome picnic, on June 1 which ended up a wonderful success with over 40 students who came to enjoy the time in the park We played many different games and had a lot of fun.

Tags: 2007, ELI, new students, Summer, UTA