Yabuki Breeze Blog

(pictures from this year)Every year, the George DeVries Family and Grace Community Church with ISI set up a special camping experience at the DeVries family dairy ranch. George clears out one of his fields, and we pitch tents and enjoy a rip roaring occasion of riding, shooting skeet and fishing. It seems like the whole town of Stephenville, Rodeo capital of Texas, comes out to welcome the 70-80 international students we bring from all over the metroplex. The students are also exposed to a western style church. In addition this year 30 American Christian volunteers from Dallas and Southwestern seminaris build strong relationships with the students.

This years DFW Fall Camping Trip (see link to videos and pictures from last year) to Stephenville was especially awesome.  One of the most remarkable things was the number of spiritual discussions that I saw at this “pre-evangelistic” event. The seminary students and other volunteers were exemplary in being real friends to the students, serving in many ways, etc. I know the gospel was shared on multiple occasions. It was one of the best Fall Camping trips we’ve had in a while.

Tags: camping, Fall Campout, pre-evangelism, Stephenville

PRAYER NEEDS

• A staff person to head up new ministry at TCU
• Ongoing relationships with Jen & Wang (China), Charlotte & Canon (Taiwan), Ted (Vietnam), Ting (Taiwan), Silvia (Mexico), Darren (Malaysia) and many others
• Joy in serving students & creativity in building relationships
• Wisdom to be good parents to J-11, T-7 and C-4

PRAISES

• Our wonderful team of volunteers who serve so selflessly
• Fruitful outreach at Big Howdy welcome party and Stephenville campout
• Rejuvenating time for Roy at regional staff retreat in Branson, MO

Tags: Prayer

Vanessa (left) and Joy (right) are 2 of our key student leaders.

Many people think that the primary goal of international student ministry is to befriend lost international students, build a relationship with them, and earn a right to share the gospel so they can know Jesus Christ. While this is one of our key goals, another equally important one is to identify Christian international students and give them opportunities to grow in their faith and develop leadership capabilities. We want to help them get a vision for how they can use their time, talents and treasures (and their college degree) to build up the Kingdom of God.

For the past two years we have been involved in the lives of Joy (Korea) and Vanessa (Malaysia). These two ladies have both taken on leadership responsibilities in the International Christian Fellowship which meets weekly on the UTA campus. They help to organize prayer meetings for students and coordinate service projects for them. They are both active members of our Friday night Bible study group as well. This past Friday they led the study on John in our kitchen for the first time and did a fantastic job! Joy is studying to be a missionary doctor and Vanessa is getting a degree in electrical engineering. What a privilege to work with these gifted young ladies who have a heart for our Lord.

Tags: Bible Study, Student Leadership