Yabuki Breeze Blog

A cool thing happened this weekend. Some friends of ours are moving overseas in the next couple of months and they are in the process of selling many of their belongings in preparation. We were able to buy their refrigerator. Ours was over 15 years old and we figured it was time for a more efficient model. Anyway, we didn’t know how we would move it. We asked our Friday group to see if a students might be willing to help. A Chinese student who had been in the Bible Study Roy lead volunteered.

We had the most incredible time moving the refrigerator. We got to share about all kinds of stuff about our culture and even more exciting about what we believe and the veracity and relevance of Christianity. It was a wonderful discussion. We were a little anxious about asking a student to help us with this but God knew better.

Tags: moving, refrigerator, Student

One of the Special parts of our ministry is our annual spring staff retreat. Every spring we go to some beautiful or fun place together as a Dallas/Fort Worth/Texas staff team and just enjoy spending time together. This year was no exception. We went to Glen Rose Texas, staying at the beautiful Dinosaur Valley Best Western Inn & Suites. It was a wonderful time of fun, fellowship, sharing and prayer. We started out the overnight trip by visiting Dinosaur Valley State Park, home of genuine dinosaur tracks sitting within the Paluxy River. The blue bonnets were everywhere (looks great with Lisa’s eyes) and we were able to hike all the way into the river. Before we went there some toured the Creation Evidences Museum. After a fine dinner at the renowned Ranch House Barbeque Restaurant, we walked around quaint downtown Glen Rose where all the stores were open because it was ladies night out(every third Saturday).On Sunday, after eating a full breakfast at the hotel, we met to share, pray, and worship together. It was a wonderful time!

The primary purpose of this particular gathering is to build camaraderie within our team. We do so many things together where we were working hard under pressure. We also hardly ever have opportunities to see each other as couples (for us married ones). This gives us the chance to see each other in a different light and enjoy just spending time together as couples/singles together in a light fun atmosphere. It also gives us a chance to share from our heart and really pray for each other. No doubt when things get hairy and busy and we need to be able to trust each other and our motives – to cover each others’ backs – the strengthening of relationships we did here will surely pay off.

Tags: Dallas, DFW, Fort Worth, Glen Rose, Retreat, Staff

One of the fun parts of our ministry is that we take students to do things that we already like to do. I love basketball. I grew up a Lakers fan (still am) and kind of like the Mavericks too. Basketball has become a huge phenomenon around the world and going to a game is a great way to get to know students and share something very special. Little did we know that it is also an opportunity to meet many new people from an important people group.

Every year Sain, one of the janitorial staff at our church from Mexico and I take parts of our family to a Dallas Mavericks game. It started off as a way to reach out to him. As God has brought him to Christ, it has become a way to better connect and something to share with each other. I usually bring one or two students to this and usually we get a game with a “lesser” team. This year was different. We planned well ahead and I saw that the Mavericks were playing the Houston Rockets for the last game of the season. I figured the Houston Rockets would be a great way to meet new Chinese students and get closer to them. The Chinese see Yao Ming, Center for the Rockets, as a national hero and so he and the team are very popular. So, I talked with TCU volunteer Bennie and together we bought 30 tickets to bring students to the game. We also decided to take the train to the stadium to make the experience even more fun. Also, for the first time Lisa wanted to come with the rest of our kids.

Lots of buildup there… we were able to sell all the tickets to students from three campuses: TCU, UTA & SMU, from China, India and Mexico. It was a lot of fun… BUT… the BIGGEST thing that hit me was this. When we got on the train at Centerpointe TRE train station near Arlington, we found there were many, many more Chinese students than just the ones we brought. In addition, once we got to the AAC (American Airlines Center), there were even more. From all walks of life from researchers to undergrads; from EMBA businessmen to future lawyers and doctors from all over China. It was truly incredible. If a person had a heart to touch the lives of Chinese and needed to make new contacts, all it would take would be taking the train to a Mavericks / Houston Rockets game, talking to groups of students along the way,  building relationship during the 30 minute ride and sharing contact information afterward. They could then hang out in AT&T Square in Victory Park before and after the game and talk to more. It would not be hard at all. I was amazed at the tremendous opportunity.

Oh.. Incidentally, the Mavericks won (it was a tremendously entertaining game) and were able to clinch sixth place (the Rockets fell from 2nd to 5th) in their conference as they got into the playoffs, thankfully for my sake, avoiding the Lakers for now. Yao played great. Dirk and Kidd played even better. C-6 left the game in tears because she so connected with her compatriot Yao.

Tags: Basketball, Chinese, Family, Mavericks, train

One common question that Lisa and I hear from students is, “What is your job?” and “How are you able to do what you do?” We even get these questions from some of our friends from church and even some of you. Well, this post is a bit of an expose… Or maybe better, a FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions post. So here it goes

Do you work for the university?

Since we are so closely tied to the local university, many people ask if we are employed by the university. We are not. We do not work directly for any specific university. We work for a Christian organization called International Students Inc. (ISI – isionline.org) As it says in our mission statement “ISI exists to share Christ’s love with international students and equip them for effective service in cooperation with the local church and others.”

Do you work for your church?

While our church in Arlington, Fielder Road Baptist Church(http://fielder.org) supports us in many ways and they graciously allow me to use one of their offices, we do not work directly for Fielder or for any church. Fielder and many other churches and individuals are part of our support team and while we are of course first responsible to God, practically we directly “work for” ISI, a 53 year old national christian organization based in Colorado Springs, CO, with nearly 200 staff around the country focused on touching international students.

So, what is your job?

Lisa and I are Campus Ministers for ISI. We directly minister to international students but just as importantly we help others catch the vision and to be equipped in also helping international students and showing them Christ’s love. Roy, the DFW director, is also responsible for the team of 10 who do the same on 8 campuses in the 6 county Dallas/Fort Worth area that have around 10,000 international students.

How are you able to do what you do? Do you do another job to make this possible? How are you paid?

While for 8 years we did this as volunteers and another six years Roy worked part time as an engineering consultant to supplement his income with ISI, over the last four years, Roy works full-time for ISI. ISI is not like a church in that it receives general offereing and then we receive a salary from that general offereing. Our financial resources come from several sources.

• First, some churches including our home churches in California, and our home church in Texas as well as one small foundation support us as missionaries. This is a real blessing to us and really makes a difference financially but also in emotional and spiritual support (letters, sermons, e-mails, contact with our kids, prayer, etc.)
• Second, quite a few friends, family, and just “People Who Care About Students” (PWCAS) support us with monthly financial gifts. Some give as little as $5 a month and others as much as $500 a month. All make a huge difference and their gifts comprise the majority of our funding. Of course there is the tax benefit for them, but most give because they care about us or our ministry. Some give online at our website www.yabukibreeze.com, others give using payroll deduction, and others give via good old snail mail to our home office designating our ministry as the recipient of the funds.
• Third, a group of friends, family and PWCAS’ give maybe special one or few time gifts or perhaps gifts that regularbut only once or twice a year to help us in our ministryonline, using payroll deduction or through the mail. We have had gifts as litttle as $5 and as much as $5000.(which happened to be in the form of stocks)

Through this community of people, we are able to do what we do. focusing our time on students.

How do people know to give and can you make enough that way to live and do what you do?

We pray for opportunities to share about what we do and we try to talk to people who seem interested. We also share about our ministry through this blog, through a weekly and monthly (more or less) prayer e-mail and through a quarterly mailed newsletter.

While many in our team receive enough support for full time 40 hrs/week support, we do not. We currently have enough support for Roy  to “officially” work 27 hours per week but Roy in reality works 40+.  The amazing thing is that even though we are not yet at full budget, God has always provided just enough to survive. (with a relatively small amount of debt) Still, our desire is to some day be “officially” working 40 hours a week so we don’t have to “be filled with anxiety” about our finances any more.  Still, we believe in God’s provision and His place for us here right now so we are not worried. He always takes care of us. Still, if you are interested in learning more about helping us, please let us know.

Tags: finances, Job, Support, What do

Yesterday we had the special honor of having some friends over for easter dinner. Our dear friends Sara and Aydin from Persian joined us for our special celebration. Before dinner we were able to share a bit about the history of Easter and what it was represented to us Christians and they shared their impression of it from the perspective of their culture. It was really cool.

Lisa cooked a well like dinner of Brisket (ham is generally not popular in their culture), corn casserole and asparagus. The brisket and corn casserole was a huge hit, even with our finicky kids. J-12 earlier in the day, put out easter eggs around the hose for the other kids (it was raining outside). C-6 and T-8 were very eager to find these hidden gems full of candy. Also hidden among the other eggs were resurrection eggs. After the kids gathered all the eggs, we one by one opened the resurrection eggs which tell the story of the passion week so the kids could remember them. It was fun having our friends be involved with that as well.

In general it was just a really nice time and a great chance to share about our culture, what we believe and the importance for us of this special day.

Tags: Easter, Friends

April 5-11 was International Week at UTA and it always ends on Friday with a global extravaganza, a special talent show that features acts by students from many different countries around the world. Its a wonderful time for countries to show off their stuff and share with us all what is special to them about their countries. We usually take Friday night off to go and this year was special too. I took a bunch of video clips here of the different acts. As usual, the indians did some special work as did the Africans and other southeast Asians. One of the special moments came when the students from Bangladesh won two of the major prizes for the week including best attended booth at the food fair and best booth at the welcome center. They, rightly, were so proud and it was fun to watch them(see picture to right).

Tags: global extravaganza, international week, UTA, Video

Once again, ISI DFW had the honor of hosting the national Basic Training for newer staff. Our new staff get a chance to get the basics of international students ministry. Here is a quick video I took at the event.

Tags: ISI, National, Training

The last couple of days I have been feeling a bit weary and tired. So many things have been happening, God has been working, and its been non-stop. As is typical after so much activity, even God powered activity, it is common to be tired and weary. It reminds me of the show down between Elijah and the priests of Baal and how he was a weary wreck after his major victory. Anyway, it has been a rough week and yet God was so faithful in allowing me some simple pleasures amidst trying to catch up with everything else.

Lisa and I have been concerned about our son, T-8. He still can’t ride a 2 wheeled bike. Being content with training wheels, he hadn’t wanted to even try. We removed his training wheels last fall and after a couple of days of running along side the bike, and him not really wanting to try, the season turned cold and he seemed equally cold to the prospect of riding a two wheeled bike. He told us on mulitple occasions since, “I hate riding my bike. You can’t make me go out there.” His sister, C-6 on the other hand loved going out whenever she possibly could on her small training wheeled bike.

This week the weather had been better and Lisa suggested that we go outside and try again. Again T-8 (who was editing one of two videos he recently made, Dog Wars (taken as he watched dogs interact at Tejas) and The Life of a Jeti Master ) was against it but C-6 said, she wanted to go out there. In fact she insisted on it. Afer a few minutes of riding, she asked me to take off her training wheels. Yikes! She was struggling but was determined. T-8 was having some trouble figuring out how to upload his video to Youtube, so he came out and seeing his sister on her bike, he decided he would show her some of the “tricks” that he learned. He started riding and within 10 minutes, he had figure out how to ride, all the way down the street (albeit with a few falls) As I was teaching C-6, he kept on trying and trying and by the time Lisa came home from an errand, he was riding back and forth in the street. C-6 was also starting to get it being able to take 6 pedal’s in one attempt. It was just so fun watching them donig this. Being able to actually be successful in sharing something fun like this with the kids.

Now, just about every afternoon after school they want to go out and every night when I get home C-6 reports how many pedals she could do consecutively (now at 48) It’s amazing how something that seemed so impossible a week ago, today is fast becoming just a normal part of our family life.

P.S. Here is one of T-8’s videos.

Tags: bikes, Fun, Kids, Rest

Here is a report from Ron Bunyard about of of the many students I shared about in the past. After one round of practice, I had the opportunity to talk about Christ and why I believe. It was the work of many people coordinated by God powered by the Spirit who made all this possible…

Praise the Lord!!! The first of our Chinese golfers has come to know Christ.  “Mark”, the first of our golfers who I began to teach two years ago has recently given his life to Christ in China.  We are grateful for the grace that God is pouring out on our ministry as we are faithful and obedient to share Christ’s love with students.  Please pray for “Mark” as he has returned to China and as he grows in Christ. “Mark” is a high level Chinese businessman who will have great opportunity to influence many for Christ.

The pictures is from the internet… not from “Mark”

Tags: Golf, Praise, Student

This last Saturday ISI DFW sponsored a training event for international students. Around 20 students, staff and volunteers heard from various member of our staff to learn about God’s plan for the world and His heart and impulse for missions. It was a lot of fun and the students really learned a lot from the experience.

The Christian students, most of them campus leaders, all came together at Irving Bible church for a day of training. This is part of our twice a year training cycle where we try to prepare students to be stronger Christian leaders when they return to their countries. We adapted the traveling team’s mission mobilization curriculum (http://www.thetravelingteam.org/?q=node/334) to help students see that they have a responsiblity to touch the world for Jesus.

Topics included:

• The Harvest is Plentiful, the Laborers are Few – Jeff Anthony
• The Bible is a Missions Story – Ron Bunyard & Derrah Jackson
• Every Christ Follower a “World Christian” – Roy Yabuki
• Every “World Christian” a Mobilizer – Ray Cotton

The students were greatly moved as many shared that they never knew about this purpose that God had for believers. It motivated them to consider how they could strategically affect the world around them and world back home. I

After the training seminar, we met with other “Tejas” retreat alumni and watched the Tejas summary video in its world premier. We heard some very rousing testimonies from the students who were there too. Wow!

Tags: Leadership, Mobilization, Student Leadership, Tejas, Training