Yabuki Breeze Blog

“All I can do is cry and pray” the facebook update of a dear Iranian student friend said right after the announcement of the results of the presidential elections in that country. Ever since then, I’ve been gripped and touch by the picture that has been unfolding, through twitter, through facebook and through the news the last few months. By now, many of us have seen some incredible, some horrific pictures of what is going on in Iran. It has been a very traumatic time for a very historically important and proud nation and people. You can imagine the feeling flying around the students “stuck” here in the face of all this.

One of the notable and special things for me about this last school year has been the much more frequent contact and good friendships God has given us with Iranian students of late. I didn’t really understand it but we have been excited. I have been impressed by the sense of openness to talking and sharing. It was almost like our friends really wanted to showcase the specialness of this nation so often demonized in our country. I was amazed to by how much our friends really wanted us to see how much freedom they had in this country that seems so restrictive to us. It has been a real blessing to us and I really feel like I’ve fallen in love with these people that God has put in our lives in a special way.

So when the elections and the subsequent events occurred it really touched my heart in a different way than usual. This distant news became about individual people… not just city names on newsprint. I’ve got a decent number of Iranian friends on facebook and right after the elections, there were so many posts, both in English and Farsi. There were pictures of what was going on at home. There was sharing of stories as they were given. Live video and photos from the streets of Tehran. It was overwhelming and at the same time refreshing. I have never seen such a groundswell of solidarity, shared grief, etc as everything these friends had back home was being put in turmoil. My heart ached. I also knew this wasn’t our fight… I knew we as Americans could do little… except “cry and pray” with our new friends, supporting them in their time of need. That has been hard. When we heard that there was going to be a candlelight vigil at UTA for the student in Iran who were killed in the violence and it happened to be on Friday night (our meeting night), we made sure Lisa could break away to be a part of it. We’ve been trying to send “neutral” but telling statements through “retweeting/forwarding” stuff we get. Still the impulse is to do more. It really breaks my heart.When I talk to many Americans, it is hard not to make a bigger deal about what is going on. Many have no touch points with this culture. For them it is a place that has had so many problems; a sad place with nameless people that have no real desire to go to. I wish they could meet our friends.

One thing for sure, we are also proud of our student friends. Proud for standing for what they believe in. And I believe it is not a coincidence that God put them in our lives right now. I believe, just as Esther in the Bible felt when she was in the ancient Persian(current Iranian) Court that she was made for “such a time as this,” so I believe that God has brought these very special friends into our lives for “such a time as this.” But it is hard watching this from where we are, having to stay neutral while loving our friends.

Tags: Farsi, Friends, Iran, Iranian, Persia, pray

Yesterday was a good day. It started with me sleepily waking up to the great joy of my kids. C-6 was jumping up and down with excitement as I walked into the kitchen. I felt like I had won the NBA Championship or something. (Go Lakers!) There was genuine excitement as they were able to share gifts for me (a basketball, and a wrist rest for my computer… Yeah! No Tie!) and honor me. I really felt honored and loved. Even our pre-adolescent had a smile on his face (rare these days). I love being a husband and dad. Though it is not all easy.

Lately, my oldest is beginning to feel the pull of independence. He is exploring whether the things we have taught him all his life is really his. He is questioning the authority of what we have taught him and he is recognizing our fallibility. I am actually very excited but a bit anxious too. Will what we implanted deep within him: faith, truth, epistemology (big word… how do we know what is true), morals, grace, sense of justice, etc. take root so that it becomes his. I feel like for the first time we are flying solo without a net and its exhilarating and scary.

The last couple of weeks our church has been doing a series on families. The one about marriage and parenthood was nothing new but it really hit me how much I had been so focused on work and ministry that I was losing touch with my family. I felt like I wasn’t doing a good job at home and so it was easier to focus on stuff that seemed easier. I am trying to learn how to re-connect with the family and design in more time just sitting and being available for the family (which is really hard in our action oriented culture).

Tags: Family, Father

(Pictures and videos) “What about Karaoke?” long time student leader Miguel shared almost as a joke at our most recent UTA ministry planning meeting. I had just heard that our TCU team members, the Moores, just bought a Karaoke machine. We put two and two together and it became a reality this last Friday as we kicked off our summer schedule with our new summer students. The students had a great time as we sang songs from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s (Roy put together the song list). They loved watching each of us making fools of ourselves… though the most special performance was by Miguel when he changed the words of one of the raps giving his testimony and his experience in his time at UTA. Below is a video of one of the performances and here are some other pictures and videos from the special night.

Tags: Friday Night, Fun, Karaoke, UTA, Video

What a week last week was! In one week I learned new ideas on ministering to Hindu’s, heard from a Nobel Peace Prize winner, met international students advisors from around the world, shared about the importance of getting involved with Web 2.0 for ministry to international students, communed with international student ministers from all over the world. Wow!  All these things happened within the beautiful setting of Southern California!

NAFSA Conference and Muhammad Yunus

Right after I got off the airplane from Texas, I go into a car and drove to the Los Angeles Convention Convention Center to join a conference  for university international student advisors from around the country put on by NAFSA the trade organization. It was an incredible opportunity to network and learn about trends related to interntional students in America. The keynote speaker was 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus. It was truly and honor to hear him speak about his experience with Grameen Bank, a microbanking concept that has swept the less developed world. His vision was huge and it was an inspiring talk from a former international student who is making a different back in his home country and around the world (including in the US now). In addition, I was able to share a great day with longtime ministry partner Debra Basler who is the assistant director of the ELI (English Language Institute) at UTA.

Learning About our Hindu Friends

After spending a delightful evening with my parents and observing them as they hosted a Church planter leadership training meeting at their house using video curriculum from the International School of Ministry, I went to another part of LA for a three day conference on a novel way to encourage Hindu’s to become followers of Jesus as their Deva, thus becoming Yeshu Bhakta (Jesus Devotees). This allows them to stay within their culture while remaining followers of Jesus. It helped to rekindle my love for Indian people. We heard some wonderful Bhajan music(with one of the leaders of Aradhna (Listen Here), a band we will host in the DFW area in September, leading us), sat on the floor (I felt at home with that with my Japanese background), learned more about the Hindu worldview, etc. It was a lot of fun and challenging and I hope it will help us to minister to the needs of our hindu friends better. Right after, 4 of 9 staff from Texas who came to the conference as a Baptist Student Ministry ministers went to India to experience the culture first hand.

ACMI Conference

After that intense time, we moved on to Azusa, CA for the ACMI conference for people who minister to international students around the US, this year hosted by our colleague, Andy Pearce and the other ministries in Los Angeles to international students. This was the first time that I had the privilege of going to this special conference. Walking around, it was so special to see the many legends of ISM (International Student Ministry). It was really fun. I had the special opportunity to bring the first plenary session. I spoke to attendees about how important it is for them to use Web 2.0 tools for what they do in reaching students of today. I focused on Facebook as my primary example. I think it was effective because throughout the conference people were coming up to me telling me that they have not been involved with Web 2.0 up to this point but felt compelled to learn more. Later in the conference three of us led 5 workshops on getting started with Web 2.0 and it was fun watching people getting to a point where they were getting it… The networking was incredible too as was the opportunity to hear research from several of our colleagues about the latest trends in international student ministry. One of the special things about this type of conference is seeing old friends including our original mentors in ISM, the Gonzagas and our former UTA team member Frank Ho who now lives in CA.

Spending time with the Family
It seems this year that I have been in California almost as much as I have been in Texas. I don’t know what it is. The last couple of years I had only been there less than once a year but this year it’s been four times so far. I am so thankful that God has allowed me this opportunity to be involved with the ministries I have been a part of there but also time with my family was good. After the conference, I had the chance to catch up with my parents and even paint my sister’s new house. It was a real blessing.

Tags: ACMI, Aradhna, California, Hindu, India, Ministry, speaking, Technology