Mar 21 2011
Emotional weeks – Update on Tejas – Fukushima – Mission Trip to Asia
The last couple of weeks have been very emotional for me(Roy). Here are some things that happened and are happening.
Tejas Spring Break Retreat (see pictures and video) – Last week began very frantically as we prepared for the Tejas Spring Break retreat. Between the threat of rain, over 100 people signing up on the last weekend, a miscommunication with a couple of key players, etc., it was as typical a mad dash to the retreat. Now this would be normal except this year there were more moving parts than normal. It felt like a three ring circus, because in a sense it was. We decided to have a main student retreat (with no speaker and all small groups), a children’s retreat, and a volunteer training weekend all at the same time. Once we got to the retreat though, it was fun to watch God work. The staff, volunteer, student team worked as one to help their unbelieving but seeking friends fall in love with Jesus and enjoy a true community. 
I’ve never seen such a dedicated crew and God blessed… Most of the students were very happy of their experience there. In addition, 52 people said they wanted to learn more about who Jesus is and how they can know him personally. The bigger thing was most of the students that God was already working in – the people of peace – they made themselves known and they also learned through the Discovery Bible studies to love and trust God’s word and to love Jesus more. It was a truly great time. Oh and a big prayer praise, and this was a concern up till last week. It looks like we may break even financially for the retreat. (the initial thought was we were going to have to use most of our reserves for this) God is Good!
Disaster in Japan – As I was preparing for Tejas late on Thursday night, I received an e-mail from a friend in Japan about what we now know as the 9.0 Tohoku earthquake. Because of my responsibilities as camp director for Tejas, I didn’t have time to research more or get in touch with my emotions about this until the following Monday, but the location of the earthquake was in the region where my relatives live. While they live inland and were shielded from the tsunami, they happen to live in the now famous Fukushima prefecture and one of my aunts lives only 30-40 km from the nuclear power plant. We also recently found out of my Grandfather’s cousin who was a seaweed farmer in Soma on the shore who lost everything. 
Because of power issues, we didn’t hear from them until the Monday morning following the earthquake. Wow! As Californians we have some sense of all this but nothing like this. Obviously, we still ask for your prayers as that is clearly not resolved. It’s interesting too… we planned on visiting these relatives while in our big Asia trip this summer and the purpose of that trip has changed radically. We will see if by then our three days in that region can help in some way besides just being there and talking with people and how that helps them. Obviously right now the basic necessities and the ability to transport them are the big issues, not to mention the nuclear problem. Please give to a charity to help them in the recovery. CRASH Japan (http://crashjapan.com/) is a collective effort manned several large evangelical organizations and denominations in Japan focusing on empowering volunteers from around the world to help with long term recovery. Share this with your facebook friends. A friend of mine is one of the leaders. Samaritan’s Purse (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/), Salvation Army (http://www.salvationarmyusa.org) and the Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/) are also good organizations that are big enough to work through some of the logistical issues existent right now.- Missions Trip to Asia –
While at the retreat, our small group at church sacrificially gave a fair amount financially (and hopefully in prayer too) towards the summer mission trip to Asia that our whole family will be taking this summer. We will be going to Asia this summer to do many things including visiting, encouraging and spiritually mentoring MANY former international student friends in three different countries, taking 25 special needs Chinese orphans to McDonalds and serving at their orphanage, visiting the quake area of Japan, etc. You can get more information about the trip through this letter (http://bit.ly/letterasia11) that has more details about the trip and why we are taking it. 
We need to raise between a total of $16,500 and $18,000 for this life changing trip. You can respond by mail through sending a check written out to “International Students Inc.” and referencing “account 5734” or “Yabuki Asia trip,” to “International Students Inc, Box C, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 or you can give online through our website at http://bit.ly/give2yabukis. We will be sending more information about the trip in the near future. - Spring Break 2011 – Finally, we have had spring break right after the retreat.
Lisa’s mom Penny “Nana” Stockwell was visited us. The kids were home. All the Major projects were in hiatus. That was a real blessing after the previous week. During this time, we had the pleasure of celebrating C-8’s birthday at a ceramic painting shop with her friends, we spent time at the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens and C-8 and I went to the car show and the Fort Worth Water gardens (see pictures and videos from all). It was a much needed time together as a family.
Anyway, that was our last two weeks in a nutshell. Honestly, we could not have done it without your prayers. God is really blessing the ministry significantly.
Before and during the meetings, I had to manage the registration and the Dallas side for Houston Space weekend trip that Jeff Newpher, our Houston colleague, hosts for our Dallas team three times a year. I did not personally go, but our TCU, UTD and UT Tyler campuses sent 30+ students with other volunteers on this trip to Space Center Houston and to home stays nearby NASA. They even got to meet a astronaut who shared his story with Jesus as it relates to his space experience. All reports indicate a great experience had by all with terrific conversations about spiritual and heart things. Prayers were important as the weather coming back was bad but everything turned out okay. The difficulty was in the many last minute changes and moving pieces. Praise God for the outcome of it all.
This last week was unusual as my parents arrived on Saturday, the weather took a turn for the worse and so the kids stayed home Tuesday through Friday because of the ice and snow. We had much cabin fever. Still what a blessing for grandparents to have total access for a whole week during what is normally a school week. I love Texas. But the one thing I miss the most of California and the thing that makes me sad is not having my parents near by during this stage of theirs and our kids lives. So this was special. Praise the Lord for His planning. Dad also turned 75 during this time but he insisted on cleaning up and building shelving for my garage during much of this time in the cold. He is awesome and he makes me so proud and appreciative on so many levels.
Last week marked one of the most special weeks for me as I had the opportunity to be part of a special leadership retreat in Colorado(
follow Jesus. The next day, Ron was sharing how to do discovery Bible study with another student out of a conversation that came from the student seeing Ron doing his quiet time and culminating with the student sharing with the whole group the main points of the passage they studied. Honestly, it felt like a person of peace magnet of an event as it seemed like by the end of the retreat everyone was interested in learning about Spiritual things. It was just so natural because we were not purposely trying to convert people but when people see Jesus lived out in context, we an honestly share how God directs our lives. I believe that because we didn’t press them “officially,” while keeping the “Elephant in the Room” the student felt even more freedom to explore the things of God on their own. It was incredibly fun and incredibly rewarding!
Here are some praises from the week:
The weather parted for the retreat. The temperature before and after the retreat were terrible with many storms but our time up there was wonderful with temperatures in the 30′s and 40′s and sun.
It’s been a couple of weeks since our last message. A ton has happened in the mean time. I will jump directly to the praise and prayer reports. I hope this message finds all of you well.
The Fall festival at Christ Church Assembly of God was wonderful as 20 of us (Americans and international students) volunteered at this event. The students were truly amazed by it. One Chinese student was amazed that someone other than the government sponsored something like this for the community. He was touched. We have learned that in China volunteerism is in its infant stages and so this was a paradigm shifting activity for them.
Space weekend in Houston was probably our best yet. We took 50+ students and volunteers from UTA & SMU and we were hosted by our ISI team in Houston and Seabrook United Methodist Church. After visiting the space center, we were able to take pictures with an astronaut who spent more than a year up in the space station and then the students stayed with host families. I had the privledge of driving an Indian, two Russian, one Mexican and one Turkish students. They had a wonderful time! By the end of trip, there was sadness to leave their host families and I really felt like the people in our car were like family to us. God clearly spoke to them to show them his love for them.
The T4T discipleship group at TCU has started and we have met three times already (on Fridays). To see what God is going in the hearts of the different members of the group. It has been a real blessing. Further I am learning so much that can be applied to future groups.
Pray for TCU’s Thankgiving event hosted by McKinney Memorial Bible church also on the 20th as the students visit various homes.
One of the things we lead our Discovery Bible study is the question, “What is stressing you out? and what are you thankful for?” It is a proto prayer for our non-believers and a prompt for prayer for our believers. Well this is a week where there are a few things stressing me out. I’m leading a training tomorrow (Saturday) that I don’t feel all that ready for. I am taking Jonathan to a Faith and Science seminar 
We went on a regional staff retreat in St. Louis. I was challenged by several talks about putting borders in different areas of your life. The most challenging is making sure I get enough sleep. I believe this was a God-send. (it’s 1:30AM… maybe I still need some work.) I did get a lot of needed rest though during the retreat and learned a lot from others who do international student ministry in our region.
Sitting here, thinking about what to put in this prayer update, I realize I could tell you about many events, such as the Big Howdy party that drew more than 500 international students, the annual Stephenville campout, where students got to stay on a real cowboy ranch and get a real Texas experience as well as a chance to hear the gospel, about the awesome Friday night groups in which many students are participating in Discovery Bible Study, as often as not led by a student, about the special training that some of the believing students are getting to develop them into Christian leaders, Roy & Tim’s scout adventure, our sharing at VBS at Calvary Church in California.
But instead I’d like to share about some things that God is teaching me lately. It mostly has to do with the nature of faith, believing God even when I don’t know what He’s up to. Lately some of the most challenging conversations I’ve had about God have been with my own kids. Our oldest is sorting through a lot of ideas right now, forming his world view. He’s being influenced by music and ideologies that dance around the truth (this is a really messed up world), but don’t offer a satisfying solution. He’s skeptical whether the Christian faith really offers that solution either. I’ve had to understand that no one comes to God unless the Father draws him. God doesn’t beckon us with logical arguments. . . he beckons us with authentic relationship.
I’m also being challenged in how to respond to Roy when I’m feeling the strain of our busy schedule. It’s so easy to lash out and be angry at our mates when we’re under stress, but I recently was at a women’s event where the speaker reminded us of the importance of the soft answer. It’s hard to work as a team when we are blaming each other. Instead, we (okay, I) need to be slower to take offense and quicker to affirm that I want to work together, not against each other.
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me, our team and our family. At TCU we had family weekend where parents of freshmen come on out to visit. We had a special tailgate party for the international students who did not have parents come all the way out. The following week, I had to travel to Colorado Springs for a meeting to discuss new ways of doing ministry to international students with our national leadership. Some of our team learned about how to reach Muslims from former Muslims who chose to follow Christ. Finally several major initiatives that I am intimately connected to are gearing up all at once. I honestly am getting tired of answering the question, “How is it going?” with, “It’s really been as busy as its ever been…” Still its is fun to be in the middle of some stuff that God is doing where He is pulling much of the weight.
Pray also for clarity in Tim’s scout pack that Lisa and Roy are in leadership with. We are struggling at the pack level though our den is going strong. Pray for a fishing trip we are taking the boys on this Saturday.
The Stephenville trip was great! After the students had a great time riding, fishing and shooting and a great night of camping we went to church. One of UTA’s students gave their testimony which touched at least one of the other student’s heart. After church I had a couple of great conversations about God and some of the implications of following Jesus. Trips like make what we do very fun and remind me that we (you included as prayer partners) are making a difference.
The Stephenville trip was a huge success. Nearly 100 people were treated to camping, riding, shooting and fishing. Your prayers mattered. It was amazing because while we heard thunder all around when we checked our our phones and the radar on weather apps, we saw the the rain was north of us, south of us, east of us and west of us but just not where we were. Wow! Your prayers parted the weather patterns! We had some great connections with students as you prayed for. I’ve never seen so many people sharing phone numbers and e-mails/facebook as in this group. (
Two of the girls from UTA and one guy from Collin shared their testimony at the meeting of people who do international student ministry in the DFW area. Wow. It was really fun. One interesting thing was that the one student who was the newest believer was sharing through the eyes of someone just discipled through our T4T training. You could see it all over her story. That was encouraging. Also, one non-believing student came and afterwards was asking a lot of questions.
You should see the e-mails we got from people who participated with the Big Howdy and other welcome events. It is always a blessing to hear such things and God has been very, very good. I really believe that God is moving so quickly of late in our area because of your prayers.
Pray hard for the camping trip to Stephenville this weekend Sept 11-12 (see 
This last weekend, Ron, Derrah and I had the privilege of going to Lubbock to share with the international student ministry community about some things God have been teaching us about doing ministry through many quick multiplying small groups among people groups on campus.
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