Yabuki Breeze Blog

Every year, Our small group at Fielder Road Baptist church works with ISI and the BSM at UTA to host an international student thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year was no exception. Nearly 100 students feasted on turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, potatoes, etc. It was a cornucopia of things to eat. they also were treated to the sounds of Greg Speed who we found had quite a broad repertoire of music for students to listen to while eating and chatting. This year we really worked hard on making the time conducive to relationship building and so it had more of a home/coffee house feel to it. It was a lot of fun.

On a sad note, one of our dear friends from our small group, Earl, passed away a couple of days before the dinner. It was very sudden and unexpected. We had gotten to know him well when he was in our care group and when we gave him rides to and from church. It was a very sad thing. Interestingly, his mother mentioned that one of the things that was so special to him was his church small group and that he was REALLY looking forward to this dinner. He even had a turkey waiting to be cooked for this event in the refrigerator when he passed away. This story really made us realize that we are not only serving the students we serve but also we serve those who serve the students. Thank you Lord for this somber, special reminder.

Tags: BSM, Dinner, Fielder Road Baptist Church, holiday, Thanksgiving

This was a good day of ministry. Our team of many ministries and partners were allowed to have a table a UTA orientation today and it was a real blessing. We were able to invite many of them to the Big Howdy party and other events to welcome them. Over 100 of 500 new students were there and we met most of them with flyers, etc. Two people especially stand out today. First, I met a Japanese student while passing out flyers and after talking we found that our grandparents were both from the same small, rural county in Japan. It was really cool because it is such a remote place and there was an immediate connection. Interestingly, right when I got home, I found that I got a friend request on facebook from the very same student. I hope God will allow us to build a friendship through this that would allow us to talk about significant things.

A second person who made an impression is Phillip who is a Japanese American ministry partner from the BSM. He is the new intern who, with his wife, will be interning working with interntional students. As I shared yesterday, one of the cool things about what we do is that we so many things together with others, working together in Kingdom work. The BSM has been one of our best partners and Phillip is no exception. He has a gentle but persistent way about him that I believe God will use greatly in touching students’ lives. It really is an honor to work closely together and its kind of funny how I see a lot of myself in this younger Japanese-American man.

Finally… I just wanted to say how much I appreciate my wife, Lisa. She is a real blessing to me. Her faithfulness,  patience, love for me and the kids etc. are just so much of a blessing. One of the hard things about being away from family is that we often have to do things alone… I still miss everyone so much. And yet because we have been away, we have learned to trust each other so much more, seeing each other and having to depend on each other even when we are at our best and worst and that has been such a blessing. Praise God!

Tags: Big Howdy, BSM, Japanese, Lisa