Yabuki Breeze Blog

The forecast called for heavy rain with a 50-70% probability. Derrah, our team’s point man for the Fall camp out, picked up the phone on Friday to confirm with me that we were still going to go forward with the camping trip we had planned for international students from the area. We both sensed God’s peace about this trip and we also mobilized many of you and others to pray that God would spare us weather that will take away from the camping experience that we had planned for the weekend together with Grace Fellowship Church of Stephenville. It was amazing God did that and more.

Stephenville has been called the Cowboy Capital of America and students from UTA, UTD, SMU, and Texas A&M University were treated to a Cowboy experience in this special place! As we arrived there were small drops of rain and several of the students had already arrived. We were greeted by the smiling face of Pam and were treated to some wonderful hamburgers out in the open under the trees (all our meals were there). The local Cowboy Church brought its horse drill team and they gave us a show worthy of the Fort Worth Stockyards of horsemanship and pageantry. AFter that, some local cowboys showed us their skill in roping rounding up some calves. This was all done in the “stadium” on George DeVries ranch. Every year George, a Grace Fellowship Church member, provides this special experience on his large and pastoral dairy ranch.

After the expert display of the cowboy arts, the students got their turn to play cowboy. They rode horses, shot skeet with a shotgun and fished int he fully stocked pond on George’s land. While it rained a bit during this time, the heavy stuff stayed away and the students had a great time. I traveled with the UTA crew and hung out with some Chinese and Colombian friends. For most of them, this was their first camping experience and definitely to shoot, ride and fish this was a first and yet even with the rain, there were smiles all around!

Some seminary that I met when I shared at DTS and SWBTS came along and made themselves available to help in many ways including cooking, setting up and just hanging with the students. They were great. They really intereacted with the students. Two of them spoke Spanish and one of the UTA students from Colombia was so new to the US he jsut beamed when he realized there were some people there that spoke his language and cared about him.

After a dinner of fresh (from the ranch) beef fajitas cooked by the owners of a local Mexican eatery and some of the workers on the ranch, we had a rousing camp fire led by Ryan, one of the seminary students. Between games of Chubby Bunny, Chinese fireside songs, etc. everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Again, the rain, a constant specter just over the horizon stayed away!

The next day, after a night of sleep in tents on a relatively balmy night, (it only rained a little bit) we went on to the Stephenville Opry where Grace Fellowship Church helped the students experience a country church worship service. The students seemed to respond well, especially when Pastor David, a good friend of our ministry for many years, shared the story of God’s miraculous healing of his daughter after a near death experience as a result of a four-wheeling accident.

After lunch in the small town city park, we toured George’s dairy operation. We saw, among other things, a 15 minutes old calf and cows being milked. I think the students were struck by how much like a factory this was and how much farming today is a business.

Then it was time to leave. When all was said and done, the student spoke with gratitude and excitement. They had so many firsts and they really got the see the love of Christ lived out in the townspeople, the seminary students, etc. It was truly a blessing. In addition… God showed himself in the weather. Early in the morning on Sunday, I checked out the radar plot of the storms to see what to expect, and it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. There were lines of large storms to the north of us and lines of storms to the south of us but through the middle, where we were, there seemed to be a corridor of calm. The plot kind of reminded me of the crossing of the Red Sea. I was touched deeply. God was listening to all your all’s prayers!

Tags: camping, China, Colombia, Fall Campout, roadtrip, Stephenville, travel, trip

(Check out our pictures and videos) There are times when it is difficult to get started on this blog. Sometimes the times make our minds busy. Other times, there isn’t really all that much to say. It’s been more than a week since Lisa, C-6, T-8 & I got back from the ISI Tejas Retreat for Texas international students.  Those of you on the prayer team, you all might remember this as the retreat we have been having you all pray for – its planning, its implementation, spiritual warfare surrounding it – for the last few months. Now it is over and the difficulty is that there is so much to share, I don’t know where to begin. It was an amazing exercise of spiritual warfare and there is so much we learned from its execution.

Let me begin some of the elements of spiritual warfare that happened (mostly physical things PTL):

• One week prior, on the official due date, were were about 40 people short of the required 125 (we ended up with over 133)
• It was not until the last week that had a verified music leader and then our international student guitar player got sick the night before we had to leave (the music leader, the son of one of our ISI partners did a great job and showed a real heart for the students)
• Only five seminary student who help with the logistical elements of the camp were signed up by the due day well short of the usual 10 needed. (we ended up with a few more and other key leaders who helped out with this… almost had too many American volunteers)
• We had some major relational and personnel blow ups among our staff right before camp. (Only slightly affected the camp)
• I sent out a prayer e-mail alert to pray against spiritual warfare… (We had already sent out a request for prayer earlier in the week but it seemed like we needed more prayer coverage… we also knew, based on past experience, that trips where many things go wrong are often the one where God most often shows himself in a special way.)
• We still didn’t have a line dance instructor for the line dance activity by early in the week. (We were able to find someone who so loved line dancing from the Tyler area that she just kept dancing and dancing clear until dinner during the free time… the students loved her)
• UTA Campus Director (and camp small group director who had a big role on Friday) Ron was getting ready to load up for camp 2 hours before we were supposed to leave for camp and he bumped the vehicle he was supposed to use to cart 10 international students to camp in, into his garage door, knocking it off its tracks (Looking really bad), making it stuck in the open position. He could not leave until it was fixed (a garage guy was able to fix it within the necessary time and Ron beat me to campus.
• The newly found music leader, Casey got into his car in Houston with his young son, preparing to leave for camp, his car wouldn’t start. When he tried to jump it with his wife’s car, her car wouldn’t start. (After 40 minutes of looking he finally found someone in the neighborhood to jump his car so he could go to Sears to get a new battery for both cars and he made it with time to spare)
• One of cars transporting students from Texas A&M University got a flat tire on the way. (It was fixed with the help of other students)
• Our sound system, data projector, video camera, and just about every other “tech” thing was having more problems that I can ever remember them having. (And I’m supposed to be one of the ISI tech guys…:-)
• Here is the biggest thing. It was pouring down rain on Friday night as we were driving up for this Retreat that features mostly outdoor activities with a 30 & 40% respectively chance of rain for Saturday and Sunday. (Ron boldly told the group that he prayed for it not to rain and that he believed God was going to stop the rain… It stopped right after that very gathering.  As we were in our cars leaving the retreat center, the droplets started falling again as if God wanted to remind us of his mastery over the elements… Wow! What a testimony! God is good!)

So how did it turn out?   I felt totally out of control… which with God is not a bad thing. He showed His control every step of the way. It was amazing. In addition to the above.

• The speaker, Chris Plekenpol, did a bang up job teaching from Joseph. I think he connected with the students at a heart level and his background as an Iraqi war veteran lent credibility and build his testimony of God’s grace as he showed himself to be a wise, fun and humble guy despite.
• The discussion and camaraderie around the small groups were exemplary, likely the best quality we’ve ever had. It was such a diverse group of leaders too. Developing this part of the retreat was the focus of our planning team and I believe we hit it right on with international students leading other students and volunteers. (the majority of students were not believers so it was awesome to see the spiritual discussion going on so strongly.) (see the resultant video when the groups had work together to tell a story using pictures)
• The students had a great time doing the activities (not hard given all the choices) without anyone getting hurt.
• The kids conference, led by one of the seminary couples, went without a hitch. First rate! My kids were with 5 others and were treated to stuff usually saved for VBS.
• Everything was done safely…
• From our response cards we learned the following…
  • 9 students indicated, “ I decided during this weekend to trust Jesus as my only hope and way to God… to follow him only as my God”
    
  • 27 students indicated, “this weekend I decided to learn more about who Jesus is and how I can know him personally.”
  • 9 students indicated, “This weekend I decided I want to meet with someone who can answer my questions about the things we learned and discussed.”
  • 7 students indicated, “ This weekend I decided I want to join a Bible study on my campus.“
  • 35 students indicated, “ Please email me about ISI meetings on my campus and future trips and events like this.”
  • 25 students indicated, “ Please contact me about opportunities to make a Christian student friend on my campus“
  • Some students indicated, “This weekend I decided…”

• • • continue with ISI/ICF to glorify God
    • fight more for life to be thankful and have faith
    • have faith in Jesus when we are in hard time
    • to apply Joseph’s life in mine
    • to enjoy with my small group
    • to face my fears with faith
    • to get close to God
    • to keep going strong with God
    • to pray more and be more patient
    • to recommit my life to Christ (already a Christian)
    • to reflect on the things I do and don’t do if I am confident that God is with me
    • to talk to my Bible study teachers to answer the questions I formed this weekend
    • to try to put myself in the shoes of others

All in all, it was a great trip and most of all… we could really see God present and how important the prayers of you are in what we do!

Tejas 2009 Small Group Slide Show from Roy Yabuki on Vimeo.

Video Slide show from Retreat

Tags: camping, Conference, Retreat, RockinC, Seminary, Tejas, Video, volunteers

(See all pictures) Yee Ha!!! Such was the call as international students from all over the DFW area enjoyed the hospitality of George DeVries at his Ranch together with many others from Grace Fellowship church and Stephenville, TX. They were able to… camp out in tents overnight under the beautiful Texas night sky, watch a incredible trick riding demonstration, ride horses, fish in George’s fishing pond, see George’s dairy cow milking operation and baby calves just learning to walk, learn to skeet shoot, attend a “cowboy church” service at the local “opry hall” , play  volleyball, horseshoes, and an experience and incredible evening bonfire complete with skits and singing.

Over 90 students, volunteers, friends, etc. from 17 different countries from TCU, SMU, UTD, UNT, and UTA had a terrific time together learning about this part of Texas culture. These students came from countries like   China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Nepal, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Serbia, S. Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam; a very diverse group. In addition, there were so many first by so many students.  They even saw a baby calf being born (I have a video if you want to see it.) The students had a great time. One of our Italian students from UTA wrote one of our staff the following words regarding the campout…

“I liked the trip from the beginning to the end. The ranch experience lead us in contact not only with nature, but also with God. I especially liked the simple and [sincero] cowboy spirit, which is exemplified by the Christian service as well. That was also a great opportunity to meet people from the Dallas/Fort Worth area which share the same [pensieri=thoughts] as ours.  I hope there’ll be other occasions of this kind. Looking forward to meet you again.”

God was clearly there and the students were able to see him both in word, spirit and deeds. What an experience!

Tags: camping, Stephenville, trip

(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

April 2007 -

T-6’s season started up again after many rain cancellations and he went out and scored a run!! Good job T-6. (Check out Pics) The same weekend, J-10 went on his second camping trip with his scout troop, this time with dad. They went canoeing. It was windy but really fun!!! (Check out pics)

Tags: Baseball, camping, scouts

Mar 2007 – PICS & VIDEO & AUDIO – This year’s Tejas Spring Break retreat (www.isitejas.com) was probably the best we have ever had. As we were sitting and watching it happen, God did some good work. In meteorology, there is something called the “perfect storm” when all the right ingredients from all over the world come together to form a monster storm. That is what this was like. God brought he right MC (a first-time seminary volunteer, author and Iraq veteran officer), the right small group leaders, the right speaker (Dr. Tony Maalouf) the right activities and team leaders brought all of this together.

Check out our pictures and videos(summary and other) through our tejas website at www.isitejas.com

Interesting Numbers from Tejas

· Over 120 people attended the Tejas Retreat this year.

· 22 Countries were represented

· There were over 92 students and family, 29 staff & volunteers to befriend them, and 5 seminary students to help in any way needed.

· According to our response cards… (we did not get all of them back yet)

o 8 people indicated “This weekend I decided to trust Jesus as my only hope and way to God… to follow him only.” – we know of at least one who was already a Christian, but this is encouraging.

o 30 indicated “This weekend I decided to learn more about who Jesus is and how I can know him personally.”

o 19 indicated interest in meeting with someone to talk about what they heard and/or meeting for Bible Study.

o 39 wanted to learn more about ISI events in the future

o 19 indicated they wanted to be introduced to a Christian friend through ISI.

o 13 Christian students did a terrific job of leading 12 small groups who each received a special “bandana” with a special color which they proudly wore around camp.

WOW!!!! God was so present at the retreat

Some Statements from Students

I commit to have a more personally walk with Jesus. – Malaysian Christian

I commit to study more on the issues come to my mind (re: what was discussed) – Iranian Woman Non-Believer

I commit to join more meeting with other Christians friends to learn and grow in Jesus Christ. –

I commit to forgive a friend about his mistakes. – Saudi Non-Believer

I commit to make more Christian friends. They’re so kind. – Iranian Woman Non-Believer who indicated some commitment to Christ.

I commit to learn more about who Jesus is – Hong Kong Non-Believing Student

I commit to love Jesus more and to live for Him!!! – Korean Christian Small group student leader

I commit exhaust myself! It’s great! – American student volunteer

I commit to join the 08 retreat again next year – Hong Kong Student Leader

Tags: camping, Retreat, Tejas, Video