Dec 19 2011
Sad story of a Asian student, New Jesus followers, A Joyful yet Sad Goodbye
Sad story from this last week that hit me hard. I took a student to the airport to go home this week that I first picked up 6 months ago from an affluent country in Asia. He was an short term English student who happened to be a PhD student. We saw him occasionally at different events but lost track of him as the year went on. Anyway, as we were driving to the airport, I asked him what he planned on doing when he got home, he told me he was planning on quitting his PhD program and getting a job so he could “demonstrate.” “Demonstrate?” I asked him to clarify. He said, “yes, demonstrate against my government.” I was surprised. He is a humble young man, seemingly not too taken to passionate expression. I wasn’t sure what to say.. so I asked, “What kind of job will to do?” He said, “Self-Sustenance.” I was thinking he meant self-employed and I asked him to clarify. He said, “You know, living off of the land, planting vegetables, etc.” All I could say was, “Oh…” I asked why he was doing this. He said, “People from my country have so many things, everything a person could possibly have and yet our people are not happy.” Like Emerson and Thoreau, he sought the peace and meaning by chasing simplicity. At that moment, I realized something. He was a man who was looking for something while here. Something that would sate the angst that he felt living in modern Asian society. I have no doubt God could have filled that void, but I was not sensitive enough to his need. I didn’t sow broadly enough, thinking he would not be interested and so I missed an opportunity. I was sad. I learned alot from the conversation. I needed to salt all my conversations with the Hope that I have in Jesus so if God is working in someone, like this young man, he could identify himself to me.
- A new student Andrew from Nepal made a decision to follow Jesus through one of our volunteers doing Discovery Bible Study with him. God was influencing him in many way through many people and when he read the Bible he recognized what he was looking for.
- We are praising God that several of some of our closest students finished school this last weekend. Still we will miss them dearly. Vritant, Fernando and Bibianna specifically said that we all were their family in Texas (they even said it in a caption on facebook). Cynthia and TCU was showered with many blessings by the team over there. We are very sad to see these very special friends go home.
- We are excited that our student friend, Greg from East Asia welcomed his family to the US to join him after 6 months apart.
Wow your prayers were huge this week. The Tarrant County Space Weekend trip went well. Many of the Spiritual Warfare skirmishes were dealt with and God opened up some doors with students in surprising ways. Also, Lisa was on fall break at her work and we had a lot of time together. Praise the Lord.
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.
The key word for this week was “graduation.” Several of our stronger students and dear friends graduated from TCU this week. In addition, Timothy graduated by receiving the Arrow of Light, marking the end of his Cub Scout journey and sadly also marking the end of our pack and den and my opportunity to lead a group of young men through their Webelo experience. I want to remark about this and then the former.
It really was an honor to lead five young men through their last year of Cub scouting. Two of them completed their Arrows of Light, the highest awards in cub scouting over the course of six months. Two of them completed every requirement for the Arrow of Light except the time requirement in just three months. Wow. These were some motivated young men and I and their parents are all incredibly proud of them. We had a ceremony to honor them this week (
Our TCU graduation (
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.
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.
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 
The Big Howdy (
The TCU welcome party was one of the best yet. There were nearly 50 people there. The team did a terrific job of connecting with both old and new students. The greatest joy for me was watching the team gel and work together. It is a really tight group and it is a testimony to the students. Also Roy had a great discussion with a student about the impotence of politics and government to inherently change the world at the root level but that heart change affected by Jesus is the only way that true change can happen.
Ron shared with me that of a cool happening with the Training for Trainers (T4T) discipleship group. On Thursday, the group was sharing things they were thankful for and stressed out about. One couple from Taiwan desperately needed a car as they planned on transferring to a school 30 minutes away. One of the newly believing Chinese girls prayed for them. The following Monday, they reported that God provided right car at the right price. All was amazed at how quickly God answers prayers.
Every year we (ISI and many different ministries, churches and organizations) welcome new international students to UTA. The whole month of August is devoted to this activity. This is true at TCU and all our other DFW campuses as well. It is a very special time when we get to meet some new friends. We welcome them in many ways! (see 
Organizer) as a sample of what was happening on all our metroplex campuses (including UTA, UTD, TCU, SMU, UNT, Northlake, UD, Collin, Navarro, & Northwood):
200+ volunteers who provided food, did airport pickups, transported students to Wal-Mart, lifted and delivered furniture to students apartments, and many other acts of love and kindness.
Thank you for praying and giving!
The day after arriving home from Colorado, Lisa had to wake up early in the morning to take T-9 to Downtown Arlington because they were going to be IN the annual Arlington July 4 Parade on a float presented by his cub scout troop. Later on, I brough J-12 and C-6 and we sat along the route, looking forward to seeing our family members there. 
As we were waiting we were treated to some wonderful floats, marching bands, horse teams, etc. all dedicated to America’s monuments. Even Nolan Ryan was there as the grand marshall and Elvi were riding around in their signature white costumes riding their motorcycles. T-9 cruised along on his scooter and looked great with his friends and mom.
n hamburgers and hot dogs and enjoyed the company of many friends, including some that we hadn’t seen in a long time and some we were meeting for the first time. One student, Jung, was back for only three days all the way from Korea and was able to join us! As it got dark we were able to enjoy some fireworks from a nearby park.
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