Yabuki Breeze Blog

So many wonderful things to report. This last week we were able to be a witness to a baptism of a student who is a part of several of the UTA ISM ministries. It is a wonderful testimony of God’ working through many to reach those He has chosen. We are also in full swing with several things that you all and we have been praying for. Here are a few tidbits from the last couple of weeks. I think this may be a little long, but God is doing lots and lots of stuff right now and I wanted to share them with you. Please pray!!! Once again Lisa and I and some of our team are sensing some level of Spiritual Warfare and I think it is because God is breaking new ground in places that are strongholds of the enemy.

Here are some quick things to pray for.

Praise

• Friday nights – As we continue this experiment with Friday Night ISI at UTA meetings at two locations (early & late groups), God continues to bless. This last week is a example of how God is working. The late group had a student who just got baptized this last week. In the early group, our volunteer Cal had some significant conversation with several students which led to him meeting with a South Asian person of peace and starting to set up relationship with a couple of other students. Roy also had a couple of significant discussions about Jesus with the result being one East Asian couple taking the discovery Bible study “cheat sheet” with the intention of doing a family discovery Bible study group in their apartment. Praise God also for workers for the Harvest. Keep on praying for more. The fields are VERY white for harvest who want to be loved on and who want to learn more about the God of Creation and His Son.
• PTO (Passing Truths On)- Three PTO groups have started. PTO groups are a 16 week mode of discipling students where they are trained to 1) become disciples who train disciples, 2) learn the essentials of how to walk with Jesus, and 3)  learn how to start and lead discovery Bible groups. One of these groups is being led by a couple of American volunteer girls who are learning the process themselves and are passing it along immediately to another students. Ron is training one other key volunteer on how to lead PTO groups. Roy is leading an on-campus PTO group with three students and also  two volunteers who are learning how to lead these groups. Roy is also doing one PTO group using video Skype to disciples a student in Colombia and another one in Mexico. This process of starting these groups helped us too to tease out who the followers of Jesus are, those who the seekers are and whose not interested in Spiritual things but have a deep relationship with us.
• Right Now Conference – Roy and staff members, Jeff, Hannah, Judy and key volunteer, Tom joined in a conference to learn how to minister together with churches from the 20-30′s demographic. Tom and Judy also were involved with a conference with business leaders on helping believers see “Work as Worship” – using the workplace as a place of ministry. We need to help our students to have this perspective. We also were able to network with business leaders in the area to kick off a new ministry that we are looking at related to students in internships.
• Lisa is enjoying her new job because she is actually encouraged to share her faith with her students. It does require more outside time with students and it has less regular hours than her previous job.
• Ti* is getting more and more involved with Boy Scouts and playing the cello. He is getting better at both. In scouts, he has had the opportunity to learn things such as orienteering and tying knots. Cha* is really growing into a sweet young lady who loves to do crafts, cook, and spend time with her friends. She even made her own dalmatian Halloween costume. Jonathan is navigating through his sophomore year of high school and is learning how to be more responsible with managing his home work etc.
• Phoenix Training – Ron, Roy & Derrah had the privilege of training the ISI Phoenix team of 12 in some of the things we have been learning in our work with M28/CPM using video Skype. Imagine training a group of 12 people  hundreds of miles away with three local presenters and still be able to see their reactions, give feedback and everything. What a blessing that was to join hearts with kindred spirits and they seemed to grasp it. We hope that through all this training in M28 all over, it will catch sooner than later and a student movement will spark.
• At TCU, the team continues to flourish with several students growing through the Bible study there. Sharon, Sarah, Tim, the Moores and the rest of the team are ably leading the team. Recently, 8 UTA ISI students joined with 8 TCU ISI students in helping out with the Fall Festival as volunteers at Christ Church Assembly of God in Fort Worth. The student’s eyes were open wide as they were part of 300 volunteers who served 6000 kids and family members. They were touched by how a church would do such a thing through volunteers and donations without government help or anything. They asked many questions including “Why?”

Tags: baptism, church, Discovery study, Passing Truths On, PTO, scouts, Spiritual Warfare, testimony, UTA

Here is a post from Dallas teammate Jeff. Good stuff.

Roy

Hey Gang,

I have some fantastic news! Johannes (Muslim student from Iran that has been attending church with me) trusted Christ as his Savior and Lord yesterday afternoon! Thanks, praise and glory to God! We met for lunch at Jason’s Deli and he prayed to receive Christ right at the table.  We had an incredible time and as the conversation turned to spiritual things, God opened the door to transition into the gospel and he was very receptive. I have been praying for him for the last few months and God was clearly working in his life and drawing him to Christ. It was so cool as I asked him if it was the desire of his heart to invite Jesus into his life and he said yes! He said he wanted to go to heaven and was surprised at how simpl e and easy to understand the gospel was. He thought it would be a more difficult and longer process to become a Christian.  The thing that was so cool was how God used my mom’s cancer to really speak to Johannes’ s (not real name) heart. His brother recently died from cancer and when we first met back in March, the fact that we both had loved ones with cancer connected us. Yesterday he told me that since his brother’s death, he had really been thinking a lot about heaven and hell and what would happen to him when he died. I shared with him how the Dr. had given my mom 3 – 6 months to live and that she was at peace and ready to go be with  Jesus. He then said that he didn’t have peace like my mom did, but fear because he didn’t know where he would end.

Tags: email, Praise, testimony

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.  (See pictures) There were a few challenges including a trip to the emergency room (which turned out to be relatively minor), the bailing out of the drill team that was supposed to perform for us, incredible heat, etc. But all in all it was a great time.  Thanks all so much for praying!
• 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.

Tags: camping, Ranch, Stephenville, T4T, testimony

Hi all. I received this message as a follow up to VBS from one of the associate pastors at Calvary Church who helped us last week . His young daughter was a part of VBS and this is what he shared with us… (names changed)

Roy,

Happy Saturday to you!  Our babysitter passed on this e- mail to us a couple of days ago about our daughter Laura telling her about happy eyes.  I thought I would pass it on to you guys to let you know what an impact you have had on our Church and my kids!  In fact, my daughter Laura spelled out Y-a-b-u-k-i with refrigerator magnets last weekend and it is still up there in your honor, hahaha.

Anyways, check this out:

Hi Y’all, I just had to email you tonight before I went to bed…I want you to know how much I am truly blessed by Laura every time I am around her (yes Peter is a sweetheart as well ) But I sincerely believe God speaks through your little sweet Laura . Its like she always has some words of wisdom for me, and I am always truly encouraged and sometimes convicted by the words she says to me. Tonight at dinner this is what she told me “We had missionaries come to out church and tell us how to talk to people who are different then us. We should have happy eyes with them, and always smile, and say hello, and then learn their language to say hello, then tell them about Jesus.” Now I don’t know how, when or who might have discussed with her these things, but either way, it sunk in with her little sweet spirit and truly made me think. When she used the word “happy eyes” it made me think about how often we don’t look at someone with the right perspective, we don’t know if they know Jesus or not, and to be able to approach them with the right loving perspective is the right way to do it. I wanted to you both to know how encouraging it is to me to see that from her heart, the sincerity and the simple faith of a child, tugs and my heart, and brings joyful tears to my eyes.

You are all such a blessing to me!

Tags: testimony, Vbs

Here is a great student testimony from one of our key staff team members, Ron Bunyard showing how the initiative of our friends who volunteer with students are one of the keys to what we do. It is especially relevant because the Big Howdy is coming up soon again. Please volunteer to help welcome student if you can at http://www.utabighowdy.com! As you can see, it really makes a difference!

“Last year a new Chinese girl by the name of R came to our Big Howdy welcome party and spent the evening observing how so many American Christians were serving  international students and were being so kind and welcoming.  She states that several Americans talked to her, but she was too shy to engage in conversation with them.  She was just too amazed and overwhelmed.  In October of last year, R met some Chinese Christian students who took her to church.  R began to learn and hear the gospel for the first time.  She spent Thanksgiving at one of our volunteer’s home and learned more of the story of Christ.  On New Year’s Eve, led by some of her Chinese friends, R committed her life to Christ.  She then led her boyfriend in Canada to faith in Christ by spending all night long chatting with him about what had happened in her life.  The story does not stop there.  This past spring, R has led her two roommates to Christ and they are actively engaged in Bible study and growing.  They have also engaged two more of their friends in Bible study with one of our volunteers and the five of them will resume this study when they return from China this month.”

Tags: Big Howdy, help, testimony

Okara Ovey

I wish you a happy new year.

To say that I am richly blessed by this convention is an understatement.
My exposure to fellow Christians sharing together in the word of God,preaching and talks from renounced men and women of GOD,worship,drama,music,meeting people of diverse culture and background,food,and the general atmosphere has made me to make a redefined definite commitment to Christ.It was my first experience in the 358 days I have been here in the US.I have now a focus on the Mission Iam to embark after my studies.Urbana was indescribably beautiful.I am blessed that I made it to Urbana early in my stay here.
I want to use this opportunity to formally thank you for the investment of time and resources for me to attend the conference.
I am also for ever grateful to my sponsors whom I do not know in person trusted and granted me scholarship to attend this great event of which on my own wouldn’t have been able to fulfill this dream.May the great Lord we serve bless my donors in all aspects of their expectations and work.
Pray with me too so that the devil would not over power me .Because I made definite commitment to serve God and lead others to Christ more diligently now. I have vowed to put away those things that could hinder my vision for mission.
I thank you so very much.

Aklesso Egbendewe-Mondzozo

Catherine and I are really greatful to God and to people who gave money to
us in order to be able to attend the urbana conference.
First,we understood from the conference that we do not need to wait to
graduate from Texas A&M to go to mission, but we learn from urbana that we
are already in mission in our campuses. Our prayer is to leave a life worthy
of the calling during our stay here at College Station.
Second, we expect to take online seminary classes along with the Ph.D
classes in order to be ready to orther missions in Africa when we will go
back to our country.
Finally, we learn from Urbana the importance of the unity of the body of
Christ which is the Church. We expect that this unity will be helpful for
the ministry of cross cultural mission on our campuses.
Once again, we want to thank you all that make this urbana conference
possible for us.
God bless.

Mari Satani

I would like to express my appreciation and thankfulness to every one of you who has supported me in making my trip to the Urbana Conference 2006 possible.  It was a great experience to attend this Conference. I have always wanted to know more about the plan of God for me and I had been praying that He is going to show me some directions through this meeting. As I am praying, a strong desire to reach out to the international people who stay in the States develops

Meeting with people of different ages from different schools and countries, and meeting with missionaries who have been in the mission fields were my favorite part in Urbana. I was saved in Japan, but I met just a few Christians there. Now I am studying in Christ For The Nations Institute, a Bible College; I see Christians who have a heart to serve God. As I came into contact with Christians who do not attend Bible school at the Conference, I discovered that they also have the same passion for God. These Christians inspired me a lot. They love Jesus and are diligent and zealous telling about Jesus. I enjoyed meeting with the Japanese Christians who either go to Bible College or serve God as missionaries in the States! I really understood their hearts when they shared their live experiences with me. We worshiped and prayed together in our own language. It was an awesome opportunity.

The teaching sessions are also good, especially the Bible Study which I most enjoyed.  Discovering the Bible with other people is so fun and exciting!!!  I can see God is talking to us in many different ways.

Again, thank you so much for your support. It was a wonderful experience. God bless you and keep you,

Mari Satani

Mu-Chia Chen (Nadia)

Thank you so much for your support that gives me an amazing experience in Urbana 06.   23,000 people from 140 countries gathered to worship God, listen to His words and praise Him with several different languages songs. The missionary exhibition opened my eyes and mind. I can’t believe there are so many missionary organizations that work for whole world via different ways. So many things and so many ways we can do for serving God and helping people.

Two amazing things happened in Urbana. I attend the International track and lived with hundreds international students in the same hotel. We had small prayer groups separated by country every night. At second night, the Korean and Japanese students decided to pray together. They sang songs, prayed together and sought reconciliation for the past sins of their nations. My group (Taiwanese) heard this beautiful news that encouraged us to do something. We want to invite Chinese students to pray together for misunderstandings, both sides of governments, and the development of the church. It was the most joyful thing for me during the Urbana.

Forgive me my poor English grammar. All I can say is: Thanks Lord and thank you for giving me a chance to know more God’s power, will, and goodness.

May God bless you!

In His Love,
Mu-Chia Chen (Nadia)

Irena Fajdetic

THANK YOU NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO GAVE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
Big THANKS to all you who contributed to the scholarships for trip and conference Urbana 2006!Thank you for enable us to partake in this big event,without your help I would not be able to participate and learn about global scale missions and movements and quite significant, to be the only representative of my country (Croatia) at Urbana. Even though already knowing a lot about AIDS disease itself, I learned much about underlining issue of AIDS and its problems. Rick Warren gave powerful message and clearly stated the differences of the World’s way and Church’s way of fighting AIDS epidemic.

I was encouraged at the Urbana to live each moment for the purpose God created me to, to reach more other people with acknowledgment of God, sharing boldly the message of Christ, with God’s wisdom and the power of Holy Spirit to glorify Him. “God is not God to download on IPod only for the personal consumption.”, but to share His Good News with all His creatures. Here is a part of the summary of one seminar: Discernment and Holy Spirit -It is so mandatory in today’s world to be able to discern what is from God and what’s not. We need more than ever before Holy Sprit in our lives to help us see what is from God. We are too fleshly today. Jesus said in Mathew26:41b     “The Spirit is ready, but the body is weak” Opposite is true for Christians today-we have a weak spirit and strong flesh. We need to strengthen our spirit. Holy Spirit is sent to us to help us. We must acknowledge the importance of the Holy Spirit for our spiritual lives/beings. We must allow Holy Spirit to work in us to be strong and not confused with waives of new teachings.  To determine Who is speaking, consider the character of one speaking and the content of message. How much we truly know God; as much as we really are searching after His heavenly treasures that much we know Him and the more you know somebody, more easily you recognize the voice of one speaking.

I wanted to share more of the words that had impact on me as a hearer, but this letter would be too long.
Irena Fajdetic

Tags: Student Leadership, testimony, Urbana

Here is an e-mail to one of our volunteer coordinators….

David,

Although I was looking forward to visiting with the student you ‘hooked me up with’, I was not prepared for such a fabulous day!!

I picked San up at UTA at 11:30 so we could go visit a FW site, come back to my house for lunch (I live 1 mile from Bear Valley) and then take him back when ‘we were done’.  I think that if he had stayed until New Years Day, we still wouldn’t have been through talking, laughing and exchanging stories.  My whole family was taken with him.  San was outgoing and personable yet appropriate and respectful.

When he got into my car at UTA I complimented him on his bravery for agreeing to go home with some unknown woman and told him that I had 900 questions for him but to ‘please let me know if my question is inappropriate or offensive’.  He agreed and asked me to do the same.  That is where the fun began.

We went to the Stock Yards, where naturally we talked about cows, the eating of beef, what would happen to you if you did eat beef, what if you converted to Muslim or Christianity, would you eat meat then- tons of real and hypothetical questions.

We got back to my house at 1:45 to eat and at 6:45 San said that he had read somewhere that he should have left our house after 2-3 hours and was afraid that he had over-stayed his welcome.  We talked about how that is probably true and with someone else ‘this is how you would bring up the subject of leaving, if you had your own car vs if you needed a ride home, etc’.   We then talked about because of my comments (I had scheduled the whole day for our visit, we have nothing planned for the rest of the day) and that it was obvious that we were truly enjoying our conversation that the 2-3 hour time limit was probably waived, etc….

We touched on every aspect of Indian life vs American life and ‘what-ifs’. My son is home from college for Christmas and opted to stay to talk with us rather than meet his friends at the mall as planned.  That is how comfortable and enjoyable our day was.

I got him back to UTA at 8:30 and could have talked in the car for 2 more hours.  We did mention going to the rodeo together.

Thank you for the introduction.  This experience was priceless.

Katie

ps.  I did learn that it is rude to point at him. I am going to have to work on that and the whole ‘talking with my hands’ thing.

From Katie a volunteer to who works with our ministry partner David Underwood at UTA. Names have been changed to maintain confidentiality

Tags: Fort Worth, Friendship Partner, testimony