Highlights.
- Our kayak trip in Lake Natoma was truly blessed. See Story 2, below. John 3:16
- Attendance at Talk Time remains strong on all 4 days with 8-10 I students at each (~30-40 students each week the Lord is touching :)
- My wife and I established a weekly prayer schedule where each night we pray for you and all of our supporters, each student by name, the Christian students, the school and its leaders, our upcoming events and our plans for the year (that would always be the Lords plans). We are both really enjoying this time together with the Lord.
- Club Day could not have gone better. I think of all the clubs there, ours was the most visited, had the highest energy and was the friendliest (our focus value for the year). We were able to connect with 10+ I students we had not met before. The Math and Engineering club came by to see what all the excitement was about and I told them I would love to come speak at their club when they found out I was an Intel engineer.
- Community Service Day was also great (at this point, I know what you are thinking- he just keeps saying everything is great ;). Our club had the largest turnout of volunteers (~20+) and we all bonded and had fun serving the Folsom community. I believe we also left a very good impression with FLC and the Folsom community.
- A good friend of mine, and previous VP of Intel Flash and then Intel Capital, agreed to speak to the UC Davis scholars. We are still praying and looking into what time will be best.
- As a TA, I am getting to know more and more of the students better. I love helping them in the classroom and then being able to say, 'hi' to them when I see them in the library and in the halls :)
- I will be speaking at our Fall Camp next month. Usually about 50+ of the I students from all 8 of the local colleges show up and a pretty good % of them are non-Christians. It is a lot of fun and a great time for everyone to grow closer and hear and understand the great news of the gospel.
- Our club charter was approved for the year. We had some 'political' problems a couple years ago at CSUS and it wasn't approved. Things went very smoothly for us this year and I believe the Lord has given us favor in the eyes of the school.
- A follow-on to last months personal highlight. I have been really enjoying my Comparative Worldviews class and I have especially been enjoying my daily times with the Lord these last ~ 6 months, or so. I have decided to start posting everything the Lord is teaching me from these times on a secure Blog. I called the Blog- Randoms because there is so many varied things the Lord seems to be speaking to me on.
- The pastor at church prophesied Zeph 3:17 over me in a recent church service and then stated- God is now restoring the neuro pathways in your brain right now. My spirit, and my reality agrees with this.
Lowlights.
- Some minor conflict between two of the girl students in the group who have been good friends.
- One of the adjunct ESL teachers seems 'suspicious' of all of my activity and all of the students coming to the Talk Times...
- Still struggling to determine the best form of communication to all the students. Email does not seem to be the best. FB or FB Messenger doesn't either. Texting can be problematic as many students don't want to be charged $. Right now we are using WhatsApp and that seems to be doing pretty well.
- Pizza has become the cornerstone of this ministry. Maybe it is Jesus and pizza ;) Anyway, I eat pizza like 10 times/week now. I am surely going to die from this. I guess eating pizza is my cross to bear in this ministry. Paul himself said- I have eaten all things with all men that some may be saved.1 Cor 9:22 (ERV)
Story 1 - Rhea*
A new girl from India started coming a few weeks ago. She is very nice and very insightful. In her first meeting with us we all walked together to the library after Talk Time. She was talking about how happy she was to have found our group and how it had been hard on her here since she had arrived. As one of the other students and I turned to go into the library I could tell we were all having some sort of God moment. The club president was with me and she must have felt it too as she decided to hug the Indian girl. I could see right away the girl was crying she was so happy. Wow. What can I say? We really are meeting a deep need in these students. I am so happy to be part of this and so happy the Lord loves us all and especially the orphan, the widow and the foreigner.
Story 2 - Kayak trip
Kayak trip was quite a success for 2 reasons. 1) One of the women we have been praying for for a while really opened up to my wife and I and shared some very personal things. I probably can't say too much here but her father was killed when she was younger for not having a certain religious belief. It was very sad. She did tell us something we told her a long time ago, though- I can still believe in God but not in a religion. I was able to share with her how being a Christian is just a love relationship with Jesus and not a list of do's and don'ts to get to heaven. 2) The divine network.While were at the lake a large group of Romanian people arrived and had a baptism at the lake! See pic above. We were able to walk over and watch and one of the Romanian girls came up to us and shared what baptism meant! :) The woman who had just shared with us about her father listened attentively and my wife and I were able to talk further with her about it afterwards.
Links
Donation: http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/donate.html *** All Donations Are Tax Deductible ***
Metrics: http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/metrics
Nations in the US: http://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2015/by-the-numbers.pdf
FLC Club (FB page): http://www.facebook.com/international.life.flc
FLC Club (webpage): https://sites.google.com/site/flcinternationalclub/
My Talks: http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/my-talks.html
Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/+ervthomas/albums/6053038271389882641
Prayer Requests
- That God would heal the relationship between the 2 girls in our group.
- That God would give us fun in our bowling activity, many students would come and that more and more bonding and trust would take place.
- That the Lord would protect us from the 'schemes of the devil' and remove the 'suspicion' the one ESL teacher has bout us and what we are doing. <<Ongoing>>
- That God would give me favor in the eyes of the FLC dean and ESL teachers as they consider me to run their computer lab. That God would confirm it, if in His wisdom, it is as great an opportunity as I think it is. <<Ongoing. I believe me working as an ESL assistant now will be a great first step>>
- That I do well as an ESL assistant. More importantly, that I connect well with the students and that they can see Jesus in me in all that I do.<<Yes. So far, so good!.>>
- For Megan*. That God would continue to show Himself to her and build on the experience she had with Him at Easter. That she would know for sure she has found the relationship with Him she desires. Pray for my wife to be able to follow-up with her soon and say the right things.<<Yes! Saw a big step in her heart 2 weeks ago! Ongoing.>>
- For Ana* and Zoey*. Like Megan* that God would start drawing them to Himself and making them aware of their need for Him. They are both great friends with Megan*. That perhaps Megans* seeking will inspire them to seek also. <<Ongoing>>
- That we can start an Alpha club (Bible study) with the students that are interested in learning more about the Lord. <<Ongoing>>
- That God would help us get over the hurdle(s) in lining up the 20 Christian volunteers who will meet with and practice English with the FLC students.<<I am now at 4 but it seems stalled>>
- Many opportunities have arisen with more students, faculty, volunteers and churches connected with us- host families, greeting students at the airport when they arrive, weekly talk partners, Bible study, dinners, assisting the college... We certainly need wisdom to know what we can and cannot do, that the Lord will direct our steps.<<Ongoing>>
Admonition
“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" - John 1:29