Highlights.
- A nice Christmas party at my house for the northern California ISI staff team. Great to share what God has been doing with each of us at our respective campus' this year.
- Talk Time ended nicely for 2015 with 6 students and talking about what is really true about Christmas. Jesus. Jesus brings glory to God, will bring peace on earth and demonstrates God's good will toward us.
- One of the FLC professors asked me to start another club at their Rancho Cordova satellite campus. My wife and I will start the second week of January :)
- My church has helped me raise 20 volunteers to befriend and speak English 1x/week with the international ESL students! :) This is a great way to share the love of Christ quickly and more personally.
- A 2 week break to get everything ready for the next semester.
- My wife did a great job hosting both of our Christmas parties
- Our financial support looks pretty good to get us through April :)
Lowlights.
- No one showed for my Christmas party for the FLC international students. Perhaps I chose a date too near to Christmas.
Story 1 - None
No story this month since the semester ended Dec 9.If I did put a story here it would either be about Diana, a professor at FLC, who has been just a wonderful champion for us on campus and has opened up so many ministry opportunities. Or, It would be about Kory Lewis, the campus pastor at Bayside Folsom, who has helped me raise the 20 volunteers to meet with the students 1x/week. Great guy, great heart, great help.
Links
Donation: http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/donate.html
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: 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
- For Megan*. That God would show Himself to her so she knows 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.<<Ongoing>>
- That I can find 10-20 Christian volunteers to meet with the students 1x/week <<Yes! :) >>
- That my wife can come with me to the Rancho Cordova campus starting in January. <<Yes. She is excited:) >>
- For our Christmas party on Dec 19. Christmas is one of the best opportunities to really share the Lord in a powerful way to all the students. Pray that I can do all I can to drive the message deep into their hearts.<<No. No one showed :( >>
- I can instruct, and God will use, the 20 volunteers from my church to effectively model and communicate the love of Christ to the students they meet with. Pray that God would match them up according to His wisdom.
- As we give our Welcome Packets to the new international students in January that they will see our love and be drawn to us.
- That our new club at the Rancho Cordova campus will be successful.
- That we can start an Alpha club (Bible study) with the students that are interested in learning more about the Lord.
Admonition
“Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him...? - Joel 2:12-14