Everything continues to go very well at all 9 of our schools!
Highlights.
- Our Club renewal request at CSUS has been approved! This is a very good sign that our club will be recognized shortly for the school year. We are already allowed to meet in classrooms again :)
- Attendance at Folsom Lake College (FLC) Talk Time started with only 1-2 students this year. We were thinking of shutting down our efforts there. We prayed and I was invited to speak at 2 English as Second Language (ESL) classes- over 60 students from 17 countries. They responded enthusiastically and for the last 2 weeks we have had 10+ students at each Talk Time.
- Attendance at the CSUS Talk Time is still ~15 with all students staying for Bible Talk Time afterwards.
- Attendance at our first International Dinner of the year was over 100 with students from 7 of our schools. The speaker was a Christian professor who shared how he became a Christian in India. One of our students gave her testimony on how she accepted Christ. All the students listened very attentively to both of them.
- Discussion at both FLC and CSUS have naturally turned to God each week. At CSUS I asked the students if they could ask God any question what would it be? One said- is there a rebirth? Another said- what are good works and what do they count for? Another- why did He make me? I told them if they keep coming to Bible Talk Time they will hear these answers.
- Our first dinner with just all Indian students started off well with 8 coming! They loved that it was just for them and the host family was an Indian couple.I think this might grow into something bigger and we can do better at ministering to the Indian population, something I was very concerned about last year.
- I am now leading the club at FLC, as well as CSUS. The woman before me needed to take some time off to care for her mother.I was blessed to see that the FLC club didn't die and my first week I had over 10 students and met an ESL teacher there who is a huge advocate to her students about our club.
- I am still happy with our CSUS club student leaders. 2 of them have really been helpful in making sure the university approves our new charter and officially recognizes us this year.
Lowlights.
- We had a couple stumbles rewriting our club charter/constitution for CSUS but it looks as though our faculty adviser and student leaders jumped in quickly to remedy the concerns of the university
- I have had problems receiving some emails to my ISI account. I have met with the ISI IT person and I believe the issues is now resolved.
Story 1 - Jun
At one of the Bible Talk Times 2 weeks ago we were discussing Mark 5:25-34 and the subject of miracles. The last question I asked was if any of them, or a friend/loved one, had a sickness I could pray for. None of them responded. When it was all over I was walking to my car and Jun, a student from S Korea, came running up to me and asked me if I would pray for his father who has recently found out he has cancer. He told me he was too ashamed to ask me in front of the group. I told him I would be happy to pray and Jesus still heals in every way.
Story 2 - Menjie
Menjie is also a S Korean student. He is a little skeptical about the Bible. I asked him a couple weeks ago if he believed that the woman who touched Jesus' cloak was really healed. He said- no. The Bible is just a story. He did not think of it as factual accounts. I told him we would talk more about it and that I personally believed the evidence that the Bible is true and factual. The following week we were talking about good and bad luck. I asked the students- have any of you ever had good luck and can share an example? Menjie responded quickly- I am lucky I found this International club. That lets me know that he is on his way and though he doesn't believe everything we talk about, there is something deeper drawing him there.
Links
Metrics: http://isiervthomas.weebly.com/metrics
Nations in the US: http://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2015/by-the-numbers.pdf
CSUS Club: http://sites.google.com/site/csusweave/
Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/+ervthomas/albums/6053038271389882641
Prayer Requests
- That our charter/constitution is accepted and we are an official club at CSUS once again. Our renewal request was approved which is a very good sign but we still have one more hurdle. If it is not God's will that we will all accept their decision graciously.
- We have our Fall Camp coming up Oct 9-11. Pray that God will put it on many students hearts to come and hear about Him and then entrust their lives to Him.
- Wisdom if I should pour all of my energy into FLC or continue to do both FLC and CSUS. Wisdom for my wife as to how much she can help me at FLC.
- More ministry opportunities at FLC. I sense something special about the new group that is forming there. I think if I did a weekly dinner and Bible study in my home many of them would come. They all seem to care for each other and are interested in the things of God. I know I need to do more for them
- A strong turnout at all our events as we start the year <<Yes! Abundantly answered>>
- The success of a new ministry we are introducing called Write Time. We have found that there is a large group of students, primarily Indian, who speak English very well but still need lots of help writing English. Not just resumes and cover letters and emails. This is an area where we can definitely meet another need. <<Still in the planning. Talk Time and Bible Talk Time seem to be as much as the students can handle right now>>
Admonition
“Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" - Rev 1:4,5