(see pictures) I’ve been back for five days now. I hear the worst day in recovering from jet lag is the fourth and I truly felt it yesterday. I come back to lots of things to do, craziness on all fronts. Yet, it is good to step away take some time and reflect on the trip today.

It was an amazing trip. God was clearly there! So were you all in your prayers that I certainly felt and tangibly saw through your messages to me both via e-mail and through my facebook pictures. It is fun helping people who are interested get to know Jesus and follow him more closely and especially when it is overseas.

Some of you reading this were part of our special trip prayer team. If you were part of the special trip prayer team and you want to join the regular prayer team. You can at http://yabukibreeze.weebly.com/prayernewsletter-signup.html.   Note: this is a little long, you may want to read through it a little at a time and pray through it over a week or so.

Here are some highlights from the trip and some prayer needs unearthed:

• The M:28 Training conference went very well but it was a little scary because of what God is already doing. Things are moving very fast and we HAVE to trust that God is in control. Here are some things going on:
  • There is a group of people from area churches who are trying to wrestle with M:28 concepts in the context of an old traditional church. Pray that they understand what we are trying to do. Pray also that God will give grace as they try to slowly integrate this type of ministry in the life of their church. Pray for the pastors there to see the protections designed into the system and the limitations of their existing models.
  • Another group from East Asia are trying to use M:28 as their discipleship strategy in the life of their church. They told me whenever they open their doors, they literally have 100’s of new people come in but they have nothing to keep them. They see M:28 as a way to do this.
  • There were two groups of people ministering to  domestic workers who are generally Musl1ms from remote villages untouched by the gospel. These ladies will return to their “unreached” homes and will also work in other places especially ruled by 1sl&m around the world.  This is a situation where M:28 Bible studies seem to be thriving.
    • In one group, they have already started 4 M:28 Bible Study groups with new Musl1m background believers and seekers, which will soon (this month?) multiply to 8 groups and their plan is to be all the way to 16 in 6 months. They are looking for a discipling paradigm that works for their context and we are experimenting with a new M:28 PTO Discipleship concept for this group of less educated group. These domestic workers are all over the world including the middle east and the goal is to reach these ladies who are hungry for God and empower and envision them to be difference makers all over the world. One woman has already returned to an “unreached” place to start M:28 Bible Studies.
    • Another group from another church in Hong Kong is also using M:28 Bible study with 3-4 groups and growing quickly. They already have contacts back in the lost places these ladies will return to.
  • Another group was sharing about ministering with older Ch1nese who are not literate. This presents a great challenge but M:28 DBS can be adapted by using storytelling methods for the Bible portion.
  • Pray for another team starting churches in NW Ch1na who want to take this back with them. Pray for another who will be taking this to the Middle East. Both are Musl1m hotbeds.
  • Pray for another person who is taking the M:28 paradigm so she could share it with one of the main campus ministries in all India so they could use it in what they do through out the country. There is an openness not there before with this group as many campuses are closed to workers and by empowering students to DO ministry, the M:28 paradigm allows them to circumvent that limitation. She has 2 groups already started among H1ndus and one with some Bally-wood people. (Again, much of this happened through the influence of a domestic worker.
  • Pray for another team who is taking the M:28 paradigm to start international student ministry in Japan, a place very hard to work.
  • Another team came to see if this might work in ISM in the UK among the many international students there. They had some serious misgivings at first but is going to try it on a test group.
  • Another team has been doing M:28 Bible studies already (10+ groups) without formal training in a large East Asian country. They are multiplying and came to learn more about how to do it properly. They were able get a better sense of some things they didn’t understand and make corrections to foster multiplication.
• The Taiwan portion of the trip was also an amazing blessing. I was able to meet with at least 11 former students and an local ISI Staff person who I actually trained last year in M:28. Here are some quick hits from there.
  • In Taipei, I met with students from 20, 16, 13, 6(2), 5, 3 and 2 years ago. It was funny because most of then had never met but they quickly connected because of their common experience with our ministry. Several are followers of Jesus, others were not. Several of us of both types visited church with one of he older Jesus-following students. It’s amazing too because there were so many connections between the people that they didn’t know about, as if God were orchestrating it. (of course he was) I believe there will be some long term connections there and opportunities to follow up using facebook and other means to build those connections even more. Two will be coming back to Texas soon to join us again.
  • In Luke 10 it says to eat what people put in front of you as you go and share the message of Jesus  in word and deed. I really had to work hard to obey that during my time in Taiwan. I probably ate more organs than regular meat. I’ve had so many different and unusual types of sea food, stinky tofu, fish balls, roots, beans, blood, etc.  Food is a huge part of Taiwanese culture. I was amazing how creative people in Taiwan in terms of how they mix very disparate ingredients (seemed like I was in “chopped”) but it was all very good. Just had to make the decision to do it.
  • I also saw many incredible things including the beautiful Taiwanese coast, one of the tallest building in all Asia, many night markets and universities, a beautiful sulfur hot spring and some of the most beautiful mountainsides I’ve seen. The students had such a pride to be able to show me their country and it built the connection that we have that can lead to more.
  • Our friends A and M were struggling with an illness of their baby. I wasn’t able to visit them but was able to connect with them different ways.
  • I met with a Jesus-following student who wants to serve Christ with all of his life in ministry but is working through how with a career in financial services and as a  small business owner. I am so thankful for an unplanned time to talk about what that looks like, etc.
  • Kaohsiung was also very special. I really enjoyed the “ocean” feel to it (reminds me of home in Orange County). Here is an excerpt from a message I sent during the trip.
    • “The last few days have been a wonderful blessing. Recent student’s Wanda and Bobo with Wanda’s boyfriend Sam and occasionally Mira have been a true blessing to me. They took the day off (from quite lucrative jobs, Wanda & Sam are research engineers and Bobo helps her parents run a company, Mira is involved with her parent’s company), put me up in a very nice hotel, and they showed me around Kaohsiung & Tainan, their beloved home. It was truly incredible how much these young adults went out of their way to make sure I experienced the blessing they felt they received in the US.”
    • “Over and over they said that they really really really miss ISI back in Texas and how they wanted to go back and experience the warmth they left behind. They kept repeating how specially they were treated in the three months they were there. We even talked about what it would be like to start an ISI branch out here in Kaohsiung. They are not Jesus followers yet and I explained the importance of the Holy Spirit to do what we do in terms of sustaining the kind of warmth we have. But still it is in their hearts and they have friends they would invite”
    • “Conversation went to the possibility of having regular Skype meetings with them online perhaps with the Friday Group and maybe beyond with English/Chinese practice together. We prayed that God would open up their hearts to good conversation. I think He did. The door is open for perhaps online M:28 Discovery Studies in English. I believe this was an important step in reaching these charming young ladies and Sam for Christ. I got the chance to pray for them right before we parted and they were blessed.”
    • My time with Mira was truly remarkable… here is an exerpt from a post about my time with her:

• In Taiwan, I learned so much about:
  • How God uses return trip like these to unearth the true POP’s that He is working in and can influence others. All of these were touched in the heart enough come out and be there with me.
  • How POP’s give hospitality but also access to their communities especially in their homeland.
  • How our ministry doesn’t end when they return home but now because of technology we could build on these encounters.  We can also have M:28 Bible studies online even from a distance.
  • How much what we do makes a difference in students’ lives.

As you can imagine, it was a very special trip to Asia. Continue to pray for these people and these things. Also, appreciate your continues prayer for our ministry as we go. Next week we have a HUGE technology training opportunity that I am responsible to be the trainer with staff from all over the region coming. I am trying to recover from Jet lag. I would appreciate big time your prayers. You guys are awesome!

Thanks all!

Roy

I DON’T ALREADY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO PRAY REGULARLY FOR THE MINISTRY OF ROY AND LISA