Well, it is sad that we haven’t updated our blog in almost 2 years. I guess life has been a little busy! But thank you for taking the time to come here and learn some of what has been going on with us lately. Here are some recent events:

• ISI’s Black Hills True Leadership Retreat (http://blackhillstrue.weebly.com/) – It was fun being a part of this retreat. It is a pre-evangelistic leadership retreat for international students. African ministry leader and ISI staff, Solomon Kendagor, led the students in exercises that emphasized knowing themselves as a key element of being a good leader and recognizing the importance of team. Marcus Do,e a man who lost family members in war- torn Liberia, shared how forgiveness was so important in his development as a leader. Several significant discussions happened over the course of the 4 days. It was fun watching the students really gel and grow. The rest of the trip around South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota went without a hitch. We truly have some good staff in this region.
• Lisa’s 50th Birthday – Lisa’s 50th birthday just happened to be on a Friday night, and a special Friday night because ISI was having a combined concert event, featuring one of our key volunteers, professional musician and music professor, Mike Dean. When Lisa walked into the room where the dinner reception was being held, she was surprised to see our sons there, and the whole ISI family surprised her with a Fabulous and Fifty party. It was great. Roy started the process while he was up north but the ladies from several of our Friday Night ISI home groups made it come together. Praise God for Lisa and all she brings to our family.
• Shubham’s Trip – Many years you all have been praying for Shubham (Steve) from India. You’ve seen him come to UTA as a Hindu, grow in his understanding about God, come to faith, and grow steadily. As you may know, he went on a summer mission trip this month to San Francisco, California, where he shared Christ with international students at Stanford and UC Berkeley. He came back with a host of experiences and changes in his life that was such a blessing to see. In the word of his newsletter:

“Mission Accomplished…The mission trip was an enormous success, the whole team did a very hardworking job in evangalising. Numbers don’t lie and here are some which are worth noting — 

-186 Spiritual Conversations
-48 Gospel Presentations 
–6 Decisions to Follow Jesus 

This was the first ever project in San Francisco and we believe that we have achieved huge success. Surely we had our few down times and many up times but hey we did it! 

Praise God for his allowing us to see our ministry to Steve come full cycle. Your prayers were very much a reason for this special testimony of God’s work.

• ELI Director – You all were praying for our UTA team and our being able to meet with the new English Language Institute Director. Well, just this week, God opened up the opportunity for Roy to visit with her and re-establish and strengthen our relationship with the program. We also prayed for a resumption of the airport pickup program with them. When Roy was there he happened to connect with the person in charge of that and it all came together.  Also at a welcome event that we got to be a part of we met and connected closely with a Turkish student who is a leader among the many Turkish students who happen to be studying at ELI.  Praising God for his faithfulness.

Pray for

• Lan’s trip – Pray for a student from China, Lan, who is going to the middle east for a summer missions trip. I never would have thought something like this would be possible even as recently as 10 years ago, but wow! This is cool. Pray for safety. Pray for blessing as she shares. Pray that she will feel God’s presence and Him using her.
• Once again pray for Steve (this one’s harder than the last)  as he visits his family in India. He has not told them of his faith or his joining the U.S. Army. Pray for a surprisingly peaceful and receptive reception to his news. Pray for a person of peace among his family. Pray that God will show Himself to Steve’s family through answered prayers.
• Big Howdy – in August the Big Howdy (http://utabighowdy.com)  is coming. Pray at this time for lots of furniture and household items to be donated for students to put into their homes. Pray for receptive hearts and for people of peace to emerge and connect with our staff and volunteers.
• Pray for Roy as he travels to Denver for our ISI national staff conference. Pray that God shows himself in a big way, touches the hearts of staff and sparks a revival that reverberates even among the students.
• Vacation in Hawaii – Roy’s parents offered to take our kids to Hawaii for a vacation together (July 4-15) and we are tagging along. Pray for real rest and special memories with my parents who are getting older. Pray for safety. Pray for Ricardo who will be watching our house. Pray for Lisa to find a substitute for her classes at DBU while she is gone.
• Summer Ministry – Pray for the continued ministry of the ISI ministries around the region (including at UTA), that God will bless in this more intimate time. This last Friday, we had three Iranian students in our home group Bible study. Two were even practicing Ramadan while in the group. I know that is fairly common in other home groups but it was very cool for us. Pray for these students to continue to come.
• Continued wisdom for a couple of very difficult situations within our ISI Region regarding positioning of various staff members.
• Continue to pray for the home groups. Pray for God’s continued touch on the the UTA ISI Home groups. Pray for his presence to be clear and for opportunities to talk about spiritual things and then about Jesus.
• Charis camp/Tim’s gaming and work/Jon’s work– Please pray for Charis as she goes to several camps. Just yesterday she came back from church camp and was blessed. She will be playing in a summer volleyball league and attending a basketball camp later this summer. Pray that God uses these things to mold her into the person He wants her to be. Pray for Timothy as he works at aChristian day camp, Camp Thurman. Pray as he assists in directing 4-5 year old (and older) boys through a Christian camp experience. Pray for him to see how he makes a difference. Pray for Jonathan as he continues to work at the 6th Floor Museum, that he can save money for school next year.