Wow its aleady the end of March. The weather is changing in Texas and students are coming up on the stretch run in their academic year. The last few weeks have been tumultuous and exciting but in the end the thing we best saw was God working out his will in all of it.

Our friends from ISI Nebraska brought down 13 kids to enjoy spring break away from the cold of Lincoln. They were hosted in Arlington with several families from area churches. The students came from China, Malaysia and from a people group that is one of the most remote people groups in terms of exposure to Christ. There was incredible spiritual warfare which indicates to me God wants to do something special. So your prayers mattered. Here are some of the details of praise… but also prayer…

• We actually recruited host families for 25 students but the final number fell 12 short. (We are very sorry for those of you who volunteered but could not host someone… We cannot control student decisions)
• From the beginning there were some personality conflicts among the students. It was very interesting to watch… and yet… God seemed to melt some of the thaw by the end through some circumstances. Also, a Muslim gentleman, who just arrived a very short time before, set foot in a Christian Church building for the first time and I could really see interest and surprise.
• The ISI Lincoln’s leader Ron (1)’s  car was broken into at our church during the night and his stereo was stolen and more importantly the passenger window was destroyed. After he helped drop off the students at Six Flags, working with Ron(2), our awesome ISI Arlington staff leader, he prayed a prayer of desperation and immediately God provided a auto glass shop right in front of them who also could find them and install a radio all for a reasonable price.
• It rained hard and was cold the morning we went to Six Flags (the very thing our friends from Nebraska were trying to escape from) BUT it stopped raining around 10 AM AND, the result was that there were hardly any people on this spring break Tuesday morning and so we got to go on more rides than I’ve ever been on. In fact, talking to friends who went on other days that week. they had to wait more than a couple of hours to ride one ride which were were able to get on in 40 minutes. Seems like a God thing…
• All of us who went to Six Flags had a wonderful time of fellowship and connecting. Again, you could see a visible thawing of relationships before and after.
• The next morning, as the Nebraska group was leaving, we found out that a couple of the girls who did not go to Six Flags but were specially cared for and taken shopping and sightseeing by their host family was bitten by a dog and taken to the emergency room. (long story.. ask me separately if you want more details)  Afterwards there was much wrangling about insurance, the law, etc. and what could have been a disasterous situation became a blessing of sorts. The legal stuff is working itself out (Please pray!). The family, at first negative about the experience allowed the Spirit to work and realized the spiritual warfare nature of what we do and became galvanized as to God’s presence in it.  PLEASE pray for this family and the girls involved!
• In spite of it all, last I heard the students all had a terrific time and I did sense a greater openness to the ISI Nebraska team and God in the end. Our new friend Jossica posted some photo’s from the time on her facebook profile (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154038&id=557438917)