• Tejas Spring Break Retreat (see pictures and video) – Last week began very frantically as we prepared for the Tejas Spring Break retreat. Between the threat of rain, over 100 people signing up on the last weekend, a miscommunication with a couple of key players, etc., it was as typical a mad dash to the retreat. Now this would be normal except this year there were more moving parts than normal. It felt like a three ring circus, because in a sense it was. We decided to have a main student retreat (with no speaker and all small groups), a children’s retreat, and a volunteer training weekend all at the same time. Once we got to the retreat though, it was fun to watch God work. The staff, volunteer, student team worked as one to help their unbelieving but seeking friends fall in love with Jesus and enjoy a true community. I’ve never seen such a dedicated crew and God blessed… Most of the students were very happy of their experience there.  In addition, 52 people said they wanted to learn more about who Jesus is and how they can know him personally. The bigger thing was most of the students that God was already working in – the people of peace – they made themselves known and they also learned through the Discovery Bible studies to love and trust God’s word and to love Jesus more. It was a truly great time. Oh and a big prayer praise, and this was a concern up till last week. It looks like we may break even financially for the retreat. (the initial thought was we were going to have to use most of our reserves for this) God is Good!
• Disaster in Japan – As I was preparing for Tejas late on Thursday night, I received an e-mail from a friend in Japan about what we now know as the 9.0 Tohoku earthquake. Because of my responsibilities as camp director for Tejas, I didn’t have time to research more or get in touch with my emotions about this until the following Monday, but the location of the earthquake was in the region where my relatives live. While they live inland and were shielded from the tsunami, they happen to live in the now famous Fukushima prefecture and one of my aunts lives only 30-40 km from the nuclear power plant. We also recently found out of my Grandfather’s cousin who was a seaweed farmer in Soma on the shore who lost everything. Because of power issues, we didn’t hear from them until the Monday morning following the earthquake. Wow! As Californians we have some sense of all this but nothing like this. Obviously, we still ask for your prayers as that is clearly not resolved. It’s interesting too… we planned on visiting these relatives while in our big Asia trip this summer and the purpose of that trip has changed radically. We will see if by then our three days in that region can help in some way besides just being there and talking with people and how that helps them. Obviously right now the basic necessities and the ability to transport them are the big issues, not to mention the nuclear problem. Please give to a charity to help them in the recovery. CRASH Japan (http://crashjapan.com/) is a collective effort manned several large evangelical organizations and denominations in Japan focusing on empowering volunteers from around the world to help with long term recovery. Share this with your facebook friends. A friend of mine is one of the leaders. Samaritan’s Purse (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/), Salvation Army (http://www.salvationarmyusa.org) and the Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/) are also good organizations that are big enough to work through some of the logistical issues existent right now.
• Missions Trip to Asia – While at the retreat, our small group at church sacrificially gave a fair amount financially (and hopefully in prayer too) towards the summer mission trip to Asia that our whole family will be taking this summer.  We will be going to Asia this summer to do many things including visiting, encouraging and spiritually mentoring MANY former international student friends in three different countries, taking 25 special needs Chinese orphans to McDonalds and serving at their orphanage, visiting the quake area of Japan, etc. You can get more information  about the trip through this letter (http://bit.ly/letterasia11) that has more details about the trip and why we are taking it. We need to raise between a total of $16,500 and $18,000 for this life changing trip. You can respond by mail through sending a check written out to “International Students Inc.” and referencing “account 5734” or “Yabuki Asia trip,”  to “International Students Inc, Box C, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 or you can give online through our website at http://bit.ly/give2yabukis. We will be sending more information about the trip in the near future.
• Spring Break 2011 – Finally, we have had spring break right after the retreat. Lisa’s mom Penny “Nana” Stockwell was visited us. The kids were home. All the Major projects were in hiatus. That was a real blessing after the previous week. During this time, we had the pleasure of celebrating C-8’s birthday at a ceramic painting shop with her friends, we spent time at the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens and C-8 and I went to the car show and the Fort Worth Water gardens (see pictures and videos from all). It was a much needed time together as a family.

Anyway, that was our last two weeks in a nutshell. Honestly, we could not have done it without your prayers. God is really blessing the ministry significantly.