This was a good day of ministry. Our team of many ministries and partners were allowed to have a table a UTA orientation today and it was a real blessing. We were able to invite many of them to the Big Howdy party and other events to welcome them. Over 100 of 500 new students were there and we met most of them with flyers, etc. Two people especially stand out today. First, I met a Japanese student while passing out flyers and after talking we found that our grandparents were both from the same small, rural county in Japan. It was really cool because it is such a remote place and there was an immediate connection. Interestingly, right when I got home, I found that I got a friend request on facebook from the very same student. I hope God will allow us to build a friendship through this that would allow us to talk about significant things.

A second person who made an impression is Phillip who is a Japanese American ministry partner from the BSM. He is the new intern who, with his wife, will be interning working with interntional students. As I shared yesterday, one of the cool things about what we do is that we so many things together with others, working together in Kingdom work. The BSM has been one of our best partners and Phillip is no exception. He has a gentle but persistent way about him that I believe God will use greatly in touching students’ lives. It really is an honor to work closely together and its kind of funny how I see a lot of myself in this younger Japanese-American man.

Finally… I just wanted to say how much I appreciate my wife, Lisa. She is a real blessing to me. Her faithfulness,  patience, love for me and the kids etc. are just so much of a blessing. One of the hard things about being away from family is that we often have to do things alone… I still miss everyone so much. And yet because we have been away, we have learned to trust each other so much more, seeing each other and having to depend on each other even when we are at our best and worst and that has been such a blessing. Praise God!