"I see the King"

Sometimes it is easy to see God at work, like at ICF 2/11/11! The worship focused on His love. At the end of worship time a gift was offered; a new winter scarf given freely, in love, to whomever would receive it. " This is how God's love is given, freely to anyone who will reach out

and take it." Overcoming skepticism and fear, 3 students finally braved the way forward and shyly received the winter scarves. What a great picture for us all. Then Richard's teaching on God's forgiveness put words with the picture. Starting with Science News articles and moving from Genesis 1 to Luke 15 the Holy Spirit captured the ears, minds and hearts of many students. One student later shared " I thought the Bible was just another book and like any book but your teaching made it come alive!" Thank you Holy Spirit, for moving in hearts and minds this night.

"and your neighbor as yourself."

We have been experiencing alot of winter this month! As hearty New Englanders we have been challenged, but for international students this may bring culture shock to a crisis.

One of my international student friends wrote on F/B " Freezing cold & snowing...Hate it!!!" and "Man vs Nature: at this hour Nature won! Tons of snow have me trapped at home."

Our first international student/friendship partner arrived in January (not unlike this winter) from Indonesia! Because his Dad had been a diplomat, Suri arrived with one winter coat. He was fortunate to have it. However, until we were able to take him shopping it was also his blanket! A Nigerian friend wouldn't leave her dorm if it was snowing or icy. For students from warm climates our winters add to the cultural difficulties and academic challenges.

Breaking the grip of winter
the ICF volunteers reach out to students and help them get warm winter gear, or transportation. On Friday nights the warm dinner and family atmosphere draws students out of dorms and labs! Volunteers are heros as they overcome winters' obstacles to be on campus to feed and welcome the alien in our land (Lev.19:33;Luke 10:27). This is just one more way we love our friends into His Kingdom!

a Visiting we Go!

It is January, and winter, so we knew to plan our travels locally. What we didn't know is that it would snow the night before early morning church visits. Ouch! We made it , though!

There are many blessings in church visits: the joy of renewing friendships, making new friends, being able to say "thanks" in person, and seeing people receive the vision that is international students. When students and volunteers from ICF at UConn join us the joy is exponentially multiplied!

the Christmas Kaleidoscope Concert

A Kaleidoscope is a beautiful form to view; anything that constantly changes,
as in color and pattern.

As a concert it was also a delight to listen to it. On December 3, 2010 and sponsored by ICF, 8 campus ministries came together to reach out to the community and campus. Talented musicians, singers and dancers from all the groups provided the music to tell the real story of Christmas. Of the 150 attenders about half were international students. Besides refreshments, Jesus dvd's were offered to all. Another good gift given by Jesus was to a young man facing brain surgery. One of the ICF student leaders approached Richard and asked him to come and pray. Two weeks later in the pre-surgery exam, the doctors found the problem dramatically shrunk and ended up doing a minimal procedure!!! The next day this young man was strolling in his garden with his dog and telling our ICF leader he was safe and fine! Thank you Jesus!!! A beautiful thing indeed.

Mid November

In mid-November we traveled to our second annual N.E. Regional Directors meeting. In Broadalbin, New York we met and enjoyed one anothers company in a beautiful retreat setting. It is a good time of sharpening and sharing, punctuated with prayer and worship. We are blessed as God is forging our relationships and honing our ministry skills. God further blessed us by miraculously healing two of our company.
After our meeting we traveled to meet a foreign student advisor of a large community college. It was a good time of sharing and encouraging her to stand firm amidst the battle.
Then we enjoyed dinner with supporters in the Albany area. It was good to get caught up with these longtime friends on life's challenges, work and families. All this and we were still able to return home in time for planning and preparing our Thanksgiving festivities.

Rejoice with those who Rejoice!!!

She came here with a desire for a phd in public health, but there was no such program at UCONN. ChiChi pursued several masters degrees while God prepared the way for the degree to be offered. She was the second student (by one week) to successfully defend and receive this degree from UCONN. We are so proud of her!

Congratulations, ChiChi!

New Opportunity!

This summer Richard was invited to join the advisory board for ISUSA at Yale. We see this as a good opportunity to help co-laborers be more effective in ministry. As a result, Richard has added making periodic trips to New Haven for their meetings to his scheduale. He will also be connecting with pastors and churches seeking to raise up volunteers to help develop international student ministry in the greater New Haven area.