A Busy (and muddy) Doorstep

In the northern hemisphere we say, "April showers bring May flowers". In New Zealand we say, August rains bring muddy pain, but spring is soon to follow! (I made that up!). I have a lake in my front yard ready for fishing!

The catch phrase for ISM is "reaching the nations from our doorstep". Our home (lovingly known as the 'Cardiff Chateau') has always been an international place. But these past few weeks it feels even more so. We are happy to welcome a new nation into the Chateau. For me, it is like having my next door neighbour move to New Zealand. CLAUDIA is from Guadalajara, Mexico! She came to NZ in early 2008, and joined ISM as a Ministry Intern. God has brought Claudia and I together, so now I am her internship supervisor as well as her house 'mom'. As Providence would have it - Claudia studied Japanese for awhile in Mexico. She and I are learning together now! She has had experience in media and TV production in Mexico, and hopes to use those talents in mainstream (praying to be a part of the pre-production on The Hobbit starting next year), and doing documentary/promotion production for ministry overseas.

MAI (left on this photo) has been busy lately - using her gifts of hospitality and cooking skills to serve J2. Our home has been a hive of well fed Japanese students (boys need fed too). She leads a Friday night girls Bible study - there are now FIVE not-yet-believers in the Bible study. Please pray for her, as she faces the challenge of many tough questions and opinions. We truly believe this is God's personal 're-entry' training for her as she will face the same challenge as she reaches out to girls back in Japan. Praise God for His plan! As she was struggling to get through the study about heaven the other night, the Lord kept bringing into her thoughts, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ"... and she had the strength to carry on.

Speaking of MINISTRY INTERNS (bottom photo: back row Claudia, Mexico; Victoria, Scotland; Ken, Taiwan; front Jing Xiu, Malaysia; Lewis & Yuki, Japan)- this has been a challenging year for me (in a good way). I have been putting a lot of effort into making sure our curriculum can be understood and apply to many cultures, which means having a critical eye to cultural expressions and prejudices and assumptions. Sounds complicated, eh? In December, the ISM Ministry Internship Coordinator and I will review all of our curriculum and make any changes necessary in order to best equip international students to reach their communities and countries for Jesus Christ.

THINK HOME is a RE-ENTRY resource we highly recommend for international students to go through before they leave New Zealand. I am having such a blessed time with two of our interns, going through the workbook and hearing their hearts on how they've changed, what they expect, the difficulties they may face, etc. I've also been spending time with Mai every week, going through the workbook and having quality one-to-one time with her. Mai has lived with me since May of 2005 (not long after she became a follower of Jesus)... and she returns to Japan in November to begin the next chapter in her life.

Last week completed the Spring 2008 ISM NEWSLETTER and hope to get it posted to our supporters in NZ this week. One of the young women in my church is an amazing graphic designer. She works at Massey University printery (Grace Lin - you RAAWK!). She really has a gift from God to understand the vision and heart of what people are trying to communicate. She designed our ISM brochures last year, and has hit the ball out of the park again with our new ISM Newsletter image. It certainly makes my job rewarding, working with someone who takes my kindergarten graphics and turns them into the real thing.

NEWS_WATCH @ Massey Palmerston North is well under way and we are enjoying making new friends and helping the students with their English. As a result, I have been privileged to help one girl in particular ("Jy", a muslim post grad student from Malaysia) with her assignments on parasitic nematodes and anthelmintic resistance (diseases in livestock). From watching the news to reading about how they test for disease in animals - life is never dull when you are sharing your life with others, eh?

Finally, I am excited to have been a part of launching "PURPOSEFULLY ACTIVE DISCIPLESHIP" at our church. It will be held fortnightly (every other week) after church on Sundays for about 7 workshops. Yesterday was our first session and we had a diverse mix of church members, including the youth group. There were some who could not attend who are keen to go through the course, so I may be asked to hold a small group for international students on a different day. Pray that God will continue to help me develop the curriculum. I thank God for SANCTUARY Int'l, for Pastor Bob's Intense Studies course... for the Navigators and their great resources on disciplemaking, and for all who have discipled me.