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Year End Celebrations
It always amazes me how quickly the school year comes to an end. This week I am having the last coaching conversations with my campus leaders, celebrating and evaluating the year. Some of them are going on summer mission trips and others to work internships. One other is staying on location and continuing to reach out to the internationals who are taking classes this summer.
It would be impossible to share all the stories, but the following is an excerpt from the prayer letter of Ruthanne Price who leads the Bridges ministry at Boise St. University. I have coached her for several years. It has been fun to see what God has done in their ministry this year. Celebrate with us! “Yuka from Japan, who accepted Jesus in December, and Nayoung, a strong Korean believer, got to be “besties” when they came to our house Christmas Eve and are now both meeting with American student Amanda. Nayoung wanted to be trained how to share her faith and disciple someone so she is learning as Amanda disciples Yuka! Yuka is getting prepared for her return to Japan in May and we have given her the info for Cru in Japan so she can continue to grow in her faith.
This reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to tell you about. Bridges International has developed a website called “Sending Pad” www.sendingpad.com Students like Yuka can go there to enter their information. The hope is, a student can be connected, without any delays, with new friends and people to continue to help them grow in their faith.
The theme of our staff conference was Being Sent into the World, and Being Sent Well. There were talks about being aware of what specific things “passions” God has given us as “sent ones”. We, as staff, also heard updates on the ministry Bridges has done as a whole. Sending international students back to their home countries who are equipped to do ministry the rest of their lives is our end goal! If Bridges International can get this a little sharper and clearer, we literally would see the Gospel preached to the ends of the earth!
Staff Conference 2016
Praise God for the 270 participants who gathered last week in Vancouver, British Columbia for “BUILD”—Bridges’ biennial staff conference. It was a wonderful time of spiritual refreshment, ministry training and fellowship in a beautiful Canadian city that is populated by people from throughout the world. Pictured below, my sis and I got out of the hotel for a little fun one sunny afternoon! Where are my sunglasses? On a more serious note, I learned many things. There are 5 million students in the world who study outside their own countries. We have 1.3 million in the USA, but this leaves 3.7 million in countries like Korea, Australia, Ukraine and so on. As an organization, we have trained our eyes on this whole scope. Our work together has never been more important! Thanks for all you do to participate in this good work!
In Christ,
Linda
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