In our last letter we
mentioned that we had been praying that God would expand our ministry. WOW!
He has answered our prayers way beyond what we could have ever imagined! This summer while we were planning the year,
we had a limited vision of ministry to international students. Then during one of our New Student Outreach
booths Ian, who went to Russia this summer, thought it might be good to put up
an “International Buddies” sign.
The response from internationals was
unbelievable! Suddenly we had to figure
out what to do with 50 international students.
Ian and Claudia (from Columbia)
paired them up with the American students from InterVarsity and God
began building relationships. Many
wonderful things have grown out of this ministry. Katie Weakland, a volunteer staff, wrote the following segment
about one of the amazing miracles of God that has come out of this expanding
ministry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
“We had 35 students go to Harvest from WVU, including 4 students
from Japan, 3 from Colombia, 1 from Ecuador, 1 from Hong Kong, and 1 from
Venezuela. The great thing was that 2 of the 6 students that decided to come at
the last minute were from Iran and were Muslim (we will call them Ishmael and Hagar). Students began arriving
Friday night at 6pm.
“Our speaker was York Moore, a staff
worker from IVCF who specializes in evangelism. Friday night he gave the basic
gospel message - man has sinned and needs to repent and accept the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, and receive Him as Savior and
Lord and receive eternal life.
“Saturday we had seminars and small
group discussions all day. One of the seminar series was called "Come and
See" and was for non-Christians or recent converts. WVU had 7 out of the 8
students in that group (because of that we won a bet with our area director and
were allowed to shave the "flying WV" in the back of his head - and
it was colored with blue and gold face paint). Sean gave an excellent talk on
how to start and lead a GiG (Group investigating God). One of our students,
Doug Timbrell, who was saved after coming to a GiG that Sean and Brian Louk led
last year, gave his testimony, and it was really beautiful and powerful. I
cried through his whole testimony, it has been so awesome to watch God work in
Doug's life and grow him this last year.
“The highlight of the whole weekend
was Saturday night. After York Moore spoke we had a time of worship and prayer
ministry (some of us volunteered to be available at the front to pray with
students during the worship). This is when things got very exciting! Ishmael,
the guy from Iran, literally ran up to one of the prayer ministers and said
"pray for me, pray for me, you must pray for me." Christy was a
little surprised, because Ishmael had skipped all of his seminars and did not go
to any of the sessions except this one (she even said to him, incredulously,
"You mean pray to Jesus?").
“He had fallen asleep during York's talk that night,
and while he was asleep he heard Jesus say to him in Arabic, "I am pleased
with you."
“At IV’s mission conference Urbana we learned that
25% of Muslims are converted after having a dream or vision of Jesus. Both Ishmael and Hagar, his sister, were
struggling with guilt all weekend about coming to a Christian event being that
they are Muslim. Ishmael did pray with Sean and accepted Jesus as his Savior.
Sean came over to me at this point and said we needed to pray for Hagar. As we were praying I looked over and saw
Norma, a girl from Colombia, sharing with Hagar, from Iran. I thought to
myself, "this is so God." It was so awesome just to sit back and
watch as God answered prayers and the Holy Spirit changed people's lives.
“Both Hagar and Ishmael became Christians, and I
have never seen 2 happier or more joyful people in my life. Hagar shared that she
always felt guilty and full of shame, like she would never be good enough to be
loved by God, and now she felt forgiven, loved, and free. What a blessing to be
a part of God's work and see people literally 're-created' right before your
eyes.
“ Our 4 Japanese students Yuki, Yayoi, Yaeko,
Tomohiko also made decisions to follow Jesus and become Christians. (Yayoi first came to Christ, then Yuki while
I, Sean, was praying with Tomohiko to receive Christ, and finally Yaeko. I shared with each new believer, the
celebration in heaven over their new life in Christ. Maggie from WVWC also came
to Christ!)
“We praise God for His faithfulness to answer our prayers. Hallelujah!
We are praying that these students will not only become witnesses for Jesus
Christ in their home countries, but also here with other international
students. I truly believe that Ishmael and Hager are the just the first fruits
of a revival among Muslims at WVU in Morgantown. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY
FOR THEM, that they will be protected from spiritual attacks and will be able
to share with their parents when they come to visit next month.
“I also want to mention that God did
great things in the American students' lives, too. I know that every one of the
girls I prayed would come forward for prayer on Saturday did so, and God is
healing them and bringing them into a closer walk with Him.
Seek His Kingdom and Be Blessed,
Katie Weakland
