Christmas 2011 - International Friendship Ministry

Right now more students 600,000 university students from around the world come America to study.  Sixty-nine international students from universities around the U.S. came to Orlando December 21-28 for the 2011 International Friendship Ministry Christmas Tour. It was a chance for host families to share Christ's love for this mission field that God brought to our doorsteps.

Host families help international students to understand the significance of this important holiday. Frequently a student is exposed to the gospel here in the USA but comes to trust Christ as Savior when they return to their home country.  Our prayer is that our involvement in each student's life will have an impact for eternity.

2011 was my 3rd year to host Chinese students for the IFM Christmas tour.  This Christmas, it was my privilege to host visiting scholars Qifeng Yin, college teacher in Sichuan Province and Huan Wang, a senior reseacher at China Institute of Science (Beijing).

Pork dumpling making lesson from Qifeng. She actually expected me to 

use chopsticks get filling mixture onto dumpling wraps! I was determined

 to do so and did (OK, with some practice).  

Christmas Day gang @ farewell dinner. My threesome enjoyed the gracious hospitality
 of Jim and Ginny Siebert at their home with their students,
and worshiped with them @ St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.

Qifeng and Huan assist me in presenting "The Legend of the Poinsettia" via
 Mexican marionettes @ the Farewell Dinner with host families and students.

Departure morning. The last evening I also welcomed Yang Jiang (left) into my condo, 
whose regular host family was out of town for a wedding. Host families help each other
 out to fill in any gaps/needs. Special thanks to Ginny Siebert and Rosa Schenone
 for assisting me with transportation.
. 

Technology is awesome! One special experience of the week for me was seeing and speaking with Huan's husband and 4-year-old daughter via Internet Christmas Eve in Orlando/Christmas morning in Beijing. When Huan showed her daughter what she had gotten for her, I ran and grabbed a little bear in red PJ's (sang "Jesus Loves Me" when squeezed a spot) I was giving preschool daughters of Huan and Qifeng. When Huan held bear up close to laptop camera, her daughter held out her arms to take the bear though 7,500+ miles of cyberspace. My heart was touched!  I also was able to say hello to Qifeng's husband later in the week, but he had no computer camera.

more to come...