STUDENT CONNECTION

There are a lot of students that I come in contact with at UCLA, both international and traditional. Some of them I have greater opportunities to connect with than others. Below are a few of the international students that I have been keeping in touch with over the last quarter.

There is an Israeli student that I met last quarter that I keep seeing around campus. It turns out that we have a lot on common, and my roommate and I have been trying to connect with him. Because me and my roommate both come from a Jewish background (my roommate was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity while in college), I feel that we are better positioned to share the gospel of Jesus with him. The guy has been through a lot. He served in the Israeli military, and was hit with a missile from what I believe was Hamas, resulting in brain damage and the loss of one of his eyes. He is a first year student, and will be studying at UCLA for 4 years, so that should give us some time to connect with him. I know that he is extremely busy with studying, and it has been difficult to set something up with him.

Additionally, I have been meeting weekly with a visiting scholar from China. He is an atheist who is currently doing research at UCLA until mid summer. He is a professor back in China and has a son who is in college. He has come to many of our activities geared towards internationals, and has played ultimate frisbee with us many times. He has also attended two of our services (both of which were guest speakers), and every time I meet with him, I always have an opportunity to share more of the gospel and testimonies from my life. He was very unfamiliar with Christianity before he came to the United States, and said that back in China, people where not very familiar with Christianity and he and his friends would joke at the concept of someone hitting you and you turning your check to let them hit you again. However, true Christianity leads by example, and he has been very intrigued by the love our group shows, and the way our group puts their trust in God. The last time I met with him, I was able to give him a leather Chinese Bible and a few devotionals, which he gladly accepted. God has used me to share the gospel with this individual and I feel he is right on the edge to accepting Christ.

I have also been climbing and connecting extremely well with a freshman student from Malatya. This student is a devout Muslim, but was recently introduced to our group through another student. He instantly connected with me through his interest in rock climbing and another intern through his interest in cars. Since then, he has been spending a lot of time hanging out with our group, and climbing with me in the gym at UCLA. This has granted me multiple opportunities to grab meals with him and discuss his beliefs. I have shared with him different stories of Muslims coming to Christ, but ultimately God will have to work on his heart. He has yet to come to one of our weekly services, but has come to almost everything else our group has put on. Pray that God to show him a vision of Jesus and for him
to accept Christ. He said that he will come to our service next Tuesday, so we will see what happens.

A Japanese student I have been meeting with consistently who had accepted Christ earlier this school year was uncertain about a few things. I was left with the impression that he was interested in a girl. I encouraged him that he should only pursue a relationship with a Christian girl. He did not understand why his future wife had to believe in God, or why she couldn’t follow her own God. I had a deep conversation with him, and explained the importance of the sacrifice Christ gave when he died on the cross, and that that was the only way to salvation. After explaining everything to him, he said he had problems believing that that was the only solution if God was all powerful and that he had a lot of thinking to do. When I met him, he was an atheist. He accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior back in November, but it looks like the Devil is trying to feed him deception. Please pray that God speaks to his heart and gives him peace in knowing that accepting Christ was the right decision and only decision, and that universalism doesn’t work.

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SUMMER PLANS

Seeing as this school year is coming to an end, I have a big decision to make. I would like to do the same thing that I have done for the last two summers, that being going on tour with a Prolife Christian apparel company, working at Christian music festivals across the country and raising a living budget for Los Angeles. However, for that to work, I have to find the right fit to sublease out my room for the summer. That being because my rent is almost $1,000 a month, and It wouldn’t be worth it for me to pay that much money and not be living here for the summer. It is a unique dynamic, and only a Christian who was interested in being involved with our group would work for a roommate (otherwise finding a roommate wouldn’t be a problem). Pray that God provide a roommate for the summer if I am suppose to go on tour, and if not, that he provide a good employment opportunity to save up money for next school year (hence I won’t be working while school is in session because I will be involved in full time ministry).