Hello, Everyone!
I hope you all had a great New Year full of merriment and celebration. I was sitting in my friend’s passenger seat driving on I-70 through Indianapolis when the clock struck 12am. We were just headed back from our 5 days at Urbana in St. Louis.
And what an amazing 5 days. Over the course of those days, we talked to about 350 students about planting churches on college campuses in Asia and how they could come with us in August. All the people we talked to had 2 things in common: they wanted to serve God and were open to wherever He was going to send them.
I wanted to share 2 quick stories with you about people I met while there.
The first is about a girl named Katie. She walks up to our booth not knowing anything about us and as we begin to talk the realization that this isn’t an accident that she is standing at our booth. Turns out she studied Asian language in college, passing the HSK 6 test (the highest level available), wants to do college ministry, and has a huge heart for the Asian people. And as I am writing this she has already applied for going in August with us. Fantastic!
Second was the story of Ryan and his wife. They are a young couple that does college ministry in the states but was going to Urbana with an open mind to see what the Lord had in front of them. Coming into it, they didn’t have interest in Asia. We talked to them for 10 minutes or so about what we do and what it could look like if they decided to come with us. At they end, you could tell they were just interested in what options there were. So Ryan came back about 2 hours later saying they felt CT could be what God wanted them to do. We had the chance to sit down with them the next day for an hour and talk more specifics with them. They haven’t decided one way or the other yet but are praying for what God would want them to do.
Both of these stories amazed me because God is so faithful to bring us the people that He wants with us.
I will be sure to keep you updated on the people that apply with us out of Urbana.
I know that so many of you were praying for our travels, my health, and that we would meet awesome people. So, thanks!!
It was truly an awesome trip. And I’m feeling better.
Couldn’t have done it without you.
Partnering with you to plant churches in Asia,
Hoagie