Shotgun Prayer Requests + Praises

Sometimes so much is going on that we need a bullet point list for our prayer letter, so here we go! FYI, see below for more pictures from this last month.

– Pray for Christian student Benson (real name). Benson and I have been meeting one-on-one for discipleship all semester. Unfortunately, Benson had to rush home to India after hearing his mother tragically passed away. He is back now, but he is still grieving.

– Pray for the final Bible studies with non-Christian Hindus Aaron, Jason and Raymond (pseudonyms). I plan to treat them to a special lunch or dinner. Raymond is now a roommate with two of our strong Christian international students named Babafemi and Charan!

– Praise God our final home groups on 4/28 were very well-attended. In total we hosted about 25 students at 4 home groups. Pray that the seeds which were planted all semester grow!

– I have continued to engage with the Muslim student “Stanley” that I shared about last month. In fact, he invited me to an outdoor family BBQ hosted by his Mosque. Interestingly and sadly, this location used to be a church at which I played worship guitar back in high school! At this event, I met two other Muslim students I had not met before. All three are Fulbright students here with their wives and families. They’re all seeking asylum because of the war situation back in their Central Asian country. It was mostly just a fun time eating and chatting, but eventually Stanely brought up several objections he has about Christianity. I once gave gentle answers, but mostly I listened to continue gaining his trust. Pray for Stanley, the two other students and even the whole Mosque of about 50 families that were present!

– Our final on-campus meeting was held on 5/5, and of course we served Mexican food. It was such a great time. We honored our seniors with a send-off, and of course by praying for them.

– Pray for the summer! We have a lot planned. We will host various field trips and fun activities as well as organize new Bible studies for Christians and non-Christians. Our first event is a “rooftop” movie night on 5/12 hosted in the office space owned by a friend of the ministry!

– GIVING OPPORTUNITY | We are organizing a retreat for our Christian students from May 21-23. As I shared before, although most involved students are non-believers, this year we have been blessed by about 15 Christian regulars. After a crazy semester, we wanted to provide for them a “getaway.” Thankfully, a friend of the ministry is loaning us their beautiful big rural home for this ! However, we want to provide for them all the food they will need, gifts, books to read for their encouragement, and at least one fun outing nearby and we may need to pay for transportation depending on how many students sign up. If you’d like to give anything toward this opportunity, please go to SFORZAGRAMS.COM/GIVE.

Thank you all for your partnership in the gospel!