Busy, busy, busy!

Happy October! Things have been really busy for the International Student Ministry, per usual. Over the past month, we've had a girl's night with some of our international girls, carved pumpkins and dressed up for Halloween, had wonderful Friday night Bible studies, and gone on a scavenger hunt around downtown Athens- not to mention the fact that ISM is about to take a trip to Helen, Ana Ruby Falls, and the North Georgia Corn maze! Cue pictures:

Our ISM leader small group!

Girls' night - eating home-cooked Chinese food and watching the Emmys

Our Pumpkin Carving Snack n Chat

On average, each of our events has served over 100 students! I am really pleased by how well our Snack n Chats are going this year, but I am even more excited by what has been going on in our Friday night International student Bible study. Several students have started following the Lord, and others are seriously studying the Bible and considering Christianity as more than an "American" faith. Still others are coming back week after week, which is especially impressive as finals and research due dates creep closer. I can't wait to see what the Lord does through this Bible study!

That's all for this update - thank you for your continued support, both prayerful and financial. Without your support, I would not be able to pay my rent, bills, or the gas to get me to Wesley each day to continue running this critical branch of ministry at UGA. As always, if you are interested in learning more about the UGA Wesley Foundation, or if you would like to support me via an online donation, please click here. Check donations can be sent to the Wesley Foundation at

1196 S Lumpkin Street Athens, GA 30605

, with my name on the memo line. All donations are tax-deductible. 

If you would like more information about my work at Wesley, please feel free to read my other blog entries or contact me at jessicalin.taylor@gmail.com. Thank you!

Hello Fall (in Athens)!

Recently I have realized how blessed that I am to spend another year in Athens - especially at this time of year. Fall is gorgeous everywhere, but there is something unique about Athens when the weather begins to turn colder. Students go to football games, people crowd into coffee shops, and everyone longs for that free weekend when they can go camping or hiking away from the same crowds that they embrace during the rest of school year. Now I have to give myself a reality check: it's still summer, but only one more week until fall is official!

I have kept fairly busy this month between discipling my seven girls, working with international students, fulfilling my responsibilities at Wesley, and holding down a part time job. I know that many who hear that I am interning at Wesley wonder what my day-to-day schedule looks like. Here's a sample of one of my days each week:

7:30-9am :  Prayer for Wesley; for our various ministry areas, the students that God has given us, and for continued direction for Wesley as a body. This time also serves as an designated portion of our schedule to thank the Lord for what He is doing and for prayerfully preparing for the service that we have every Wednesday night

9:30-11am : I am discipled by a director for an hour every other week. On the alternating weeks, I meet with a group of intern girls who are discipled by the same director. We spend that time sharing our problems and praises with one another and discussing our discipleships with the girls we mentor.

11-11:30am : My 36 hour prayer time slot. Our 36 hour prayer watch is 30 minutes long and the watch extends until our Wednesday service each week. Each staff person takes a time (or two) to spend interceding for the service.

11:30am-1pm :  My fellow International Student Ministry intern and I meet with our coordinator at Athens First United Methodist. This time helps the three of us to gauge where we are in planning events, connecting Friendship Partners with one another, and gives us time to talk about the Friday night Bible study that we host every week.

1-2pm: I meet with one of my girls for one hour. The way that discipleship times (DTs) look depends on the girl - sometimes we discuss a topic that they have come across in the last week, and other times we talk about their lives and the challenges that they face on an everyday basis. Discipleship is integral to the way that Wesley serves the students on the UGA campus. This time helps equip students to learn how to live as Christ taught in a very real way, for their time at UGA and beyond. Being discipled allowed me to understand my identity in Christ, and since becoming a discipler myself, I have grown in ways I never though possible before!

2-3pm : another hour-long DT

3-4:30pm : time to send emails, coordinate activities, do chores to keep up the Wesley building, take meetings with those interested in the Friendship Partner program, assist with mission trip planning, and do whatever else needs to get done that day.

At 4:30, I usually leave Wesley and head straight to my part time job. I come home and prepare for small group, which is held once a week.

I hope that this glimpse into my schedule is helpful in understanding what I do during the time I spend at Wesley each day. Being an intern there is not like any other job, but I am so happy that I get to be a part of all that God is doing both at Wesley and in Athens.

Our 2010-2011 staff. I'm in the back - extra points if you can find me!

Speaking of the way God is moving in Athens, our Friday night Bible study has been growing steadily for over a month! This is a new small group that we started in August, and so far our numbers have been climbing, from seven to fifteen to thirty international students participating each week. Right now, we are going through Genesis, which is proving to foster unique and thought-provoking discussion so far. All of the students participating in the study are not Christians and come from countries that are closed to the Gospel. I really enjoy hearing different viewpoints on stories that I have known since childhood, and our discussions have brought me to a new level of understanding when it comes to the character of God. Our students are curious and open to what we discuss, and I know that the Lord is working in big ways in our small group.

Our ISM small group, which we have every week, is for the American student leaders that help with our ministry area. We meet together, share testimonies, discuss friendship partners, have a teaching, and then split up into smaller groups to pray and talk in a more intimate setting. I am thankful for how quickly the Lord has enabled us to unify as a group, and I am glad that I have a whole year to get to know everyone in the group better.

For our next event, ISM will host a photo scavenger hunt on September 30th, and I am so excited to see how many people come and how many interesting pictures I will have to judge in the contest!

A sample photo from our scavenger hunt last year. This picture is one of the reasons that it is one of our most popular events!

Thank you very much for your continued support and prayers. I would not be able to do all this without your generosity!

'til next time,

Jessica

Aaaaaannnnddddd, here we go!

ISM was in the Red and Black! Check it out here!

Two weeks ago, I started back as an intern at the UGA Wesley Foundation, and I couldn't be happier! I get a second year to be a part of this awesome ministry to UGA's campus and learn more about God's purpose for community and leadership. Both the Wesley Foundation and the International Student Ministry are going to undergo some changes this year which I know will strengthen what the Lord is doing on campus and in the city. ISM will begin a Friday night Bible study for those international students who are interested in learning more about what Christians believe. This is going to be a great opportunity for us to connect with our students on a deeper level, and will enable us to share our testimony of what the Lord has done, is doing, and will do in our lives!

At Wesley, I will begin mentoring (or “discipling”) three new girls this semester, bringing my total number of girls from five to eight! I am glad to have so many new leaders at Wesley, and I know that God will give me the capacity to intercede for and pay each girl the attention that she deserves. Intern-wise, we have a large number of 2^nd years, something that I am so thankful for! I’m glad to be able to spend another year getting to know them better by working and growing with them day by day. We have a good number of 1^st year interns as well, and they add new personalities and vision for the internship and for their respective ministry areas. I know that this year is going to be amazing, and I can’t wait to share more about it!

         On the ISM front, last month we traveled to the Atlanta airport to pick up over 60 new Chinese students who are attending UGA this year. We brought them back to Athens First United Methodist for the night, where we socialized, ate snacks, and slept on air mattresses until the morning when we drove the students to their temporary housing at a nearby hotel. It's great to be a part of this service for the new students each year because many have few alternative ways to get to Athens. They are also disoriented from taking a 20+ hour flight (a feeling to which I can now relate, after my summer trip to China) and landing in a foreign country that could be their home for the next one to five years. This time gives the American volunteers a chance to help the students identify grocery stores, bus routes, and the layout of campus. It is also a night for everyone to have fun, even though jetlag usually kicks in pretty fast!

Our first ISM event will be on August 26^th, when we have a “Snack ‘n Chat”, ISM’s term for our monthly dinner and activity, to welcome new and returning international students to the new school year. We will eat together, have a chance to meet each other (or catch up), and answer the students’ questions about life in Athens, and by extension, life in America. Snack n Chats are always our most popular events, and we try to be as hospitable and welcoming as possible to each of the over 300 international students that we serve each year. My hope for this semester is that the Lord will strengthen and grow our ministry in numbers and in faith!

'til next time!

Jessica

As always, I appreciate your prayers and support for ISM, the Wesley Foundation, and, of course, myself. We have over 500 American student leaders at Wesley this year, spread out among 16 ministries that range from ISM to Artspeak. With 65 staff members, we definitely have our work cut out for us this year. Every staff person who works at Wesley is unpaid, and our responsibilities often take the form of a full-time job.

If you are interested in financially supporting me, please visit ugawesley.org and check out the on-line donation options there. You can also send check donations through the mail to:

UGA Wesley Foundation

1196 S. Lumpkin Street

Athens, GA 30605

Earmarked Jessica Taylor

All financial and prayerful support is (really, truly, completely) appreciated, and tax deductible to boot! If you are wondering how to give, please consider pledging a monthly amount. My budget (which I would be happy to share with you) requires $800/ month, and even the smallest donation can pay a water bill or a trip to the grocery store. Prayer for my ministry at Wesley and through ISM is very important as well, and intercession for me would be fantastic!

If you would like more information, please email me at jessicalin.taylor@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!

Insert stereotypical Aerosmith song title here

Last Friday, ISM had the opportunity to host new international students for their first night in America. Our group picked the students up from the airport and brought them back to Athens First for snacks, a short sleep on air mattresses, breakfast, and a ride to their respective hotels the following morning. It was great to meet so many new people - about 60 students - and to be some of the first Americans they meet during their stay in the U.S. Many students will remain in this country for up to 5 years, and most of them will be unable to return home until they graduate. Intense.

Starting tomorrow, I will be back at Wesley (almost) full-time. I hope that I will be able to continue working my other jobs, and that all the schedules will continue to work in harmony. Specific prayer for that would be greatly appreciated!

'Til next time!

Long time no post

I apologize for the fact that my last post was at the beginning of May! A lot of things have happened since then (most notably, my trip to China), so allow me to briefly play catch up:

I traveled to China during the mid-late portion of May. Here is an excerpt from a newsletter I recently sent out, as I feel it is the best summary of my trip:

Last month, I had the privilege of leading a group of students from the Wesley Foundation to China. As I reflect back on the many months my fellow leaders and I spent planning for our two week trip, I have to say that it was far more enriching and Spirit-filled than we could have imagined. Our student leaders showed flexibility and determination in situation that we faced, and they walked in an authority that could only be the result of God moving in powerful ways both through us and our fellow believers.

As visitors, we experienced Chinese hospitality: we ate well, slept well, saw many classic tourist spots such as the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, and the Forbidden City. However, the best experience we had by far was the opportunity to edify and encourage a very special group of young Chinese believers, the men and women featured in the photo to the left. Their ages ranged from seventeen to twenty-nine, and they came from completely different walks of life. Nevertheless, they all have one thing in common: their dedication to making Christ known in every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Many desire to proclaim the gospel to Muslim minority groups in China, many of whom are completely unreached; others want to travel to foreign countries and follow God wherever He leads them. We ate together, had fun together (as we are in the picture I included), studied the Word, worshiped and prayed. It was wonderful to see the Father working in each of them and to witness the confidence with which they left the comfort of their hometowns, well-paying jobs, and families and friends, to follow His will for their lives.

In front of the entrance to the Forbidden City!

Our team on the Great Wall

Now that I am back from China, I am working at a wonderful school supply store here in Athens, and I cannot wait to start back at Wesley on August 1st. I am so blessed to be able to work both jobs in the fall, and I am excited to see what is in store for Wesley and for ISM next year!

Fo sho Fogo!

... and just because I felt there was no place for this in my last post, an entry to share about our Intern Appreciation, this year held at Fogo de Chao! (http://www.fogodechao.com/)

Here are a few pictures (sorry for the blur factor) :

Okay, so I stole this from Fogo de Chao’s website. My camera can’t handle the night time.

The ISM Intern Team + our marvelous leader, Lindsay!

Amelia and I standing outside by the rotating meat beacon in the window. Please ignore the palm frond.

We sipped limeades, ate from a salad bar that contained very little salad and more meat than usual, and paced ourselves through the most glorious meat buffet I have ever experienced. By the end of the night, I had consumed enough protein to power ten small children. Exaggeration? I think not!

Oh, man is a giddy thing

Here it comes – one of the most difficult and least satisfying posts I will make this year. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited for the summer. In less than ten days I will be leaving on my trip, and when I return I will have a wonderful part time job awaiting me. At some point, I may even get to visit one of my good friends in Memphis and do Memphian things, like visit Graceland.

However, all of that seems far away right now. As of Thursday, April 28^th, my internship with the Wesley Foundation is over for the school year. Before I make this too dramatic, I have to remind myself that I will return again in August – that I will have one more year to grow, change, edify, encourage, be encouraged, and solidify myself in who the Lord is. While that is certainly comforting, it does not smooth over the fact that many of my good friends will be leaving before I even get back from my trip – across the country and across the world. I know that God called each and every one of them to travel to the places to which they go, and I am so excited to hear about all the things the Lord will do, yet I am aware of the distinct possibility that I could very easily pull away from the only one who knows how difficult transitions like this are: God.

In the past, summers have not been a time of growth for me. I often become distracted from the Lord, and spending time with Him seems like the most tedious and exhausting thing I could do. This is ridiculous, especially when I look back on the things He has done for me and the way that He loves me, despite my many missteps. Therefore, this is my new outlook on summer, especially this summer between internship years:

Deuteronomy 31:8 states that, “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Isn't it time that I started believing that? Why should I be discouraged, even if I am away from the community I became so acclimated to during this year? The Lord acknowledges seasons, but He is not subject to them. He has always been the same, and always will be. When I was a child, now, when I am old – He is stability and love without end. So whether or not my flesh and feelings cooperate, I plan to have a very good summer, and I know that the Lord will work wonderful things on my trip. I can’t wait to share them with you! I can’t wait to share what the Lord is doing, what He has done, and what He will do. He is so good!

Now I will leave you with some lyrics from a song that has been in my head for a few days now. This is definitely not the worst song to meditate on:

Love it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,

it will set you free

be more like the man you were made to be.

There is a design,

an alignment to cry,

of my heart to see,

the beauty of love as it was made to be