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

In old Savannah, I said Savannah, the weather there is nice and warm!

Pardon me for using a throwback from Ray Charles, but the title couldn't be more appropriate for ISM's trip down to the 912. The weather was wonderful, our hosts were welcoming, and our students were enthusiastic - the trifecta of a successful trip!

Now the play-by-play: we left Athens around 3pm on Friday in the Uncle Bob and Aunt Lynn's bus, which they usually utilize for InterFACE Ministries cross-country trips departing from the southeast. The bus features bench seats that run along the sides of the bus, coupled with a few tables and a long row of beds that are stationed above the heads of the passengers. Needless to say, it is a very sociable bus, much more so than the usual row seat coach buses.

Some of our students on the bus

We arrived in Savannah around 8pm that evening, and after unloading at Skidaway Island UMC (our host church for this event), we left for the homes of our host families. The American volunteers stayed with my friend and former discipler, Mary, and her family. We had about 15 Americans on the trip, so they were very generous in feeding and housing all of us for the weekend!

The next day, we went on a trolley tour around Savannah. I always enjoy excursions like that, i.e. seated and historical fact-based activities, but I was glad to see that the international students enjoyed it as well, even if our tour guide talked a little more quickly than was probably advisable. Either way, they liked taking pictures:

My roommate Courtney and I on the trolley tour

Later that afternoon, we went to Tybee Island beach. During the course of the two hours we spent there, one student found a intact dead jellyfish and brought it out of the water for others to poke, some of our students got a little creative with some sand art, and we took lots and lots of pictures.

A part of our group on Tybee Beach

Aforementioned sand art

Jellyfish (ack.)

We spent another night with our host families and the next morning we attended Skidaway Island UMC's church service. The church was so welcoming to our students, and I am so grateful for the ways that they partner with us in Athens every year!

After we said our goodbyes, we parked on River Street and had a few hours to walk around and visit shops. Again, many pictures were taken:

One of the many large ships that came to dock in Savannah

A few American students and I standing in front of a veteran memorial off River Street

We left Savannah from River Street and reentered the Athens area around 8:30 that night. Reflecting back, I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Our leaders were very helpful and friendly to our international students, our stay was fun and restful, and most importantly, no one got hurt. Here's to more successful trips to Savannah!

So, it's been a while....

I apologize for how long it has been since I posted. So much happened in March, and I still have roughly a month left in my internship this year! It is going to be a difficult adjustment to move from working at Wesley and at my new job part-time, to transitioning exclusively to full-time work at my new job for the summer. I am very grateful that the Lord has provided me with such a great job outside of Wesley - my bosses/coworkers are great, my schedule is flexible, and I can work as often as I have time. Working there this summer will be great provision for me, and I hope to be able to continue working there after Wesley starts up again in August.

While we're on the subject of next August, it is pretty much official that I will be an ISM intern again next year. I am excited to be able to continue in the work that ISM has started, even though the ministry will look different next year. In many ways, our leadership is coming under attack as we plan for next semester, and my desire is that the Lord will provide enough students from Wesley to continue on with the ministry, despite the changes coming our way.

ISM only has a couple of events left before my internship ends on April 28th. This weekend we're traveling to Savannah, and I am pumped to see what the Lord has in store for the 27 international students coming on the trip. We will stay with a good friend (and former ISM intern) and her family, enjoy fellowship with her church, and visit Tybee beach and downtown Savannah. Many of the international students who are going on the trip are brand new to ISM events, so I look forward to getting to know them better!

We are also hosting one final Easter/Farewell-themed Snack n Chat. Though we are still deciding how that event will look, it is bittersweet to think that it will be the last Snack n Chat that I will plan with my fellow interns. Next year, one will be moving to Colorado, and the other will be exploring another ministry at Wesley. I am glad that they are pursuing new things, and I am excited to share leadership with new people. I know God will provide interns and leaders who will thrive in this ministry.

As I look back on this year so far, I am continually amazed with the ways in which the Lord has provided for ISM, as well as provided for me. It has been hard to relinquish my finances to God, and in some parts of the year I have been at the point where if He did not provide for me, I would fail. Yet not one bill has gone unpaid! God has redefined what should make me happy, and what purpose money really has in my life. He has shown me that having a roof over my head, food in my cabinets, and fuel in my car is enough, and that I do not need extra money to live joyfully. I know that the season that He has me in is a season of refining, and that my financial situation may not always be dependent on support. However, without this season of financial insecurity apart from the Lord, it would have been much harder to understand that God is my provider. If my earthly father cares for me and does not want me to go without the things I need, how much more does God understand my needs and understand my need to be provided for? It is amazing when I take the time to realize that the Lord is really for me, and I have absolutely no reason to be anxious. My Heavenly Father knows what I need before I encounter every situation and every season of life. He is my comfort and I hope that I will continue to rely on Him more and more!


Up next: Savannah post!