January 2016
Dear Prayer Partners!
Happy New Year! We have finally gotten the snow that our kids (ages 3 & 5) have been praying for and had a beautiful winter weekend traipsing through it, enjoying several-hour-long expeditions, and building a snowman!
Meanwhile, on campus students have been in that particularly frenetic stage called, "shopping period." Yale has this special/stressful season at the beginning of each semester to allow students to try out classes they might like to take. Somehow, however, this often becomes a mad-dash between about ten different classes, only to take four of them. The students' schedules are (mostly) finalized now and they can begin the real work of their semesters.
Over Martin Luther King Day weekend, we took our students on winter retreat to Essex, Connecticut and studied, "Faith, Hope & Love: The Foundation of Christian Spirituality." Each virtue was explored in depth and the students spent extended time after each session praying for one another. They were broken into groups of 5-6 students and each group spent time praying for great faith, hope to shape their day-to-day realities and showed love by pouring blessings over one another, one by one. I am not sure that every student there had had blessing poured over her/him in such a pointed and extended way — the groups spent at least an hour, and in many cases two or more hours interceding for one another. Walking the halls of the cabin, joy and peace radiated from the groups, as students cared spiritually for one another and brought each other before the throne of heaven. One group had to go back to finish their prayer time, because an hour and a half wasn't enough! Having the retreat before classes started allowed students to relax and socialize, rather than rush back to a paper or problem set that needed more attention. Praise God for this time together of seeking His face!
One student, Mari (mentioned in a previous email), has continued to reach out to the non-Christians in her circle. One freshman from China wrote to her, "@Mari I forgot to tell you that I read Mere Christianity during break and am excited to read more!!! ☺". I have had the privilege of meeting with this student as well (thanks to Mari!) and ask that you would pray that the Lord work deeply in her heart and lead her to the truth of Christ (she is unnamed because her father works for the government and so I would like to respect the family's privacy). During one conversation we had last fall, as she described her daily commitment to reading ancient Chinese poetry, she said, "Maybe most Chinese are not religious because being Chinese is a religion in itself." I was speaking with a campus minister to Chinese graduate students here and she told me that most Chinese youth are much more patriotic than previous generations and more positive about their country's past, as well as the current government. Pray that this student would come to know the true liberating power of the gospel, and Christ's personal, intimate love for her this semester. Pray that Mari and I would know how to witness well to her and especially that we would provide love and friendship to her in this lonely foreign land.
Finally, I am delighted to announce that our very own Laurel Copp (Women's Ministry Fellow with Christian Union at Yale) and her husband Chip are expecting their second daughter on or around Valentine's Day. Please pray that they would adjust well to the demands of having two children and that Laurel would have a smooth delivery and recover well over her maternity leave. Pray that Evalyn would find great joy in her new role as a big sister and that the whole family would enjoy many special times together. Pray for the students in Laurel's Bible courses, that they would continue to grow and care for one another in her absence. And finally, pray that this new baby would not know a day where she did not know and love Jesus.
Thank you for your prayers!
All the best to you, from beautiful New Haven!
Jane Hendrickson
Christian Union Ministry Fellow
Yale University
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Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Yale, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
