By Kourtney Vier, Salt Ministry Leader Ames
In January staff from our global team planned a 3-day overseas training for Iowa State students, University of Iowa Students, University of Northern Iowa students, and Drake students who are going overseas this summer. In total we had eighty students join us in Des Moines for the weekend.
The aim of the training weekend was to help prepare the students for their two month trip to East Asia. As a network of churches, we are sending our students to three different countries in East Asia. The students will spend most of their time in one city. There are forty-four Iowa State students who are spending two months in university contexts. They will share the gospel with students, invite them to read the Bible together, and invite them into house churches. This is a great opportunity for our students to grow spiritually and to help the work of the missionaries living in East Asia.
Throughout the weekend we had three speakers from our network churches talk about The Biblical Basis of Missions, Contextualization of the Gospel, Missionary Biography, and an evangelism workshop. We also had some short sessions on the student’s roles as team leaders and team members, Myers Briggs personality testing helped them to understand themselves and their teammates better.
Our goal for the weekend was to help the students begin bonding with their team. Of the 44 students that we are sending, we have broken them up into eight teams with 4, 6, or 8 students total per team. We wanted them to catch a vision for the nations and get them excited for their upcoming summer. Throughout the rest of the semester we will have additional training for our teams before they leave in May.
Please pray for our student missionaries as they prepare to leave and as they serve in East Asia this spring.
