Covenant Presbyterian Church

Celebrating Easter with International Students

April 14, 2012

A few families from our church got together and hosted an Easter Dinner for several International Students from FIT.  Monica & Japheth Light graciously offered their home for this outreach.  The weather was beautiful and enabled the group to set tables outside in the shade of the Light's backyard.  Beginning the afternoon, Daniel Hedman presented the history of Easter celebrations, explained some of the pagan symbols, then transitioned into three reasons why Christians aren't crazy for believing that Jesus rose from the dead.

Following a delicious dinner,  guests played games of corn hole, Mexican train dominoes and even had the opportunity to go in kayaks and canoes along Turkey Creek.   There were a few young children there who had a ball playing "chase" , complete with light sabers and swords, running after several of the international guys.  Four-year-old Evan Light was a huge hit with the guys and definitely not shy about engaging them.

Since the event was not overcrowded, it provided opportunities to really talk to some of the International students.  Linda Condon said she got to meet a half dozen new students from Oman.   This is the first group of students ever sent by their country to America on scholarship.  They are all ELS (English Language Students) so they were all grateful to be able to have opportunities to talk to Americans.  A few shared about their country, families, and cultural values; one such value is the high importance placed on education.  Several of them expressed interest in going on the camping trip with Synergy, so we hope there will be more opportunities to build relationships with these International Students.

If you are interested in learning more about International Student Ministry or would like to become involved, click here or contact Jonathan Culley at jculley@covenantpalmbay.org.