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This week we pray for Daniel & Sandi McDougall who minister to international students at UVic leading them to discover Jesus through the Word of God, and preparing them to serve God wherever He leads them.

Here's an update from Daniel:

Predictably, June finds us in (frankly: sighing with rest and relief) 'shoulder season' at UVic, coinciding with the pre-summer exit of many students and the not-yet-arrival of incoming newcomers.  This said, we McDougalls continue to be connected to continuing students, recent grads and being introduced to students about to attend UVic.  How do we do it?

1.  Covid's disconnection and hybrid version of education continues to have ongoing repercussions in our interaction with students. My dear wife Sandi spends the bulk of time meeting students in person--on campus, in food courts and local parks--while I concentrate on connecting with students across many time-zones via Zoom, Google Meet and other virtual protocols. 

2.  We intentionally aim to connect spiritually receptive students to trustworthy Godward networks in their own contexts upon their return home. It's a delight to broker these conversations.

3.  We strongly urge our already-friends at UVic to introduce us to newcomers in their faculty--in engineering, fine arts, chemistry, political science. After all, newcomers to Victoria can find it a daunting prospect (and not just financially) but also how to build a web of trustworthy relationships as they negotiate their way through often-strange cultural practices and even academic expectations.