Blog

ISI exists to show God’s love to international students attending school at over 900 university campuses across the US. In fact, many university registrars encourage their new international students to reach out to ISI for assistance with settling and acclimating to their new school campus. MCC teams with the local ISI chapter serving the University of New Mexico.

ISI ministers to our local international students at UNM in a wide variety of ways. Just this past January over 350 students were blessed through airport pickups, temporary homestays, free lunches, free furniture, and apartment finding help. An additional 350 students were served in August. There have been between 50 and 60 international students participating in Home Group studies. Many more students participated in sponsored hikes/sight-seeing/social activities, English as a second language classes, and Friendship Partners. During the Spring and Fall Breaks approximately 30 students traveled to Colorado and the Grand Canyon, respectively, taking part in the Discovery Bible Study Series while experiencing new parts of the US. These efforts saw two women make professions of faith, one from Japan and another from Brazil, and an Iranian man come to faith. There are several more students that are at various levels of exploring faith in Jesus.

MCC has been an important part of the ISI ministry in this past year. We provided meals in January and August. We invited students to our Christmas Eve service and an Old Town Luminaria tour. We collected several trailer loads of furniture from MCC donors and helped on numerous occasions to deliver furniture to students. We have provided short-term home stays and developed deep relations with students as Friendship Partners. We were also able to make financial donations to support ministry planning and the Fall Break trip.
With ISI we have a unique opportunity to do cross-cultural ministry right in our
backyard. If you are looking for a new opportunity to serve there are a lot of
different ways to get involved with ISI. Below are a few examples:

1. Sign up to provide food in January or August and/or help serve the food at UNM.
2. Donate unwanted furniture and/or help students take furniture to their new apartments.
3. Volunteer to host a student for a short-term homestay. This involves picking the student up at the airport and then housing them for a day or two until they can move into their apartment.
4. Become a Friendship Partner where you meet monthly with an international student and do fun things with them to help them acclimate to New Mexico.

If you are interested in helping or want more information contact Vince Tidwell at
(505)413-2647.