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So with all that said here is what is happening…

The picture above is from last night’s welcome party. The University of Surrey has two intakes for masters students and due to the second intake being February, the vast majority, if not 100% of the 500+ new students, are international. Approximately 200 turned up to the offer of free pizza. Some of the countries represented last night included Djibouti, India, Mauritius, Senegal, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, and Iran to name a few. I shared a bit about what we do for students, they ate pizza, they chatted to each other and to our volunteers, and they went home well fed and happy.

Over the next few weeks we are offering a trip to Lewes to explore a historic town and a walk on the South Downs if weather allows. We have men-only and women-only events, the latter being a particularly well attended community and the former gaining momentum as a newly established group in the past few months. We usually offer a local walk but the weather recently has meant we’ve delayed until March to offer that. We have a meal and talk event in a local home for a handful of students interested in discussing faith.

A big focus for the next 6 weeks is the Life Leadership Course that I organise and deliver with a faithful group of volunteers each year (last year’s group below). Starting next Tuesday the course starts with the concept of leadership as influence and the choice we have as to whether that influence adds value to others or not. It then introduces ideas of servant leadership, humility, responding from values rather than reacting with instinct, strengthening relationships, and building resilience.

The course isn’t explicitly evangelistic but the principles do have a foundation in the Christian faith. Each time we run the course students have been vulnerable, sharing their faith, culture, and values in such a way that it makes this course a privilege to run each year. It does make the 6 weeks feel very busy due to the prep and late evening but it has always been worthwhile. For those of you who pray, I’d appreciate your prayers for me as I deliver the content and our volunteers as they share their experience and for the course generally that it would be a space of peace, learning, and friendship.

My coaching course keeps me busy as well with deadlines for a knowledge test and a portfolio submission hitting at the same time as the welcome week. I have had some really positive feedback from my coachees and I’m over halfway for the hours needed for assessment.

In more personal news, January flew by with two big events - one being Rosalie’s 10th(!) birthday and the other being a trip up to Scotland with Lucy to visit her sister. Rosalie enjoyed a lunch with friends and family and then she had a few days in Centerparcs with her mum and family. While she was away, I was able to spend the week up in Scotland. Fortunately we managed to get a couple of days of good weather to explore Edinburgh, Stirling, and a walk up Conic Hill overlooking Loch Lomond. I’ve not spent much time in Scotland and its made me want to get back up there in my van to explore some proper mountains! It was also a lovely time meeting Lucy’s sister and family.

Rosalie is doing well though it is proving to be a bit of a battle to get new medication for her seizures following an appointment with a specialist in mid-January. Please pray that this would be sorted soon and that the proposed medication would have an impact on shortening the episodes along with making them less intense. For the most part she is enjoying school, charming everyone who meets her, and continues to have the best laugh. She is also getting better at telling us what she wants from looking at the appropriate pictures/symbols we offer her as choices (look up “PECS” if you’re interested in how this works).

Life does continue to have its challenges but these days I find they remind me to be grateful for the people that God has put into my life who encourage, challenge (helpfully), and walk with me as I navigate them. So thank you all for your continued encouragement, prayers, and support - it not only keeps me going personally, it quite literally keeps me in my job.

Until next update,

Phil

Hello! This will be a short update just to share a couple of quick news items and make you aware of how you can choose to receive my Friends International news AND/OR my blog posts about coaching in your inbox. I’m grateful for your support but don’t want you to feel like I’m spamming you with content!

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In Friends International news, we’re now a couple of weeks into the new term and the campus is very busy. We welcomed over 260 students (we lost count) with free pizza and some information about what we do as Friends International staff and chaplains in the Religious Life and Belief Centre on campus.

Our first trip of the term is this weekend and we’re heading to Brighton. Our trips sell out in seconds and we always have a long waiting list in the hopes someone cancels.

We’ve been delivering welcome seminars to students through welcome week and I am about to deliver a seminar on Cultural Intelligence to dieticians in the next hour while writing this.

I’ve also started coaching sessions with students and trainee chaplains and have had really positive feedback so far. I’ve also really enjoyed the interaction and getting to know the students in a different way that also supports and empowers them.

With the support of several male volunteers, we’ve started up a men’s group for students in the hopes we can provide a community that goes some way to combat male loneliness and isolation amongst international students. The women-only group is very successful and started out small so we’re hoping the struggle to get blokes along despite saying they are interested is just teething issues for a new group.

There are a lot of opportunities for sharing faith and friendship here, the issue is time and resources. We’re very lucky to have a strong base of volunteers though we’re always on the lookout for people interested in welcoming international students.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and encouragement.

Phil