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International students on a retreat from school find an opportunity to seek Jesus.
APRIL, 2023
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony,
“He told me all that I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them,
and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word.
42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
John 4:39-42
Big Bear Spring Break 2023
Big Bear Spring Break 2023
This year marked our second annual Big Bear Spring Break trip. Our San Diego Bridges communities at SDSU and UCSD teamed up with the Bridges at UC Irvine again this year to meet up in Big Bear Lake, CA for 4 days of snow, fun, community, and deep spiritual conversations.
Since this was our second year planning this event, we took as many opportunities, we could to plan for a better trip than last year. We added some different, fun events like skiing/snowboarding, we bought way less food than last year, our 2 Airbnb houses were much closer together (1 minute apart), and we gave our students much more free time to relax how they wanted to.
The most important part of the trip, though, was our time learning about Jesus' life from the stories of those who interacted with Him.
Community
Community
We had tons of time on this trip to grow together as a community. We had people from 3 different campuses representing 9 different countries. It's always fun to see cultures merge together well, but even more-so when spending close, family-style time together for a few days.
We rented two beautiful Airbnb houses that were a 1 minute drive apart. One for the guys and one for the girls.
At the beginning of the trip, we were all just getting to know each other, but by the time we headed home, we were a tight little family.
Bridges is always excited to have intentional, focused community moments like these to strengthen our bonds with students. We pray that these bonds will continue to be present as we minister to them and other students on campus.
Movie Night & Bible Study
Movie Night & Bible Study
FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!
Every night we would gather together for "Family Movie Night" where we would watch one episode of "The Chosen" that we had specially picked out. At the end of the show we would ask their thoughts. It wasn't always a lively discussion, but they often did have very interested things to say and questions to ask.
After the first night, at the beginning of Family Movie Night, we would ask a trivia question about the episode from the night before. Whoever raised their hand first and answered the questions correctly won a fun prize! It was either a Bridges-branded water bottle or a pair of Big Bear socks.
MORNING BIBLE STUDY
The best part of the trip for me, though, was the morning Bible study. Each morning, after breakfast, we would sit together at our respective houses (guy's house/girl's house) and go through a Bible Study from a Bible passage that was represented in the episode of The Chosen we had watched the night before. It is truly amazing to see these students go through these passages after watching the show. Many of them are going through these verses for the first time or have limited exposure and often when we do Bible studies with students there is quite a learning curve to understanding basic concepts of the story that we have to get through in order to get to the principles or application within a passage. However, we have seen a rapid increase in that understanding just from watching the story unfold in The Chosen episodes.
They say things like, "Oh yeah, that was when Peter was talking to Jesus at the boat. I remember that." They often jump in to help the other students understand before Bridges staff even has a chance! We are definitely praising God for this awesome ministry tool.
A note about The Chosen: We always make sure to very clearly explaining that The Chosen episodes are not holy scripture. They are not The Bible and they often add things in for storytelling purposes, but these episodes do attempt to help us learn about the Bible story.
If you are interested, here is our list of The Chosen episodes and the corresponding Bible passages we used for the studies. (Big shout out to Lauren Kish for putting together our program.)
Jesus has the power to take away our shame
Jesus has the power to take away our shame
Peter and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
Season 1, Episode 4
Luke 5:1-11
The Samaritan Woman
Season 1, Episode 8
John 4:1-30, 39-42
Jesus heals the 38-year invalid
Season 2, Episode 4
John 5:1-18
Jesus heals a Bleeding Woman
Season 3, Episode 5
Mark 5:25-34
Fun Times
Fun Times
We had plenty of down time and planned activies so these students could choose to relax away from their studies however they chose. It is thoughtful details like this that make our Bridges Spring Break trip to Big Bear so attractive to international students; students who study hard and feel great stress to succeed.
We pray that these students can see Bridges as a home away from home; a place to belong, decompress, feel welcomed, give and receive love, and ask big questions about life, faith, and anything else.
Sam Davis has focused on international student ministry since 2010 and is on staff with Cru and Bridges International in San Diego, CA. His passion for leading others into a close relationship with Jesus is shown in his general love for people and focus on discipleship.
Sam and his wife, Gloria, love to travel, meet people, eat great food, and hike.
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