International students go on Mango Mission

It wasn’t an everyday sight: students from all over the world – Nigeria, China, Japan, India, Australia – knocking on neighbourhood doors in the heat of the Australian summer, to offer residents free mangoes.

The 30-strong team of students, half of whom were international students, had just attended the AFES Australia National Training Event (NTE). All across the country, groups of students were now serving local mission projects, putting into practice what they had learned at NTE. This group were helping a local church with their outreach initiatives.

The ‘Mango Mission’, carol-singing, English classes and a barbeque in the park provided ways for them to meet people from the community, offer prayer and invite them to Christmas events at church. Students Rayo from Hong Kong and Angelo from Sri Lanka also had an opportunity to give talks during the week.

What did they take away? Rayo shared his highlight:

“One of the things I enjoyed most was sharing the gospel in a team of like-minded people from many different nations. It really gave me a view of how heaven is like.”

Will you pray for these students as they continue in mission on campus?

Thank God for the friendships formed between local and international students during the week. Pray that these relationships would deepen back on campus.

Pray that the students would continue to be bold in evangelism, thinking and living missionally at university.

Pray for the on-going work of FOCUS, the AFES international student ministry. Pray that through it, international students would be trained to reach the nations, living as faithful disciples wherever they end up in the world.