Dear friends,

I can hardly believe that summer is almost here and that my time at Harvard is finally drawing to a close. I am definitely sad about that, but I am also very excited about my summer plans, and if you have a moment, I would love to share them with you.

This past year as a volunteer with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has been an amazing year of growth. I have learned about myself: my character, my hopes and dreams, my successes, my failures. I have learned what it means to be a leader and what it means to be a servant. But I have also learned that I still do not see the world with God’s eyes, and that I still look for security in the things of the world.

This summer I want to see with God’s vision. I will be going to Xinjiang, a province in Western China, where I will take part in a lingua-cultural exchange as part of a team sent by InterVarsity. We will be living with the students whom we will be teaching English and by our love for one another we will show the difference that God has made in our lives. I am excited to be loving and serving people outside of the United States--my sheltered life has given me a narrow perspective and I am eager to see how big God’s world really is. I have been blessed with much in this land of comfort and I do not know what it is like outside of the Ivory Tower, but I know that God wants to expand my view of the world so that He will be able to use me. And so I go, with some trepidation, but a lot of excitement.

I am writing to you because I cannot go on this trip alone. I need partners--people who will stay here and pray for me as I live and work in China. As this is my first time overseas in a program like this, I anticipate a lot of challenges, including culture shock and the inevitable difficulties of bringing together a diverse team to live and work in community. And yet as a leader on this trip, I will need to help students navigate these same challenges. I will need a lot prayer for that! I would also ask that you pray for the hearts of both the American and Chinese students in the program, that God would be preparing us for the mighty works that He will be doing. Would you consider praying weekly or even daily for me as I go? I will not have much opportunity to contact you while I am in China and I know it is a challenge to pray without knowing what is going on. But I do ask for that partnership because I believe it will be very important for my summer and I will let you know as often as I can about how I am doing.

I will also require financial partners. I am raising $3400 to cover travel and program expenses. That might be 20 people contributing $100 and 28 people contributing $50 for the summer. I am certain that God will be providing abundantly for my trip--please give only as led. But if you do desire to support me financially, it would certainly be a blessing. And remember, your gift is tax-deductible if made out to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Thank you for all the love and support you have shown me, even if you do not feel able to support me in either of these ways at this time. I will be thinking of you this summer.

With love in Christ,
Jonathan Liu