The year 2020 has been very unusual for everyone and IFI is no different!  In March, when quarantine shut down universities and other businesses, IFI remained open as an essential service provider and hundreds of internationals were helped! IFI staff and volunteers continued to serve in creative ways, like helping students move out of the dorms quickly, grocery give-aways, and rides to the store and airport.

English Conversation partnerships, ESL Club meetings, Bible discussion, discipleship, outreach groups, graduation and going away parties have moved to a virtual (online) format.

During the lockdown we know of nine students that came to Christ and there was a baptism in late May!

Over the summer IFI hosts held social-distanced outdoor barbeques on July 4th and Labor Day holiday weekends, and church groups filled 1,000 welcome bags that staff personally handed out to students to welcome them!

We are thankful for and have felt the prayers of IFI supporters as we were given wisdom about how to welcome new students.

In August IFI staff and volunteers connected with hundreds of students by greeting new students at the airport, on campus and at local apartment complexes. Some staff hosted new students in their homes for a few days, held two in-person socially distanced events, and one virtual welcome event.

Also in August, we connected with hundreds of students from 15 different countries including China, Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Sweden, S. Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, and Vietnam.  We also met several students who came to OSU in 2019.