Waterloo International Students Learning about the Real Story of Christmas i

Our house was decorated for Christmas

University of Waterloo is a famous and very popular university in Canada. Students from around the world come to study at this famous university. However, these students face many challenges and lots of pressure.

Last September, we started a ministry serving some of these students and young people in the Waterloo community. We have been providing a free dinner to new and first year university students every Thursday evening at our Waterloo home.


Last Tuesday we held our first Christmas celebration and a turkey dinner for them. We purchased and roasted a 18 lb turkey!

An appetizer tray with a dip for crackers and veggies

Lots of people attended the dinner and our little house was filled with laughter and joy!y since 2:30pm when our lovely volunteers came to help us to cook. The Christmas turkey dinner was ready to be served at 6:30pm, along with stuffed cannelloni, carrots and mixed vegetables, baked potatoes etc.

Many guests brought food to our party.

The volunteers who came to help with the cooking also brought dumplings, broccoli salad, home made buns, Korean noodles etc. The table was full of homemade delicious food.

Guests started arriving at 6:00 p.m. and  people just kept coming. Hallelujah! I prepared three games to break the ice and got our guests talking and interacting. The games  were:

1. An icebreaker game - each guest took turn saying his/ her name and sharing with us a favourite place they had visited.
The next person would repeat what the previous guests had said and then add his/ her own information.

Students enjoying the gift unwrapping game

 2. A fruit/ treat basket weight guessing game - I prepared a basket with treats and weighted it ahead of time. At the party, Tiffany went around asking each guest to feel and guess the weight of the gift basket and entered it so everyone had a turn. The person with the closest guess won the basket of goodies.

 3. Unwrapping a Christmas gift wrapped in numerous layers of wrapping paper while wearing a pair of oven mitts.

Our guests enjoyed the turkey dinner! For some, this was their first time eating a roast turkey, a new experience for them. Everyone loved the food! We were surprised that most people were able to find a seat. Our little house hosted 23 people at our first Waterloo Christmas party for international students! Guests were able to mingle and started talking more with each other after the ice breaking game.

Everyone enjoyed the food at the Christmas dinner

Our guests loved the carol sing- a- long 

The previous week I was lucky enough to meet a professional music teacher who was willing to entertain us with a carol. After dinner, Julie entertained us with O Holy Night and we broke into a chorus of carol singing.It was a lot of fun!

We also have learned that a lot of young people do not know the real story of Christmas as they think that Christmas is only about Santa Claus. Therefore, we invited a local minister to come and shared with us a brief story about Jesus' birth. Her message was captivating! When she was speaking, we could hear a pin drop in the room. We all prayed that the seed of gospel has been planted in the heart of these young people.

It was a lovely Christmas celebration! One of the young people told me at the Christmas dinner:
" The Thursday dinner is the highlight of my week. I look forward to it all week to Thursday evening!"  It was music to my ear!

We thank God for the opportunity working with the students and young people in the Waterloo/ Kitchener area!

R.T.
Christmas Dinner in Waterloo
Ontario, Canada