Ten years ago Carole and Glen Egilson approached Langara and asked if they could begin a volunteer program to create opportunities for Langara international students to join Canadian families for holiday meals. Since then they have enlisted nearly 100 families in the Lower Mainland, who all host international students for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter dinners out of the goodness of their hearts. Thousands of students have benefitted from the program, creating lasting memories and lifelong friends.

Rev. Koch was born in Hamilton, Ontario and has resided in Canada for most of his life. His 40-year career in Christian ministry has been predominately cross-cultural, including several years as a missionary in Cameroon, West Africa. He also provided leadership as the Executive Director to the Liebenzell Mission of Canada, particularly in preparing and supporting new missionaries entering service worldwide. At West Highland Church, Rev. Koch was able to begin a partnership among the local churches and international student ministries in the area to lay the groundwork for the Hamilton International Students network. This has grown into a provincial and now a national ministry strategy. Jakob and his wife Lorie live near MacMaster University where they have developed ongoing friendships with international students through family dinners and informal gatherings.

Learn more about ISCM at https://ismc.ca

“Omeed” is Persian for hope. The House of Omeed is funded by churches like Cedar Grove and other organizations and exists to inspire hope in the hearts of refugees and newcomers to Canada as they are transplanted into an unfamiliar, incomprehensible society. From the conception of our charity, God has been faithful in enabling the House of Omeed to help thousands of newcomers and refugees in their hardships. Go to houseofomeed.ca

Stan is originally from British Columbia and Sandy grew up in Ottawa, Ont. They have two daughters who are married and live in the Vancouver area. Stan and Sandy met in Saskatchewan and were married in 1986. Before beginning their overseas work, they lived in the First Nations community of Alert Bay on northern Vancouver Island. While pastoring a church there, Stan learned to speak the local Kwak’wala language and Sandy worked as a nurse. They joined Wycliffe in 1997, and have worked in Brazil, Malaysia, and now in Indonesia. Their focus has always been UPGs (Unreached people groups) - places where there are no Christians, no Bible, and no missionaires. In Indonesia, that is largely the tribal peoples. Their work has been survey work, which is the first step in Bible translation. They find out things like how close the languages are to others (some languages are so close, they can use a single Bible).  They are currently working mostly on the island of Sulawesi, but are also helping one UPG specific group, the Dalam, in Sumatra, Indonesia.