20/10/2026
It’s great to be able to share a recent story from Helen Morrissey, CTL Exeter;
“At all of our events, our volunteers work hard to show Jesus’ love to the international students both in word and deed. Sometimes, students are really curious about our faith as Christians; more often, they engage superficially but give little indication of whether they’ve really taken in what we’ve said.
J, from Germany, appeared to us to be in this latter category. She was an exchange student in Exeter in the autumn term of 2023 and she came along semi-regularly to both Globe and Conversation Café. Some of our volunteers got to know her a little bit, but there never seemed to be much opportunity to share anything very meaningful and in any case, she didn’t appear all that interested.
Therefore, it came as a huge surprise to hear from a colleague in Newcastle that following her time in Exeter, she had been so impressed by the Christian witness from our volunteers that she found a church back at home and became a Christian herself. What’s more, she has invited along her whole family who are also now regularly attending. She is now on a Masters programme up in Newcastle and was keen to make contact with Friends International there, following her positive experience with us down in Exeter.
Jesus instructs His followers to ‘let your light shine’. The light is already in us, we don’t need to make it shine. However, as we do good deed in HIs name, we are letting it shine and those with eyes to see will be drawn to it. Whilst we are always glad of opportunities to share more deeply with students, J is an example of how a student can see Jesus through the simple ‘good deeds’ of listening and caring, and come to glorify our Father in Heaven. Her story also shows the global impact of our work, as the effect of what she experienced with us has rippled back to her family and others back at home…”
