2017 saw 11 Friends International summer teams in seven cities across the UK and Ireland with hundreds of volunteers coming together to befriend, serve and study the Bible with international students.
In Bournemouth, around 50 people joined the first evening meeting, which included a traditional cream tea and a quiz about the Royal Family. Numbers fluctuated through the rest of the week, but some guests came back every night. A small group of students joined members of the team for a Bible discussion. Many of the students were from countries where studying the Bible would have been dangerous or impossible. On the first evening, seven young men from Saudi Arabia joined in. Later in the week there were students from Oman, Turkey, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, China and Taiwan.
One student from China has begun attending church and mid-week meetings, and she has been reading her Chinese Bible regularly. She now plans to meet for weekly Bible study.
