Yabuki Breeze Blog

AUGUST 2007 – site, video- pics – “Hip, Hip Hooray! Hip, Hip Hooray!” so the students who were at the UTA Big Howdy party shouted in response to the previous month of “being loved on” that they felt from Big Howdy Volunteers.

Every year, over 20 organizations and churches through hundreds of volunteers, minister to new international students as they arrive on the UTA campus from all over the world during the month of August in the Big Howdy. Among other things, the churches help new students out with Airport Pickups, Rides to the Market with the CareAVan, a Welcome Table at Orientation, A Used Item (Garage Sale) to fill students’ apartments, a Tour of Arlington and the surrounding area and through he Big Howdy welcome party.

It is hard settling into a new city, school with little more than three suitcases, knowing no one else in the area. For over 200 students this was made easier through airport pickups and the CareAVan rides. An addition 100+ students came to the used item sale of donated items from local churches and were able to fill their apartments with furniture. The American volunteers really were able to pour into the students and really get to know them. It was really fun watching them work. At the Big howdy party over 500 students were introduced to good ole potluck dinner and Western Line Dancing for one last chance to let loose before school started. We capped it off with guided tours of the busless city of Arlington and Dallas and Fort Worth. They loved it all.

“Lu, Are you serving food this year?!?” I asked our Chinese friend Lu who was manning on of the food tables at the party. Quite a few student who were touched last year by Big Howdy made it a point to expose their new friends to it this year and volunteer in various ways.

Much thanks must be given to the many churches and ministries who were involved with this work. ISI’s own Ron Bunyard was the director and the BSM, Fielder Road Baptist Church, Lutheran Student Center, Chi Alpha, the Faculty Staff Christian Fellowship, Bridges International, Arlington Chinese Bible Church, Mosaic Fellowship Arlington Park Baptist church and many otherswere involved intimately with this special effort to share Christ’s love with international students.

Hanh, a Vietnamese UTA MBA student, went with me to the airport to pick up a new Vietnamese student. We didn’t know what to expect but when he took a long time to come out of the international terminal we were a bit worried… It’s not easy coming to a new country alone… When he came out of customs, we were suprised! Both his older sister who studied in Singapore before and his parents were with him. Wow… would they all fit in my car with all that luggage.

The family was planning on staying in a hotel quite a distance a way from the University and they did not have a way of transportation to and from the hotel. What was supposed to be a 2 hour pick up ended up being 2 days of hard work. Hanh and I worked to help the student get housing, settle in his apartment, set up a bank account, get them some food, and shuttle he and his family back and forth from the hotel.

Honestly, it was a joy to do this. I had forgotten how much fun it is to help in such a thorough way. His parents wanted to pay us and almost seemed sad that they wouldn’t take anything. Most Asian cultures have a strong sense of obligation when someone does something for them.

Anyway, we with Hanh took them to the Fort Worth Stockyards (http://www.fortworthstockyards.org) and they insisted on taking us out to dinner. The students parents insisted on paying for dinner and they bought Lisa a “cowboy” purse. I was most touched when the student said that I was his best friend after only one week in America and his parents told us to take care of their son. WOW! How humbling… What a wonderful experience…

In an effort to stay relevant in this culture, Roy updated the www.utaisi.org website to look better and to come up to standards of current web design.

Tags: utaisi.org, website

Aug 2007 – We have heard unconfirmed reports that a large number of Nepalese students are streaming into the DFW area. What is God doing with this special people?…

We have heard directly from administration that over 500 nepalese are at Northlake College but Ron recently spoke to a Nepalese Christian student and he found out that many more are a Brookfield College as well. Apparently, the DCCCD (Dallas Community College District has an agreement with UTA such that if students attend one of their campuses they will be given admission at in-state rates. Word has gotten out to Nepal and so Irving, TX has become one of the largest Nepalese communities in the U.S.

Praise the Lord as Nepal is one of the hardest places to reach in the world. God knows what he is doing. Pray that through our new Northlake ministry, UTA ministry and other new ministries, God will raise up the workers to touch these precious people.

Tags: Brookfield, Irving, Nepal, Northlake, UTA

(pictures) Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG’s), Mission Statements, Time Management, Catalysts, etc. These are not illnesses you can get… At the beginning of August, Roy and the rest of the ISI DFW Team met for a Vision Retreat at the home of Jim Beckett. Every year, our team meets together for a time of sequestered planning and dreaming and this year Jim Beckett, founder of the Beckett Collectables publications (You baseball card collectors might recognize the name) and in house professional facilitator, Joe Galindo hosted us for a special time of looking at the future.

We put pieced together the picture that God revealed to us so far about the next 10 years and then we put together plans to get to that vision of the future. We will put the results of that time in another article, but suffice it to say, it was a great time and really helped us to fee closer and more focused in our ministry.

(pictures) Lisa and C-4 had a wonderful week in Oregon. Lisa was able to visit both of her parents, two of her brothers and one of her sisters, plus several of C-4’s cousins. They even got to meet one cousin for the first time, baby Graham (8 months). C-4 really enjoyed picking swiss chard from the garden at her Uncle Mark and Aunt Brandy’s house, but wouldn’t touch the stuff at dinner time! C-4’s cousin E (age 11) was a real blessing to C-4, taking her under her wing all day and making her feel very special. The highlight was a “sleepover” in E’s room. During the week, Lisa also was able to connect with a couple of old friends from her high school days. Unfortunately, she did get lost once in downtown Portland but was able to find her way eventually (note if traveling in another state: Mapquest directions are not always accurate!)

Roy, J-11 & T-7 survived the week living on microwave dinners and pizza eaten in front of the TV, watching movies, etc. having a guys week out… We were able to keep that a secret by making sure we cleaned up the house before our Friday night meeting and especially before the girls came home. During this time, T-7 attended Camp Thurman and really had a great time with his counselor AMAZON and other 2nd grade boys. His friend R came all the way from Japan to attend the same camp. That was a great reunion.

Other family news… J-11 had his 11′th birthday at a local pool and got his Tenderfoot badge in scouts. T-7 is starting up Soccer in a couple of weeks.

Tags: 2007, Camp Thurman, Family, Oregon, Summer

“We want to go to the zoo,” said several of the UTA international students toward the end of the last Friday Night meeting of the summer at the Yabukis’ house. Ron said, “Lets go” and so began a wonderfully fun journey with six international students from Taiwan, Korea, Ivory Coast, etc. We gathered during the break between their summer and spring semester. This is a time when many of the students are stuck on campus and looking for stuff to do. We piled into our two mini-vans and we all drove to the Fort Worth Zoo. We saw all sorts of animals… Monkeys, lions, tigers up close. C-4 liked the tigers the most. It was a great time of fellowship and relationship building. We then had dinner afterwards and were joined by another student from Vietnam.

Tags: 2007, ELI, Summer, UTA, zoo

“You are like like a father to me since I came to America…” a young Taiwanese student shared to Roy at the Summer Party the UTA ISI team hosted in Colleyville in cooperation with Mid Cities Bible church (pictures). We really connected with several students. The food was great and so was the swimming/yard play time. The Taiwanese student also showed some progress in his interest in spiritual things, attending a Bible study this Friday. Wow!

One girl never swam before and Ron and several of the volunteers worked to teach her the basics of swimming. She was very greatful and God was able to use that to iron a relationship of trust which has lead to opportunities to encourage her to grow towards Christ.

Tags: Party, Summer, swimming, trust, UTA