Aug 26 2008
Wow what a party!
I have taken some time to allow what happened this weekend to sink in. The party went very well and we could really see God’s hands throughout as He made it work. One statement that remains, and it was evident on Saturday, by Gary, the BSM director, is that for many of the students, their first Big Howdy stands out as the highlight of their time in the US. They never felt as accepted or appreciated as at that moment. Wow… That is both an testimony as the power of the Howdy to touch students hearts and allow them to smell the aroma of Christ but also a indictment on how far we still have to go in continuing to touch their lives with the love of Christ afterwords.
The set up team, made up of mainly college students from the BSM and Lake Arlington Baptist church came 2 hours early and did a tremendous job of setting up the place to help the students celebrate. I’ve never seen college students work so hard. It was a REAL testimony.
The food came in late and there were some nervous moments as the time for the party to start came and all we had was fruit and one casserole. It reminded us of the fish and the loaves that the Disciples knew something about. With some tight muscles, we chose to trust and God seemed to bring just the right food at the right time. Even our Gnocci crew had a problem and came late… but that was perfect timing. If they came on time with what they planned on bringing, I believe it would have been gone much sooner and so the people who came late would not have had anything… God knows what He is doing.
The registration was brisk and yet we got all kinds of information from the students. The tables with all the different Christian orgainizations on campus had brisk traffic throughout and the serving lines were wonderfully staffed by an amazing army of volunteer from I don’t know how many churches. We had one Japanese American man come all the way from California (visiting his friends here) to make a stir fry dish for the students. Wow! Between Pizza boxes, there were home made pasta, Chinese dishes, rice, curry, you name it. Many student even contributed much. Further, since many of the students are vegetarian, there were tall signs carried by beautiful volunteers (Lisa included) indicating which foods were “green” and which ones had meat.
After lots of food and talk… Line dancing and Indian dancing commenced. Two days before the party we found out there was a mix up on dates with our usual, line dance instructor and so we were hard pressed. We sent out a request to the rest of our team and the UTD team shared the older lady to teaches their kids… Again God intervenes… It was a blast. She did a tremendous job. It was wonderful too, to see, some of our retired volunteers doing western line dancing with the “hip” young indians and chinese and others on the dance floor.
Finally, the students were allowed to let loose a little when we allowed them to control the DJ. It was good to see them release some of the stress that had built up in the last month in moving to America in a clean way. To many that was a testimony of grace and hopefully, it broke down some misconceptions about Christians that could lead to other opportunities to share Christ’s love in other ways in the future.
All in all. It was a wonderful evening. We also got over 130 sign ups for the next event, the Tour of Arlington, September 1. Please pray for this. We are very short on drivers to take students around Arlington, Fort Worth to see things in the area. It is probably the time when we get closest to the students of all the Big Howdy events.
Thanks ALL of you who were praying so fervently. It made a difference.
Seven or eight years ago, Mark Norton and Mark Peterson saw this need and initiated what became an annual event – the Used Item Sale for international students at UTA. While it has changed much over the years in its implementation and its specifics, the essence has not changed. We collect furniture, and other household items from church members and allow students to buy them for incredibly low prices. (There is a good reason why we sell it rather than give it away… If you are interested, we can discuss in the comment section)
The students love it. This year, Ron Bunyard, working with a team of young adults from 121 church made it happen with items from many different churches including Fielder Road, Grace Community, 1st Baptist Euless, Grace Lutheran, University Catholic Center, etc. It was probably was the most organized sale to date as students all felt like winners after they were there. In addition, Ron instituted a program where people could sign up for what they could not find there. He would then turn over the request card of a particular student to a church or small group and that group essentially adopts that student in terms of getting the things he or she needs. It was really awesome to see the students smiles and words of appreciation. It was equally rewarding to see the volunteers (from the many churches) help deliver furniture and see how important it is to have this sale given the students’ need. Praise the Lord for the convergence in what He is doing in people’s lives.
Our friend G. from Italy came over with a cooking team of 4 other international students from places as varied as Iran, Japan, China & Korea to make a large amount of Northern Italian heaven to be served at the Big Howdy party on Saturday. 
A second person who made an impression is Phillip who is a Japanese American ministry partner from the BSM. He is the new intern who, with his wife, will be interning working with interntional students. As I shared yesterday, one of the cool things about what we do is that we so many things together with others, working together in Kingdom work. The BSM has been one of our best partners and Phillip is no exception. He has a gentle but persistent way about him that I believe God will use greatly in touching students’ lives. It really is an honor to work closely together and its kind of funny how I see a lot of myself in this younger Japanese-American man.
Finally… I just wanted to say how much I appreciate my wife, Lisa. She is a real blessing to me. Her faithfulness, patience, love for me and the kids etc. are just so much of a blessing. One of the hard things about being away from family is that we often have to do things alone… I still miss everyone so much. And yet because we have been away, we have learned to trust each other so much more, seeing each other and having to depend on each other even when we are at our best and worst and that has been such a blessing. Praise God!
The CareAVan started around 9 years ago when former UTA Professor Mark Peterson with fellow Grace Community Church Member, Mark Norton approached the international office to find out what the greatest need of the students are when they first arrive. Arlington doesn’t have a public transportation system and the nearest market is more than a mile away and so one clear need was for transportation to and from a place to buy stuff. Thus began the CareAVan. Every Fall, for six evenings, volunteers from many churches come and provide rides for new students to Walmart to allow them to shop for the basic things they will need in their new apartments and dorms. It has become one of the Big Howdy events ISI has helped to stage at UTA.
The CareAVan in 2008 has already run 3 nights with over 100 people served. Today(Tuesday), I had the privilege of helping out. When I arrived with my car, I as amazed at the number of people assembled in front of the University Center. We later found out there were over 100 students on this day alone. All of them were ready to shop. Kyle, the the leader of the Salvation Army church’s ministry partners, seemed to know several of the students by name as several of them were “repeat customers.” Obviously they were touched by what was going on. Raquel, the team leader for the CareAVAn took down names (to make sure we don’t forget any students on the return) and by the grace of God we were able to transport the students with a rag-tag fleet of church vans, a Salvation Army mini-bus, Suburbans, pickups, mini-vans and regular cars from UTA to the “Super” Walmart. Good conversation and friendship were made along the way. Interestingly, the Walmart is across the street from the new Cowboy Stadium under construction in Arlington. (The oohs and aahs..)
Once at Walmart, many of us were able to help students navigate throughout the store. It was fun helping students translate (from American English to English) what different products were. One student came up to me to ask me where they could find a “pepper.” Apparently, the peppers at Walmart were too big and were not “real” peppers. It was fun. One real image that stood out in my mind was Kyle and his sister in law Maggie walking around, helping student find things, trying to learn the students’ native language and learning the very difficult-to-remember names of the many Indian students that were there. They are real naturals and you could really see Christ working through the Spirit in them. It was a real reminder to me what this is all about and how much fun it can be.
Here is one other observation. In the past ISI worked very closely with the international student offices in directly being a part of the orientation, sharing about friendship partner programs etc. But it seems today, things are different. Several years ago, it seemed the international offices were more reluctant to allow that having concern that they be identified with a Christian group. Instead they have allowed us to have a table at activities fairs, etc. At first this was a difficult change for many of us. But recently as ISM (International Students Ministries) have adapted, we have found that the table could be even more effective in reaching students. There is more time to “personally” interact which is more important in this generation of students rather than interacting in an official capacity. The result is not relationships not built on external motivation but internal motivation. It has been awesome! At TCU, it was cool to see almost every international student at a reception last week having our bright pink flyer and likely they all had direct connection with a student or ministry partner at the table we had set up. I saw the same sort of thing at UTA and UTD as our team really touched almost every new student in a personal way. No matter what… most students were able to see a loving personal response from some believer.
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