Nov 26 2009
Thanksgiving Coffeehouse for Internationals and the “Special Turkey”
Every year, Our small group at Fielder Road Baptist church works with ISI and the BSM at UTA to host an international student thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year was no exception. Nearly 100 students feasted on turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, potatoes, etc. It was a cornucopia of things to eat. they also were treated to the sounds of Greg Speed who we found had quite a broad repertoire of music for students to listen to while eating and chatting. This year we really worked hard on making the time conducive to relationship building and so it had more of a home/coffee house feel to it. It was a lot of fun.
On a sad note, one of our dear friends from our small group, Earl, passed away a couple of days before the dinner. It was very sudden and unexpected. We had gotten to know him well when he was in our care group and when we gave him rides to and from church. It was a very sad thing. Interestingly, his mother mentioned that one of the things that was so special to him was his church small group and that he was REALLY looking forward to this dinner. He even had a turkey waiting to be cooked for this event in the refrigerator when he passed away. This story really made us realize that we are not only serving the students we serve but also we serve those who serve the students. Thank you Lord for this somber, special reminder.
They were offering rides around the airport and while we couldn’t afford that, it was really fun watching the Flying Fortress run up on the runway and take off and land. The roar of the engine, the gradual climb out, etc… it was just like something out of an old World War II movie. You can imagine 100’s of these taking off all at once.
The best part was seeing the wonder in T-9 & C-6’s eyes as they ran in and out of the aircraft, running through the bomb bay, looking at the gunners stations, etc. It was magical.
One of the cultural fixtures in Texas is football in the fall. Finally, the Yabukis were able to become a part of that cultural rite through flag football. T-9 decided he wanted to play flag football this year. He didn’t feel he was ready for the full blown tackle thing which they play in the local elementary school but we are extremely proud that he took this step. Playing on the YMCA Raiders (gotta love the name Uncle Allen), T-9 was able to play in the trenches on both the offensive and defensive line. While he is one of the smaller players on the team, he became quite adept at slipping his blocker and doing his patented spin move to get to the quarterback. I think he compiled between 5-10 “sacks” of the quarterback. In the second playoff game alone he had had four. On offense, we saw him taking on kids twice his size and winning… what a HEART! Watch out Demarcus Ware! Roy will be coaching basketball in the winter too… sports is coming!!!
Today was a special day for Jonathan, C-6 and myself. We were able to do something a little different and I think we all came away with a smile. Andrea, a member of our church small group, has been a part of the ministry of Mission Arlington for many years, since she was 19. In fact, while she currently runs the mission’s clinic, she has also personally ministered at a particular apartment church the whole time. She has become a regular part of the community of that apartment. Now her and her family and another member of our small group, Leslie, continue to go to the apartment every week to touch the lives of the kids and their families.
My job was to go around taking pictures of everyone especially the families. Many of the families have very few pictures of them and so taking their picture is a very special thing. One little boy was having so much fun, he kept asking me to take his picture over and over again in funny poses. This will further the long term ministry of the apartment church as Andrea will be bringing these pictures for the families to take as a special gift. It made me very proud to see my kids getting into it and “making sacrifices” to do it. Jonathan was playing football with little Joshua (Understand Jonathan hates football… this was a image sacrifice in a big way) C-6 played with the kids though she cried a bit too because they didn’t want to play with her doing the stuff she wanted to do… Of course that is normal and you should have seen her before we went, we wanted so bad to go.
The people from the church were incredible. A couple of teenage girls were doing the manicures and pedicures… It kind of reminded me of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Some of the teenage boys were playing all kinds of stuff with the kids. Seeing some of the guys painting bag “pumpkins” and some of the gals face painting and shaving ice. It was really really special. Anyway, it seemed that everyone came away with a big smile.
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