Nov 28 2008
The “Blessing Man” and the TCU & Collin College Thanksgiving Parties
While Lisa and I were focused on the Thanksgiving Party for UTA international students with our church two others of our ministry teams hosted other “new” thanksgiving parties… Here’s what happened…
Jeff Anthony, our ISI City Mobilizer and “blessing man”, helped kick off the first thanksgiving dinner for Collin College (formerly Collin County Community College), a new ministry focus for us. Here is his report…
It was fantastic! God definitely answered our prayers and pulled everything together for His glory. We had over 100 people and I think more than 60 students. Countries represented were: Pakistan, Vietnam, China, India, Kenya, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Iran, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Bolivia, Taiwan, Fiji, and Belgium.
A lady from Iran who works in the int’l student office and brought her three daughters (soph at CC and two HS seniors) went on and on about how wonderful everything was and how much she and the students appreciated it. She called me the blessing man (I’ve been called lots of things over the years, but this was a first!) and said I would be blessed because of all that we did to make the students feel loved. We had lots of students from Pakistan and they really had a good time. I re-connected with several students I had met at the BSM retreat in Oct. and two of them lead different int’l student organizations on campus.
McKinney Memorial Bible Church offered to host thankgiving dinner parties for international students at several different american volunteer homes as they provided the food. As key TCU ministry team and McKinney member Babs shares,
All went well with the American Thanksgiving Dinner Saturday night. We had about 40 students and all went to an American home. They seemed to be in groups in which they knew people and felt comfortable. The feedback which I have received from students and JP and Cassie has been very positive; everyone had a good time! The families really enjoyed having the students, so all in all, I think it was a very positive experience for all! Praise the Lord! Thanks to all who were involved from planning, to recruiting students and sending them to the right place, to driving and eating with them, and getting them back home! Thank you so much!
In addition soon-to-be TCU intern Cassie adds,
There were… students there from China mostly and Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, and some others. We split up into groups. JP (Cassie’s fiance) and I took 4 Chinese students to a house and we got to stay with them. Everyone involved seem to have a great time. Plus, the time waiting at the [TCU Frog] fountain was just good talking to a lot of students I had not met before.
Finally, Bennie & Patti, key TCU team members, had more than 30 people, mostly international students, over their house on Thanksgiving day as they do every year. It sounded like, as usual, students had a rich and warm time. Bennie was telling me that he went down to TCU to pick up some students and twice as many as were expected were there… They are incredible people…
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.
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.
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