International Christmas Party

Friday night’s party was SO much fun.  There were TONS of students there. We decorated ate food, decorated Christmas cookies, had a bonfire, strung popcorn for decorating a Christmas tree, and sang Christmas carols.  Then we took some time to share the Christmas story from scripture, talking about Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection, and second coming.  It was a great opportunity for students from all over the world to hear about Jesus.

Here’s a clip from our time singing Christmas carols:

International Christmas party tonight!

Getting ready for a fun International Christmas party, hosted by our Sunday night group!  Should be lots of fun!

Birthday in an American Home

Since I haven’t posted in so long, I’m trying to get you all caught up on the things I’ve been up to lately.

On Thursday, Oct. 8 one of my co-workers had a birthday party.  He and his wife invited all of our staff and many of the international students from the UofA to come.  There were a TON of people, and we had a lot of fun.  Click to see some photos from that night!

In other news, the first test run of the XPLORE study went to print today!  :) (yes, I’m pretty excited about that)

students and sushi

Last Saturday I had the chance to join 9 international students at another staff family’s house for “Dinner in an American Home,” part of their orientation to the University of Arkansas.  They were from South America, South Korea, Japan, and even St. Lucia.  We had so much fun eating together, sharing about our homes, and then playing an intense game of Passport to Culture (basically Trivial Pursuit with facts about the world… it’s HARD!).  We hope to keep in touch with a lot of these students throughout the semester and take the chance to invest in their lives!

On Monday night, there was a meeting of University of Arkansas students here at the Shad pad.  All of the students (about 25!) were actively involved in some sort of ministry on campus (being an RA, praying for their sports teams, fraternities/sororities, living with international students, etc) and wanted to get together to pray, be encouraged and held accountable by one another, and to strategize with each other.  I’m excited about what God is going to do with this group of students, and hope to help them however I can!

Last night I went to sushi with some of the girls from the office and their friends.  There’s a great place on Dickson Street (kind of the hub of action in downtown Fayetteville) that has it for half-price!  So we had a lot of fun eating cheap sushi and hanging out.

Also last night, I got a text from one of my new friends that is living in the primarily international student dorm, and she said they had met a girl from Serbia!  I hope to meet her soon!

So, fun with international students and cheap sushi… not a bad combination for the past week.  :)