"College Move-In" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Horde"

It's August. August has many meaning here:
1. It's hot. Really, really hot.
2. Your utility bill is really high (if you're unsure why, see 1).
3. Get in your last minute get-aways because
4. School is starting.

That's right, next week the kids go back to school. That's not so bad. It's the natural order of things.  But one of the things we deal with here and maybe you don't where you live is this: College Move-in.  They come in droves, like locusts.  The first few have already started trickling in.  They come from all over and they all drive at different speeds.  Our town doubles or triples its population (depending on whether or not you count the parents and siblings).  The roads grind to a halt and a half mile trip will be a half hour trip.  Road crews are literally patching all road projects and reinforcing the bordering intersections in the next two weeks in preparation.  If you forget and accidentally go to the get groceries or normal everyday items at any store that weekend, you will pay for it for several hours.

I've begun to make a checklist of things we need to have done before move in weekend so that we can go into bunker mode until it blows over and the parents all go home.  As I look over my list I wander, How is this different from how I would prepare for a zombie apocalypse? I mean it, look through this list.

If it were zombies I would add "__Get some ammunition and guns." before "__Go home and lock the door." That's really the only difference.  Here's my self portrait at ideal preparedness based on things I have at my house:

Hmmm....maybe that reveals a little too much about me.


Of course all the selfish whining aside, I do love the college kids coming back. There are lots of small things about living near the University that irritate me, but this town wouldn't be the same without them. I miss seeing the goofiness. I miss going to football games and stuff with them. Where else can a restaurant stay in business that only sells chicken fingers? Where can you have six frozen yogurt places within a quarter of a square mile?


View Fro-Yo in a larger map

And that doesn't include three others, outside that area but probably within ten minutes drive from any of those. Not to mention coffee shops. You can't throw a rock without hitting a coffee shop in this town. It's awesome.  I give this place another year before I can pretty much have wi-fi anywhere. All because of college kids.

But most importantly I miss seeing them at church. I miss seeing their enthusiasm with knowing God more and serving in ministries.  I miss seeing how they appreciate a home-cooked meal.  If you have college kids in your town, love on them. I love what our church and several others do on move in weekend.  We help move them into the dorms.  We haul enormous TVs and pink plushy bean bag chairs up four flights of stairs because we want them to know that Jesus loves them, so we love them.

Push through move-in and love them.  I was one once, and trust me, they need it.  Sometimes they need a meal, sometimes a couch or bed to crash on. Sometimes they need a knock upside the head because you love em too much to let them do something dumb. However it plays out, love them.

Haitian Creole

So with the team recently coming back from Haiti, and reading more about Mosaic Village I decided to see what resources were available online for learning Haitian Creole.  Don't freak out, we're not moving to Haiti.  Actually I haven't even felt a call to be part of a trip to Haiti.  But I also haven't heard God say "Oh by the way, Josh, I'm never gonna call you to do anything in Haiti so you can just mark that one off the list."

My point is, I checked it out because knowing a language is simply equipping yourself in case God calls you somewhere.  Especially for us because we know that we will be involved with missions at some point.  I've seen on the website for Doctors Without Borders the need for French speaking aids for work in Chad, Niger, DRC, and Haiti and it got me thinking.  So then when I saw that the Hendricks were learning Creole prior to their move to Haiti I decided to see what resources were available.

The first place I turned was to Rosetta Stone.  I could never actually afford Rosetta Stone, but from what I understand it is the best and fastest language learning software and the Texas A&M libraries have copies of Rosetta Stone in several languages.  So I looked, but they do not have a version for Haitian Creole.  My next attempt was the TAMU libraries to see if they had RS in French.  Haitian Creole is based on French with a mix of African languages and some others as well.  So French would be the next best thing. Unfortunately TAMU libraries did not have French Rosetta Stone. I made a purchase suggestion that they buy it, since they do have Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese.  But that could take a while, so I started looking online.

And that's when I found Byki. Byki is a division of Transparent Languages and offers a lot of different languages.  For all of their languages they have the "express" version, which is very basic and the "deluxe" version which is more in depth.  The great thing about this is that the "express" version is free.  If you decide you like their method and want a full knowledge of whichever language, you buy the deluxe version ($50-70 as opposed to $130 for lesson 1 with RS).  I'm really excited because they have Afrikaans, a derivitive of Dutch/German used Namibia and South Africa. But that's off topic.  The best thing I found though, is that right now the full amount of resources for Haitian Creole are available for free. That's right.  For freeeeeeeeeee (thank you Bedtime Stories).

So if you're interested in learning Haitian Creole head over to Byki.  You can either download the express version of Haitian Creole which right now has the full thing, or you can register for Byki Online which allows you to use the same materials from the web without using hard drive space.  Byki also has several Twitter accounts for daily phrases in some of the languages. Sorry I know it sounds like I'm gushing but I'm really excited.

I think everyone should have to learn more than one language. I really do.  Go to Europe or Africa and as any random kid how many languages they know.  They may not be perfectly fluent, but I'll bet they can converse in at least two if not three or four. Heck, go down to south Texas where the population is mostly Hispanic.  In America, most of us don't live near an international border so we get this haughty attitude of "If you're gonna live in this country, learn the language!" That's an acceptable attitude if you aren't a Christian.  I'm not saying we shouldn't have an official language, but as a Christian we are called to look out for aliens and treat them like any other person.  It's hardly Christ-like to have the attitude "I'll share Jesus with you if you'll learn English first!"

Don't get me started on the political hot-button issue of immigration. If you really want to know my opinion I'll talk with you about it.  But this is not the venue.  Basically I think everyone should obey the established laws.  That said, people from another country are still PEOPLE. Not trash. Not dogs. They need Jesus just like we do. 

So check out Byki, download some software or follow a twitter account, learn a language, and be equipped for God to use you in a cool way.  I don't think Byki is a Christian organization I just suggest them because they have free resources.  If you have resources that allow you to still be wise with your money go for it.  See if your library has a copy of Rosetta Stone or other tools.  If you know anybody that works for the DoD and had to learn a language they probably have a copy.  It doesn't matter what you use, the point is to let God use you.