"Can I Bring My Friends?"

My name is Charis and I want to give glory to God!

This morning, I woke up with a very clear sense of "you should spend some time in Columbia College today."


I looked at my schedule:
12:00 lunch with Ashley (my high school best friend who's stopping by Columbia)
14:00 doctor's appointment
17:30 LG worship prep
19:00 ACF LG

I wasn't super sure when would be a time to stop by and what I'd do there but I thought it'd do if I have time.

As I was getting dressed, I thought to myself: "maybe I should throw on my IV shirt."

So I went about my day, and honestly, after my doctor's appointment, I was pretty beaten and was wanting to have some "I" (introverted) time just doing some reading and stuff.

"Go to Columbia College" came to my mind clearly again.

So I was like: "alright, Jesus, You win. I'll go there." And as I was praying about it, I started getting more and more excited.

I got there, parked. walked into the student commons.

Students!! Yes, I saw live students and that made me very happy.

I've been leading a group of Mizzou students to CC campus for a "Start Something New" small group, but because of the time we all could meet-- 5pm on a Friday afternoon-- we really haven't been able to have any interactions with CC students at all.

I looked around, and said in my heart: "okay, Jesus, this is it!" and walked up to the information desk.

I asked the desk attendent who was a Caucasian guy studying Korean with his Korean friend for a campus map.

And here's the conversation:

"Are you new to campus?" he asked.

"Uhm... kind of? I go to school in Mizzou but I am also a part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and I am very interested in learning more about Columbia College and seeing how things are like here." I answered.

"InterVarsity? What is that??" he asked.

"Oh, it's a Christian campus ministry organization." I answered and turned around to show him the back of my shirt.

"Oh! Yeah! They have a ton of those over there (in Mizzou) but we only have a few here...." and then he started telling me the ones that are on CC campus and where they meet, "you know each of them have about 10 or so students, the biggest one is the FCA, fellowship of Christian athletes. We have like 11,000 students here but not many Christian organizations. You guys could definitely come here!" 

"Wow!" I thought to myself, wondering when I've said anything about "coming here"...

"Oh cool! Are there many international students, too?" I asked.

This time, his Korean friend spoke: "Yes! There's a lot of us, too! We actually have a international student organization, I am the treasurer. We meet every Friday at 3pm... would you like to come to one of our meetings?? You can meet many international students there!"

And before I could respond...

She continued: "and you should meet Britta, she is the international director, she always love to meet and connect people who want to know and do things with international students, her office is right upstairs!"

I chatted a bit more with them, actually got to know a bit about their faith background, and went on with my exploration.

I stopped by the international student office, got one of Britta's business card (she was in a meeting) and kept on walking and praying for more directions.

"Library!" popped into my head.

The library is right across from the student commons so it was a convenient transition...

I walked in and walking towards me was an Asian girl with a big smile.

I smiled back, nodded at her, and kept on walking.

I walked around the library, ran into her again, smiled again, and kept on walking.

And then I ran into her again, as she was sitting down.

"Say hello" was very clear in my mind.

"REALLY!? I mean... she is studying and I know nothing about her... this is super awkward!!" I argued.

"Say hello" came to my mind very very clearly.

So as nervous as I was, I walked forward, lean closer to her and whispered: "hi! are you Korean?"

What a awkward question, right? I know!

"Yes!" she whispered back with a big smile again.

"Hello! I am just here and wanting to meet some people and make friends."

I couldn't believe I totally said that...

She said: "really?? are you a student here? are you Korean?...."

By that time, we were getting "looks" from people for whispering in the library, so I asked her if she wanted to talk some more outside.

And she immediately started packing.

We walked back to the student commons and started talking. She asked about me and what I do, and she was very surprised by my (not very impressive) Korean and how many Korean people I know.

It turns out she knows some of the Korean ACFers and has been going to Church with them, though not a believer.

I told her that I would love to meet up with her again and be her friend.

"Really? can we really meet?" she asked surprisingly.

"Of course! when and where would you like to meet up?" I asked her, as I was pulling up my calendar.

"How about Tuesday at Kaldi's?" she said.

"I can't do this coming one because I am out of town, but how about the one after?" I said.

"Yes! Let me add you to my Facebook and Kakaotalk (a Korean free texting app). Let me note that date down." as she was putting things into her phone, she asked: "can I bring my friends? they come here, too, can you meet them, too?"

I looked up to her smiley face, almost wanted to say "are you serious!?"...

"Of course! I would love to meet your friends!" I said instead.

And as we chatted more, she said, "wait, can I call my best friend? do you want to meet her, too?"

She did call but her friend was working on something due in 30 minutes so couldn't join us.

"I am not a Christian, but I go to Churches and want to learn more."

"Will you be my language partner?"

"What is the difference between Christian and Christianity?"

"Your shirt says "welcome" in Korean!"

"Next time you can come to my dorm and I will introduce my friends to you!"

She kept thanking me and telling me that it was so wonderful to meet me as we hugged and parted our ways.

The very surprised look on her face when I told her that I wanted to get to know her and her friends more lingered in my mind after we said good-bye.

There are moments that I am just simply overwhelmed with awe of how Jesus just knows and am so reminded why I love doing campus ministry... and today was definitely one of them.

Jesus, You are so good.