UTD: Building relationships around burritos

This week while waiting in line at a Welcome Week event at the University of Texas at Dallas, Jenny and Cole met two international students, Lucy and Yorick, who recently arrived in Texas from China. They made a discovery—neither of the pair ever had eaten a burrito.

Kinsey ClineThis is Texas, the land of Tex-Mex food. Without thinking very long or hard about it, I can name six burrito and taco restaurants within a five-minute drive of UTD. And for Cole, who eats burritos multiple times a week, even being in Texas for just two weeks without yet having a burrito seemed wrong.

So we burrito-loving Americans took Lucy and Yorick out to lunch at a nearby Tex-Mex restaurant. And our new friends loved it! Lucy in particular was surprised by the tortilla’s size and ended up taking half of hers home, saving it for dinner.

Sharing the meal was a great opportunity for us to get to know Lucy and Yorick a little better. They talked about what their hometowns were like, what their parents do, where they have traveled and studied, and what they want to do in the future. After the meal, we invited them to a Baptist Student Ministry event, and they agreed to come. So, Lord willing, we will see them again soon and be able to continue building these relationships.

A relationship founded on burritos is a good relationship, indeed. And the experience was a great reminder of how easy it really can be to establish a relationship with anyone, even someone so different from us. Everyone has to eat. So, sharing a meal is one of the easiest ways to spend time with people. Once you are together, conversation is natural, and with a little intentionality, you can get to know another person and share with them the love of Jesus.

Kinsey Cline, a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, is serving with Go Now Missions at a campus missionary intern at her alma mater’s Baptist Student Ministry.