UTA: Painting nails with the nations

As the doorbell rang, I answered it not knowing what to expect. Although I had participated and planned Baptist Student Ministry events as a student, this was one of my first events to host as a brand-new campus missionary intern at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Bethany Dahl“Would it be awkward?” I wondered. “Would we find things to talk about?”

My roommates, Putti and Caitlyn, who also work at the UTA BSM, and I were hosting a girl’s night at our house. The idea was simple. We would paint each other’s nails, eat snacks and just have fun.

Girls on the leadership team invited girls from their dorms, international students and girls they met at Bible study. We made cookies, popped some popcorn and whipped up some pitchers of lemonade and iced tea. Combining our nail polish, we must have had more than 100 colors to choose from.

The first girls trickled in a little nervously, but we found things to chat about over our pink lemonade. As the crowd grew and our front room became more crowded, the nail painting and bonding began. There were girls from all over Texas and at different stages of college.

There also were international students from South Korea, England, India and China, among other countries. At one point, I looked over and saw a girl from India getting her nails painted by a Chinese girl.

The idea we had was so simple, but God is so big. Nail night was a beautiful picture of the nations coming together under one roof to fellowship and pave the way for future spiritual conversations. God reminded me of something that night.

Whether fruitful conversations and sweet fellowship took place wasn’t up to me. It didn’t depend on my social skills to avoid awkward situations. Although God uses us to forge relationships, the Lord is the Mighty One at work in people’s hearts.

Bethany Dahl is serving with Go Now Missions as a campus missionary intern at the University of Texas at Arlington.