The Destino Adventure - Day One

I managed to schedule in a good afternoon on campus at the University of Central Flordia. I live about 15 miles from UCF. The office is about the same distance, but a different 15 miles (either way it takes about 30 minutes to get there). I arranged to meet Pez at 1:30 outside the union. (David Pezzoli – UCF Campus Director, NCState alum and all around nice guy).

Plans for the day:

• Meet Pez and expose him to my complex master plan.
• Buy him a Taco and a carbonated beverage (always suck up to the CD).
• Do a little decoding and prayer.

Timeline:

12:30
After finishing some morning business, I load up in the mighty T100 and head to campus. I give myself some extra time because parking is a zoo (so I hear).

1:15
Found a spot (while multi tasking on the phone), and start heading for the union. I get totally turned around and have to act like a 39-year-old freshman to get directions.

1:30
I call Pez from the Union. He is staring down at me from the 3rd floor – I join him and his team for a mini, on the fly staff meeting. Their first weekly meeting is Thursday and the four of them (along with a bunch of student leaders) have been busting their tails canvassing the campus and doing the work of the ministry. Pezzoli and I get a Taco – and of course he is awed by the 4 point master plan.

2:15
After my time with David, I swing by the SGA and the student Union Office. I get some demographic info and a cheesy yellow campus map (I forget to get the list of senators – or even ask!?). I also get the scoop on the complexities of putting posters all over campus. It is more cumbersome than I hoped, but still very doable.
I am back the union and seamlessly blend with the student crowd to make make some more observations:

• No matter how old you are, it is still kind of weird to figure out a campus for the first time. This must be how Tommy Lee feels right about now.
  
• People where hanging out in pockets. Most (not all) black students are with other black students. Same for Latinos and Asians (not to mention the stinkin’ Greeks).
• People were friendly. There is enthusiasm for life.
• My knees hurt, my back aches and the music is way to loud.

3:00
I am back at the truck for my 3pm phone appointment with Marc “HR is your Daddy” Rutter – my partial day on campus is el finito (this is not technically Spanish).

9:30-10
After various ministry and family responsibilities, I sit down and make my poster. It is very simple. It says:

LaVidaUCF.com
Interested in helping start a Latino Christian Fellowship at UCF? Contact LaVidaUCF@yahoo.com.
Latino believers bonded together to influence UCF with the Gospel of Christ.

Check out my crazy mad design skills here (I used the mast head from the LaVidaUCF.com web page).

Summary: Total hours & cost (including travel)

• Building LaVidaUCF.com & email acct*. . . ½ hour . . . $150 (free yahoo email).
• Travel Time . . . 1 ½ hours . . . $15 (gas & tolls)
• On Campus . . . 1 ½ hours . . . $3 visitors parking pass (to park in the boonies)
• Poster . . . ½ hour . . . $2 in ink (I will make copies tomorrow).
• A Destino experiment . . . Priceless

So far I am in this for about 4 hours and $170 (most of which is an optional website).

Tomorrow I meet with Impact (they are taking the young interns – fellows – to UCF to train ‘em up). I will head to campus with them and then do my Destino thing.

*It only takes about 15 minutes to set up a loclaized site via MyEveryStudent.com - less if you can pick colors quickly. Paul Payne (of MinistryHome fame) and Marilyn Adamson (her name be praised) have done a great job with this. I set up LaVidaUCF.com about four days before this post - in about 15 minutes.