Part IV: The Journey From Sight To Faith.
Chapter 2: The Giants of Getting Ready for Dallas
The Transfer to Dallas, Texas
As I was waiting for my GRE Score and my anticipated letter of rejection from Dallas Theological Seminary, AT&T was on strike in the late May and into June. With all that free time, I thought this would be the perfect time to paint the exterior of our home. I scrapped the old peeling paint and began hand painting the walls. I was nearly finished with the painting when the Acceptance Letter came from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS).
With that Letter of Acceptance and the decision to go, I still needed to decide when I should go. Was I going to wait until next year or enroll this year? The biggest factor was having a job to support and provide for my family. I said, “Lord, if you want me to attend seminary this Fall, you have to pave the way for me. I can’t apply for a transfer unless this strike ends!” The strike went on for about a few days longer and then there was an agreement. I went back to work determined to seek a transfer as the Lord answered my prayers yet again.
I shared with my supervisor that I wanted a job transfer to Dallas, Texas to attend seminary. My supervisor got the transfer application for me, and I filled it out. Normally, the request would take weeks to process. But she, herself called the Dallas Office to inquire if there were any openings in Operator Services. She told me that there were several offices in the Dallas area and asked which one I wanted to apply to. I was clueless as to their locations, so I said, “As long as it was in Dallas, I’ll take it.” I left it in the Lord’s hands.
Within a week’s time, my supervisor spoke to me and said that there were openings in Operator Services in Dallas, Texas. She mentioned this one office to me, but that Dallas Office wanted me to be there in a week, if I wanted that position. I asked her if she would ask the Dallas office to give me another week since I had to pack up and move my family. The Dallas office agreed to hold that position for me for two weeks but no longer. I was given the address and person to contact in Dallas.
God paved the way. He ended the strike within days of my asking, He put it in my supervisor’s heart to help me get a transfer for me, He had a position waiting for me Dallas, and even gave me the time needed to move my family. I knew in my own heart and spirit that God was moving in miraculous ways for me. His provision was undeniable, but there were so many hurdles ahead.
The Transition to Dallas, Texas
There were the immediate challenges facing us to get to Dallas:
- Do we want to do a pre-move to Dallas?
- Where were we going to live when we get into Dallas?
- Were we going to sell our home or rent our home?
- Can we pack up the house by ourselves in less than a week?
- Do we want to have a garage sale or just donate things?
- Are we able to finish some up some small projects and paint portions of the interior of the house?
- Can we get the medical and school records for my children to transfer to a new school district?
- Who will help us drive the U-Haul Truck?
- Who will help us to load the truck and unload the truck once we were in Dallas?
- Where will we live once we get to Dallas?
There were a lot of things going through my mind, especially the unknowns. I knew that if I was to get to Dallas, Texas all those things above and even more needed to be done in one week’s time. The task at hand seemed almost insurmountable and overwhelming in one sense, and yet I believed that God would a pave the way for us.
I had to come up with a plan. We would use one week to pack everything up and the second week to drive down to Dallas and find a place to live. We would leave on Monday morning after saying goodbye to our dear friends at Chinese Baptist Church on Sunday. Then, we will drive and arrive in Dallas on Wednesday. This will give me Thursday and Friday to find an apartment, unload and return the truck. Saturday will be setting up the apartment. Sunday was church. Monday morning, I will report to work and a week later I will be in orientation and starting classes at Dallas Theological Seminary. That was my plan. It was the best that I could come up with and I knew we would need to adjust on the way.
We decided against making a pre-move to Dallas since time wasn’t on our side. I thought to myself, “Are we insane to attempt to make a move without having a rented place to live and not really knowing where we are going except to Dallas?!” It would be a step of faith to get our home into a truck in one week’s time and prepare the house to be sold or rented.
Ramona and I started packing up our belongings. I started with my books and placing them in orange and banana boxes that I got from grocery stores around town. Next, were the white metal bookshelves that had to be dismantle and taped up. Clothing were either left in the draws, boxed up or put into large garbage bags. We took our canned and dry goods since this would save us money once we were settled in. Ramona started with the pots and pans, dishes, and silverware. We labeled our boxes to help us later in the unpacking phase. As boxes were labeled, we stored them in the den. Soon, it was full and overflowing into the dining area. We decided to have a garage sale to sell the things we couldn’t fit and whatever was left over we would just donate. The money that we made from the garage sale helped pay for the gas down to Dallas, Texas. We were able to pack up our home for the most part in just three-four days. When we were all set, I contacted U-Haul to reserve a truck for us so that we could begin loading it up right away.
The Transitional Letters
In between receiving my Acceptance Letter and the move from Portland, I remembered receiving a Welcome Letter from DTS. On this letter, they had a student contact number for us. I contacted this person and arranged to meet him at the DTS’ office on a particular day and time. Soon another welcome letter came from Pastor Peter Au of Dallas Chinese Fellowship Church welcoming us to Dallas. In his letter, he stated that if we needed any help to contact Kuang Fu Yang with his phone number. I had no idea who these people were, and I didn’t realize at the time how important they would be in our relocation to Dallas. I just filed the letters away.
Ramona was able to get a copy of our children’s school record and I was able to get their medical records from Kaiser Permanente. Our children were ready to be transferred to Dallas in the Fall.
The Transactional Property Manager
Since we didn’t have time to put our home on the market to sell, we decided to rent it. I looked in a phone book and came upon Kerr Properties Inc. I spoke to Sean, the owner, and he came over to our home. In our conversation, we shared that we were leaving for seminary. He shared that he was a Christian and that he would take care of our home. He informed us of what his property management company would do for us and what we needed to do to prepare the house to get it rented quickly. He mentioned that some of the rooms needed painting. That became an additional item on my to do list. We signed the agreement with him to be our property manager. Again, the Lord paved the way, He guided us to a fantastic property manager. He still oversees our property today!
The Trusted Helpers
Friends from Chinese Baptist Church came and helped paint rooms and cleaned the house on Friday and on Saturday, while we loaded up the U- Haul truck. My brother, Kenneth, flew up from San Francisco to help us drive the truck to Dallas. The U- Haul Truck wasn’t a 10-footer, but more like 15-foot truck. We packed everything into the truck on Saturday. By the grace of God, everything fit. We didn’t have one foot to spare. We had accumulated lots of things in 10 years.
The final walk through was hard for us. We walked through our home one last time. So many good memories were made here, and we were leaving it all behind. On Sunday, the church had a farewell reception for us. We stayed with Gilbert and Vivian on Saturday and Sunday evening. Our ten years of living in Portland was now over. God had enabled us to pack everything up in about a week’s time and now we’re ready for our road trip to Dallas, Texas. We were taking our first steps of faith and obedience by leaving Portland, Oregon.