After
graduating, former students often come back to visit friends at college. For
Brodie Craig, that didn’t seem as likely because she’s been living in Argentina
for the past two months. However, God provided her way back to Lexington,
Kentucky, during her one month break from the Word of Life program where she’s
learning Spanish and studying the Bible for ten months.
Craig
graduated May 2016 from University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg,
Kentucky. She took time out of her day surprising her friends at UC to chat
with me about her life after college and the transition to living in Argentina,
how God led her there and how He’s been working in her life through that
experience.
Our
time is short because she talks fast and there are lots of laughs as she’s
always smiling and excited about the Lord and the life He has given her. Not
only did her time at UC prepare her to use her trade of music education to
further the Kingdom of God, but it also helped her to balance her time,
organization skills, and to be a creative thinker.
LH: What was your experience like at UC?
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| Photo provided by Brodie Craig Brodie Craig center stage with all of her music department friends at a performance at UC. |
BC: My experience
was great. First year, freshman year, was kind of a blur. A lot of transitions,
unexpected things. Being away from home was hard. But sophomore year, met a lot
of good people, great friends in the music department and a lot of professors
that really invested a lot of time and just wonderful spiritual leaders in my
life in that way that really helped me through. Junior year was…oh, hard
academically. And then, senior year I was just ready to be done. But in all
four years, time well spent. This was definitely a place that God really wanted
me to be at. I grew a lot in my relationship with Him here.
LH: Why do you think God really wanted you to be here?
BC: I think God
really wanted me to be able to come to a small university, to be able to make
really good life-long connections with people. And just be able to grow with
them because I still keep up with a lot of people I met, even freshman year
that transferred or what not. I still keep up with them and also I would’ve
kind of I think lost myself, if I went to a bigger university. But here I really
found who I was. And I think God really wanted me to do that because high
school was bad so [laughter] transitioning to college was a good thing for me.
LH: Who did do you find you were at college?
BC: I found myself
to be a person that is funny. I didn’t really know that I was funny. But I found
that I was funny. And somebody that is really hardworking, even though I didn’t
really like classes. I felt passionate about teaching and music. It was great
that I was majoring in both of those. Biology not so much. But uh with those
classes. I really, really wanted to do the work and do my best. So I found
myself to become a teacher and that was a really good thing because that’s my
career [laughs]. So I love it.
LH: Did you know coming into college that you were
going to do that or did you discover that while you were here?
BC: I knew that I
wanted to be a teacher. My mom’s a teacher and I had just worked and seen her teach,
but I didn’t know I wanted to be a music teacher. I have a passion for music so
I said, “Why not just put them both together and see where it goes?” And it brought
me here. So I’m really happy about it.
LH: What led you to the decision to go to Argentina
after all your learning here about music education? How exactly did you find
out about Argentina?
BC: It was a lot
of praying. I actually knew about the program down in Argentina since I was 16
years old. But I always thought it was just a dream. I never thought that my
mom would ever let me do it and then, when I got accepted to college I was
like, “Okay, well I’m not going to be able to do it. I’m just going to go to
college cause that’s what the Lord wanted me to do.” But little did I know, he
was just putting it on the back burner, which was really great.
I went to a camp
up in New York with Word of Life. And they were talking about the experience in
Argentina. And a man gave his testimony about the program that I’m currently
going through. He talked about it and I was like, “Wow.” It caught my interest.
So then, while I was studying here, it came back up in my mind one day. I
called my mom and said, “Hey, remember that thing that’s in Argentina?” She was
like, “Yeahhh?” And I said, “Yeah, like, let’s just start praying about it
together.” And I applied and they accepted me, which is crazy. My mom cried, but
she’s been really supportive and that’s been great. But yeah, it was a…my gosh,
a six year process of praying about it.
LH: Wow [laugh], so how was that praying about
something for six years and not knowing whether it’s going to come or not? Did
you have patience or faith or was it more of a struggle? What did that look
like?
BC: [She laughs
and sighs] It was…yeah, as soon as I got the acceptance letter to [UC], I was
kind of… I didn’t want to come at first. Because I really wanted to learn Spanish and do this program. But um I
knew...like the reality person in me said, “Okay, no. I have…I have to go to college.” It was hard, but
I have loved the timeline that God has given me. I’m glad that I finished
college and am now able to enjoy this part of my life. I think I’ve gotten so
much more out of the experience in Argentina than if I was 18. Because I can
look at it from a different perspective. I’ve got four years under my belt that
have helped me.
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| Photo provided by Brodie Craig Craig with the group of people studying in the Bilingual Bible Program along with her. |
LH: Can you tell me a little bit about the program?
Specifically what it is.
BC: It’s a ten
month program. We started in September and the first semester is three months
long. We have bible classes in English and we have Spanish classes to help us
learn Spanish. And then also you are thrown into the culture [she laughs]. It
was crazy the first day I got there I was like, “Whaaat?” [laughter] My roommates
speak Spanish only. And everybody that you come into contact with they speak
Spanish. So that’s different. And then you have a month long break and that is
why I’m here. So I got to come home to my family [she smiles]. And in January
it starts back up and they have camp season. We will still have Spanish classes,
but we will be helping out with the camp: program, games, Bible studies, serving
the food, cleaning the bathrooms, and everything that they need help with
during that. Then, we have a month long break during March, but we’re not
allowed to go home because we’re finishing our final exams for Spanish. Then, April
starts and we are actually inducted into the Bible institute. All Bible classes
are in Spanish.
LH: Oh wow!
BC: Yeah, [laughs]
uh no translators whatsoever. We are, right now, preparing for April so that we
can be able to understand what the professors are talking about [laughter]. That
ends in June and if you want to stay longer, you can take more classes. If you
want to stay longer, there’s three years that you can study there. I don’t know
what the Lord is calling me to do right now so it’s just another time of
praying about that. And um hopefully I can just get through April [laughter]. So
yeah, it’s an intense process, but it’s a great one.
LH: You mentioned that your first day was a bit like
“Whaaat?” [laughter] Can you explain what your first day was like?
BC: I had just
gotten off a plane ten hour flight. Argentina is a lot more south than I’d
imagined so it took ten hours to get there. I was exhausted because I didn’t
sleep a wink. And all these people came up to me and started kissing my cheek. I
was like “What is going on?! Get off me!” I’m not a touchy person just in
general even with the people that I love and even people I feel comfortable
with. But they just did that and that’s their culture and it shocked me. Also,
they gave me a key to my room, but they didn’t tell me how to work it. It looks
vastly different than keys here and you have to turn it twice. Well, I didn’t
know that. I turned it once and tried to open my door and it didn’t open. I was
so tired. I was like, “It’s me. It’s me. I’m not doing this right.” Yeah, it
was just crazy. I was exhausted, but finally I got better after like the third
day I think I was okay. I expected the kisses to come and I knew how to open
the door and stuff like that, but just little things that added up to be great.
LH: How have you adapted in the past two months? How’s
it become great?
BC: There’s still
some days when I’m like, “Okay, can you leave me alone?” But Argentines want to
be by your side, want to like really talk to you, and they don’t care about
time on a watch. They care about time with people. That’s been kind of weird
for me because I like my alone time. Other than that, I do love the culture
even though it’s a shock. It just takes some time getting used to it and two
months has been plenty of time. I was probably used to it probably by the third
week, I was good.
LH: How’s your experience been there so far? In other
things from learning in Bible classes to your friendships with your roommates?
BC: The Bible
classes have been phenomenal…of course they’ve been in English so I’ve been
able to understand them [laughter]. But they’ve been phenomenal. I’ve learned
so much and if somebody asked me, “Why are you taking a year out of your life
just to study the Bible?” I would ask, “Why aren’t you?” because I’ve learned
so much about myself and about the Bible that I never even knew. My heart has been
changed on so many things in regards to marriage and how that looks for my life
now because I was so opposed to it before doing this. And now, I’m like, “Oh, I
could get married someday” so that’s been crazy.
I’ve learned the
value of freedom of religion. We have a study on the persecuted church and I
never really thought about the persecuted church before. That sounds awful, but
it just never really came up. I never really prayed for the persecuted church.
We had a week long class on the persecuted church and we got to study them in
depth and hear facts upon facts about how many people die a day because of
being persecuted. And it just really burdened my heart and made me see that my
prayers are not where they should be going. You know, like how they’re formed.
I think realizing that there are people that actually die for their faith was
just eye opening and we need to pray for them and their safety. And also, thank
the Lord that we live in a country where we can worship freely. I think that’s
one of the great things that I learned about.
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| Photo by Brodie Craig Brodie and her roommates, Alicia, Ale, Belu, Mailen, take a selfie. |
My relationships
with my roommates has been [laughter]…it’s been fun and hard and just all
emotions mixed into one, but great. They were really supportive of me learning
Spanish and when I had a bad day they were there. Even though they couldn’t
speak English, they were there to comfort me and encourage me with Bible verses.
It’s a great community of girls in the room that I live in. Great role models
to look up to. It’s just a blessing to be with them and God knew exactly what I
needed when I arrived.
LH: What’s it been like learning Spanish?
BC: It’s been hard
[laughter], but I’ve been doing really well with writing and reading Spanish. I
can understand when people talk to me and ask questions, but the hard thing
that I have not grasped is talking in Spanish. I have days when I’m like, “Man,
I’m really not getting this. I don’t know if I ever will.” I feel like I’m not
progressing like I should or something, but then I realize, I’m not just there
to learn Spanish. It’s a great thing to do and to be there to learn.
Ultimately, I am there to strengthen my relationship with the Lord and make
connections while learning Spanish. I just have to remind myself of that daily.
LH: What does your community look like? Do you have a
church there or other friends who are students? What does that look like?
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| Photo provided by Brodie Craig Daniela, Brodie, Noe, Gabi, and Connie are all students at Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) in Argentina. |
BC: On weekends,
we do ministry. We go to the local churches and we help out with whatever they
need. If it looks like they need help with a Bible study, we do that. If they
need help cooking the food, we do that. We’ve done that a couple of times. During
the week, there’s students from, I think, every country from South America
represented at this school. I don’t just have Argentine friends. I have friends
from Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, from Brazil that speak Portuguese. I’m like, “Woah!
I’m trying to just learn Spanish right now.” A lot of cultures mixed into one.
Obviously, Argentina being the strong one. I get to hear a lot of great stores about
other countries as well.
LH: It seems like you’ve adjusted well, but what’s
been the biggest struggle after college?
BC: Letting go of
the people and the friendships that I have here. Not letting them go completely,
but not seeing them on a regular basis. I’ve made wonderful, wonderful friends
in the music building. My teachers, Dr. Smoak in particular (the chair of the
department), he was like a second father to me. He was really great actually. Today,
I got to surprise them all they didn’t know that I was coming so that was really
great. Having to be like, “Well, I’m not going to see them today or the next
day or I can’t have lunch with them today or talk about their day in person” so
that’s been the roughest thing about letting go from college life.
LH: What would you say to students
preparing for life after college?
BC:
I would say that no dream is too big to go after. I‘ve heard stories where
students have just said, “Oh, I want to do this, but I just don’t know.” But
I’m like, “No, you can do it.” Don’t limit yourself to just doing something
just because you think it’s safe. It’s scary, life after college. But it’s also
a rewarding time because you get to rely on a lot of yourself and it makes you
say, “Okay, I can do this. I am this type of person, which is really cool to see.”
Also, you don’t have to detach yourself from college like from the people and
the friendships that you made here just because you’re not going to college
anymore. I’ve heard a lot of people saying, “I’m not going to see you ever
again” and I’m like, “Wait, what?” God put those people in your life for a
reason.
LH: You said life after college is
scary, but rewarding. How has it been scary for you and what’s the reward been
like?
BC:
I’m doing something where I don’t have a job, I don’t have an income. As of
right now I’m actually paying to go to school [laughs] still. Um, so that’s
kind of really scary, but God has been really faithful and the money situation
hasn’t been an issue so far. It’s just telling people to trust God and His plan
if you follow what he wants you to do with your life. You won’t have any worry.
He’ll silence those worries. Because like coming home I was worried I wouldn’t
be able to pay for my plane ticket and it just all worked out.
LH: It sounds like you’ve grown a lot in your faith
over the years. What has been something current that God is teaching you?
BC: Currently God
is teaching me [laughter]…I would say God is teaching me to be patient. Even
though I prayed six years and I was air quotes “patient,” I was not. There’s a
difference between being patient and actually really being patient. Now in my
life, all I want to do is be on the mission field, but I know that God is
putting me in Argentina for a reason and I need to be patient and wait. That’s
what I’ve been really focused on, just to be able to be still and listen to the
Lord. I’ve never been able to do that very well. There’s been moments in my
life where I’ve been able to do it, but consistently, I haven’t really nailed
that.
LH: What would you like to do in the future with your
Bible classes that you’re taking now? I know you said that you don’t really
know what’s going to happen, but do you have an idea or a dream of anything?
BC: My biggest dream
is to be a missionary in Ecuador, build an orphanage, and teach in that
orphanage. Obviously, that will happen way
later in the future. But that’s my dream. My dream right now, after my time in
Argentina with this program, I would say is to teach English. I really want to
get my masters in teaching English to speakers of other languages.
LH: As you’re working towards being a missionary in
Ecuador and starting an orphanage, what’s your main goal in life?
BC: My main goal in
life is to meet as many people as I can so I can tell them about Jesus Christ
and how he loves them. And to help as many people as I can so I can tell them
how Jesus helped all of us by dying on the cross. To win souls to Christ is my
main goal because without Christ then, you’re not really living your life. I’ve
seen it firsthand. I’ve seen people come to know Christ. I’ve seen the
transformation that happens. It’s just a beautiful thing and how their lives
radically change.
LH: What has made you so passionate to want to share
and be a missionary somewhere to do that or just in everyday life in meeting people?
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| Photo provided by Brodie Craig Christian and Brodie smile for a photo in Ecuador. |
BC: I went to Ecuador
when I was 15. That’s where I fell in love with the culture and the country. I
met a little boy and his name was Christian. I didn’t speak any Spanish, didn’t
understand any Spanish. He didn’t understand or speak any English. But we
formed a friendship and I truly believe it was because we were both followers
of Christ. We would meet and sit on a bench. I would always bring a coke and he
would take the coke and I’d let him have it. I was just like, “Wow! You can
connect with somebody who doesn’t speak your own language through Jesus. I
think that that’s what really made me passionate about wanting everybody to
know the Lord. Now, I’m learning Spanish so I’ll be able communicate with them
[laughter] and to tell them about Jesus.
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