Brodie Craig: waiting on God's timing as she's living in Argentine time

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?

                                                     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.

                                                     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.

                                                                    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?

                                                    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?

                                                     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.

Q&A with Yu Guo (Lily) and her life as an international student in a small town

Q&A with Yu Guo (Lily)

Yu Guo (better known as her chosen American name, Lily) opens her door sleepily. Her face looks shocked as she remembers that she’s being interviewed today. She just woke up from a nap like most college students do in the afternoon after a busy school day. She welcomes me into her room, sits on the unmade bed and we begin discussing her life.

Originally from Fengcheng, Jiangxi, China, Lily will be spending her 19th birthday away from home on March 10. She was 17 when she started at University of the Cumberlands and has been away from home for two years. She is a sophomore studying business as her major and communications as her minor at UC. She wants to be in the hotel or book business or perhaps pursue something in communications.

                                                                   Photo provided by Lily
STARS (Student Trained And Ready leaders of freshman)
 Anna Clayton, Katie Turk, Sara Donahue and Lily
at UC Freshman Orientation July 2014.

Lily can most always be seen with a smile on her face. She’s learning to manage her time better as she takes care of residents as a Resident Assistant in ArcherHall. Though life can be boring in a small town, she enjoys going hiking, hanging out with her friends in Lexington or Knoxville, or just talking in the room.

Lily reflected on life in China and the transition to life at University of the Cumberlands as an international student. She also gave advice on how Americans and international students should interact.            

Lydia Huggins: Lily, what is life like back home in China where you're from?

Yu Guo: I'm from a small town in China. We call it a small town, but one million people live in my small town. In China, it’s a small town. In China, big cities are supposed to have three to five million people. In my small town, we get everything. We have a very big shopping mall. It’s like typical city life. It's very convenient because you can walk to anywhere. Parents drive. Young people walk or ride a bike.

LH: What is your family life like in China?

                                                                   Photo provided by Lily
Lily with her friends Maoshu Nie and Rong Jin
at Xia Men's Beach in summer of 2013.

YG: In China, we have the one kid policy. We have one kid in our family that is why we are closer to our friends since we all don’t have brothers or sisters.

My family, my dad works for the government and my mom works for an insurance company. I think my family is very, very sweet. I really like them, but most of the time when I’m back home, I study.

In China, high school is very, very stressful. College life is super easy. Basically, you only have one exam, final, and you just need to pass it. There is only a pass or not pass. There are no A, B, C, D’s and things like that. In high school, we have to get to school at 6 a.m. and we're released after 10:30 at night. It’s not just in my hometown. Most of the city did.

LH: What do you do for fun?

YG: Actually, we don't have weekends. This is not every school, this is my school. Some schools get one day off or two days off. We get a half day off. Normally, we watch a movie. We like the movie theater to watch movies or go shopping with friends. It's not really shopping just hanging out. I think that is all. It's very boring.

LH: How did you find out about University of the Cumberlands?

YG: At that time, my family didn't plan for me to go to America. It was a surprise decision. Only Cumberlands gave me a scholarship. Other schools were super expensive. We have no idea what it looked like. We never heard of Kentucky. The only thing we heard from Kentucky is KFC.

LH: That was my next question. What did you think Kentucky was going to be like?

YG: Honestly, we Googled it because we really didn't know. We asked my cousin because he’s the only one [we know who] lives in America. He lives in California. He said it's kind of poor and in the south. Basically, we had no idea.

My dad tried to like it because he didn't want to send me to a very poor area. He described Kentucky to me as very good. Google said Kentucky has the best whiskey and derby is very, very famous.

It’s very different from China because in China I only went to the countryside like maybe five times in my whole life. I lived in the city every day so [Kentucky’s] very different from the place I grew up.

LH: What was the biggest surprise when you came here?

YG: In China, I've never seen a city or a town that only has a Walmart [laughter]. They don't have any shopping malls or any busses. People can only drive or walk, but it's not convenient. Even going to the hospital, you have to go Corbin and you always need a driver.

LH: What have you most enjoyed or gotten a laugh about from culture shock? 

YG: I think people are very nice and happy. They make me feel happy. In China, people are too busy and too stressed every day. I really like American culture. Americans are funnier. Asians are more serious because there are too many people in Asian countries. They have strong competition there. That makes life a lot harder.

LH: What was the transition from living in a very busy city to living in a small town?

YG: Okay, first off is the language. When I first came here, I was so nervous. When people talked to me, I couldn’t understand "What's up?" In China, we only learn proper English grammar, reading and some other things. When people ask me "What's up?" I have no idea because what I learned was "How are you?" "I’m good and you?" [laughter]. That is a classic sentence.

I made friends. They teach me a lot of things. I have classes and I get used to speaking English, like now.

Environment is a little different. No, it's not a little. It’s a big difference. In the city, people are super busy and they don't care what you do. Here, people are nicer than people in China. [People here are] very polite when you walk on the street. Even the people you don't know, they will smile at you. That will never happen in China. Don't smile to people when you go shopping because people will think you are weird.

People are kind of cold in China. They are aggressive. If you do something by accident, they will get mad. They will speak out. Here, professors and friends are all polite. They will not say something if it will hurt you. In China, professors can say "You are so stupid" or "I don't think you can handle school stuff. You can just go back home and stay with your parents." They can say something like that even in public.

I will say China is a very aggressive country. It’s a little bit like New York City. They only care about themselves. They don't care how hard you work. They only care about the result.

LH: What is the thing that you miss most from home?

                            Photo provided by Lily
Lily and her parents, Tai Guo and Jiping Chen,
 saying goodbye in Shanghai
before she leaves for UC the summer of 2013.

YG: My parents. That’s all. I’m the person that can really handle the food. It’s not a big deal for me. Even though, first semester I cared about the food part, I get used to it very quickly. I miss my family that’s all. Family and friends are very, very important to me. I wish I could stay with them and hang out with them. I haven’t seen my family for two years. I already booked the tickets, I’m going to fly to China in May and stay there the whole summer and come back here in August.

LH: What has been a major struggle coming to a foreign school (besides the language)?

YG: Maybe, not too many friends at first. All freshmen feel lonely and homesick. I used to have very good friends in China. Since I came here, I talk to them and there are not many common topics. Also when I talk with American, there are also not many common topics. I really feel lonely. Even now, I don't know how to start a very interesting conversation with an American or with my friends back home. They all go to Chinese universities and I’m here. Everything is different.

Americans don't know what it’s like in China. A lot of Americans they don't have any interest to learn about it.

LH: Since you’ve been transitioning pretty well in America, what advice would you give to American students on interacting with international students to help their transition be better?

YG: I think Americans should be curious. They need to be curious about other countries. A lot of students just don’t care. At least you’re curious, interested, and you start to ask questions. I’m pretty sure internationals are waiting to answer those questions. It’s a very good start to a conversation.

And respect. Respect the difference. Some Americans respect the difference. Sometimes they look like [life in China is] unbelievable or something. For American stuff, I feel [like it’s] unbelievable, but I will not let it show up on my face. That is a point internationals don’t like.

LH: How would you encourage new international students to interact with American students?

YG: Same thing, I think they should show interest about American culture and try to learn something from them. Be more curious about American country, read and study about them. Then you can have discussions. Everyone I meet is important for my life because you never know what you can learn from them.

LH: What do you and your friends talk about?

YG: Movies, about professors, class, school stuff, political stuff, the news, especially if American news is connected with China that would be a good conversation. I never talk about books because I haven't read a lot of American books so far.

My friends will talk with me about Jesus and religion. That is a deep conversation. What is life? If I don't know what I should do, I talk with friends. People always need to change about themselves and follow Jesus.

LH: That brings me to my next question. How has UC's focus on faith affected you?

YG: Most Chinese, we don't have any religion. This school since we have convocation and when we pray before a test, that makes me think of who is Jesus, what is Christian? It’s the beginning, I think. They have a very big influence on me, but I still doubt some things. I used to think I was a Christian like one year ago since all of my friends are very serious Christians. I still have some questions and doubts. It stopped me.

LH: Why did the doubt stop you?

YG: It's easy and complicated. All Christians think that God makes people. That is something that I don’t get because in my life when we learn something in biology class we learned people originated from monkeys. They say God made everything like mountains, oceans and everything natural. We think nature is because of evolution. That is a big question and doubt for me. That is the point that stopped me from being a Christian.

LH: What is your main goal in life? What do you hope to achieve?

YG: I really care about career. People always think we should care about family and never worry about that part. I have a very sweet family. I’ve never really had family issues. I don’t have any trouble with friends or family. I need to chase after the career now because I didn’t do a very good job on that so far. The other part I think I already do very well so I’m not worried about it.

LH: You're a business major and communications minor, but you like journalism too. Do you want to pursue that?

YG: If I went to a Chinese university, I will learn that or at least put it as my minor. I’m really good at writing in Chinese.

I used to write for a magazine when I was younger. It was a big deal in my hometown. I became kind of famous after my article was published in a very big magazine. Even though there's few people who read your article, your name is out there. That is one thing that I'm really proud of myself in my whole life, so far.

LH: What do you want to do after college? Will you stay in America, go back to China, or get your Master’s degree?

YG: I have to get my master's degree because if I graduated from here and when I look for a job in China they won't know University of the Cumberlands. It’s not a famous university and they will not hire me. [In America] for internationals, they really care about what university you graduated from because they don't know your background. This is the only background you have.

LH: What kind of career do you want to chase after?

YG: I really want to be a reporter. It’s my dream, but I’m not sure that it can come true. I can study business. Maybe business will connect with news or I can work for a famous company.

I don’t know how to start to be a reporter, especially in America because the background is so different. For now in my young age, I think business will be better. I will be better at business than journalism. Maybe when I get older, when I can speak English just like an American, I will start to do journalism. I try to have a different job, a different dream to make life more interesting because you never know when something will change your life.

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Yu Guo’s (Lily’s) life as an international student in a small town

Yu Guo (better known by her chosen American name, Lily) opens her door sleepily. Her face looks shocked as she remembers that she’s being interviewed today. She just woke up from a nap like most college students do in the afternoon after a busy school day. She is welcoming as always, sits on the unmade bed and begins discussing her life.

Originally from Fengcheng, Jiangxi, China, Lily came to University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, when she was 17 and has been away from home for two years. She was astonished at the thought of a small town of 6,000 people in Kentucky because to her, her hometown of one million people is small.

“It is very different from China because in China I only went to the countryside like maybe five times in my whole life,” said Lily. “I lived in the city every day so [Kentucky’s] very different from the place I grew up. In China, we have the one kid policy. We have one kid in our family that is why we are closer to our friends since we all don’t have brothers or sisters.”

Lily, a sophomore business major and communication minor at UC, can most always be seen with a smile on her face. She loves to laugh and is the life of the party according to her friend, Allie Washing, a senior psychology major at UC. Even though life is sometimes boring in a small town, she enjoys hiking, reading Chinese poetry and other books, writing, watching movies, hanging out with her friends in Lexington or Knoxville, or just talking in the dorm room.

“Every night, she would come in my room and we would have the longest talks and I just loved that,” said Washing. “We just really connected and got really close through our conversations.”

Lily and Washing’s conversations started over a simple question about games that kids play in China. Washing is a part of UC’s International Student Ministries, a group for international and American students to interact at different events and build friendships. ISM were planning a game night for the international students. Washing asked Lily about Chinese games that they could play and from then on they were friends.

“I think Americans should be curious,” said Lily. “They need to be curious about other countries. A lot of students just don’t care. At least you’re curious, interested, and you start to ask questions. I’m pretty sure internationals are waiting to answer those questions. It’s a very good start to a conversation.”

After the first conversation about Chinese games, Lily talked to Washing even more about her culture.

Coming from a city of one million, Lily is used to walking most everywhere and encountering people in the city who don’t smile. She experienced culture shock when people in the South would smile at her, even if they didn’t know her.

“Environment is a little different,” said Lily. “No, it's not a little. It’s a big difference. In the city people are super busy and they don't care what you do. Here, people are nicer than people in China. They make me feel happy. In China, people are too busy and too stressed every day. I really like American culture. Americans are funnier. Asians are more serious because there are just too many people in Asian countries. They have strong competition there. That makes life a lot harder.”

Lily’s friend, Yuko Baba, a business administration major at UC from Saitama, Japan, understands her experience. They met each other for the first time in the Knoxville airport when they were travelling to UC. They bonded over both being international students, taking English as a second language class together, and just hanging out and getting to know each other. They study together and encourage each other as they go through the struggles and joys of college.

“She’s really thoughtful and kind,” said Baba. “She’s open to people which makes it easier to talk to her. She gave me a letter on my birthday and the content of the letter was so thoughtful. It was touching to me.”

                                                                    Photo provided by Lily
Left to right and top to bottom: Brandi Bray, Lily,
Allie Washing, Jasmine Newport, Rebekah Henderson, Kaylee Crawford,
Sydney Freeman, Ashley Smith, and Haylie Turner.
in the Gatliff Chapel for Spotlight (UC's singing competition)
in spring 2014.

Lily’s friendships are important to her. Her friendship and thoughtfulness has influenced her friends’ lives as they have influenced her life here at UC. She didn’t have any religion in China, but here she’s surrounded with the Christian faith at UC.

“Since [at this school] we have convocation and we pray before a test, that makes me think of who is Jesus, what is Christianity?” said Lily. “My friends are a very big influence on me, but I still doubt some things. I still have some questions and doubt. All Christians say God made everything like mountains, oceans and everything natural. We think nature is because of evolution. That is the point that stopped me from being a Christian.”

Even through the differences, Lily’s friends at UC have helped her to transition well. When she first came here, she struggled with the informal English language because she had only learned formal English.

A struggle that most college students deal with is homesickness. Lily hasn’t been home for two years so homesickness is even worse for her. 

“[I miss] my parents,” said Lily. “That’s all. I’m the person that can really handle the food. It’s not a big deal for me. I miss my family that’s all. Family and friends are very, very important to me. I wish I could stay with them and hang out with them.”

Although, she still misses her family and friends from home. She has found a family in her friends at UC.

“She’s really brave and courageous for coming over to this country,” said Allie Washing. “She inspires me so much. We need people in our lives. I think, she really feels somewhat at home when she’s able to go to one of her friend’s home rather than just staying at school. She knows she has family in America too because of her friends.”

####

Q&A with Abbey Cherry

        Abbey Cherry is a spunky, fun-loving young writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. She can most often

 

be found laughing and having a good time with friends. Her more serious side is founded in her

 

joyful faith in God.

        Cherry is working towards her bachelor degree in Journalism and Public Relations with a minor in Missions and Ministry as a senior at the University of the Cumberlands, a Southern Baptist school in Williamsburg, Ky.

        While UC's known as a Christian school, Cherry recognizes that not everyone at UC is a Christian. She has a passion to live out her faith and get other students excited about God and sharing the gospel with others.

         Cherry has done so by being involved in Baptist Campus Ministries for all of her four years at UC, ministering at Disciple Now and being involved in Appalachian Ministries. She has also been a small group leader and a resident assistant for two and a half years. She shares her faith through her articles on her blog and for UC's campus newspaper, The Patriot.

        I spoke to Cherry about her inspiration for writing, how she gets readers hooked, and the importance of being passionate about what you’re writing.

 

Lydia Huggins: How long have you been writing?

Abbey Cherry:  Looking back, I started really writing in middle school. I was always on a platform academically, athletically, socially, within the church, etc. So I always had to watch how I responded to situations because eyes were always on me. Therefore, I started writing just as a way to get my mind clear of stuff. Through high school I began really channeling my writing and discovered, “Hey maybe I can do something with this.”

LH: What inspires you to write?

AC: Whatever I’m passionate about. If there’s something that I really enjoy, then I’m going to put all my emotion that I can into it. That’s what I do in my writing, find something that I can connect with and the words just come.

LH: What makes you passionate?

AC: If you’re going to write about something, you have to write about something you’re passionate about. For me, faith comes up in everything that I do. My faith is a huge aspect of who I am and it evidences itself in my writing.

LH: Why do you feel so passionate about faith-based writing?

AC: God is involved in every aspect of our lives. I believe there is a story to be told whether it has to do with sports or even with something as serious as the weather, like a hurricane or something. There’s always a story there of someone saying, “God got me through this.” Faith and God is in every aspect of our lives. We just need to be looking for Him.

LH: How do you get people who don’t have faith interested in your writing?

AC: When I write about faith, I’m not putting God up on a platform. It’s writing about things that people are interested in. Writing about say the football team, who this past season went undefeated, that is a story that people want to know about. In writing it, I incorporated how Bible studies were being started. You take a hot topic and you’re not shoving Jesus down their throat, but you are still incorporating a faith-based element to your human-interest piece.

LH: Do you think that your stories have much impact?

AC: I’ve gotten emails from faculty members. I had one just a couple of weeks ago. Somebody emailed me asking if they could run a story that I wrote, in their hometown newspaper. It’s really awesome to know, hey, people are reading this. When someone retweets, “Hey, check this article out that Abbey wrote.” That’s really awesome and for any writer getting readership is always huge, especially when they’re complimenting you on the piece.

LH: What was your first published story and how have you improved since then?

AC: I wrote for my school newspaper in high school. I had a piece that went to a small town newspaper. It was a funny piece on black Friday shopping. That was the first time I realized that I could be funny with my writing and people would appreciate it. As far as the school [UC], I’ve written for The Patriot. Gosh, I look back at some of my earlier pieces and I’m like oh my gosh that is so embarrassing [laughter]. I have grown as a writer. That comes with experience. The more you write the more you’re going to become more acquainted with finding your style and voice.

LH: You mentioned that you write faith-based stories, but you also said something about funny stories. What is your favorite story that you have written and why?

AC: I’d probably have to say, a four-page feature story that I wrote about when I went to Uganda. It is probably my favorite piece. Again, faith was a huge aspect of that. I wrote about a very hot topic talking about Joseph Kony, a guy that was raiding all these villages in Uganda, killing people left and right. I had an interaction with one of the girls affected by those village raids. I had an amazing conversation with her while I was in Uganda and I felt that her story was worth sharing because through everything that she had encountered, her faith in God grew so much through that. Those are the stories that are worth sharing, people that are overcomers and defeating the odds. There was a lot of emotion that I put into that story and it was something that I personally really connected with. As far as readership, the most feedback I’ve gotten on a story was from one I didn’t think was that great. It was the “Guns and God” article that I wrote. I found out that there was a professor on campus using it for an English class. I got about six different emails on that article. For whatever reason, I guess because we’re in Kentucky, they like their guns and they like their God so it went over fairly well.

LH: I know you have some background in video journalism. Do you prefer video or writing Journalism?

AC: Definitely writing. It’s really awesome to be creative with video journalism. It’s inspired me for creating kind of a ministry out of it; not really sharing factual news story per say, but telling stories in a creative way, visually. That is something that I really did like, but as far as straight news stories that’s really not my cup of tea. You won’t find me at channel five anytime soon [laughter].

LH: What are your plans after graduation?

AC: Church answer, wherever God leads. I am in a social media class and lately one thing that I’ve been really fascinated with is the idea of combining online based content: social media and blogging with the church. We can connect these two forms with my two passions writing and faith. With the growing social media age that we have, there’s a huge platform for sharing Christ in a new and creative way. I’m really excited about getting involved in that exploding field.

LH: I know you’re a faith-based writer, but would you consider writing in a secular work place and how would you incorporate your faith-based writing there, if so?

AC: I would consider writing anywhere. It’s like I said, you can find faith and God in any aspect of your life. Sports have always been a huge interest to me. If I wanted to write about sports, I would definitely pursue that. How would I incorporate faith? You can get your point across in a very subtle way. One thing that does aggravate me, and I think is something where the church is really wrong, is shoving Jesus down people’s throat, which is why I am such a big fan of Relevant Magazine. They take Jesus into the culture in such a beautiful way. But as a writer, you’re taught to be creative. You learn to find aspects in stories where you can just put a little blurb of the message of Christ in there. If we just come up with creative ways to do so then the message of Christ will get out whether it’s simply sharing about his love and his grace.

LH: It seems pretty easy how you put in Christ subtly through your writings because that’s what inspires you to write is your faith, but what is the biggest challenge that you face as a young writer?

AC: We live in a world where the church has a very bad image. For me, wanting to write about faith and about God there is a challenge because people don’t necessarily want to read it. At the same time, that’s also the driving force for me: finding how can I relay this message in a relevant culture driven way. As much as it is a challenge, it’s also a driving force for me saying let’s show people that God is in all aspects of their life, whether they want to admit it or not, He’s there.

LH: What kind of advice and encouragement can you give to other young writers?

AC: Find what you’re passionate about and go for it. You can write about anything. I know there are magazines out there for if you’re a donkey owner or there are magazines for boats just like all this random stuff. There’s a target audience out there for you. Find whatever it is you’re passionate about and pursue that with all that you have. If you, as a writer, are not passionate and don’t believe in what you’re writing, then your readers will never believe as well. Own what you’re writing and give it everything that you’ve got from there.