By Bethany Hi! I'm Bethany. I work for the international ministry. Why international? Because--Well, I'm not too sure. I first came to GCF, Great Commission Fellowship, 4 years ago. I was actually wanting to go and was waiting for the opportunity to come up. I was interested in it because since I was 13 I began studying other cultures and languages. I was no genius, I honestly sucked at speaking. I am so glad no one was around when I practiced. But now, it's my strength! The only thing to got me plugged into that was from anime and video games. I just thought it was cool at the time. It took 2½ years to hear the difference in other languages and to have the ability tell them apart. I was pretty slow. Still, everything was new to me and I loved to learn more.In high school, I would watch for any foreign students. Mostly Asian, because that was what I knew the most about and had the most questions for. I went as far as asking teachers to keep watch for me in their classrooms for exchange students, because I was desperate to meet some. I was just starving to meet anyone. But the ones I did meet, I was the person that they saw and talked to the most that was American. I had no question in my mind they thought I was weird or strange. Nothing like bear-hugging a Korean, where in their country only close families members hug. Haha!When I was asked to come and visit GCF bible study I was so excited. During the meets, I would zone-out all the time staring at the students thinking how awesome they were just being from another country. Although, I did try to study on what they were saying. It took lots of focus to do it. When I would talk to them, it was awkward. So awkward. I remember I was talking to Lin, a Chinese student, a few years ago and we just awkwardly laughing for 5 minutes because we thought the other would say something first to start the conversation. We were both blank out of topics to ask and mistakenly leaned on each other. I learned that they were all somewhat like that. It made it easier for me because I was already awkward. I had already lost many potential relationships because of my awkwardness and learned to embrace it when talking to the students. It was their normal.Small group and chatting was my favorite time. The internationals had many questions to ask. They were open to Christianity and this was new to them. The questions they ask were ones I could answer. Not those questions from atheist where their intent was to bash everything. I remember one visiting scholars 2 years ago looked at me, pointed his finger and said "You are my teacher". At that time, I didn't feel like I was being taken seriously because of my age,16-17. It made my heart smile deep with those words spoken to me. If had to pick between Americans and internationals, I would pick internationals. It is hard for me to love Americans the same as internationals, but I am working on it.To me, internationals are just easier to communicate with than Americans. Maybe, because I can connect with them more, they are new to Christianity and open to it, or they are just interesting kind of funny, because of the language and culture barriers are everywhere. .The only thing that sucks about international students and scholars is seeing them leave, going back to their home country. But now you have a place to stay when you visit <3
