Loving and Being Loved in Fullness: Jennifer’s Story

“It was more comfortable to just be white than it was to embrace my ethnic identity,” Jennifer said. 

Raised in a church that was heavy on legalism and dismissive about grace, Jennifer thought God wanted her to fit in a box. She didn’t think she’d be accepted as her genuine self at church, so she got used to suppressing certain parts of her identity, including her Japanese heritage. 

As she started college at West Virginia University, the hurt Jennifer experienced festered into mistrust for God, though she chose to stay a Christian because “hell was too scary.” 

It wasn’t until she found InterVarsity that she encountered God’s true character… and the fullness of who he created her to be.

God’s Global Heart

Jennifer met Jeremy, an InterVarsity staff, at the local church she was attending. He invited her to the InterVarsity international student ministry, and though she declined, he continued to invite her every week for a year and a half.

Due to his persistence, she finally said yes her sophomore year. 

Jennifer’s first InterVarsity event impacted her deeply. The chapter had a weekly tradition of providing funds and resources for an international student to cook a meal from their home country to share with the rest of the chapter. 

“I felt in my heart God telling me, ‘This makes me so happy,’” Jennifer remembers. “What was special about it is it wasn’t some person preaching Jesus. It wasn’t a bunch of people singing worship songs. It was people from all over the world gathering together, some of them Christians, some of them of different faiths or no faith at all, just embracing hospitality and love for each other and embracing their cultures.”

Jennifer got involved in the chapter, and in this diverse and forgiving community, she felt she could finally embrace being Japanese. 

“I don’t need to be diminished or whitewashed because I’m half-Japanese or because I don’t speak Japanese or because I have an American accent. I can embrace [my differences] and talk about them in the ways I want to talk about them. I don’t have to fit in a box to make other people feel comfortable,” Jennifer learned.

Leading with Hospitality 

When Jennifer became a junior, she was invited to intern with her InterVarsity chapter. Curious about pursuing ministry, she accepted and became the main student leader in her chapter. She was committed to showing the same hospitality she experienced to international students on campus.

“We know that God is a global God, and he loves all of the world. And so, we were creating a space for [international students] to be with other people who share their experience and encounter God,” Jennifer said. “We were showing them the love and heart of Jesus, even if we weren’t outwardly speaking.”

Her heart for international students made a big impression. One day, an international student pulled Jennifer aside and asked her a question.

“You’re driving me around and bringing me shopping and helping me with all these things. I feel like no one ever does that. Why do you care so much?” the student asked.

“Because I love you,” Jennifer responded. “I’ve experienced the love of Jesus, and I want to share that.”

When she left, the student shared how much this meant to her. “I don’t think I’m going to remember a lot of Americans, but you’re one of the Americans I’m going to remember,” she told Jennifer.

The Next Chapter

As she approached graduation, Jennifer realized she wanted to continue with InterVarsity as a full-time staff, proclaiming that, “it’s incredible to work for a ministry that acknowledges the vastness of God.”

She started touring campuses and felt called to an Asian American chapter at Ohio State University. Jennifer finds it special that she now gets to be Asian American in a space that is specifically Asian American.

“I was seeing a lot of the things I had to work through these last few years in those students, and I was seeing their desire for a spiritual leader,” she said. “I’m going to get to love students in the way that I was so gracious to be loved.”

Since her official transition to full-time staff in January of 2026, Jennifer has already received confirmation that this is where God wants her to be. After only four months, she is celebrating being 60% funded. 

“If we are all created in God’s image, but we are different, then how vast is our God that all of us can be so unique and yet so mirroring of who he is!” Jennifer said. “He made me Japanese American. That has influenced the way I connect with Jesus and the body of Christ.”

Support Jennifer’s ministry at OSU here!