From Malaysia to Minnesota

I was born into a Christian family in Malaysia. Ever since I was young I attended church. During secondary school, I served as Sunday school teacher, Missionettes Vice President, and youth group co-leader. Each of these areas of involvement taught me how to be strong in the Lord and to let Him lead the way in my life. I realized that many children and youth are burdened with the pressures of life, family relationships, and studies, so I became a peer student counsellor and then pursued my undergraduate study in Psychology. After 3 years in Malaysia, I transferred to Bemidji State University in Minnesota for my senior year.

When I took up the challenge of doing this course of study, I told the Lord that He is my Lord and my Savior, and He has control over my life. He could use me any way He wanted. During my first semester at Bemidji (Spring 2006), I participated in an InterVarsity small group Bible study. I was interested in the way that staff Brian and Sandi conducted Bible studies and in how close the group was. That summer I went with other Malaysians to the larger Thursday night fellowship group. During my last semester, I was part of the worship team.

Just before I finished my degree, I was caught in a dilemma of choosing between going home to work or to stay on in US to reach many potential student believers. God opened the right door at the right time. Both Brian and Sandi offered me the opportunity to serve God in an area I never really expected to see myself in. God showed me that I can use my personality and my character to serve Him. I prayed about the situation fervently as this would involve me doing fund raising. This is really hard for me as I have never done anything of this sort before, and I was raised in a different Christian culture where asking for money in order to serve in a job is viewed differently. After much thinking, God reassured me via friends and family members that this is a road that I should venture into. I was convinced too, as He said to me, “Trust in Me with all your heart, and I will make your paths straight.” With all that I learned from church, and with their support, God had moved me out of my comfort zone to serve with InterVarsity as a campus intern.

It was a tough transition for me from being a student under the ministry of InterVarsity and now becoming an InterVarsity staff. I felt that I did not want to offend people, whom I considered as friends when I was still a student back in 2006. I need to learn where the boundary is between students and friends. However, it will be through these learning processes where I will be able to rely on Him more. I am glad that He has provided for me great co-workers who have many years of experience to guide and care for me.

Jesus said that to whom had been given much, much is required in Luke 12:48. I am blessed to be able to work with university students now, and to pass on the light, where I can challenge them to be living examples for Christ. It feels like I hold great responsibility to invite others into his kingdom. And I must fulfil this great calling to reach my world for Jesus.

Staff Perspective by Brian and Sandi Asker

We met Valerie during winter break of 2006. She joined other international students at our home one night and heard our invitation to Bible study for the upcoming semester. She started to attend, even when the time we met was difficult for her. Near the end of that first semester, we learned she played guitar and had sung on worship teams in the past. We began to discuss the possibility of her joining the worship team.

Leadership in our chapter includes a commitment to summer chapter camp. Val was able to attend, with the help of a scholarship. She was also involved with our summer fellowship, inviting many of her international friends to join us.

In the fall Val played electric guitar on our worship team and began attending our leadership meetings. At our fall leadership meetings we spend a lot of time talking about follow-up. Val was one of the students who always had a story about how God was leading her as she followed up with students.

At one of our leadership team meetings we were discussing the follow-up from an outreach event. Val and I both mentioned a mutual friend named Trevor we had invited to the event. We agreed to begin praying and looking for a casual opportunity to invite him to do an I-GIG . After two weeks of casually waiting for an opportunity, Val and I met together to pray for and intentionally invite him. He accepted, so each week Val and I met together to pray and prepare the study. At first I led the study but soon Val led, and we continued to meet until the end of the semester.

We’re always on the lookout for new potential staff, especially people that we enjoy working with and have shown an ability to take on tasks that are often associated with staff work. In November we began the conversation with Val about what she planned for post-graduation. Val seemed to like the idea of coming on staff, so we met with our supervisor. We gave her an application for a one year ministry intern and hired her shortly before she left for home.

Val went home to Malaysia to work another job, but also to work on her funding. We sent her home with some materials to help her raise her support. We kept in contact via instant messaging, Facebook and e-mail.

In April Val returned and we began on-the-job training as we thrust her into our spring outreach. In the second week we began having her shadow Sandi and I as we met with students and did evangelism on campus. This summer, Val is in charge of our summer fellowship and is taking on the responsibilities of leading our worship team and the international student ministry for next year.

Val has been a great addition to our staff team as we continue reaching a diverse set of students. Part of the fun of having Val on the team is that she brings a completely different perspective to our ministry. The challenge lies in translating things cross-culturally as we work together with one other American volunteer. I’m looking forward to the way we will see growth in our chapter because we have a better team.

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This article is part of the Fall 2007 issue of Internationals on Campus magazine. published by InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry.
You can make a direct financial donation to support InterVarsity’s work with international students at Bemidji State University by following this link.