by Lucy Schultze

Is it a hindrance to ever truly feeling at home, or a means to better connect with a diverse world?

For children of missionaries and others whose heritage spans more than one nation, the experience of growing up in a third-culture context is all of that and more.

“I don’t feel truly Indian or American,” said Julie, whose American father and Indian mother adopted her and her sister, Tricia, in Nepal.

Together they came to the International Students Track at Urbana 09 as one more step toward becoming comfortable in their unique identities and finding out how God might use their experience for his Kingdom’s sake.

“It’s amazing to see how God brings people from all over the world to this place,” said Tricia, an 11th grader in high school in Michigan.

The chance to connect with other missionary kids (MKs) as well as students from nearly 80 different countries was a high point for those who gathered in the International Lounge for a special meet-up among those from third-culture backgrounds.

“I’ve always felt more comfortable in the company of other internationals,” said Sara, a child of American missionary parents who grew up in Africa until age 17. She connected with InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry (ISM) during her senior year of college and today serves on ISM staff in California. Looking back, she can see that growing up as a missionary kid equipped her for a special calling.

“I had an American passport — but I felt like an international student,” she said. “Now I have the opportunity to welcome other international students, to walk them through the transitions they face and to provide a safe place for them. I’d like to go overseas someday, but meanwhile I’ve had such an opportunity to serve students from different backgrounds right here in the U.S.”

The question of whether to stay or go often comes down to a thin line of discernment, between feeling called to overseas missions and simply feeling homesick.

“The Lord calls us to surrender all,” said Abe, who was raised as a missionary kid in Brazil. “Before he opens doors elsewhere, his soul-searching hard question to the MK may often be, ‘Are you willing to stay in the U.S.?’ God wants us to trust in his care and allow him to align our will with his.”

After spending 13 years of his youth in South America, Abe returned to the States for his senior year of high school — only to find how wide the gap had grown between him and his peers. They were talking cars; he’d been riding a public bus. They were playing football and baseball, when all he knew was soccer.

Today, living and working in Joplin, Missouri, he can see how the sport he came to love in his youth now gives him the opportunity to forge new relationships within the international student community in his area. “I’ve found playing soccer has been a means of reaching out cross-culturally,” he said.

For Esther, the difficult transition in returning to the US from the United Arab Emirates came at a difficult age — 13. The experience of finding her place among American peers in middle school was a lonely journey. But she sees now that learning to truly rely on God as a friend and companion was a gift in itself. So, too, are her memories of worshiping in the multinational congregation her family was part of in Abu Dhabi. At least 35 other nationalities were represented in their weekly gatherings.

“Now that I look back on it, I see how that experience was really preparing me to have a heart for all the nations,” she said. As she continues weighing how her early experiences will shape her future calling, she is at home in an accepting community of believers at the university she attends.

“For me, InterVarsity has completely been a godsend,” she said. “It’s been like a second family. Although most of the other girls are Americans and not MKs, they make the effort to understand internationals and to understand me.”

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