by Lucy Schultze

Given the nonstop, overnight 30-hour road trip from Missoula, Montana, Sim could have made it all the way home in less time. As in, home to Malaysia.

“We were praying for clear roads all the way,” said the University of Montana student, who loaded up the day after Christmas as part of a four-Suburban caravan set on reaching St. Louis for the Urbana 09 Student Missions Conference.

“When we saw the Arch,” she said, “we were so excited.”

But there was no way to anticipate what the week-long conference would hold for Sim and the two other international students who came along as part of the 30-member contingent from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Montana.

All three international women had signed up for Urbana on a last-minute invitation, an opportunity made possible through scholarships. They were part of the International Students Track, a dedicated section of the conference which brought together some 80 nations in one hotel for special sessions and fellowship.

For Sim, it was the late-night prayer sessions among different country groups that revealed a new image of the Kingdom of God. She and fellow Malaysians gathered in prayer with students from Thailand and Indonesia, despite the regional and historical tensions that exist among their countries.

In a room nearby, students from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan united in prayer despite similar strains. And on one night, Japanese students — burdened with their nation’s history of regional aggression — hosted a time of prayer and reconciliation among all the Asian groups represented in the track.

“We prayed for each other’s countries and felt like we all have the same objective and purpose,” Sim said. “I know now that we really are one nation.”

Fellow Montana student Maryam, a native of Iraq, found her vision of the Kingdom similarly stretched through opportunities to meet and listen to fellow believers who share strong connections to the Muslim world.

“That was a surprise to me,” she said. “I was born in a Christian family, but it was so very exciting to learn new things and meet new people here.”

The interactions and presentations at Urbana also delivered surprises for Yin, a native of Myanmar who came along with the Montana group despite strong last-minute hesitations. What she now sees as a battle of the soul in the days leading up to Urbana felt at the time like “a snowstorm in my mind,” she said — so much that she’d practically decided not to come.

As it turned out, she said, God had a powerful message in store for her at Urbana. “I heard God’s voice, and he answered all my questions,” she said, echoing the hope that brings so many young people to Urbana as they seek their life’s calling. For Yin, the questions were particularly acute.

“Some answers I’ve been waiting for, for more than a decade,” she said. “I always questioned: ‘Why was I born into a Buddhist family? Why do I have to face so many hardships to trust God?’”

The answers didn’t come in a straightforward revelation but, rather, piece-by-piece, through a week’s worth of talks, seminars, testimonies and prayer. It was like an awakening when Yin connected the conference’s overriding theme — that of Christ’s incarnation and what his model of ministry means for his followers — with the unique calling for which she’d been equipped. Namely to return, with a new perspective, to the home she’d left behind.

“Now my mission is really clear, and I know where I’m headed,” Yin said. “My culture is very different from America, and the way my people see religion is very different. But I am able to see from their perspective when I share the Gospel.”

Click here to see other stories and media from the Urbana 09 International Students Track