“Every time I think about my culture, I think about how to contribute to Biblical interpretation as a Chinese scholar, because the Eastern church and the Western church are different.” Zihan Xu, a fourth year Masters of Divinity student, was born and raised in China before moving to the United States alone during high school. Xu’s parents divorced when she was around 3-years-old; when she was12, her mother remarried. She has a stepfather and two younger half-brothers, a family dynamic which impacts Xu’s views on encouragement and excellence.  “It’s hard for us to appreciate each others’ work or to give praise,” Xu said. “I think I was trained to think…

“Because of the sanctions in Myanmar, [the process] was very hard. But God gave me the visa.”  When missiology major Yaw Bay, 33, landed in the United States after his first-ever airplane flight, his first hurdle was learning how to cross the street. Bay, who grew up in a village in Myanmar’s rural countryside with no electricity, traffic signs or cars, was understandably bewildered by Los Angeles traffic. He stood on the sidewalk for over 20 minutes before a man showed him which button to press for the crosswalk sign to light up so he could walk across the road.  Bay is the first person he knows of from his…

“Americans don’t have a culture apart from being self-centered.” Perez Balikuddembe, a student in the Crowell School of Business studying for his Masters in Business Administration, is the first person in his family to attend graduate school. Balikuddembe is from the central region of Uganda, a nation comprised of 54 tribes. In 2017, he completed his undergraduate degree in community psychology at Makerere University, a highly ranked school in Uganda that he described as the “MIT of Africa.” Then, he received an offer from a British banking institution in Uganda and worked there over six years.  When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Balikuddembe became more involved in his home church, Phaneroo…

“ I said, ‘God, if this is the best moment for you to give me the visa to go to study in the United States, you will do it.’ I went to the embassy with all my faith and they gave me a visa.” Juan Manuel Nzamio Mba Andeme was born in the village of Mitom in Equatorial Guinea. He grew up in a big family — his father had 15 children and Andeme was the youngest. He is the only one of his siblings to study in a university. Andeme explained that there were over 100 scholarships from China available to students in Equatorial Guinea, and he was one…

“It is not easy. Finance, culture shock, languages, homesick, feel alone. Sometimes I feel frustrated about the finance and the busy life.” One of the things that surprised Joshua (Janghyeok) Kim the most when he came to Biola from Seoul, South Korea was the individualistic mindset that he said pervades the university and, to some extent, the whole of American culture. In the United States, Kim said, even going out to a restaurant with friends requires prior scheduling rather than being a spontaneous group activity. “In Korea, students would all go to lunch together,” Kim said. “In America, you have to make an appointment to go with someone to lunch,…

“We’re friendly, and we want to share smiles. We want to be connected!”  Jesslyn Sudarta, a senior liberal studies and multidisciplinary major, grew up in Indonesia and has a Chinese-Indonesian heritage, which she describes with the portmanteau “Chindo.” Sudarta’s great-great grandparents immigrated to Indonesia from China, and Sudarta speaks Indonesian as her first language.  Sudarta said most of the Indonesian Biolans she has met are from west Java, but Sudarta grew up in the city of Surabaya in east Java. Sudarta explained that west Java, where Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta lies, is more business-oriented and full of high-rise buildings. Sudarta’s city in the east, Surabaya, is the second largest in…

Janna Christian, the administrative coordinator for Global Student Programs and Development (GSPD), listed a variety of services available for global students. In an email, she explained that Biola’s International Admissions team is in touch with international students prior to their arrival in the United States, and GSPD works with global students after they have landed in Los Angeles.  “Global Orientation is the primary service GSPD offers, and this includes airport pickup, help moving into dorms, informational sessions, fun community-building activities, meals together, a Target run to buy dorm supplies, help with setting up bank accounts and cell phone services and more,” Christian said.  Christian described several social events GSPD hosts…

“I never intended to come here; I just felt a strong calling from God to come here. I took small steps of faith and came to the U.S.” Carolina Mussi lived in Paraguay’s capital city, Asunción, until she came to the United States for her undergraduate degree. She spent one year in North Carolina and three years in Kansas majoring in diabetics and nutrition. She then returned to Paraguay and worked as a nutritionist for two years. When she became a Christian in Paraguay, Mussi said her desire for her life began to change and she wanted to help people grow in their walk with Jesus.  When Mussi learned about…

“It’s been a journey for sure over the past four years, but I feel like I brought a certain culture with me into the culture that was here. And it took me a while to wrangle, to blend them together or to figure out where I was. Every Third Culture Kid goes through that process.” In the Kyrgyzstan village where Aspen Haw, 22, grew up, her neighbors’ chickens often flew into her family’s yard; occasionally, an unruly goat would jump over the fence. Haw’s family worked as missionaries in Kyrgyzstan for 16 years. Haw was born in California, moved to central Asia at age two and lived in a village…