Editor’s Note: SOLA Network is excited to present a 4-part series focused on connecting international students with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This series is written by Karisa You, a volunteer at Bridges International—a branch of Cru committed to serving and engaging international students. We hope you are encouraged by her stories to support and connect with ministries geared toward international students.1
You can read her story below or listen to her read her words through the embedded YouTube video or via our Podcast. This article is also featured in the latest edition of our SOLA Network Magazine.
“Karisa, this is Daisy. She just arrived from China and has been wanting to visit a church here. Maybe she can go with you?”
I looked up from my dinner as Cheri, the Bridges International* student ministry director, introduced me to the sweet-looking girl with black hair and glasses.
“Sure, Daisy!” I shook her hand. “I have one extra spot in my car this Sunday.”
Daisy came with us to church that week and the next. After her second Sunday, my friend Claire and I offered her a Bible, which she eagerly accepted, as she had been wanting one. Since she’d never read one before, we invited her over after church to read it together.
Instead, we ended up giving a two-hour overview from Genesis to Revelation. After we finished, Daisy looked at us in amazement.
“How do I have this relationship with God?” she asked earnestly.
That afternoon at my kitchen table, Daisy prayed, “God, I have lived in China for many years, and I always wanted to know you but felt you were distant. I knew you were bringing me to the U.S. to learn about you, and now I feel you are close. And I am so appreciative. Thank you for Claire and Karisa who showed me how to know you. I want to live the rest of my life for you. I want to live with you.”
It was March 4, which Daisy called the perfect “new birthday,” as she loved the number four. That next year, Daisy nearly finished the New Testament and bravely shared the Gospel with her family and professors in America.
One evening, we were reading how Jesus is the light of the world when Daisy looked up and said, “I used to think the whole world was dark before I came here. Now I know there is a Light.”
That night, I had her write out all her sins on a piece of paper. Afterward, we wrote “TETELESTAI” across her sins in big letters and ripped the paper into tiny shreds. In ancient Rome, criminals would have parchment describing all their sins nailed to their jail doors so people could walk by and point, saying, “See? This person deserves jail!” If someone was willing to bail the criminal out, the government would write “TETELESTAI” (“it is finished” or “paid in full”) across the parchment and rip it up before releasing the criminal. There was no longer any legal record standing against this person to condemn them.
When Jesus died on the cross, He proclaimed, “TETELESTAI,” before breathing His last (John 19:28-30). Our sins were paid in full by a God who loves us dearly. Daisy later told me that it felt like magic to witness us rip that paper and tell her that her sins were forever forgiven—that she was a new person. How could it be that all her sins were washed away and forgiven by God forever?
Or as Daisy remarked, “How could my miserable soul receive such freedom all of a sudden?”
Months later, Daisy shared with me, “I want to grow as fast as I can in the kingdom of God.”
God heard her prayer—I’d never seen a believer grow so quickly. Years later, I continued to hear of the amazing things God was doing through Daisy. Living in a building full of international students, Daisy started an apartment Bible study so other students could learn about God’s love. She invited me to give the same overview I’d given to her that first day in my kitchen to all the international students in her building. The room could not have been more packed as students from all over the world marveled at the God who loves us enough to give His own Son.
Daisy prayed for a sister in her building, and it wasn’t long before God brought a fellow believer to partner in sharing the Gospel and bringing students to church (which Daisy attends three times a week). Daisy fasts and prays to grow closer to God and has since taught us much about trusting Jesus with our whole lives.
Feeling intense pain after realizing how much of her hometown lives without knowledge of Truth, Daisy decided to become a missionary to her own country to share about the God whose love changed her world. Growing up, Daisy had a painful relationship with distant father. After being loved by the most perfect Father, Daisy not only forgave but loves her earthly father again. Though she was hurt by friends, she’s realized she desired a perfect friend who wasn’t human and can forgive others in response. She searched for the perfect boyfriend until she met the one who calls her His royal bride (Psalm 45). She thought a Buddhist professor was the smartest until she learned from the Good Shepherd, the wisest in the universe. She clung to Buddhism before discovering that its unattainable search for nothingness left her empty—Jesus set her free and gave her eternal life and forgiveness.
I love reading Daisy’s heartfelt testimony. After being a Christian for many years, I get caught up in religiosity and perfectionism, but it isn’t about that—it’s about this amazing, kind God who loves us and paid for our sins personally because He wanted us that much. It’s knowing Him as deeply as we can and spending time with Him in organic relationships where He’s not intimidated by our mess and wants to hear it all. He’s not merely a theoretical solution but available to satisfy us now.
God is changing lives like Daisy’s across campuses today. People are yearning for Truth, and if we are willing to open our eyes and mouths, God will gladly point us to them. We don’t always get to see the work that He’s doing, but we trust that there’s always more going on under the surface, and we don’t have to cross oceans to see lives transformed by the Gospel—just our neighborhood streets, apartment hallways, and college campuses.
*Bridges International is a branch of Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) focused on reaching international students with God’s love. The club is run by volunteers who desire to see the nations transformed by the Gospel, as an overwhelming majority of international students in the U.S. are from closed nations with less than 1% Christianity. Although many of these students will become world leaders and are extremely open to the Gospel during their travels in the U.S., 80% are never invited to an American home and 60% never make close friends. For more information about volunteering with Bridges, please contact Karisa You at karisayou@g.ucla.edu.
- Author’s Note: Bridges International is a branch of Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) focused on reaching international students with God’s love. The student club is run by volunteers who desire to see the nations transformed by the Gospel, as an overwhelming majority of international students in the U.S. are from closed nations with less than 1% Christianity. Although many of these students will become world leaders and are extremely open to the Gospel during their travels in the U.S., 80% are never invited to an American home and 60% never make close friends.