Izzy in Concordia

Concordia College's purpose written on a rock!


Playing football with Daddy and Uncle Orgil before anything else.


THE INTERNATIONAL NIGHT
Isabelle feeling so "in" and a part of the International Student Organization (ISO) of Concordia College.

Josiah, from Nigeria, was one of Izzy's favorite guys in the group that night.

Ruta is from Ethiopia. She stayed at our house during her spring break in 2006


Isabelle enjoyed playing with Josiah's Nigerian drum.


A happy pose with PEACE. Peace is Isabelle's uncle Prince's little sister, who is actually bigger than him.

Having fun with Josiah, Daniel and Uncle Prince (standing) and others.

Learning the "beauty-wave" from a new Ethiopian friend.

Isabelle and Josiah

Daddy chasing Isabelle around the auditorium during the program.

Isabelle didn't know how to deal with her emotions when she met Masaki who adored her a lot!

Driving to Moorhead last Saturday was very fun! We couldn't wait to attend the event in Concordia College that Orgil invited us to. For sure, the International Night was a blast for us! We got to see Orgil play his guitar and sing, We are the World, in Mongolian. The song and dance performances from the students of many different countries were superb! But what made it more special to us was the international students that we met and conversed with. We invited about 10 students to a restaurant after the event and 30 ended up coming! But they ended up paying for their meals because they insisted to pay. Paul was ready to spend. It was a very nice feeling to be with international students. They all sounded very bright! Made me and Paul feel uneducated. LOL! We ate and talked until midnight. Isabelle's adrenaline was on the highest degree. She had a lot of fun entertaining them. She enjoyed the attention to the max! Before saying "bye" and "good night" to them, we invited the non-Christians to go with us to church on the next morning. Nobody gave us a "yes" answer. But on Sunday morning, Masaki came.

Masaki, is a Japanese exchange student at Concordia. We met him at the hall where the international food testing was held earlier that night. He approached us mainly because Isabelle took his attention. He said that she is the most beautiful baby he has ever seen. He was so drawn to Izzy and played with her a lot. When we invited him to church, he didn't seem interested because according to him he was "not religious". But he came with Orgil and Prince, so we were very happy to see him going to church with all of us that morning. At church, he looked very attentive. He was even singing and clapping during the praise and worship time. Later, we also found out that he was really listening to the message because he talked about it. I was thinking how ironic that other professing Christians won't even clap or sing at church. But here is a self-confessed "non-religious" person singing praises to God. Anyway, I am just happy that God used Isabelle to bring Masaki to church, which was probably his very first church experience.