Forest

Hope College

Mission Field: Thailand

Question: What did you learn growing up on the mission field?

Forest: I was born in California, but when I was only a few months old my family returned to the mission field. We moved back and forth between Nepal and Kazakhstan until our family transferred to Thailand when I was nearly 3 years old. We continued to travel over the years, but our home base was Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand until I left to go to college. I was able to experience a number of different cultures and learned that the world is bigger than the United States, and it’s filled with lots of different kinds of people. I benefited from going to Thai school for 6 years where I learned the language well. This gave me a pretty deep experience of being part of Thai culture. I realize that I actually absorbed some aspects of the Thai way of thinking which is both a benefit and sometimes a burden. Seeing the great variety of ways people lived socially, spiritually, and economically enlarged my understanding of what constitutes a “normal” life.

Question: Why did you choose a Christian college?

Forest: I chose a Christian college because I understand the benefit of being surrounded by a culture that is, for the most part, Christ-honoring. I wanted to be in a place where there was some freedom to be honest about my faith and have contact with other people who care about their faith. Many of the professors at Hope College are Christian and that plays an important role in how they teach and what they value. Christianity encourages intentionality and I wanted to be in a place where this would be prevalent.

Question: How has CMSF helped you on your journey?

Forest: It was freeing to know that I would not be under a financial burden of debt when I left Hope College. The generous CMSF scholarship played an important part in making this possible.

Question: What is your major and how do you plan to use it after you graduate?

Forest: At Hope College, I have been a double major in physics and engineering. In addition to great professors, I’ve benefited from being able to work at Hope during the summers in scientific research. I also met m wife, Lauren, here! I plan to attend graduate school for aerospace engineering. I am particularly interested in astrodynamics and satellite navigation.