Jill Werdal, right, took advantage of SPU’s study abroad options, traveling to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel. Photos by Ryan Linstrom.

Write Your Own Ticket for Study Abroad

International experience is in Jill Werdal’s blood — literally. With Christian missionary grandparents (Japan) and great-grandparents (China), the 2006 sociology graduate, who minored in global and urban ministries, grew up with a passion for world missions.

After two Seattle Pacific University student volunteer trips to Jackson, Mississippi, and an internship working with Somalian and Turkish refugees at World Relief, Werdal realized: “I don’t have to be an overseas missionary to be involved in other cultures and make a difference.”

But when she was given the opportunity to study abroad in Egypt through the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ Middle East Studies program, Werdal felt a pull she couldn’t deny.

“I figured that eventually, with enough time and money, I could go anywhere in the world,” she says, “but because of the current nature of world politics and U.S. foreign relations, it wasn’t guaranteed that I would always have access to the Middle East.”

In August 2005, with 26 other students from across the nation, Werdal embarked on a four-month academic adventure, the impact of which she could not imagine.

Werdal and her classmates began in Egypt and continued on to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and finally Israel. In Cairo, under Muslim professors, they studied “Arabic Language and Islamic Thought and Practice.” In Lebanon, they focused on “People and Cultures,” and in Israel, “Conflict and Change.”

“So often in school I have learned important, mind-expanding things, only to forget them when I move on to the next class in my day,” Werdal says. “But the learning overseas was rooted in me. Facts from my time abroad have faded, but what is most exciting, and sometimes even unsettling, is that the learning process in Egypt changed me. I evaluate things differently now, and that impacts how I want to live my life.”

While walking along the Mediterranean Sea (ironically, on her way to Starbucks), Werdal had a watershed moment where she says everything “just clicked.” She describes a realization that, although they didn’t all share her faith in Jesus Christ, the Muslim, Jewish, and Eastern Orthodox people she was meeting all worshipped the same God, the God of Abraham: “That was one of the many moments on my trip, where it was so meaningful, there was nothing else to do but cry.”

Through her study abroad experience in the Middle East, Werdal says she came to understand both sorrow and joy like she never has in America. She hopes to apply that understanding as a vocation and help change the world for the better. “I feel like I was created to work cross-culturally while striving to understand and love people unlike me,” she explains. “I am so thankful to have discovered early in life something that makes me feel more alive with each new day.”

Next fall, Werdal plans to attend Fuller Theological Seminary’s Crosscultural Studies program with a concentration in Islamic studies. She hopes to start or work at a non-governmental organization. And she is already thinking about when and how she can return to Egypt.

By Matthew Allen

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