Lena Lor ’24, had not seen much of the world.
The child of Asian immigrants Lor grew up in a low-income family in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where she attended kindergarten through 12th grade. When she earned the JBU Presidential Scholarship, the JBU admissions team showed up at Lor’s performance in her senior high school musical “The Sound of Music” to present her with the award in front of friends and family. She was JBU-bound and excited to be a first-generation college student. But she was not excited about staying in Siloam.
“I had dreams about going far away and seeing what the world had to offer, but it was actually through JBU that I was able to see the world,” Lor said.
During her junior year, Lor traveled to Korea through an exchange program with Handong Global University in Pohang, South Korea. That year would change Lor’s faith journey.
Lor was not raised as a Christian. Neither of her parents are Christians. She heard and received the gospel when she was 16.
“I was not going to church regularly because my parents didn’t want me to go,” Lor said. “But when I went to university, they were more OK with it. I was navigating questions like, ‘What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?’ I had my own issues with my relationship with the church, and that was challenging through my first two years at JBU.”
Lor’s time at JBU allowed her to explore her faith more deeply for the first time. She took Old Testament Survey and New Testament Survey as part of JBU’s required curriculum as she worked toward a degree in art and illustration with minors in social justice and intercultural studies. She got involved on campus, leading MOSAIC (Multicultural Organization of Students Active in Christ). She worked with Ted Song, Ph.D., chief intercultural engagement officer, to organize events focused on loving God and your neighbor. She learned from Song about humility in leadership. But even with this campus engagement, Lor was struggling socially during her freshman and sophomore years at JBU.
Lor said she didn’t make many friends during her first two years at JBU because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was a commuter who wasn’t on campus much, and she felt like she was struggling.
But then Lor heard about a study abroad opportunity in South Korea. She knew immediately she would apply for the program.
A few months later, she was flying to South Korea to attend Handong Global University. The first class she took was Korean 1.
“The language barrier was really difficult. I felt like a baby — illiterate!” Lor said. “South Korea had some English words posted in public here and there but not much. It was really hard to find my way around. After taking Korean 1, it was easier.”
After learning basic Korean, Lor took several classes relating to her social justice and intercultural studies minors.
But a local pastor, not the Korean university, changed the trajectory of Lor’s life.
During orientation week, the pastor of Pohang International Community Church (PICC) came to the university to invite exchange students to church. What Lor found at PICC made a huge impact on her faith journey.
“Going to South Korea helped solidify my faith and what it means to be a follower of Jesus,” Lor said. “What was really helpful was seeing the diversity of people from all nations there worshipping. It was my first time seeing a pastor who looks like me.
“I had struggled growing up feeling like I don’t belong in the church because the people there don’t look like me, eat the same foods I eat or watch the same shows I watch.”
For the first time, Lor was deeply engaged in a local church. She went surfing with students from the church, and they had Thanksgiving dinner together. Lor painted a mural of the seven continents and Matthew 28:19-20 on a PICC church wall.
“The pastor reminded me of Jesus in the way that he leaves the 99 to go get the one,” Lor said. “There were times I was just out and about, and he would just be there. He always made the time or went out of his way to find me.
“The time in South Korea softened my heart, I realized I don’t need to guard my heart so much that I can’t even enjoy the blessings God has for me at JBU.”
Back at JBU, Lor jumped in to her senior year with a new perspective. She opened up to her classmates and felt like she belonged.
She also began attending church regularly for the first time in the U.S., and she joined a women’s community group at Fellowship Bible Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Lor’s senior year prepared her for the next steps in her life and career. She took a portfolio and presentation course with Kyle Agee, associate professor of visual arts. The course prepped her to interview for jobs, create her resume, design business cards and create a professional website (www.lenalor.com) to showcase her artwork.
Growing up in Siloam Springs, Lor's best friend for the last decade has been the daughter of Aminta Arrington, Ph.D., associate professor of intercultural studies. Lor's senior year, the Arringtons invited Lor to join their family for a holiday at JBU’s Lakeside Manor in Belfast. Lor jumped at the opportunity. In Belfast, Lor learned about the Working Holiday authorization, which later led Lor to apply for and receive approval to work in Northern Ireland.
On the morning of the Spring 2024 Commencement ceremonies, Lor donned her cap and gown for the very first time in her life (her high school ceremony in 2020 had been a COVID-era, drive-thru graduation) and celebrated her graduation before heading off on her next world adventure in Dublin, Ireland.
“I was overjoyed. I was getting on a plane to go live in a city I had never been to before,” Lor said.
Now in Dublin, Lor is working as a freelance illustrator, most recently contributing to a children’s book and serving the local community as a barista. She attends a local church in Ireland and is involved in its young adults’ group.
Lor says JBU played a significant role in her becoming the person she is today.
“My professors had the biggest impact on this transformation,” she said. “Their support made space for me to grow intellectually, spiritually and vocationally. My professors were invested in my life, not just my time as a student at JBU.”
God has taken Lor on a journey around the world that she could scarcely have imagined when she arrived at JBU in 2020. Graduating from JBU and boarding a plane to Dublin, she could see a glimpse of how God was writing her story.
“I felt like God had opened a door. I had been praying and waiting for nearly a year about what to do with my life or where to go, and finally God had answered,” Lor said. “This whole process has taught me a lot about trusting God’s timing and his will for my life.”
