Two students Testimonies  
 

Shohei Kajiwara

November 2007

SFSU fim major (photo)

Host families provided me a lot of opportunities to learn about their culture.  I’m sure it was a huge sacrifice for them. I felt their hospitality when they welcomed me as a part of their family even though we were complete strangers.  As a foreign student, such sacrificial hospitality done with a loving, caring and dedicated servant’s heart really blessed me.

Rodger Brarda - September 2007

Forty two years ago I was an international student arriving in San Francisco for the first time.  I had just arrived at college; I remember the beautiful campus was.  It was like a small village.  My dorm room was comfortable, spacious and had a garden with a water fountain view.  The food was delicious.  I did not know a person could put on a few pounds so quickly; the student body was very friendly.  I had everything a student could ask for.  I was happy right?  Wrong!

For the first time in my life I was away from my family and in a strange land, I felt so alone.  The one thing I needed the university alone could not provide.  I needed my father, my mother and my brothers.  I needed my family.

I was invited by Internationals Students Inc. “ISI” San Francisco to attend an International Student Conference.   There they told me I would meet American’s who were genuinely interested in getting to know me.   The conference was organized by ISI and sponsored by local churches in San Francisco.  Being a Christian, I jumped at the chance to go.  At the conference I was invited to stay at the home of the Petersons.  They made me feel a part of their family from the start. Through this weekend,  I experienced Christian hospitality.   To this day I am grateful to ISI and the Peterson family for the decades of love, fellowship, and support when I needed it the most.  I hope to return their love by showing others the same Christian hospitality that I have experienced.