During Spirit Week in September, the Lutheran Northwest Crusader family was blessed with some very special visitors!  Seven students and three adults from Faith Lutheran College (a secondary school) in Australia spent much of the week in our classrooms, our Chapels, our homes, our Homecoming events and, eventually, our hearts! 

Hopefully, you were able to follow some of the highlights of the Australians’ time at Lutheran Northwest via our social media channels.  What you may not know, however, is that this highly-anticipated visit was actually the sixth time that Faith students have joined our community! 2008 marked their first visit here, and a different group of students has been able to make the trip every two years since then, as part of a month-long visit to the U.S.

Marissa Faith, a Lutheran Northwest alumna, shared with us via Facebook her story of making an Australian friend during the 2012 Faith visit.  Marissa recalled that she first met Madeleine Broady in choir class, had Maddy shadowing her to her next class and then met up with her again later that morning. By that time, Marissa already knew that Maddy was one of the coolest people she had ever met!  Marissa shared:  “She was so open to learning so many new things about America and I was as open to learning everything I could about Australia in the short time we saw each other. We knew we were not going to leave that day without getting each other’s contact information, and we have been talking on Facebook ever since.”  Their friendship deepened in the days and years that followed as they got to know even more about each other and how much they have in common through Facebook. She and Madeleine are hoping to see each other again one day when finances and scheduling allow.  Marissa ended by stating, “We never would have gotten this opportunity without Lutheran Northwest and I am forever grateful to you for introducing me to citizens from different countries.”  Thank you, Marissa, for sharing with us the story of your enduring friendship with Madeleine!