As the summer ends, most Biola students are beginning their semester on campus, but La Mirada will not be home for some. They are instead finalizing passport and visa information, practicing words in foreign languages and preparing to be immersed in an entirely new culture. These students are venturing out to study abroad.

Returning to Ecuador

Junior intercultural studies major Sarah Comiskey is going back to Ecuador. Unlike many study abroad students who go to a place they have never seen before, Comiskey is, in essence, going home.

“My parents had been in Ecuador for four months when I was born and I lived there until I was about 10,” Comiskey said.

Comiskey’s family lived in Ecuador where they served as missionaries to the middle class of Quito, church planting and working to develop leaders.

“For many years, Ecuador was the most unreached country in South America,” Comiskey said.
“When they first got to Ecuador there was only about 1-2 percent evangelical Christians,” Comiskey said. “But now there are about 8 percent. Our mission actually closed down in Ecuador and turned the ministry over to the national church, which is why we left.”

While Comiskey’s family now lives in Moreno Valley, Calif., she is heading back to the Ecuadorian mission field.

Study abroad program in Ecuador made offical

Comiskey is the first from Biola to officially study abroad in Ecuador. Marla Campbell, associate professor of intercultural studies, has wanted to link with the program called Live and Learn in Quito, in Ecuador for a while.

According to Amy Agadoni, the undergraduate off campus programs coordinator, the Quito Semester Program is launching this fall, and Comiskey is the first to go.

“‘Live and Learn in Quito’ presents a great opportunity to study abroad, learn Spanish, spend part of the time with a host family and many other features that enhance education experientially,” Campbell said in an email.

While Campbell mentioned that others from Biola have gone to be a part of the program, it is now officially approved as a study abroad opportunity.

“I’m kind of a guinea pig,” Comiskey said. “Marla had tried to figure it out and set it up for years.”

Program involves classes and missions

There are 10 students from various universities in America who will soon be meeting at Youth World in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. At Youth World, the students will take intercultural studies classes and Spanish classes.

“This rich program allows for 16 semester units and journeys around Quito, to the Ecuadorian coast and even into the Amazon rain forest to meet the now Christian tribe once known as the Aucas in the famous story of Jim Elliot and others martyred there,” Campbell said.

The classes will be intense, as the students take one class from one professor at a time. In addition to academics, each student will take part in a personal missions-oriented internship. For Comiskey, this will also count as her required intercultural studies internship.

As a person who wants to live her life to serve others, Comiskey did not want to study abroad for academic purposes alone, but to extend a hand to the culture and the community.

“Mine will probably be working in an orphanage,” Comiskey said. “This is a ministry opportunity and not just a chance to go to another country.”

This aspect of the program is what really made the decision easy.

“It really drew me because it is mission focused,” Comiskey said.

Follow Comiskey’s journey

Comiskey is stepping out in faith, and in wanting to stay involved with the Biola community, is going to blog and share stories, experiences and ways to pray for her and the Ecuadorian community she will be living in.

“My prayer is that God would open my heart to whatever happens,” Comiskey said. “I want to depend on him and have boldness.”