Spring 2023 Bethel Magazine

Lydia Klassen ’15, studied psychology at Bethel with the goal of developing a career in counseling. Klassen always had a heart for missions and counseling but never knew how she would be able to pursue both. During her time at Bethel, Klassen grew from chapel and spiritual formation RSSRUWXQLWLHV RƂHUHG RQ FDPSXV 6KH started meeting with a mentor her sophomore year, and that relationship endured through graduation. Having a mentor who allowed her to be vulnerable was important. Ţ7KDW DOORZHG PH WR >H[SHULHQFH@ D ORW RI personal growth that I hadn't done up to that point,” she says. For Klassen, her introduction to counseling happened in middle school when she began seeing a counselor at her church. Through that experience, she discovered that mental and spiritual health are closely intertwined and realized she wanted to help others thrive in who God made them to be. $̃HU JUDGXDWLQJ IURP %HWKHO .ODVVHQ ZHQW RQ WR VWXG\ DW 7ULQLW\ International University, earning her master's degree in mental KHDOWK FRXQVHOLQJ 6KH SUDFWLFHG DW D FOLQLF IRU D IHZ \HDUV D̃HU WKDW studying also to become a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). This advanced education allows her to connect counseling with missions, another of her passions. Having a heart for missions from an early age, Klassen grew up reading about missionary families and praying for them with her own family. In graduate school, she had the opportunity to travel to Cameroon and shadow a counselor who was doing the work Klassen was dreaming of doing – providing counseling to missionaries. This experience encouraged her and reassured her that she was pursuing the right thing. Today, Klassen is living out her passions, combining counseling and missions by serving with African Inland Mission (AIM) as a counselor at the Tumaini Counseling Center in Nairobi, Kenya. 6KH ƃUVW OHDUQHG RI WKH RUJDQL]DWLRQ ZKLOH she was a student at Bethel in 2012. AIM serves as a place for missionaries to receive the counseling support they might need. “It’s so important for these missionaries to have that space,“ says Klassen, who specializes in marital counseling and trauma care. Ţ:H GRQŠW ZDQW VWUXJJOHV >OLNH LVRODWLRQ DQG DQ[LHW\ DQG GHSUHVVLRQ@ WR EH NHSW KLGGHQ DQ\PRUH ZKHQ >PLVVLRQDULHV@ JR WR D FRXQVHORU WKH\ FDQ KDYH WKHLU VWRU\ KHDUG DQG JDLQ FRSLQJ VNLOOV DQG PDQDJH WKHLU VWUHVVRUV ţ VKH VD\V Klassen, who has been serving since October 2022, plans to work in 1DLUREL WZR RU WKUHH \HDUV IRU WKH ƃUVW WHUP EHIRUH FRPLQJ EDFN WR WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV 6KH KRSHV WR VHUYH ORQJ WHUP XQWLO WKH /RUG OHDGV her otherwise. “Missionaries are so resilient. My goal is to help them thrive where God has placed them,” she says. She remembers a speaker at a Bethel chapel service saying, “Before you are called to some place or something, you are called to Someone >*RG@ ţ 7KLV LGHD KDV VWXFN ZLWK KHU DQG KDV HQFRXUDJHG KHU DV VKH pursues missions work. 23 SPRING 2023 /H˪ 3DJH Klassen (center) with colleagues at a conference. Top: playing violin with the worship team at her church in Kenya. Right: Klassen with a colleague taking a soapstone painting class.