Courtney Olson

Ever since I was young, I have loved France and all things French. This love I can trace all the way back to obsessively watching the Aristocats as a kid with my brother every Friday night. My love affair grew through middle school and high school where I studied the language and at the age of 16 I had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks in France (largely due to some forward thinking and sacrificial saving on the part of my mom). That trip cemented my growing love forever.

Fast forward to age 19. I was lost. I was at a low point. I dropped out of college and was floundering. It was at this point that I started looking into Christianity. For months I talked and I read and I cried and I prayed and ultimately something clicked. I gave my life to Christ and I have been forever changed.

When the opportunity to work with university students in Lille came up I knew it was right. It combines my fondness for France, my devotion to God, and my deep love for those who are lost in a stage of life in which the world expects them to have all the answers.