Cudahy heading to Malaysia as Young Adult in Global Mission

By Rachel Pritchett, synod communicator

BREMERTON — Medical school will wait.

On Aug. 22, Patrick Cudahy of Bremerton leaves for Malaysia, where he will teach — and most likely learn from — poor and disenfranchised children.

"I hope to gain maturity and become more compassionate and appreciative of what I have," said Cudahy, 22, who is among 19 people selected to serve for a year in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Young Adults in Global Mission program. He is the only one from the Southwestern Washington Synod. "These kids have not had too much opportunity in their lives."

While in the predominately Islam country, he wants to inspire the children, "that this is what a good Christian looks like."

He has been assigned to teach English and other subjects at the Grace Centre, a Christian education facility in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia's sixth largest city, on the island of Borneo.

His students are from families who have illegally immigrated to Malaysia, probably to find work. Because the families are undocumented, the children have very little hope, except for this center, where they are educated and even have a chance to proceed on to college.

"It really gives them a leg up in society. Otherwise, they would be basically uneducated," Cudahy said.

Cudahy graduated this spring from California Lutheran University, where he majored in biology and minored in chemistry. But he needed a break. Mission work seemed a natural choice.

As a young teen, he'd built houses in Tijuana and Tecate, Mexico. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, he was among the first wave of helpers, ripping out molding house walls.

"Service has always been one of my favorite things to do," he said.

His mother, Sigi Helgeson, told him about the Young Adults in Global Mission program. He found time just before graduating from Cal Lutheran to take an online class in English as a second language.

Cudahy said he is not concerned about being in a country where Christians can be imprisoned for proselytizing and are ridiculed in the state-run media.

"I should be able to handle myself pretty well," said Cudahy, who is 6 feet 2 inches, 185 pounds, and muscular from working out and playing rugby,

As for setting an example of being a good Christian, Cudahy should be OK. Mom is the pastor at Family of God Lutheran Church of Bremerton. Dad is a pastor, as well.

"Both of them being pastors, anything involved with the ELCA, they're definitely very pleased with that," he said.

Cudahy will return home in July 2013, and then attend medical school, like brother Ryan, 24. His dream school is the University of Washington, but any of the University of California schools would do, he said. He takes the Medical College Admission Test this Saturday.

Then again, a lot can happen in a year. Sometimes plans change.

"If that's the case, then so be it, I guess," he said. Cudahy will keep a blog, at
http://pcudahy.tumblr.com/.

To learn more about the ELCA's Young Adults in Global Mission program, visit
www.elca.org.

Pictured above: Cudahy at home July 30.