Liberty student with Iranian heritage shares family’s journey to America, coming to faith in Christ

When news broke of the bombings in Iran, Kyla Falkenstein, a nursing student at Liberty University, began praying for her distant relatives there. Born and raised in America, she grew up hearing stories of how her great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts fled the country before the Islamic Republic regime took over but always kept watch on their homeland, hoping for a future return to the Iran they once knew.

“We’ve been waiting over 40 years for a regime change,” Falkenstein said. “Iran used to be the paradise of the Middle East; it was an amazing country, beautiful culture, and the people are still some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Now, we really are hoping that Iran could go back to what it used to be before it became the Islamic Republic, and we’re hoping for freedom for the people. (My family) would love to go back and visit, but we’re all ecstatic to see how freedom is coming for the people.”

Falkenstein, a sophomore from King George, Va., said some relatives still live in Iran, and her family continues to pray for their safety. She urges the Liberty community to pray for everyone still in danger, and she gathered with other students in DeMoss Hall to pray for Iran after hearing about the death of its leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

“When we saw (Khamenei) was killed, it started sinking in that this was a possibility for change in the government,” she said. “It was kind of a shock at first because no one has been willing to step up and help Iran, and so to see what (President Donald Trump) is doing now, we are really grateful. We prayed for them to keep their faith and their courage as they keep fighting for their country, and we also prayed for the (United States) military who’s over there as they sacrifice so much to fight for us.”

She noted that many people living in Iran do not support the Islamic Republic regime, but it is dangerous to show opposition within the country.

“The Iranian people are not the government. Most of the Iranians don’t agree with the leadership, and their voices are suppressed because it’s illegal to speak out. For those who are protesting right now, it is very (unsafe).”

Falkenstein’s family began emigrating from Iran in 1966, sensing the political and social climates changing for the worse, and escaped what would become a revolution in 1979 that resulted in the Islamic Republic regime taking power.

Recalling her family’s stories, Falkenstein said they experienced the all too familiar struggles of starting life in a foreign country.

“They didn’t speak any English when they came. It was very much a culture shock (because) they were used to being in a primarily Muslim area, so they’ve said that it was tough at first, especially going to school. I know it was difficult, but they love it here now.”

Once in America, Falkenstein’s great-grandparents discouraged family members from returning to Iran or speaking Persian, she said, ashamed of what was happening to their former home. While the family brought many aspects of the Persian culture with them — they continue to cook Persian food and dance to the music — she said they wanted to completely disassociate themselves from the country. They didn’t pass down any religious customs or practice Islam.

Falkenstein said she didn’t have a Christian upbringing; her parents, both born and raised in America, were agnostic. But the Lord began working in her heart in fourth grade, when a neighbor invited her to a Vacation Bible School.

“It wasn’t until a new neighbor moved across the street with a daughter my age, and she invited me to go to church, that I heard about Jesus,” she said. “When she asked me, I asked my parents, and they were not really interested in letting me go. But the more I didn’t really leave it alone and kind of pushed, they finally said something like, ‘We trust you. You’re old enough, but we don’t really want anything to do with church. So as long as you get a ride there, you can do whatever you want.’”

That was enough to introduce her to church, where she said she first experienced the “unconditional, fatherly love” that only God can provide. She began memorizing Bible verses and recalled disappointment when the VBS ended because, as far as she knew, that meant she wouldn’t be able to learn more about Jesus until the following summer. But the neighbors invited her to church every Sunday, and Falkenstein’s parents again allowed her to go.

Her faith journey, as well as those of her family members, was not easy. Falkenstein described a period in which her father became angry with God and wouldn’t allow the Bible or God to be spoken about in the home. Despite this, Falkenstein kept a Bible in the back of her desk drawer, pulling it out when her father wasn’t home and reading as much as she could in those moments.

Years later, in high school, Falkenstein’s father began working with a man who was a pastor, and that pastor planted spiritual seeds that soon grew into her father becoming a Christian, along with her mother and multiple generations of her family, including some of the relatives who had fled Iran.

“It was such a God thing, such a blessing,” she said of God’s work in her family’s hearts. “They were a lot more open to my faith, and we were all able to go to church. My dad and I got baptized together when I was in high school. When I (discovered) Liberty, they were all for me going to a Christian school.”

High school was also when Falkenstein developed a passion for nursing, following in the footsteps of many family members with careers in the medical field. Her pastor’s daughter told her about Liberty, and after a visit to campus for College For A Weekend, she said she knew Liberty would be her home. Today, she said she’s enjoyed bonding with her fellow nursing students.

“When I came (to Liberty), everyone was just so nice, and the (students in) the nursing school are really close. I think it’s because we all have to work together and build ourselves up, we’re getting to experience all this together, and it’s been so great in my time here.”

She said she’s been inspired in her Christian walk among the thousands of Christian young people as well as faculty and staff at Liberty.

“I’d never been surrounded by such a big and close Christian community, so when I got here, it was so amazing,” she said. “I’d never been somewhere where I was so encouraged in my faith and people were building me up, wanting me to have a better relationship with Christ.”

While she is still looking into different fields of nursing as a sophomore, Falkenstein said she is currently interested in the ICU specialty.