While most kids her age are applying at McDonalds, Kaari Hilman is making $13.50 an hour in a job usually reserved for people twice her age. This home schooler from Gresham, Oregon, is working for a translation company doing what she does best: speaking Russian.

Home schooled all her life, Kaari, who just turned 16, has an infectious smile and a great sense of humor. She enjoys skiing at nearby Mt. Hood, roller skating with friends, snuggling down with a good book and playing worship songs on the piano. At her youth group she’s a member of the “Nerd Herd” — a comical welcoming team. In school Kaari loves history and literature but hates math. Her strength is language. She speaks Russian fluently. So great is her mastery of it that once after conversing with a Russian immigrant he asked her, “How long have you been in the United States?” He could not believe she was an American. “The Russian families in our church are amazed,” her mother Judy says. “They say she has the accent of a person born and raised in Russia.”

Kaari’s gift of speaking Russian is also accompanied by a strong love for the Russian people and a strong desire to reach them for the Lord. When I inquired how all this had come about, Kaari, without hesitating answered, “God!” Looking back on the last four years, she and her parents can clearly see God’s hand guiding them. Her mother explains, “It all started when my husband Clint read a book that predicted that Russia (at that time the Soviet Union) would someday be opened to the gospel and that Russian immigrants would be coming to America. He laughed! It was impossible in his eyes. But the Lord seemed to ask him, “Is there anything too difficult for me?” Clint was really convicted, so much so that he promised, “Okay, Lord, if they come I’ll help them.” Not long after that our church bulletin had an announcement that read-‘The Russians are Coming! Please, open your homes to Russian immigrant families needing places to stay.’ We were the first family in our church to volunteer.”

That was in 1989. Since then the Hilmans have not only had Russian families living in their home for months at a time, but have also become actively involved in their church’s Russian ministry. Kaari’s parents had no idea that hosting a Russian family would lead to her discovering a talent for speaking the language. “Now we can see how the Lord was putting all these things together slowly,” Judy says. “We had no plans; we were just trying to provide a home for people who needed a place to stay.”

Surprisingly, Kaari learned Russian almost by accident. Kaari admits, “I didn’t want to learn Russian until I realized, ‘Wow! I speak Russian!’ I didn’t make a conscious effort to learn. I was just trying to follow God’s will and serve the Russian families. Somehow I picked up the language. I give all credit to God.”

In 1990 her family made a trip to Russia to visit relatives of the families they had hosted. “Kaari acted as our translator the whole trip,” Judy says with a laugh. “We couldn’t have survived without her!”

The trip to Russia cemented Kaari’s love for its people. It also made her aware of the great need for Russian translators. After returning home, she began to pursue her study of Russian seriousiy. She started taking classes at Portland State University. “It wasn’t easy,” she said. “After the first term there were only five people left in the class.” Kaari explains,” Many had signed up thinking ‘Oh, I’ll learn Russian! How fun!’ not realizing it was a hard class.” But Kaari, the youngest in the class, finished with straight A’s. Then doors began to open.

In the fall of 1992 the Hilmans received a call asking if they would host a Russian woman and her young daughter. The mother, Natalya, had brought her five-year-old daughter whose hands were burned off and whose face was severely disfigured, for extensive reconstructive surgery. “We were a little apprehensive,” Judy remembers, “We didn’t know what to expect, but Sasha’s personality was so beautiful. We fell in love with her instantly.” The Hilmans’ readiness to serve led to a wonderful opportunity for Kaari.

One day at one of the many visits to the doctor, a translator hired by the hospital overheard Kaari speaking in Russian with Natalya and Sasha.. “He told me my Russian was good enough to work as a translator. He gave me his card and said ‘This is the company I work for. Call it some time.’”

“I was really nervous!” Kaari admits. “When I called, the man I had met answered. It turned out he owned the company! Two weeks later I signed a one-year contract with his translating company, Andalex.” Since then Kaari has worked 3-5 hours a week and has become a favorite of customers. Besides God’s divine providence, Kaari attributes much of the uniqueness of her situation to her home schooling experience. “Home schooling has kept me away from the masses and what everybody else does. Home schooling has allowed me to be more free in my time schedule. I’ve been able to let God work out in my life exactly what He wants me to be.”

Besides working as a translator, the uses and possibilities for her talent are vast. This summer Kaari will be spending 3 months with a missionary couple in Serpukhov, Russia, assisting them in their ministry. She hopes to be involved in discipling some of the new believers in Russia. She is also exploring the possibility of offering guided tours for Americans that want an authentic experience of Russia and its people. Acting as a travel agent, Kaari would arrange for Americans to stay with Russian families and churches.

For Kaari Hilman the future is still very much in God’s hands. “There have been so many times when I thought, ‘Oh, yes, I want to do that!’ and God said, ‘Nope.’ I don’t try and have the future totally planned out. I know He will lead me.”

“It’s amazing when you give your life to God and say ‘Okay, Lord I’ll do what you want me to do; show me your will for my life.’, how He leads you and opens things up to you.”

Profile Quick Stats:

Name: Kaari Maria Hilman

Age: 16

Birthday: Feb. 22, 1977

Hair Color: Auburn

Height: 5’2

Eyes: green

Favorite things: chocolate, bargain shopping, having a clean room

Pet Peeves: “cleaning my room”

Favorite Bible Verse: Psalm 15

Favorite Book: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas

Last Book Read: Hudson Taylor Biography

Family: parents Clint & Judy; brother: Nate, age 25