Katarina Jelen
This lady has been going places all her life. Kat was born in Long Island, New York; moved to Texas when she was 11; attended Liberty University in Virginia; taught English in Spain, and now happily calls Sioux Falls her home.
Kat grew up in a Christian home with parents who were very intentional about their faith, yet, as she states, “I just wasn’t sure about this whole Christianity thing and hadn’t made it my own.” Her junior year in high school she remembers asking her sister, “What does that even mean that Jesus died on the cross?”
After high school she attended Liberty University, where she would run cross country and track (she is among the top 10 steeplechase athletes of all time for the university). In her freshman year she also wrestled…with God, with questions like who is He and is He real? Kat says God used two things to help influence her thinking. The first was reading the book “Mere Christianity” by ex-atheist turned Christ-follower, C.S. Lewis. The second was a group of friends that helped her process all her questions. In her freshman year, she finally understood what Jesus did for her on the cross and made it her own.
In the spring semester she also met Luke (a native of Sioux Falls), the man she would later marry. He was a transfer student to Liberty and also ran cross country and track. They would often be the only ones eating together in the school cafeteria at lunchtime after the teams were finished with their meals. The food was okay, but the conversation was great. As Kat explains, it was all very innocent until Spring Break, where she decided to rent a moped and texted Luke to ask him if he wanted a ride on the back of her moped…the ultimate pick up line. It worked and the rest as they say is history. Vroom. Vroom.
Kat was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, and after getting married, she and Luke ended up in Spain where she taught English and he worked with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Once that assignment was finished, they moved to Sioux Falls, where Luke now coaches cross country for his alma mater, Lincoln High School. Kat was also presented with the opportunity to work with Collision.
Kat is excited to be a part of Collision because of the peer-to-peer discipleship aspect. “I struggled with my understanding of who God was. He used a bunch of my peers to lovingly and persistently help me truly understand who He is and how much He loves me. I can’t wait to see what God does with us in Sioux Falls.”