In 1924, while attending her second consecutive Christian summer missions conference at The Firs in Bellingham, Washington, Kuhn met James O. Fraser, the conference speaker and the man who would become one of her greatest spiritual mentors and friends. The following September, Kuhn began studying at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. A staunch Canadian, the missionary-to-be never would have chosen this school on her own initiative; however, a Christian acquaintance who gave Kuhn the train fare and startup money for the first year requested that she go there. She had actually begun preparing to become a missionary by attending night classes at Vancouver Bible School.