New Students, Fall 2005

Leila Ortiz

The church made an impact on Leila Ortiz's life early on. She continues to hold tight to the prayers her pastor-her uncle Felipe-prayed for her when she was just a child of five or six, following him "around the skirts of the altar as he prayed for everyone." She doesn't remember exactly what his prayer for her was, but she does remember that he asked God to guide her. "This has taken place," she says.

At 15, Leila was already leading a children's ministry in her congregation in Puerto Rico. Seven years later, after her family moved to New York, she found herself active in leadership at Resurrection Lutheran Church in the Bronx. About a year later, the Rev. David Anglada, assistant to the bishop of Metropolitan New York Synod, asked her if she felt called to ordained ministry. She said yes. He told her about the Wagner/LTSP Partnership, a program that provides both college and seminary education free of charge for outstanding persons of color or whose primary language is other than English.

Leila graduated from Wagner with honors last spring and is now starting out on the second part of her educational path toward ordination. "I never thought I would have the opportunity to study Word and Sacrament in depth. I thought that my work in the church would only be limited to my experience." But the Wagner/LTSP Partnership changed that.

She is happy to be studying at LTSP because she believes that pursuing "greater knowledge of the scriptures and the work of the church will equip me with the tools and resources I need to work more effectively in the world."

"Wherever God leads I wish to follow," she says.