New Students, Fall 2006

Joan Testin

FROM THE TIME I WAS LITTLE, I was blessed with a strong sense of the presence of God in my life. Growing up in the Roman Catholic tradition, the ordained priesthood was not open to me. Through high school and college, I spent time with several religious communities. Our student group at college had a covenant with the Episcopal student group, and we worked together.

After college, I spent 23 years teaching -- yet every once in awhile, I would get a sense that God was preparing me for something new. Eventually, I found myself back in the Episcopal Church and knew that, this time, I had found my church home. When I came to visiting days at LTSP, something "clicked" and I knew I had found the place where I wanted to spend the next years of my life. The campus is beautiful, the people are warm and open, and the denominational and cultural diversity is a gift. There are students of all ages, and while we are serious about our faith and our ministries, we manage to fit a lot of laughter into our work. Finally, the prayer life of the seminary nourishes me in so many ways; praying with this community on a daily basis reminds me of how blessed I am to have this opportunity to study, to learn, and to figure out exactly where God will lead me next. A former Roman Catholic, now Episcopalian, has found that a Lutheran seminary is the place to discern the specifics of God's call. What an affirmation of God's love...and God's sense of humor!