I wish to communicate my heartfelt gratitude for your faithful service to the Church and its mission. You enable Christian servants to study at Concordia so that they might continue learning and better serve the community.
My greatest desire is to be the best kind of nurse there is—the one that you would want taking care of your mother, your child, or yourself. Your generous impact does not merely influence a sole individual’s four-year experience. Your donation to help provide quality Christian education teaches nurses to care for patients in both body and soul, impacting people in regard to temporal and eternal realms.
I would like to share with you one experience that captures the richness and depth of this interplay between faith and education as it relates to my future in nursing. In clinical, I cared for a woman who suffered chronic grief due to her husband’s death. Knowing that she was a Christian, I asked if she knew any hymns. Without pause she began, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made…” There, at her bedside, I joined her in worship. The same hymns that I sing in chapel are on the lips of my dementia patients. This inconsolable woman desired that her mental and spiritual health be considered alongside her physical health. For her, life was nothing without the hope of the resurrection.
Your hand in these experiences is valued second to none. You equip students with the professional tools to graduate, join the workforce, and use their skills in the real world. On my campus tours I always say, “Concordia understands that students can learn anything from a book or online, but what really matters is how they can apply it.” Because you care about how students apply their education, you have chosen to support a school that first applies itself to its students’ needs, spiritually and intellectually. We hear law and Gospel applied to us. We apply our classroom content in the field. Finally, we apply the culmination of study and faith out in the “real world” for the service of others.
At Concordia I have grown, and I must admit that most of these changes have directed my attention away from myself and back toward my family, neighbors, and friends. My peers exemplify devout vocational living as children, friends, and mentors. I have had the pleasure of sitting and learning at their feet and the wisdom of my professors who lead by example. I pray that I might continue this by your grace and support.
Blessings in Christ,
Tessa Pariseau
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