Dear Gabriella,

You have come along way. Growing up, you never thought you'd be going to college, let alone a university. You never thought you'd make something of yourself. The plan was always to get out of the Antelope Valley, and after your first year at Channel Islands, you ended up back at home. The last place you ever wanted to be. It was a struggle, and still is a struggle making it happen, yet you've been faithful in the process. Growing up was hard when your parents did not go to college, or graduate. No one really encouraging you to go to college and because they didn't go, you didn't know what you were going to do. So, of course it was discouraging.

But that's when God showed up and changed your life forever. He called you to see into your calling, and as you never had a plan for your life, you gladly walked the path. Your family does not have the means to provide or help with college, so you make it work. You've exhausted all the financial aid you can. Scholarships, grants, and all loans, and it still isn't enough to pay for college. So you call every day hoping there would be more money available to you, praying that it works out because you just didn't have it. And that's when God has stepped in to provide, like He always does. Your community has reached out in prayer, has offered a great amount of money, and even a car, all to help you get where you need to be, by the grace of God. Before, you heard of these stories, you awed at them as people would share. But now you're living it. You're a walking testimony of how great Our God is and how much He loves you.

Before you applied to Biola and knew your majors, you wanted to quit because school just wasn't for you. Because you saw no importance of it, until finally visiting, and touring the campus. As you showed up, God showed up, and answered your questions of uncertainty, of doubt. And because He showed up that day, you now are a student at Biola University. Your majors are Christian Ministries and Sociology because we all know you're very indecisive. Ministry has been your life since you're first encounter with God, and you love people, which fits sociology perfectly. So, why not choose both? It is important that you remember the struggles life brings. It is important that you recognize God's hand in it all. It is important that you remember that even though it has been rough with your family.. God has always provided a community who became your family, in the midst of all the chaos. It is important that you know people will always fail you, but that God himself, never will. You need to know by all your experiences that you are loved by the God of the universe, and He has chosen you by name for His will. That is why you are here today, and why you are blessed with these majors, and people who are now, and will always be your family. Never look back, but always remember where you came from, and remember the struggles you overcame in the long process.

Yours Truly,

Gabriella Xilomen