I will never forget getting on the plane to Walla Walla. “Is this actually happening?” I wondered. It was surreal, almost like slow motion. Hours later, I looked out the window as we flew over Mount Rainier. I thought, “What am I doing out here?”

I was raised in Miami, Florida, and my whole life was there. My mom insisted that I would go to college, but she didn’t care where. I wasn’t planning to go to an Adventist university, and I didn’t expect to venture too far away. Family is a big part of my Hispanic culture, and for us, leaving family is the exception and not the rule. 

In my senior year, our school participated in Walla Walla University’s Fall Classic. A trip to the other side of the country? Say less, I was definitely down to miss school. We were just in it for the adventure.

Being on WWU’s campus was eye-opening. I still remember Jana Kubrock, our tour guide. She was so kind. And I noticed how nice everyone else was, too. Walla Walla was a huge shock geographically and culturally, but not spiritually. I could see that the Walla Walla people believed as I did. My interest was sparked. 

Making the decision to go to Walla Walla University made me uneasy. “Tiffany, if you hate it, you can always come back,” my mom finally told me. It was encouraging to know I could change my mind, and it gave me peace to know my mom was in my corner. So, in September 2012, I got on the plane and headed into the unknown.

Five years later, it was time to graduate from WWU. I’d met some of my best friends, studied abroad, and earned an elementary education degree. I realized that I could choose to move anywhere, but I needed to narrow my options. I wanted to do a year of service work, so I accepted a one-year task force position at Auburn Adventist Academy. Everything there was new to me. I learned a lot. And at the end of the year, I found myself facing the unknown all over again.

It would’ve been comfortable to stay at Auburn, but nothing worked out. It was the first time I recognized that God was calling me to have faith. I put my things in a storage unit while I looked for a job. What was next? I couldn’t tell, and so I asked my mom to fly out and help me drive back to Miami.

The day before she arrived, I opened Facebook and saw a message alerting me to a couple of jobs at Puget Sound Adventist Academy. By the time my mom landed in Seattle, I had scheduled an interview, and then they hired me as a math teacher. It was a temporary job, they told me, a one-year assignment because I wasn’t yet endorsed to teach high school. I took it anyway.

I spent four great years at PSAA. I earned my high school teaching endorsement for math, and ended up teaching Spanish, too. And then the pandemic hit. Our teaching staff went through the ups and downs of COVID. Teaching is already a lot of work, and teaching during the pandemic was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Emotionally, I was on empty.

And then in January — halfway through the difficult pandemic school year — I got the call. My father had been killed in a car accident.

To say this was devastating is an understatement. The PSAA team was incredibly supportive, but it was tough for me to even finish the year. I needed a break, and I didn’t know what to do. Move to Berrien Springs to be closer to my boyfriend, Angel? Move home to Miami? Go to grad school?

I eventually chose grad school, but I was late applying. They said, “not now.” I was disappointed. But then…

The day I learned that my chosen grad school wasn’t possible, I noticed a new message sent to me via Facebook. Gerry Larson from Walla Walla University told me about an open recruiting position, and he asked if I knew of anyone who might be a good candidate.

“That’s random,” I thought. My best friend, who was with me at the time, said, “That’s crazy that today you found out that grad school won’t work out for you, and then you see this message.” Was God at work again? Days went by. Finally, I submitted my own name, and they offered me the job.

In the middle of my grief, this was a relief. God knew where I was, and it was as if He was telling me, “This is what you need now. I’m going to put this one in your lap.” I loved the job and my WWU team.

So, it was bittersweet when another big change rolled my way last year. Now my fiancé, Angel was offered a pastoring job in Los Angeles. Though I was happy for him and it seemed clear that God was moving us to California, I struggled a lot with leaving Walla Walla.

“Here we go again,” I thought, but then I remembered what God had already done for me—courage to go to Walla Walla, the task force position at Auburn, then the job at Puget Sound, the people he sent to help me through my father’s death, and then the recruiting job at WWU just when I needed it most. I told Angel that I’d been here before with God, and that I knew He would come through for us. 

I started applying for jobs. I kept seeing positions available at Loma Linda Academy, and I eventually applied for one, even though I wasn’t technically qualified for the listed positions. They called me for an interview anyway. The day of the interview, a new position opened that I was perfectly qualified for. I got that job, and I am now a Spanish and math teacher at LLA. Another answer to prayer.

I tell people that Walla Walla University changed my life. I am grateful that I took the plunge to learn a whole new culture. WWU was the gateway to so many learning experiences, and it is the place that helped me claim the faith I’ve needed to see me through really hard times.

In just a few days, I will return to Miami to marry Angel, and we’ll make our home in Southern California. I’ve learned so much since that day 13 years ago when I found the courage to get on that plane to Walla Walla. And now, I can share my experiences with high school students who worry about what is next. I tell them, “Trust your gut when God gives you the desire to try something different, something scary. It’s normal to have feelings of doubt, to worry about major changes. We say we will believe in God, let’s actually believe in him. He will show up.”