Photo credit: Courtesy David Suralta; Sabrina – Samantha Woolford-Hunt; Ryan – Katie Fellows
Each journey reflects a personal pursuit of purpose, shaped by faith, resilience and a desire to grow. In this feature, we highlight three students whose stories reflect the heart of Andrews’ mission: to Seek Knowledge, Affirm Faith and Change the World.
During the COVID pandemic, David Suralta saw the fragility of life. As his sick father was rushed to the ICU, David prayed, “Lord, one day I will die. But before that day comes, what do You want me to do?”
The moment changed him. “It made me realize how important it is to wake up every day with purpose,” David says.
He sought God’s guidance in choosing a school. His major, music composition, wasn’t common and the programs available in his country, the Philippines, held classes on Saturday — something he wanted to avoid.
“God answered my prayers by opening doors … and leading me to Andrews,” he recalls. “As I learned more, I saw that Andrews offers a strong education and a great learning community. I knew this was the right place for me.”
Still, getting there “felt like an impossible dream,” David says. His father was a taxi driver, and his mother worked as a helper. Their loan applications were rejected by five banks. Though his mother was discouraged, David leaned on his faith; he prayed, fasted and spent time in daily devotion. “Little did I know, this was the greatest investment I could make,” he says.
A month later, a neighbor offered a loan for tuition. “It felt like a miracle,” David says, “but it came at a heavy cost.” The family put their house up for collateral and agreed to pay 20,000 pesos ($360 U.S.) per month in interest.
“I prayed to God, knowing that if I couldn’t pay, my parents would lose their home. Despite the risk, I trusted God and believed He had opened this door for a reason.”
Under immense stress, David moved forward, scheduling a visa interview and traveling to Manila for the appointment. But on July 18, 2024, his application was denied.
“I didn’t know what to do. I felt defeated and thought my dream had ended.” Instead of returning home, however, he stayed in Manila, hoping for another chance. David saw God show up again. In a city 486 miles — and a plane or ferry ride away — from home, a stranger offered him free housing and food.
Told the odds of a second interview so soon were slim, David fasted and prayed for nearly three weeks. Instead of waiting a year, he went for his interview on Aug. 8, 2024. While in line, he struck up a conversation with another person. Afterward, the man told him, “Son, I think you should go first. I think you can be a leader someday,” and swapped places with David. He stepped forward and surrendered to the outcome. “I told God, ‘If my journey ends here, thank you for everything.’”
But his visa was approved — and the miracles continued. He found a last-minute flight despite high, peak-season fares. A fellow passenger helped him navigate his first international flight — from Manila to Taiwan to Chicago — even buying him meals.
Now, David walks every day in his once “impossible” dream. He is studying music composition, sings with the University Singers, and works as a video producer for Andrews University’s Global Campus.
Reflecting on his journey to Andrews, he says, “I realized that when you surrender everything to the Lord, He makes a way.”
Sabrina Valasque Saliba was studying biology at Middle East University in Lebanon when her boyfriend mentioned he planned to study physical therapy at Andrews University.
Curious, she looked it up. “Pretty interesting,” she thought.
Sabrina was drawn to the idea of studying abroad in an Adventist environment. While researching potential academic majors, someone mentioned medical laboratory science — a field that included her love for microbiology. After shadowing a medical lab scientist, she knew: This was it. Andrews became her top choice. She applied and was accepted. But then came the hard part.
“My mom told me, ‘OK, Sabrina, you were accepted. But now let’s talk finances,’” she says. “I didn’t know how I’d pay for it because we didn’t have that kind of money.”
With two younger sisters already in an Adventist school, the financial burden was real. So, Sabrina turned to God.
“Before I started the process, I said, ‘Lord, if it’s not for me to go, please don’t give me hope. Close all the doors so I don’t get excited.’ But by then, I knew … He was allowing me to go.”
Sabrina received a scholarship and also found a sponsor. She canvassed that summer to raise funds, and her parents provided the rest. “Every month was a miracle. My sponsor was helping, my parents worked hard — it was miracle after miracle.”
The next step was securing a visa; people told her the process would be easy. Confident in God’s leading, Sabrina also believed the process would be smooth — until it wasn’t.
Her interviewer asked three questions then said, “I’m sorry, I can’t give you your visa today.”
It was July 19, 2024, less than a month before the new student orientation at Andrews. Sabrina and her family were devastated. That evening, her father, an Orthodox Christian, walked into a somber home.
“He said, ‘Why are you crying? Didn’t you put this in God’s hands? He will lead you,’” Sabrina recalls. “I felt like those words, coming from him, were words from God.”
With time running out, Sabrina considered her options. A recent rule change allowed her to reapply for a visa within three days instead of three months — but the earliest interview date available was Aug. 28, two weeks too late.
She considered a different approach: Apply for the visa in Serbia, while visiting her boyfriend’s family, and then travel to the U.S. if approved. Flights from Lebanon to Serbia were expensive as war with Israel intensified. Still, she booked her ticket from Lebanon and prayed for clarity.
The Wednesday before departure, her mother said, “If you’re denied again, that will be a no from God—not from any human. But if you get a yes, then that’s a yes from God.”
The next day, after praying, Sabrina saw a new interview date pop up on her phone: Friday — the very next day. Later that night, the airline called: her flight to Serbia had been canceled.
The visa interview this time felt different, Sabrina recalls. “She asked a lot of questions — ‘Why Andrews? What do you want to see there?’”
At the end, the interviewer smiled. “Congratulations. I hope you succeed in your journey there.”
“I was in shock,” Sabrina says of the approval and the flurry of events leading up to it; but it left her more sure than ever: “This was a yes from God.”
Ryan Wilson, a Bible worker in Ohio, wanted to further his education. Attending Andrews University was his wife’s idea.
“Growing up, it was one of her dream schools,” Ryan says. The couple and their three children decided to move to Berrien Springs so both parents could continue their studies.
The move marked more than a change in location for Ryan — it was another step in his lifelong pursuit of purpose. The path hasn’t always been linear.
“I’m a late bloomer,” he says. After dropping out of high school in tenth grade, he cycled through jobs in insurance, hospitality, retail and truck driving.
While teaching, preaching and doing community outreach as a Bible worker, he encountered a recurring theme: “Everywhere I went, people would ask me, ‘Are you a pastor? Have you ever thought about being a pastor? How many years in school before you become a pastor?’”
Raised between faith traditions — his father’s mother was Seventh-day Adventist, his mother and maternal grandmother were Pentecostal — Ryan recalls, “We had one grandmother that would take us to church on Saturday, one grandmother that would take us to church on Sunday.”
Despite attending church and even an Adventist academy, confusion, lack of authenticity, and familial dysfunction led to Ryan’s disillusionment with Christianity. By his teen years, he was an atheist and had dropped out of high school.
He spent years working and chasing pleasure, but it left him empty.
“I didn’t have a purpose,” he says. “If the only reason for living is self-gratification but the things you think will satisfy you don’t, then there’s no reason for living.” But he also remembers “this feeling, this thought … how about you give this God thing another look?”
One night, flipping through TV channels, he landed on a preacher on TBN. “[He’s] saying God has a purpose for my life … he says, seek and you shall find. So I say, ‘Lord, if you have a purpose, it would be nice to know it.’”
Later, his roommate said he could see Ryan as a radio talk show host. “I interpreted that as a place of influence, a voice,” Ryan says. “I had this eureka moment where I saw my life flash before my eyes. It’s as if God was saying, ‘Even before you believed in Me, I was preparing you for what I have for you. Follow Me.’”
Though Ryan wavered at first, God’s clear intervention snapped him out of indecision. He studied the Bible, attended church and helped where he could. Later, at an evangelism training school, he discovered his passion and met his future wife, Faith-Ann. After a couple of years as a Bible worker, though, a conflict at church left him discouraged. He walked away and started driving trucks.
But like Jonah, he couldn’t outrun his calling. One night a stranger struck up a conversation with Ryan as he was pumping gas. As Ryan turned to leave, the man said, “There’s something that you love and that’s what you should be doing.”
That moment confirmed what Ryan already had sensed: life on the road was unfulfilling. He left trucking and rededicated his life to God. He was soon hired as a Bible worker in Ohio.
Now, as a first-time college student, Ryan is balancing studies with family life. At 35, he’s older than most of his classmates but has found his place as a theology major.
“I find that the best career is where passion and proficiency meet,” he says. “Nothing really gives me that passion like theology — talking to people about God, studying the Bible.”
He seeks what will equip him to better follow the path he’d been searching for and that God had long called him to.
Purpose is “not just a one-time thing or a destination,” Ryan says. “It’s part of the whole journey.”
Kaara Harris is an assistant professor of journalism and communication at Andrews University.
