I arrived in Tallahassee the Fall of 2002 from Texas without knowing anything about the city. My mom  looked up LCMS churches in the hotel phone book, and told me to go to University Lutheran since we recognized the street name. I went that first Sunday mostly because I knew she would keep asking me until I did. It was Pastor Dohrman who noticed me and immediately started talking to me. When I told him I liked to sing, he grabbed the choir director and signed me up right then. There was no getting out of it. Over the next four years University Lutheran became more than a church or a community; it became my home base. We were a close choir group who went to every football game, traveled for retreats, and escaped to Pastor Dohrman’s beach house. Wednesday night Bible study and choir practices were highlights of my week. I moved 8 times in college, but University Lutheran was constant. When I needed to clean my place for a security deposit, Pastor let me take the church vacuum. When I had to move on short notice, Pastor gave me his van for the day. When my roommate threw a 21^st birthday party the night before my Organic Chemistry final, Pastor let me study and sleep in the church. When I needed a job, Pastor hired me to work around the Sanctuary cleaning up and printing bulletins. I graduated FSU in 2006, went to graduate school at NYU and I’m a Painting Conservator now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. I haven’t been back to Tally since 2007, but I read the newsletter every time. I think of my friends, both students and residents, and I think of Pastor Dohrman and how they all made such a difference for me. I’ll always consider University Lutheran my Tallahassee home.

– Melissa