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A QUICKCONNECTIONTO PROMDRESSESskin and reindeer fur.”Quick’s love and passion for children took center stage there aswell, in this remote village. She said the children were excited tosee her and she organized many youth activities for them,including baking for elders and confirmation classes. Some daysthere were more than 50 children that showed up in the basementof the parsonage, which is used for a youth center.“We had a Sunday School turnout of 75 children which is greatconsidering there are only 600 people in the village.”The church services were similar to the ones she helps out within Nome, part of it being in their native language and part inEnglish. “I have to brag a little that I’m doing quite well on theInupiaq. The elders tease me that I am becoming an Eskimo!”Quick said because of the lack of a pastor or interim pastor, shewas given special permission by the bishop and seminary toadminister the sacraments. She presided over Holy Communionand performed her first baptism. The baptism, she added, wasespecially moving.“I had asked a woman in the congregation to present the candleand recite a special verse. She has cerebral palsy and told me shehas trouble reading, so when she came up, she had the versememorized. It was moving and a true moment of grace.”Augsburg’s transforming educationQuick credits the encouragement she received from faculty andstaff in the religion department while she was a student atAugsburg for steering her toward the path she is now following. Inparticular she remembers a lecture she heard about being called toserve God.“I still remember that lecture, and that confirmed my call fromGod. I began to look for a place to serve the church and I felt notonly an internal call to the ministry, but an external call to serveGod.” Quick said she wasn’t sure at that point what direction inministry she wanted to pursue, but she loved the Youth and FamilyMinistry program and being involved in Campus Ministry, so thatexcited her about ministry with families.Quick will return to Chicago in the fall to finish her education.Where she will go from there is still a question, but she has manygoals, one being a pastor in an inner city church working withfamilies, children and youth; another opening an orphanage orworking at an existing one, perhaps in Thailand; oreven teaching religion, “especially if it was atAbove: A stitch here and there to theAugsburg!”donated dresses made the high school “The education I received at Augsburg helpedgirls feel like queens of the prom. shape my life in a very positive way. Augsburghelped me realize that all things are possiblethrough God.” ■Judy Petree is media relations manager in the Office of PublicRelations and Communication.26 Spring/Summer 2004