Dear King’s,
I remember watching this movie in my small Johannesburg apartment in the eighth grade. Most of it took place in Manhattan, and all I could think about was New York in the summer, and that became a dream. Dancing on rooftops, walking on the iconic concrete streets of the Upper West Side, and jazz concerts in Prospect Park…my bucket list became endless and concentrated in this metropolis.
I also dreamed of making a difference, of bringing meaning to such a marvelous yet dark corner of our world. As Ion Keith Falconer once said, I have but one candle of life left to burn, and I’d rather burn it in a land filled with darkness rather than somewhere inundated with light.
King’s became the place where I have cultivated my passions and refined my gifts. It became the place where I’ve had the opportunity to lead and make a tangible difference in my community for the sake of those around me and for the sake of my Savior. For this Brazilian-South African college student, King’s is also quite literally the American Dream at its finest. King’s brought my career aspirations and my childlike dreams together, and that’s just scratching the surface.
The Apostle Paul describes God’s riches as boundless and unsearchable in the book of Ephesians. King’s has been the most tangible way I have experienced this, through laughter, tears, stress, and incredible growth and joy. Because of my experience of King’s, I can never disbelieve that we serve a God who is in the business of exceeding expectations.
In Him,
Rafa
Rafa Oliveira
Director of Spiritual Life | House of Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Class of '24
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