 I'm Alyssa Atchison. This spring I completed an MDiv Connect degree at AMBS while living in Manhattan, Kansas. Initially, being a student at a distance seemed like a disadvantage, but our instructors accommodated Connect students very creatively, like Rebecca Slough's Christian Ritual class. We witnessed God's movement in the rituals we planned, joined in, and led that powerfully connected us to one another in our class times. We held communion, all sorts of special blessing rituals, even a practice wedding. This led some of us to design and lead a workshop for the Pastors and Leaders Conference on campus, which happened just before the pandemic shutdowns. And then we followed the spirits leading to offer a webinar to help church leaders through Holy Week in online formats that were brand new to many of them. I can no longer think of my AMBS experience as handicapped by distance. Instead, it's all been an opportunity to hone skills that I didn't even know I needed, to pastor from a distance, and to help others learn to do the same. Please support AMBS with a year-end donation so that our future church leaders can gain skills they don't even know they need to face whatever challenges lie ahead.