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When Isabella Mansilla called alumni during Phonathon, she didn’t expect a call that would move her to tears. The junior international rescue and relief major from Illinois is an outreach promoter for ��������’s Advancement Office. During the university’s annual Phonathon last year, Mansilla had a life-changing conversation with alumna Birgit Hausted (‘85), a family physician in Muscatine, Iowa. 

Outreach promoters are provided conversation starters as they call alumni. One of the questions that is almost always asked is why the alumnus chose their major. Hausted’s major just happened to align with Isabella’s interests. 

At the time, Mansilla was flipping between the idea of being a nurse or a doctor, and Hausted had just the right advice for her. 

“She really supported the idea of it not being entirely my decision; prayer has such a big impact on the choice,” Mansilla said. “I knew I wanted to be in a medical field; I just wasn’t sure about the sector. She told me to continue to pray, and God will guide me to where I need to be. I also knew I wanted to do international work but not how I was going to do that. The more I prayed about it, I realized that nursing was in fact what I wanted to do — being a flight nurse specifically. I’m graduating from Union with my IRR degree and then going to get a nursing degree back in Chicago.”

As Mansilla continues in her classes this year, she remembers this conversation fondly and still thinks about it from time to time. 

“That conversation really inspired me,” Mansilla said. “A lot of it led towards God. At the time, I was struggling with my relationship with God. She talked with me about my experiences here at Union. I gave her a vague ‘it’s good’ answer. I didn’t know what to do with my life spiritually. As I told her this, she stopped me and asked if she could pray with me. In the middle of the prayer, I started sobbing. At that moment I knew that was just what I needed, and I’m thankful for her. If the opportunity ever arose, I’d love to meet her and tell her just how much that conversation helped me.” 

by Rebekah Fingerson, a junior English education major from Wisconsin.