An assurance of the Catholic faith is God's loving providence over all of creation, as St. Paul affirms, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). My religious vocation was not something dramatic that transformed me overnight, but one that gradually took shape as I became more and more convinced of God's often hidden ways in my life. My initial encounter with religious life occurred the summer before 9th grade at a "Come & See" event with the Vietnamese Dominican Sisters, when I accompanied my sister was also (or rather, more seriously) discerning a vocation. I was struck by the presence and love of God, but thinking myself still too young and having other aspirations, I put off answering God's call. In His goodness, however, God did not give up on me but kept alive the spark He has placed in me to lead me to Him eventually. I was still drawn to the lives of saints and continued reading them along with a small book entitled, Toi Muon Lam Chi Dong / I Want to Be a Religious. Despite this, instead of becoming stronger, my fervor waned more and more as I achieved academic distinctions. Yet, the notion of becoming a religious lingered in my mind, however tenuously. After a year in college, five years later, the idea of becoming a religious became attractive once again, with something of my own falling incident, which I like to think resembles St. Paul's. Not having made the usual grades of my high school years (incidentally, my only "A" for the first semester in college was in a religion course), I sought refuge from the demands of academic studies, thinking I would hide myself away in a convent where academic pursuits were irrelevant. God knew well my heart and lovingly seized the opportunity I allowed Him, however misguided, to purify my intentions for answering His call, one I tried repeatedly to ignore. God's enduring goodness in my case is matched by His great sense of humor! In putting myself at God's disposal, not only did I not find the refuge I mistakenly sought but I was eventually thrown into the thick of academic rigors to earn a doctorate in Thomistic philosophy and then a Master's in theology. It has been with the Dominicans of Mary Immaculate Province that God has chosen to utilize and cultivate the gifts and talents He has given me, despite my attempt to bury them. I trust that God's loving providence will continue to unfold in my adventures as a Dominican praying and studying in order to teach and preach, that is, to hand on to others what has been given me.