米塞克·阿巴特继承了她父亲一生中所体现的敬虔和关心他人的精神. For him, it meant becoming a theology professor in their home country of Ethiopia, and then at Concordia Irvine. For Miseker, the path is in the field of medicine. 她最近在加州大学欧文分校获得医学学位，并在哈佛大学获得公共卫生硕士学位. She heads now to Cornell University for her surgical residency.
The goal, she says, is to use everything she has received to help those lacking medical access, particularly in Africa.
“I feel like I’ve always been on a discovery path,” Miseker says. “The question I had for God was, ‘What is my purpose?’ I knew I was blessed, privileged and had opportunities that so many people wish they had, and I needed to find a way to maximally give back the opportunities I received.”
这家人去欧文康考迪亚大学的旅程始于她父亲在高中时的精神觉醒, which shocked many of his relatives. Eshetu Abate是一名优秀的学生，在学术考试中取得了如此高的分数，以至于埃塞俄比亚的皇帝, Haile Selassie, visited his school (in a rural region seven hours south of Addis Ababa, the capital city) and awarded him a gold watch. 而不是在后来统治这个国家的共产党德格政权中接受领导培训, 米塞克的父亲从事神学研究，并受到挪威传教士的庇护，他们给了他奖学金，让他进入亚的斯亚贝巴的梅肯耶苏斯神学院学习. He finished his PhD in 1988 at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
“A lot of people told him to stay in the U.S. because of the upheaval of the Derg regime, but he went back and worked at the seminary in Addis as a professor, then as the dean,” Miseker says.
That’s why I began considering mission work. I couldn’t continue as though things were normal here. I knew I needed to do things with the opportunities I received.
Miseker was born in Addis, two weeks after the overthrow of the Derg regime in 1991.
At age seven, the family moved to Norway for two years as her father taught in churches
throughout Scandinavia and her mother, Amarech, continued to teach and advocate for women’s empowerment within the church and society. When they moved back to Ethiopia, 第一世界和第三世界状况的巨大差异引起了年轻的米塞克的注意.
“Norway is very different than Addis, so it was kind of a shock and a question that lingered in my mind,” she says. “I wanted to understand why the disparities existed, but I was too young to delve into that and didn’t wrestle with it too much. Those questions laid dormant for a while. I thought my life would continue in Ethiopia.”
A few years later the family made a permanent move to Irvine, where Dr. Abate became a professor of theology at Concordia University Irvine. For Miseker, the transition was extremely difficult.
“It felt like a loss to come here and start a new life,” she recalls. “Leaving everything you knew, you start missing your family and then it hits you that this is forever. I kept asking, ‘Why is this my life?’”
她经历了一种类似于幸存者的负罪感，因为她拥有如此多的机会，而埃塞俄比亚的许多人却没有.
“That’s why I began considering mission work,” she says. “I wanted to be a theologian like my dad. I couldn’t continue as though things were normal here. I knew I needed to do things with the opportunities I received. 在尔湾，人们都很热情，我也有朋友，但这从来都不是我的生活. When you grow up in a different place, you can’t ignore it.”
Her father established two churches, in Long Beach and Los Angeles, while also teaching at Concordia University Irvine. Her mother, who earned a master of philosophy in religious studies and a bachelor of arts in theology, had been a professor of women’s studies at the seminary in Addis. 她仍然深入参与当地的事工，并努力为埃塞俄比亚教会和社会中的年轻女性创造领导机会, 同时提倡反对有害的文化传统，如早婚和劳动不平等.
Concordia professors Dr. Michael Young, Dr. Ken Ebel and Dr. John Kenney were instrumental in everything I did.
During Miseker’s undergraduate years at Concordia, 癌症开始夺走她父亲的生命，她面临着辍学和他在一起的选择, or pressing on with school and missing some of his last moments.
She sought counsel from Dr. John Kenney, her analytical chemistry professor.
“We talked and prayed together, and I said there will be many semesters when you can retake this class, but only this time will be set aside for you to be at the bedside of your father,” Dr. Kenney remembers. “I reminded her that the order in which we do things is God first, then our family, then our professional life, which at her stage was school. I said, ‘This is a sacred Incomplete. You’re doing it for all the right reasons. It’s a higher call than the class. Go be at your father’s bedside. After that, come back and finish the class.’”
Miseker did just that, taking a semester off to walk through the last stages of her father’s life with him.
“Concordia was like family,” Miseker says. “That was so important and I’m indebted to the Concordia family. It was a really good community. Pastor Anderson, Dr. Mary Scott and all of them were very supportive.”
Dr. Kenney says Dr. Abate was “an incredible human being.”
“He was a holy man, is the best I can put it,” Kenney says. “他向周围的每个人散发着上帝的爱，并且以一种尊敬你的方式说出你的名字. Miseker has exactly that same supernatural radiance. She is absolutely excellent by any standard, but her definitive characteristic is her supernatural, godly radiance that emanates from her.”
One residency interviewer asked what I was most proud of, and I answered that it was Concordia Irvine because it made me who I am, the go-getter.
米塞克已经决定接受父亲的建议，从医而不是从教, 他相信这会让她在传讲上帝的话语时产生实际的影响. Concordia professors Dr. Michael Young, Dr. Ken Ebel and Dr. John Kenney were “instrumental in everything I did,” she says. “I’m so thankful for all my professors at Concordia.
我得到了很多研究机会，当我提到我的远大梦想时，人们指导我，相信我. It made me continue to strive and never settle.”
After graduating from Concordia with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry, 米塞克回到她父亲在埃塞俄比亚的家乡，在泛非基督教外科医生学会做了六个月的志愿者.
“I had decided on medicine and was figuring out how I would go back and help, in what capacity,” Miseker says. “I very much enjoyed doing that. I lived in one of my aunt’s old homes, and walking back to that village you see so many street children. Every time I would go by, they would know I was not a local, and follow me. At times I took them to a restaurant and fed them. There were so many people with broken limbs, people that really needed access to health care and weren’t getting it.”
We talked and prayed together, and I said there will be many semesters when you can retake this class, but only this time will be set aside for you to be at the bedside of your father.
Dr. 肯尼为她的医学院申请写了一封推荐信，她获得了加州大学欧文分校医学院的全额学费奖学金. In her first year, she planned a trip for ten UCI medical students to perform ultrasounds in Ethiopia. They raised $30,000, bought two ultrasound machines, 在当地一家餐馆为300名儿童举办了一次喂养活动，并在一家医院志愿培训200名医科学生，为期6周.
Back at medical school, Miseker rotated through training in trauma surgery, heart surgery, minimally invasive surgery using robots, and much more. 三年后，她休学一年，获得了哈佛大学的总统奖学金，获得了公共卫生硕士学位. She turned down invitations from similar programs at Johns Hopkins and Yale.
她说:“那是我人生中最美好的一年，我见到了所有我想共事的人。. “All my colleagues had very big dreams. 有时候你说你想改变这个世界上的一些事情，人们看着你就像, ‘You can’t do that.’ This time, every time I mentioned an idea, everybody rushed to fulfill it.”
Harvard confirmed her desire to go into global surgery, 她很高兴有机会与埃塞俄比亚和卢旺达的卫生部合作，为新医学院制定课程. She returned to UCI to complete her medical degree and invited Dr. Kenney to speak at the big graduation celebration at her church.
When interviewing for surgical residency programs, Miseker always carried something special: her Concordia folder.
“One residency interviewer asked what I was most proud of, and I answered that it was Concordia Irvine because it made me who I am, the go-getter,” Miseker says. “Everything hat has led to my success has been because of Concordia.”
每次重要会议，她都会带着她的Concordia文件夹，“因为它会让我想起会议的开始。,” she says. “And it keeps everything together.”
她选择在康奈尔大学(Cornell University)做住院医师，因为该校专注于全球外科, 外科医生在哪里努力为发展中国家的人们增加获得安全和负担得起的外科护理的机会.
我想你们会看到米塞克对医学和基督教灵性都产生了重大影响.
“这是关于如何在这些国家扩大手术服务的系统化计划,” Miseker says. “我想在全球外科领域利用我的公共卫生硕士学位，继续在手术室里练习, specializing in organ
transplant surgery.”
Developing countries lack access to care not because there aren’t capable people, but because of lack of opportunities, among other reasons.
“I have this unique position as an Ethiopian-American,” Miseker says. “I feel that with the right amount of effort and prayer, 我可以帮助弥合海外众多有才华和创造力的人与那些想给他们机会的人之间的差距.
在发展中国家，即使是最聪明的人或工作非常努力的人也没有很多机会. I want to find ways to make that better.”
In her leisure time, 米塞克完成了两次全程马拉松，并在医学院期间在当地一家健身中心教授跆拳道课程. 她的母亲在康考迪亚欧文大学从事行政服务工作，并继续在世界各地领导神学研讨会和会议, women’s empowerment in Africa, and how Lutherans can better
engage people within African cultures. At home, 她曾担任埃塞俄比亚路德教会Mekane Yesus的长老和执事委员会主任.
“I would not be anywhere without my mother,” Miseker says. “She’s the strongest human I know. She is and has been our rock.”
米塞克的一个弟弟去了斯坦福大学，在Facebook做程序员. The other is entering high school.
After Cornell, 米塞克希望花时间在日内瓦的世界卫生组织了解更多关于扩大非洲国家手术准入的情况. Her father’s example continues to inspire her to overcome challenges.
“我认为你会看到米塞克对医学和基督教灵性产生重大影响,” says Kenney. “I don’t think she fully appreciates just how special she is. She is the kind of person who can turn an entire nation around, or revolutionize health care and spiritual care in Africa.”