Changing schools is hard. You're not wrong to feel that.

You've been through it before. You've had to walk into a new school not knowing anyone, figuring out where everything is, wondering if people will like you. That's genuinely hard — and it makes complete sense that you don't want to do it again.

We're not going to pretend it's easy. We're not going to tell you your feelings are wrong. You've been through a lot, and the fact that you're still showing up every day with a good attitude says everything about who you are.

But we need you to hear something important.

God goes before you into every new place.

Here's something worth holding onto: in the Bible, God never sent His people somewhere without going ahead of them first. He doesn't wave goodbye from where you were comfortable and safe. He's already at where you're going — preparing it, setting things in motion, arranging the people and the moments you don't even know about yet.

The new hallways, the new classrooms, the new lunch tables — He's already been there. You're not walking into MICS as a stranger navigating alone. You're walking in with the same God who's been with you through every hard thing you've already lived through.

That's not a small thing. That's everything.

God has always moved His people on purpose.

You know your Bible. Think about the people God called to do something great — almost none of them stayed where they were comfortable.

None of them asked to be moved. All of them were glad they were.

Moving isn't a punishment. Sometimes it's a promotion — God moving you toward the place where you'll actually become who He made you to be.

Parkhurst isn't bad. But it isn't building you. You've said it yourself — you're bored. You're not being challenged. A good God who made you curious and smart and capable doesn't want you sitting in a classroom feeling like your brain is asleep.

Here's what MICS actually has for you.

These aren't things they say they have. These are confirmed, real, in-person classes.

You think you won't make friends. You already did.

You walked in not knowing a single person — and walked out having genuinely connected with kids there. That's not luck. That's who you are.

You're the kind of person people like. You're interesting, you're smart, you have a personality that draws people in. You don't need six months to make a friend — you proved that in a single afternoon.

And Eli is already there. You'll see him at lunch every day, and depending on what electives you both pick, you may have some of those together too. You might not share every class — that's honest — but you won't be invisible either. You'll have a familiar face in the hallway and at the lunch table from day one.

And the other kid you connected with on shadow day? He will be there too. You didn't imagine that. That was real.

Your steps are being held, Westin. The stumbles — the hard transitions, the moments of not knowing where you fit — those aren't proof that something is wrong. They're proof that something is being built. God doesn't waste the hard parts. He uses every single one of them.

Every school you've been to has shaped you. Every hard start has made you stronger and more adaptable than most kids your age will ever be. That's not a small thing. That's God working.

Be strong and courageous, Westin.

God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to be purposeful. The school that's going to build you — academically, spiritually, socially — isn't the one you're at now. And deep down, you already know that.