Hello Neglected Readers
The last two classes were really heavy on the homework so time to write on the blog was cut short. The Synoptic Gospels and Old Testament 1 both went well. Despite mountains of homework I persevered and even pulled off good grades too! Right now I’m taking my last class with the rest of the students, an indepth study of Acts (which I found out really stands for The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through the Apostles). Our current teacher is a riot. It’s funny because his son taught a class last semester and told a couple stories about his dad in passing that were so funny they were almost unbelievable. Now that I’ve met the man I understand. It gives me great hope that there’s a niche in the body of Christ for wild extrovert comedians like my father-in-law. These two would get along great!
We did have a week of spring break where I probably should have gone on-line to write but it just didn’t happen. M went to Haiti with a group from our school doing earthquake relief. They helped run a medical clinic and a children’s outreach program and they bought supplies to be distributed by local churches. I meanwhile stayed on our campus with K and one of the girls who couldn’t afford a plane ticket back home to Texas. We had a great time living koinonia (aka christian community) together and taking shifts watching K and working as cleaners on campus. I thoroughly expected to be lonely and bored to tears but it was a really wonderful, restful break full of laughter, shared dreams and many games of dominos.
Now that the end of our year here is in sight we’re pondering what to do with our summer. We’re pretty sure that God wants us to take the summer to spend with our families. This may be their last chance to spend much time with K before we go overseas. It will also give us a chance to love them and show them Jesus. M is the lone believer in his family and my family is only marginally better off. We would love to see them reconciled with God and living in his freedom. Please take just a minute to pray for them before you navigate away. We’d SO very much appreciate it!
Were back!
I hope everyone reading had a happy holiday! We got back to the dorm Sunday evening after a lovely visit with our parents and K just loved Christmas. This was the first year he was actually old enough to appreciate everything that was going on and it was a lot of fun.
Yesterday and most of this week will be devoted to cleaning up the campus (M and I are splitting 8 hrs of work study each day) and getting everything ready for the official start-up of the semester on Friday. New students will be arriving today but there will be no new dorm-mates for us. The African family couldn’t get their visas. I’m a bit disappointed. It’s lonely without other kids living here. It’ll be better once the Brazillians get back. They got permission to return late so they could visit family in Brazil and help with his family’s orphan/street child ministry.
Community
My favourite thing about this school (and our missions agency too) is the communal lifestyle they live. Here on campus live not just students but faculty, staff, and a multitude of retired missionaries. The retirees live in the building just across the courtyard from us. Next to that is the building where the stafflive with their families. The result is an incredible age range with the youngest community member still being in utero and the oldest being well over 90. I think it’s a beautiful picture of how the church should be. All these people not just living in proximity to each other but interacting together. They share meals in the main dining room, attend Wednesday chapel together, work alongside each other (many of the retirees still volunteer at the same campus jobs the workstudy students do), play together. Last night after one of the elderly residents passed away (in his sleep after a busy day working on the playground) they all morned together, standing out in the moonlight singing hymns, comforting each other, and celebrating his journey home. It was sweet and sad and beautiful.