Report January 2010!

Wow - I can't believe how quickly this quarter is going... and the last one has disappeared altogether!

Several factors are making this second quarter even better than the last. Namely, that I am a little more able to keep up with the bookwork and housekeeping since I backed down on the school work-load. I have definitely been learning a lot about myself - it was a difficult pill to swallow that I wouldn't be able to stay up with everything in the day-time classes, but somehow a household must be taken care of. My number one priority is taking care of my husband, being his support in every way. It was kind of working out the other way last quarter, and that just isn't what this experience is for - this is for his learning academically and for both our learning spiritually. If I don't walk away with a degree, I have come to grips with the fact that I am no less of a hard-working person - my focus is just on other priorities.

Having said all of that, the classes I am taking are still phenomenal, the information well-put-together and biblical, and the instructors ever concerned about our success. This is an unbelievable school. I especially appreciate their emphasis on family - the motto is that a student who receives all A's in school but has not met the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of his family has failed in the end. The program is intense, but the essential part of life at this point is to learn to be a good preacher while remembering that the family God has given us is the responsibility here and now. It's all about balance. It's all about knowing that God has provided for every need - now our job is to use what we've been given to further the kingdom, starting at home. God bless the men who are working so hard to provide this rich learning environment.

On a final note, and more on this in the future: yes, it is official. David and I are going to Malawi in the summer. We will leave the last week in June and be there for most of July. One of our instructors, Wayne Burger, goes to Malawi, Africa every July to teach as part of a program intended to raise the biblical knowledge of the everyday Christian in that area. They are an extremely evangelistic people: churches that collectively had between 200-300 brethren converted over 3,000 people - LAST YEAR. This is incredible: this is what the gospel does in places where materialism has not blinded people to their need for spiritual riches. But the general knowledge has needed strengthening, so for 6 months out of the year these people have the opportunity to attend 6 different classes taught by a different man each month. Students who attend every class and finish the work receive at the end of the four year program a book form of each instructors notes on their material. 400 BRETHREN are receiving the final additions to their personal starter-libraries this year. THAT is dedication. And we are going to be there when they finish Wayne's class, the last of their program: hermaneutics. More on our work there later...

Please pray for our preparations, and please spread the word. It will cost $3,000 each for us to make the trip, and we are asking our brethren to consider assisting us in this - while we have already made progress toward this goal, there is a long way to go and only 5 1/2 months to get there. Thank you for your encouragement and thanks be to our God who has richly supplied our every need - so that we in turn may give to other children of the kingdom. Amen.