Mid-America Info Videos

Hi all,

I thought that I would follow Albert & Hanneke's lead, and share with you the Mid-America Information videos that have been put up on Youtube. You might even spot us Kiwis in them! ;)

These videos are really nicely put together and give a little glimpse into life at seminary for the students, and even the wives. : )

Like Albert & Hanneke said though - you are always more then welcome to come visit us and see for yourselves! :D

And we're back!

So it has been a long while since our last post. So much has been going on it has been hard to get the time to sit down to write an update - and the unfortunate thing is, the more days that go past the more there is to update you all on! 

It has already been just over a month since we returned from our wonderful summer in Canada. It was very hard to leave that wonderful church - the people were just an amazing encouragement to us in the short time we were blessed to spend with them. It's a big deal for people to welcome strangers into their lives and homes, but they did! And it was an amazing example to us and we only hope that we can repay the favour in the future! We told lots of people to come visit us in NZ - so are anticipating there being an influx of Canadians flying into NZ in the coming years! ;)

Josh was able to preach every week, and found it to be a really valuable experience. Both in gaining some confidence, and also in learning more about what he needs to learn more about! It was also a valuable experience for me to be a part of another new congregation, built new relationships and learn from others (there was a lot to be learnt and plenty of people to learn from in Abbotsford who were excellent examples) so that was a massive blessing. 

Another blessing from our trip to BC was the opportunity we had to catch up with 4 friends from New Zealand!!!! It was just amazing. I spent time with my friend Charlotte, we caught up for the weekend with our buddy Hugo, and I also was very blessed to have a coffee and lovely afternoon with two (or technically at the time 3 ;)) lovely ladies - Sharon, Nicola & technically, gorgeous wee Caitlin - I just didn't get to meet her face to face. ;) It was very very special to see friends from home. :)

Our trip back was busy but very enjoyable. Each day we drove on average 8 hours, and it took us 5 days to get back to Chicago. Just an incredible trip - something that we never imagined that we would get to do, and something that even a lot of Americans don't get to do. This country is HUGE! We came down from Canada into Washington state, popped in for the day in Seattle, then drove across the top of Idaho, into Montana, then down into Wyoming and through Yellowstone National Park. Again, this park is massive, and to really appreciate it I could see that you would need to spend at least 3 days traveling around it - however we didn't have that luxury, so did the best we could with one day, which was still amazing. We got to see wild bison, and even a grizzly bear! 

After our trip through Wyoming we were on the home stretch, heading through Nebraska, Iowa and then finally back in Illinois. 

Wyoming

Providentially the trip was incredibly smooth, and we enjoyed each other's company to boot. ;) 

Once home it was a great blessing for Josh to have two weeks off before school started up again, his first proper 'holiday' since January. So it was a great time to catch up with some local friends and get prepped for the new school year. 

We had the seminary retreat day where we were able to meet a lot of the new students which was really nice. Josh has now been back at his studies for the past two weeks, and it's full steam ahead. 

We are also facing winter again now. Just this past week, on Wednesday 10th, I was out in the evening wearing shorts and a singlet - the temperature being about 27 degrees. The very next morning we woke up, and it had dropped to 12 degrees, warming up to about 16 during the day! Talk about extremes! So since then, we have been in sweaters, jeans and pulling out the jackets. Autumn is definitely here. There is also talk of another very cold winter like we experienced last year - the words 'polar vortex' are being thrown around again - so we shall see. At least we know what to expect a little bit now! 

I have been able to spend some lovely time with some of the other seminary families, and get to know some of the new ones which has been great. All the other activities are starting up again - with the Bible study, Sem-Wives meetings and I have been starting nannying again. 

The other week I got to go and watch a softball game where two of the girls who I taught art to last year were playing in opposing teams! It was very fun to be able to watch them play and support them. 

Leah batting & Emma as catcher!

We also were blessed to be taken out for the day to the Chicago Air Show by some generous friends from church. It was a very fun day spent lakeside, with beautiful weather and some pretty amazing stunts performed by the pilots. 

The beach before it got even busier, and Chicago city in the distance.

Parachuters (I guess that's what you call them in plural...)

They also took us into the city and we visited Bloomingdales

Trying to blend in with the wall art

Josh has a new job for the seminary this year (last year he opened up each day), this time managing the book store three afternoons a week, so we are very thankful for this opportunity that the school provides to earn some extra money. This year Josh also will have opportunity to preach at various churches around the area (and potentially further afield) and is booked in two weeks time to preach in Iowa where we will be for the weekend. 

We have both learnt so much over the past year. It has been amazing to see how much Josh is loving his studies, and just soaking in every opportunity to learn from very gifted professors and fellow students. It is very intensive study, and yet knowing the depth of meaning that the study of God's Word brings with it makes the opportunity a very real privilege, and not a burden. Josh works really hard, but also has set aside Friday afternoons where we can go for a walk and spend some quality time together, and we have also kept up going to the gym together as well. This has really helped his energy levels, and coming in to the winter will be even more valuable. 

I have been keeping up my quilting - with lots of my friends having babies at the moment I have a lovely excuse to keep sewing! Also will be involved in the Bible study this year and have continued on as a Crossroad Bible Institute Instructor (a very good prison ministry). I've also been trying to read more and build up a better reference library (although I won't be able to compete with Josh!) so if anyone has any book recommendations let me know! I was able to read a very good one over the summer called 'Partners in Ministry' by Christine Hoover. Found it to be very encouraging even if you aren't a ministry wife!

Well that is where we are at for now - we really very much appreciate all your prayers and support. Without the support of you God's people we wouldn't be here. It's an immense blessing and very humbling. 

They do have beautiful sunsets in Autumn in Illinois

If you are praying for us, we would very much appreciate your prayers specifically in regards to the following:

• That the Lord will continue to equip us for (in His providence) a future in ministry - in Josh's ability to preach God's Word faithfully and truthfully, and for my willingness to support him in doing so. 
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• Tying in to the above request - that we will remember Who we are doing this for, and why - for God's glory. That we will never lose sight of that. 
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• Thanksgiving for all God's provision for us - that God has moved so many people to be so willingly generous of their time, money, wisdom and all the support we receive. And this from many people, from many parts of the world. Some who have known us our whole lives, and others who have only known us for a short time! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
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• That the Lord will also give us contentment (for all the seminary families) - it is no small sacrifice to leave all our families, friends and the comfort of home - and travel a long distance to seek to follow God's call for our lives. There are students at the seminary from Egypt, South Korea, the Netherlands, England, Canada, the other side of the United States - and of course we Kiwis - and it is hard not to feel home-sick at times. Please pray that we will be content. Especially for the wives who may struggle with loneliness and with the fact that they may not see their husbands so much during term time. That God will provide us all with peace. And that we will be able to be a support and 'family' to each other while we are here. 

Thank you so much again for all your prayers and support!

Much love,

Josh & Hannah

First year of study and traveling to Canada!

Well it has been an eventful past month to say the least! Over May Josh had his final exams for the year - which meant that he has been keeping very busy with study. We also were preparing for our summer assignment, so I was kept busy at home cleaning, and planning for the trip as well as trying to make sure the car was up-to-date and things would be covered in the time we would be away. We had a number of friends who were moving and planning for travel also, so we were able to give them a bit of help in that process. 

The seminary had commencement - which was really great to attend in support of this year's graduates. It was somewhat intimidating and humbling to imagine that, Lord willing, that is where we will be in just another 2 years. 

This year has gone very quickly - and we are very thankful and fully acknowledge how every good thing, every new experience, and all the new things we have been learning have come to us by God's grace - through the love and service of His people. It is one of the most humbling things to live in full and complete trust in God's provision - and I think a very important thing for us to experience as seminary students, and looking into pastoral service in the future. Every day we are aware of the fact that we are here by His grace, and because of the support of the people back home and in the US and now Canada! Everything we have is from His hand - and we are very aware of it because of this experience. 

I am currently writing from our summer home in Abbotsford, British Columbia - and as I look out the window I can see beautiful green fields, tall trees, and a mountain rising just beyond them. We were very blessed to have arrived right on schedule on Friday - after 5 days of travel across the greater part of the US and Canada. It was mind-boggling to have had the opportunity to make this trip, and in the process discover just how vast these countries are. For 3 out of the 5 days of travel we were driving through the grass equivalent of desert - ultimately, prairie land. Something that we Kiwis really had not experienced before - only to arrive on the 4th day to epic mountain vistas. 

On our first day of travel it worked out that we were able to catch up with Beccy and Jake in Madison, Wisconsin. It was fantastic to be able to catch up with them and spend some time - I only wish that we could have had longer!

This kind of thing was a common sight through North Dakota 

Early morning views of North Dakota before we crossed the border into Canada

The left side of this picture was what most of our last images of North Dakota were. It was a very brown, barren kind of a landscape. Quite unlike anything I've seen before. And it just went on and on for miles. As far as the eye could see. It really did have it's own kind of unique beauty to it. One thing that was cool was that because the land is so flat, the sky was massive! And there were some incredible cloud formations. 

Driving through Minnesota

North Dakota (similar to Minnesota huh)

 Providentially the border crossing into Canada went very smoothly. All up it took about half an hour to process the paperwork, and we now have some very pretty and colourful new visas in our passports. :) That's another thing that is great about Canada - their money is really pretty! Makes a change from the greenback that's for sure. ;) 
Our first day of driving in Canada was through Saskatchewan - which was mostly the same as North Dakota. Flat, treeless fields that go on forever. 

Next day we drove into Alberta which for a long time was a similar landscape, but as we drew closer to Calgary we were beginning to see more hills. We stopped off at lunchtime in Calgary - which was a gorgeous city. Everyone there seemed to be very active, they were all either running, walking, biking, rollerblading, skateboarding, etc. It seemed to be very vibrant and friendly, so we enjoyed our short stop there. 

We stopped off in Calgary for a very short walk into the city

We then traveled on into the mountains! Which was very exciting. I tell you what, it was quite an experience. I don't think that we took as many pictures as we would have liked too because we were too busy just soaking in all the natural beauty around us. There is nothing quite like mountains. 

Main street in Banff, Alberta

 We didn't have a huge amount of time - but had planned our trip so that the day before we did extra driving, so that we would have a little more time on our day through the mountains. Because of this, we were able to go for a short hike around the Bow Valley which was well worthwhile - and a welcome stretch for our legs. 

We went on a short hike in the National Park - looks like a painting doesn't it :)

Me taking photos of Josh taking photos

We were happy to be in nature. 

 We were able to see some of the local wildlife - although didn't get any photos because they were either too far away or disappeared too quickly. We were able to spot two bears as we drove down the highway, some white mountain goats, elk and deer. 

In this clearing we not only got to see amazing views mountains but also an Elk.

Lake Louise - still frozen over from the winter

It was amazing to see how much snow there still was on the hills and mountains - although the weather was quite warm. At one point we went up to visit Lake Louise, and it was all still frozen over and covered in snow. Quite surreal to sit there and take in the view in shorts and light sweaters!

At this point we had driven into British Columbia and got to see more mountains :)

 We were so thankful to have the opportunity to take this trip. We have always wanted to  visit Canada but never thought we would get the opportunity. We are now really looking forward to serving in the church here, getting to know the people and for Josh in particular having the opportunity to learn more practically about the ministry. He has been scheduled in to preach at least once a week, as well as hopefully lead some Bible studies and do some visitation. We hope to be able to keep you updated as the weeks progress. In the meantime thank you so much for your prayers and continued support - we appreciate it so much! 

Spring has sprung!

Well it feels like an age since my last post, which is probably true - but things have been pretty busy! This past semester has gone by very quickly. Josh had his spring break last week - which I had hoped would mean some time that we could go out on a day trip together, but he had exams to study for and assignments to write, so it ended up being a regular week. But he made really good progress on his work - it amazes me how hard he works, but I'm thankful for it! 

Another thing that we are very thankful for at the moment is the warmer weather! The grass is turning a healthy green again, and (dare I say it) the white winter snow seems almost like a dream. It's just amazing to see how much the landscape can change in a short period of time. And there is something so cheering about longer sunshiny days, and warmth in the sun - it was strange to get into the car and discover it to be toasty warm (as opposed to frigid). So after experiencing temperatures like the ones that I recorded below - we are now back up into the positives and today got up to wonderful 15 degrees. :)

Brrrr!

One of the last big snowfalls that we had in February

We were really blessed to be treated to a delicious pizza dinner with some of our Kiwi friends from church. They took us to a famous local pizzaria which had a really great atmosphere and very delicious pizzas. 

Josh enjoying the tasty pizza

Before all of the snow melted I also got to go sledding with the Couperus girls! It was a lot of fun. A cold day, but we trekked up and down the hill and had a lot of fun.  

Zara at the top of the hill

Kate with her rosy cold cheeks! (and you can see Zara going down the hill in the background)

We had a couple of big inner tubes to slide on, as well as a couple of boards that were kind of like boogie boards (just the snow versions of them)

The view from the bottom of the hill!

Now we'll just have to wait until next winter to go again. :) Here are a few more pictures that we took over the past couple of months. For a combined Valentines Day/Wedding Anniversary present to ourselves we decided to go out for dinner to a local cafe and enjoyed a bowl of chili - that they very cleverly decorated with a heart. ;)

Some of Josh's snow-blowing exploits at the seminary

Josh and Albert managed to convince the seminary to fly the NZ flag on the flagpole again for Waitangi Day. NZ represent! :D

Our Valentines Dinner - they always serve the meals here with a massive pickle. 

Mountains of snow that Josh had to shovel through over the winter

A cool picture that Josh took :)

The other news we have is that we have had our summer internship confirmed! We are heading to Canada! And not just any part of Canada but British Columbia - which is about as far away from where we currently are as you can get. :) It is apparently a really beautiful part of the country, and we are really excited to have the opportunity to travel there. The church is the United Reformed Church in Abbotsford, which is about an hour west of Vancouver. We are so thankful to this church for taking us for the summer, and we (in particular, Josh) are really looking forward to working alongside the pastor, and Josh will have a lot of opportunities to preach in the 10 or so weeks that we will be there. It's such an incredible gift to be able to experience this, and for the church to take in a first year intern is amazingly generous. We are really looking forward to the experience.

So below is a map of the road trip that we will be going on. It's a biggie! So your prayers would be really appreciated as we plan and prepare for a big trip and also the time that Josh will be preparing for regular preaching as well as our travel once we are on our way!

According to Google Maps it's about a 34 hour drive

Something else that I am kind of excited about is that in the pictures that I have looked up of Abbotsford, it looks a little like NZ...

Abbotsford = mountains, hills and rivers!! Hurrah!!

Don't you think so? Cool huh! It'll potentially be like a little trip home! So that is a little update from us. We will try to keep you posted as things progress and we get some more things arranged for our trip. In the meantime we really appreciate all your support and are so thankful to be a part of a worldwide family. Plus our first year in the US is almost over, time has flown! We are enjoying it here - but don't worry, we look forward to coming home in another two years. ;)

Til next time!  

Well we have a lot of snow.

And I mean a lot. As I write it is snowing lightly outside and the house across the street looks like it's frosted. The plough has just driven by trying to clear the roads, and this morning I watched someone turn into our street and drive (or rather slide) down it sideways before getting back on track. 

It's exciting times! I had to dig our car out this morning because it got stuck. The good thing is that everyone drives really carefully, and because it's not too cold at the moment (only -4C) then the roads aren't too icy as far as I can tell. The snow is staying really powdery and soft. There is a lot of the stuff out there though. It is getting to a point for people that they shovel their driveways and they are running out of space to put the snow. 

A couple of 'snow mountains' down our street

I'm not sure what Josh is doing here - maybe we won't try and figure it out.  :)

All along the streets and in the car parks of the stores there are huge mountains of snow - which are frustrating because you can't see around them when pulling out. We have been introduced in our time here to the marvelous invention that is the snow blower. You push it like a lawn mower and it scoops up the snow and throws it off to the side. Very cool. 

Calf-deep snow in some spots - even deeper in others! Very thankful for my furry snow boots!

It was quite a nice, and relatively warm day on Sunday so Josh and I decided to go out for a walk and take some pictures for you all. :) Then last night (Tuesday) it started snowing again, and I think that we got another 6 inches at least. It has only just stopped this afternoon (Wednesday).

Trekking through the snow from the carpark to our apartment

The trees are really pretty. 

 Notice the depth of the snow next to the path in the above photo? It's even deeper now. 

Pathways have had to be chiseled out of the snow along the side of the road.

I love how the snow sits on the trees. Looks like a Christmas card. 

The other day was clear and beautiful. We had sunshine which was really nice - and on my way to nanny at 7:30am the light was just amazing as the sun hit the snow. I didn't get any pictures in the morning, but we also had an amazing sunset - so took a couple of pictures then (when I wasn't driving - trying to be responsible) ;)

Beautiful colors and clouds

"O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! 

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"

~  Psalm 8: 1, 3-4  ~

2014 and a new semester begins

Hi everyone,

Yes it has been a while since we updated, and a few people have asked if we are still going to keep this blog updated. We are hoping to, but I guess part of the reason that we haven't updated for a while is that we haven't really done anything. Haha. :)

Josh's second semester officially started today, although over the past 3 1/2 weeks he has had Intensive Hebrew classes, so he has been keeping busy. I never realised before just how much ancient Hebrew sounds like Orc. Oftentimes Josh will be studying in the other room and muttering words to himself and I wonder if he is actually conversing with a stray Orc who was wandering past (then I remember that we aren't in New Zealand, and we only have Orcs there. The US might have squirrels and raccoons but we have Orcs and Elves right?)(and a dragon). It definitely makes for interesting sound effects anyway. 

Rewinding back to December a bit - we had a really great holiday period (or vacation as they call it over here), really just in so far as we were able to really spend some nice time together. During term time, and especially at the end of the semester the seminary students get crazy busy, and I wasn't seeing much of Josh for a couple of months before he went on holiday. So it was really nice over the break to make the most of being able to just be together and reconnect. 

We were really blest to have been able to celebrate a Kiwi Christmas with the other NZ families from church - complete with delicious roast lamb (also from New Zealand!). That was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be able to spend time all together - as all of us have family back home that we were missing spending Christmas with. 

Our Kiwi Christmas with the Couperus's and Vooys's :D

Then on Christmas Day we were very kindly invited to our good friends from church to have a delicious meal, great fellowship and even games with their family. It was a lot of fun and really nice to have church family to be able to celebrate the day with. 

You may have heard about a 'polar vortex' that has been hitting the northern (and even some of the southern) parts of the US. We have most definitely been effected by that. The temperatures have been getting down into the -20's and we have had a few groups of days where the temperature dropped down to -26 to -30 (without windchill). On the first weekend that the 'vortex' hit it was at the start of January, and we were asked to go and shovel the seminary because there was so much snow, and with the temperatures being so cold, the longer the snow was left the harder it would be to clear away from the paths. So we wrapped up with multiple layers of clothes and trekked over the train tracks. Our car wouldn't start - and there was a 'state of emergency' that had been declared so that people weren't actually supposed to be driving because of the weather. Plus the seminary carpark and a lot of the streets around it hadn't been ploughed, so we wouldn't have been able to drive in anyway. 

Needless to say it was a very cold trip, and it was my first shoveling experience (Josh had already done it a few times at the seminary) so we were broken in with the big stuff! There were drifts of snow that were halfway up the front doors of the school - so it was a big job, but we had fun, and once you get working then you warm up! :D

On the way back home Josh took this picture above - it my hair was freezing from the cold wind. And yes, that is actually a sock on my hand - I only had one pair of gloves that had a couple of holes in them, so I took a spare pair of socks to shove on if need be. And I'm glad I had them! 

Josh started Hebrew a couple of days after our shoveling experience, and because of the cold was taking the car in the mornings. That meant that I didn't have a way of getting around, so have pretty much just stayed at home. Which I didn't mind considering the temperatures outside!

Icicles from our car attaching themselves to the carpark

The standard view that we have had from our house for the past month (the snow has just become a bit dirtier now)

Icicles hanging from along the edge of our apartment. They look almost fake!

Otherwise I have started up teaching the art classes again for a local homeschooling group. Which is a lot of fun. The kids are great and the Mums are lovely. It's nice to spend time with them and get to know them better. 

I am also still going to be leading a little group of 4-5 year olds while their Mums are at Bible study - it hasn't started yet this year because we keep on getting held up by the weather, but I'm looking forward to doing that again. 

With the long days indoors, and the fact that it has been pretty much impossible to get outdoors for walks or anything - we were noticing that our health hasn't been great. We weren't eating much because we weren't doing much - and were almost going into hibernation mode. Plus being on a tight budget means that I've been trying to keep the grocery bill as low as possible, which makes it tricky to eat consistently in a healthy way (well that's what I've found anyway, maybe I'm just a bit useless at cooking. Haha). Plus in mid-December Josh's Dad had a heart attack, from which providentially he has recovered from really well - but it gave me a bit of a reminder that I need to make sure I'm feeding Josh better, because heart troubles do run in his family. So having said all that, we decided to invest in a gym membership. There is one that opened up just in December that is quite close to us, and the membership is only $10 per month (yup you read that correctly, it's very cheap) with no cancellation fee. I have started babysitting again, and Josh is still working for the seminary, so we were able to pay for this with some of our own 'spare change' over here. Josh has been going for a couple of weeks now, and I think already he has been feeling better. I only signed up yesterday, so am looking forward to getting some more energy and feeling a bit more healthy! 

So back to seminary - Josh is really looking forward to this semester. It sounds like they are going to be doing some very interesting classes and getting stuck in to some more practical stuff - such as pastoral counseling, and they will be starting to write more sermons and exhorting as well. So it's going to be a really educational 5 months I think! 

The next big step is that the summer internships are starting to come out. These are opportunities that the students have to go and work in a church for about 10 weeks - so they get some experience preaching, meeting with congregants and assisting and working with the active pastor (if there is one - some of the internships are at vacant churches or church-plant kind of situations). So that could really end up being anywhere in the US - and at this point we have no clue where we will be. I guess it will be just anywhere that they'll take us! It would be great to have the opportunity to go to a church that is different from what we would experience back home (so perhaps a super big church or something along those lines), however, I think the biggest thing that Josh really wants at this time is mentorship - so to be able to work alongside someone who he could learn a lot from, and hopefully glean some of their wisdom and experience. So we will keep you posted about that. 

Here's a little comparison for you - Josh's school in the above photo during the Autumn, and taken from the same spot last week. :D Pretty amazing huh!

Thank you again for your support everyone. And your continued prayers for Josh's studies are so appreciated. I read that awesome verse the other day from Isaiah 26:3:

"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." 

That is really our biggest prayer at the moment - that we will be able to continue to trust that God will provide for all our needs, as He already has been amazingly - and that we will be able to keep focus on why we are here - not just in the US, but here in general. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And at a time when it is easy to go a little stir-crazy because of being cooped up indoors, and to miss family and home, the temptation is far too great to allow ourselves to get a bit despondent or experience self-doubt. 

But it's because of instead of 'staying' our minds on Christ, we are allowing ourselves to become self-focused. It makes such a difference to change that perspective, reshuffle that focus, and get back on track. So that even if our situation hasn't changed at all - suddenly the outlook, purpose and motivation is all different because it's God's - which gives us awesome hope, meaning and unfailing confidence in the fact that we are here for a reason. Very cool stuff. 

This is ending up long - so I will sign off here, but I will try and be a little more regular with the updates I promise! :) And if you are in NZ at the moment - enjoy some of that beautiful Kiwi sunshine and moderate weather for me! Haha. Take care everyone!