As I write this update, I’m sitting
in the car, while Felicia is driving, on our way back East for Christmas. We were in our friend’s wedding today in
Michigan and left afterwards, only 2 ½ hours left till we get to New
Jersey! Thank you for all your prayers
for us this semester as we transitioned from roles as singles at the school to
a married couple, and for me as a student to an intern. The transitions have had their challenges,
but we’ve looked to God to teach us and He has been faithful. I want to give you an overview of what our
past semester looked like and how you can be praying together with us and for
us:
Our internships- As you know I work for
40 hours in the maintenance department, fixing things around the school,
running snow crew and salting the grounds during the winter. The semester ended this past Wednesday and I
spent this past week doing repairs on a few married apartments, getting them
ready for new married couples. Felicia
has been working in the front office and also has been subbing as a teacher for
Childcare. She loves working with the
kids and we’ll actually be doing both jobs for the month of January so please
pray for her there. Also we are considering
the possibility of staying for part of the summer to help with construction and
renovation at the school as a result of the recent city inspections, so prayers
would be coveted.
Relationships at school: It’s been an
interesting transition, moving from singles to marrieds and having most of our
friends move on from school. We’ve
really had to put ourselves out there and have developed the beginnings of some
really good relationships. Two dating
couples stand out, ones we established a relationship with by reaching out to
them and they responded well and desired to spend more time with us. We also decided to pick a dorm as our “dorm
kids” for this year and picked a guy dorm with 5 guys (picture below) and it
has been a blast to invest in them as a couple, and for me to have 5 guys that
I have the chance to be friends with, give wisdom and invest in and they have
done the same for me. Please pray for
our relationships with these people as well as others and for us to face the
uncomfortable feeling of reaching out to other married couples, as that is new
for us.
Relationship with our Church- We attend a
church here called Skiff Lake Bible Church and it has been both a challenge and
a pleasure to be part of that church. It
began as a challenge in that when you’re in a new place it is uncomfortable,
but there is a ladies Sunday school class which has been perfect for Felicia
and I have gotten to know more men as we desire to not just go to the church,
but be a part of it. There is a couple
we hope to get to know more next semester and hopefully have some meals
together so please pray for our relationships and our service to this church as
Felicia will be helping teach children’s Sunday school in February and I may be
helping with the worship team or facilitating the high school Sunday school
class.
We just want to thank you so much
for your prayers and support over the months and years. We know you’re all spread out, Pennsylvania,
Arizona, Nebraska, California, Michigan, wherever, and we wish that we could
see you all and reconnect, but we thank you that you love us and pray for us
even if we don’t see each other as often as we’d like. Thank you for being a part of what God is
doing in our lives as he conforms us into the image of Christ His Son,
something He will do and is doing and he is using every one of you to do
it.
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." 1st Thessalonians 5:23-24
-Josh and Felicia
