Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ. It has been another great week in Brookings for me. I am still mostly in the office but am helping Pastor make shut in calls and visits. I absolutely love making visits. It is so good for the people who you are calling on, but it is by far even better for myself. These little old ladies who are in their houses by their lonesome most of the time are so excited to have company and some one to talk to. However, talking with them, hearing their stories, seeing their smiles, enjoying their humor and spirit, it all brightens my day and makes me so happy to be a Christian who has these wonderful people in my acquaintance. There are some sad and tough times when they talk about their pain, suffering, or loneliness, but there is always a comfort in the Gospel message to be shared.
I am still enjoying meals with members from the congregation and loving the chance to get to know so many of them. I have also been super busy lately working on the parsonage. Last week we tore out a few walls, ripped up the floor, pulled out cabinets, and did some other demolition. Now we are hanging drywall, mudding, putting new floor down, and other steps of the remodeling process. I love doing carpentry work like that so even though it has eaten up much of my free time I still thoroughly enjoy it.
I got to go to the races twice this last weekend. I went with a member and two of his kids on Saturday night to Huron. Then Sunday night Pastor Wurm and I went to Brandon to the races there. I have missed good old dirt track races. It was especially fun because Pastor Wurm used to be pit crew chief for a guy who races Sprint cars. He was able to teach me A LOT I did not know about Sprint cars.
I feel bad because Erin works all day and then in the evenings I have been busy working on the house, attending meetings, and other things so our schedules haven't been the best for making time for each other. It's the biggest downfall with long distance. However, we still are calling once in awhile and trying to Skype when we get the chance. Once I am in the vicarage house, not going to meals with members or working on the parsonage, I will have a lot more free evenings to talk to her. I miss her so much but know it is worth it to be with her.
My thought for the day comes from a talk I had with a member last week. I will not share details because I do not want to break any lines of confidential conversation, but he said he does not come to church much when his son is not with him because he sees all these happy families and wants one so bad he's jealous. I didn't say this to him but I wish I had and plan to try to share it with him as I continue to talk with him, but I wanted to tell him the church IS his family. Yes, we all have our own families with moms and dads and grandparents and kids and grandkids, but the cool thing about a Christian community that truly lives as a Christian community is that we are all one big happy family. I know I just posted not too long ago about being the one body of Christ, but we are also the one family of God. This point came up again in a discussion I had with Pastor Wurm. We had covered Matthew 22 in Bible class and we talked about the passage of verses 23 through 33. We talked about the Sadducees and their errors of not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God. However, we skipped over the part that in the resurrection we will not be married or given into marriage. This is a verse that has always made me wonder. I have spent so much of my life dreaming about having a wife and kids, and that dream has only gotten more real and more exciting with Erin in my life, but to think that if we get married and spend 50 or more years on this earth as husband and wife, then in the new creation we wont be... this troubled me a little. So I didn't ask in Bible Study but waited until it was just Pastor and I in his office and then I asked him. He again brought up this idea of the family of God. Since we are all adopted as the children of God through the work of Christ, we will all be brothers and sisters in the new creation. Marriage was instituted for the purpose of procreation and since we will most likely will not be having more kids in the new creation we do not need to be married. So it makes sense that we will all be brothers and sisters in Christ and will not be given into marriage. This also makes sense because a man marries a woman who is his wife, but then she dies. He waits awhile but falls in love again and marries a second time. This is not a sin, but in the new creation will he have both wives? Well not according to the Gospel of Matthew, and it is because he will be a brother to both women. It is a hard concept to wrap our minds around and it has led my mind down several trails that all come up with the answer "I don't know". There is so much of our faith that is a mystery to us and we must simply trust God, and all those deeper questions are included in that category. However, this is good news. The fact that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and will be one family in the new creation is a powerful image. Next time you see that person from church who you just cannot stand because they gossiped or hurt you, next time you see a nasty divorce between two Christians who now resent each other, next time you see a single person who just so badly wants a family of his or her own; you can remind them or yourself that we all are one family. That person you resent will be your brother or sister in Christ in the new creation so maybe you should forgive them and make amends. That uncivil couple who never wants to see each other again are not going to be ex-husband and ex-wife in the new creation, but brother and sister in Christ, so maybe they should forgive each other and be civil Christians to each other. The thought of being alone with no family should not exist, because we will not only all be brothers and sisters in Christ, one big family in the new creation, but already are. We have all been adopted and made children of God already and should live as one community of believers who look out for each other, bear each other's burdens, and include everyone with loving open arms. We are the family of God. This does not mean you have to think of your spouse as your brother or sister, but know that in a spiritual way they really are, and so is each and every one of your neighbors. Let us strive to live as that one family who lives, works, celebrates, and worships together out of our common love that God has shown us through His Son, our Savior. All Praise be to our Father who has adopted each one of us through the Gospel, making us children of His and making us heirs of His eternal life and forgiveness of sins.
Dear Heavenly Father,
While we do not understand the entire complexity of Your plans and works of salvation, we pray that You may give us Your Spirit to open our minds to the truth of Your Gospel message, open our hearts to the comfort of Your love, and give us the strength to live as loving obedient children of Yours who live and worship together as one faithful family. We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Mere Christianity
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord. Sunday was Pastor Naasz's farewell and Godspeed ceremony. We had one service Sunday morning instead of our usual two and it was really nice to see the church that full. Communion took forever, but that is a great thing. To see so many people all receiving the Lord's body and blood was a beautiful sight. Then we had a lunch and a reception type program where several people spoke and presented gifts to Pastor Naasz and Arlene. During the lunch they had made a slide show of pictures from Pastor Naasz's 32 years of service and it was fun to see. In 32 years he had over 200 baptisms, over 300 confirmation students, over 100 weddings, and over 200 funerals. It was a really nice reception honoring all the years and work he put into his ministry. Then we had the farewell service in the afternoon. Again the church was packed full with over flow seating filled too. He had a really cool sermon all about how he tried his hardest over 32 years to preach the Gospel in it's truth and purity, but his main point of the sermon was that even though he was serving God he also had so much fun just being with the people. He gave examples of having fun with the confirmation kids and Sunday school kids, men's club and LWML, and many other groups and opportunities in the church that he had to really enjoy being with the people of his congregation. It was a really cool sermon and I think was a pretty accurate summary of his ministry. You could tell by all the tears as people gave him hugs on the way out that he was not only a good pastor but a dear friend to so many people. Then we had cookies and coffee after the service where many of the people stayed around to talk to Pastor and Arlene.
Monday morning we had about ten guys from the congregation show up to help pack up Pastor and Arlene into two trailers and they were on the road shortly after ten headed to Pierre where they have a 20 acre farm to now call home. Today we began the prep work for the remodeling of the kitchen in the parsonage and tomorrow they start tearing down walls and getting the place dirty. I have decided upon pastor's suggestion to keep living with the family I have been living with instead of moving into the upstairs of the parsonage while they remodel it. I actually love living with them and they have been so amazing to me; I just did not want to even flirt with overextending my welcome. However, they told me they are happy to have me and told me to stay as long as I need. I am going to stay until at least all the destruction is done at the parsonage and see how the construction is going before making any changes. I truly have been blessed here by everyone from the church taking such good care of me.
My thought for the day is really more of a suggestion. I know this may blow some people's minds away but I recently read the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I highly recommend every one to read it at least once in their life, if not once every couple of years. He starts out kind of trying to "prove" God has to exist and actually does a really good job of it. His whole basis is on the fact that morality exists among all people of all times. Now it is much more detailed than that, but that is his main thrust. Then he goes on to show how morality actually should look in the Christian perspective. He does such a good job of explaining the life we should be living as Christians and how far off we truly are from living that way. I would like to quote the entire book on here but that would take far too long. One thing I did find funny enough to actually laugh out loud as I was reading it was the idea that Christ did the unexpected. He died and the enemies thought they had won, but then He did the unexpected and rose again. He goes on to show this is really how the Christian church has always functioned. Enemies of the church have been trying to kill it and it's growth for all of time. So he goes on to say that every time a persecution of the church or something major like that happens, just when the enemy thinks Christianity is dead and buried for good it springs back to life. I laughed at his final comment which was "No wonder they hate us so much." We just keep coming back. It's like the game whack-a-mole. You hit one down and two others pop up. But there is truth to it too. God has not let His church die from the beginning of creation. Through all the trials, self-divisions, bad publicity, and persecutions (even the persecution of Christ), the church remains alive today. God is with His church and will not let sin, death, or the devil overcome Him. He is in control of all things and no matter how powerful the devil is, he will never be strong enough to overcome the reign of Christ.
However, the most valuable part of Lewis' book to me was the way he showed that the entire reason we are living this life is to be the creation of God. God made us. He fearfully and wonderfully made us and for the entire purpose of being His people who live a life of being His people. We have our vocations and our unique personalities. We are all made with strengths and weaknesses and will all live very different lives. But the point is that no matter what, no matter who we are, we are His and we need to live according to that truth. This does not mean we all have to be pastors or church workers or give up our careers for full time charity work. While all those things are noble and pleasing to God, so is being a nurse, insurance sales person, banker, grocery store clerk, farmer, teacher, or roofer. We are all different and all have many different vocations. Even besides careers there is mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor, wife, husband, grandma, grandpa, club member, friend, citizen, voter,etc. All of these vocations are important and make you who you are, but the most important thing to remember is that above all of these vocations, above every vocation you will ever have, you are first and foremost a creature of God. You were made by Him and given the very life you have by Him in order to have all your vocations. Then through the gift of faith in His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit we are children of God. We are creatures because He made us, but we are children because He adopted us. Through the work of His Son on the cross and through the empty tomb, He has made us His children and gives us eternal life as our inheritance. So yes we are very different people, but we are all united in the one body of Christ. Paul makes this same point in Corinthians 12 where he states that all believers are the one true body of Christ. There are many different parts but all one body. You cannot have a body of all ears or you would not be able to see. We are such different people and yet we are all here on this earth, all living this life here in the now for one main purpose: to be the children of God. That is the entire purpose of life. We strive everyday to be the faithful people of God, filling our vocations to the best of our abilities in a Christian, faithful, God-pleasing way. Then we have the gift of forgiveness when we fail to live as the people of God. We have His grace and mercy which allows us sinners to remain as the children of God and strive to live for Him again tomorrow. I hope I was not too repetitive, but to me this is so important. Our true identity, our entire purpose of life and reason for being here, is given to us in our relationship with the one true God. That is pretty awesome and fearful all the same time. This is why Luther writes "we must fear, love, and trust in God above all things" as the explanation of the first commandment. I must here note that Lewis is a much better writer than I am though so I truly do want to recommend you read his book. All praise be to the one true God who made us His creatures, all different, but yet who made us His children by adopting us all into the one body of Christ, His Son, our Savor, who has won for us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for being our Father, our Maker, and our Redeemer. You have given each of us our own talents and gifts and for that we praise You. We ask that You give us Your Spirit to guide us to use those gifts and talents for the highest good. We ask that You give us the strength to live each day as Your creation honoring You and as Your children worshipping You in everything that we do. Thank you so much for giving us Your Son as our Savior, to bring us all untied into the one body of His. Let us be the one true body of Christ, living and working together to help that body grow and to bring the good news of Your gifts of forgiveness and eternal life to all people. And keep us in the one true faith of Your name as long as we live. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Monday morning we had about ten guys from the congregation show up to help pack up Pastor and Arlene into two trailers and they were on the road shortly after ten headed to Pierre where they have a 20 acre farm to now call home. Today we began the prep work for the remodeling of the kitchen in the parsonage and tomorrow they start tearing down walls and getting the place dirty. I have decided upon pastor's suggestion to keep living with the family I have been living with instead of moving into the upstairs of the parsonage while they remodel it. I actually love living with them and they have been so amazing to me; I just did not want to even flirt with overextending my welcome. However, they told me they are happy to have me and told me to stay as long as I need. I am going to stay until at least all the destruction is done at the parsonage and see how the construction is going before making any changes. I truly have been blessed here by everyone from the church taking such good care of me.
My thought for the day is really more of a suggestion. I know this may blow some people's minds away but I recently read the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I highly recommend every one to read it at least once in their life, if not once every couple of years. He starts out kind of trying to "prove" God has to exist and actually does a really good job of it. His whole basis is on the fact that morality exists among all people of all times. Now it is much more detailed than that, but that is his main thrust. Then he goes on to show how morality actually should look in the Christian perspective. He does such a good job of explaining the life we should be living as Christians and how far off we truly are from living that way. I would like to quote the entire book on here but that would take far too long. One thing I did find funny enough to actually laugh out loud as I was reading it was the idea that Christ did the unexpected. He died and the enemies thought they had won, but then He did the unexpected and rose again. He goes on to show this is really how the Christian church has always functioned. Enemies of the church have been trying to kill it and it's growth for all of time. So he goes on to say that every time a persecution of the church or something major like that happens, just when the enemy thinks Christianity is dead and buried for good it springs back to life. I laughed at his final comment which was "No wonder they hate us so much." We just keep coming back. It's like the game whack-a-mole. You hit one down and two others pop up. But there is truth to it too. God has not let His church die from the beginning of creation. Through all the trials, self-divisions, bad publicity, and persecutions (even the persecution of Christ), the church remains alive today. God is with His church and will not let sin, death, or the devil overcome Him. He is in control of all things and no matter how powerful the devil is, he will never be strong enough to overcome the reign of Christ.
However, the most valuable part of Lewis' book to me was the way he showed that the entire reason we are living this life is to be the creation of God. God made us. He fearfully and wonderfully made us and for the entire purpose of being His people who live a life of being His people. We have our vocations and our unique personalities. We are all made with strengths and weaknesses and will all live very different lives. But the point is that no matter what, no matter who we are, we are His and we need to live according to that truth. This does not mean we all have to be pastors or church workers or give up our careers for full time charity work. While all those things are noble and pleasing to God, so is being a nurse, insurance sales person, banker, grocery store clerk, farmer, teacher, or roofer. We are all different and all have many different vocations. Even besides careers there is mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor, wife, husband, grandma, grandpa, club member, friend, citizen, voter,etc. All of these vocations are important and make you who you are, but the most important thing to remember is that above all of these vocations, above every vocation you will ever have, you are first and foremost a creature of God. You were made by Him and given the very life you have by Him in order to have all your vocations. Then through the gift of faith in His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit we are children of God. We are creatures because He made us, but we are children because He adopted us. Through the work of His Son on the cross and through the empty tomb, He has made us His children and gives us eternal life as our inheritance. So yes we are very different people, but we are all united in the one body of Christ. Paul makes this same point in Corinthians 12 where he states that all believers are the one true body of Christ. There are many different parts but all one body. You cannot have a body of all ears or you would not be able to see. We are such different people and yet we are all here on this earth, all living this life here in the now for one main purpose: to be the children of God. That is the entire purpose of life. We strive everyday to be the faithful people of God, filling our vocations to the best of our abilities in a Christian, faithful, God-pleasing way. Then we have the gift of forgiveness when we fail to live as the people of God. We have His grace and mercy which allows us sinners to remain as the children of God and strive to live for Him again tomorrow. I hope I was not too repetitive, but to me this is so important. Our true identity, our entire purpose of life and reason for being here, is given to us in our relationship with the one true God. That is pretty awesome and fearful all the same time. This is why Luther writes "we must fear, love, and trust in God above all things" as the explanation of the first commandment. I must here note that Lewis is a much better writer than I am though so I truly do want to recommend you read his book. All praise be to the one true God who made us His creatures, all different, but yet who made us His children by adopting us all into the one body of Christ, His Son, our Savor, who has won for us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for being our Father, our Maker, and our Redeemer. You have given each of us our own talents and gifts and for that we praise You. We ask that You give us Your Spirit to guide us to use those gifts and talents for the highest good. We ask that You give us the strength to live each day as Your creation honoring You and as Your children worshipping You in everything that we do. Thank you so much for giving us Your Son as our Savior, to bring us all untied into the one body of His. Let us be the one true body of Christ, living and working together to help that body grow and to bring the good news of Your gifts of forgiveness and eternal life to all people. And keep us in the one true faith of Your name as long as we live. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
First Week on the Job!
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord. I am happy to say I have survived my first week as a vicar. Monday I went with Pastor Naasz (the retiring pastor) on some visits and shut in calls. It was a powerful day. He told each one that this might be the last time on earth they would see each other, but then reminded them of the hope in the resurrection that we will all be together again one day on that last day. The reason it was so powerful was because he got a little emotional with some of them. It was powerful for me because it showed the deep and caring relationship he had with these people as their pastor. It gave me the reassurance that being a pastor is so rewarding. Even though the job comes with so many, many, many challenges and frustrating days; it also comes with so many, many, many rewarding days. These deep, caring relationships between Christians is one of the most rewarding things, and the fact that it's hard to say goodbye because you do genuinely care so much, showed me how deep these relationships can be. I also got to learn the history of the church which will help me very much and I wish I would have already known for one incident. You have to know where someone has been to truly know who they are now. So it was a great day. Then Tuesday I spent the day rearranging my office and unpacking all my stuff. I want to paint my office but am going to wait a while before I ask to do that. It is a nice office. In fact it used to be pastor's office, but Pastor Wurm (the new pastor and my supervisor) liked the traditionally vicar's office better so he took it and gave me pastor's old one. Then the rest of Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and most of today I have been working in my office trying to figure out all the old files, programs, paperwork, and systems for the campus ministry. I am slowly getting everything organized in the way that it makes sense to me. I know there will be very few weeks like this one where the majority of my time will be in the office, so I am trying to enjoy it while I can. I am trying to get as much as humanly possible done before the students actually get here for classes in August. Once they come back, I know I will officially be swamped. In fact I have had several people tell me if I make it to October, then I can sigh and breathe again. However, I am not worried about it and no matter how busy it gets, God is still the one at work so I must praise Him for it. You will see this theme again below.
I have also been fed lunch and dinner every day this week by a variety of people. Members have been taking me out for dinner or inviting me into their homes for a home cooked meal. It is great because I not only get a good meal, but get to know a lot of people faster too. Plus I am not spending any money! The people here have been amazing to me and just so over welcoming. I truly feel blessed here and know God knew exactly what he was doing in placing me here.
This Sunday is Pastor Naasz's farewell reception and service. Then Monday we will be helping him move all of his packed up stuff onto the truck so he can move out to his farm to retire. It will be sad to see him go because in only a week I have been able to see he is a very faithful man and good pastor. However, I have no doubt Pastor Wurm (who was a vicar under Pastor Naasz) and I will not only get alone great, but he will teach me many important things and be a huge positive impact in my formation. Then Tuesday I will move into the upstairs of the parsonage, while they remodel a majority of the main level. The family I am staying with right now is an amazing family. They have two kids, Carl who is 10 and Johanna who is almost 7. Carl is a very smart kid and we have been playing a lot of cards. I taught him cribbage and he picked it up very fast. Johanna is the cutest little blonde pigtail'ed girl. She tells me almost every day, "I really like you Vicar Richter." The second day I was there they came up with the tongue twister "Mr. Vicar Richter." It is taking me a while to get used to everyone just calling me "Vicar". But as I said everyone has been so kind and friendly.
My thought for the day is going to be my August newsletter I had to write this week. So you will actually get to see it before it comes out to the congregation. I will normally wait until after it is out to put it on here but I wanted to make sure I gave you something theological this week. So here it is, enjoy and blessings.
I have also been fed lunch and dinner every day this week by a variety of people. Members have been taking me out for dinner or inviting me into their homes for a home cooked meal. It is great because I not only get a good meal, but get to know a lot of people faster too. Plus I am not spending any money! The people here have been amazing to me and just so over welcoming. I truly feel blessed here and know God knew exactly what he was doing in placing me here.
This Sunday is Pastor Naasz's farewell reception and service. Then Monday we will be helping him move all of his packed up stuff onto the truck so he can move out to his farm to retire. It will be sad to see him go because in only a week I have been able to see he is a very faithful man and good pastor. However, I have no doubt Pastor Wurm (who was a vicar under Pastor Naasz) and I will not only get alone great, but he will teach me many important things and be a huge positive impact in my formation. Then Tuesday I will move into the upstairs of the parsonage, while they remodel a majority of the main level. The family I am staying with right now is an amazing family. They have two kids, Carl who is 10 and Johanna who is almost 7. Carl is a very smart kid and we have been playing a lot of cards. I taught him cribbage and he picked it up very fast. Johanna is the cutest little blonde pigtail'ed girl. She tells me almost every day, "I really like you Vicar Richter." The second day I was there they came up with the tongue twister "Mr. Vicar Richter." It is taking me a while to get used to everyone just calling me "Vicar". But as I said everyone has been so kind and friendly.
My thought for the day is going to be my August newsletter I had to write this week. So you will actually get to see it before it comes out to the congregation. I will normally wait until after it is out to put it on here but I wanted to make sure I gave you something theological this week. So here it is, enjoy and blessings.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are
his people, and the sheep of his pasture” Psalm 100:1-3
Greetings to you all in the name of
our Risen and Triumphant Lord. With
summer rapidly coming to a close and the school year right around the corner,
this time of year can be one of the busiest times for all of us. However, as our Psalm for the first Sunday of
the month reminds us, we are the people of God and we a have very important
aspect of our vocation as His people that we must not forget. Make a JOYFUL noise! Serve Him with GLADNESS! Come in SINGING! We are His people whom He has made. He formed us in the womb of our mothers, washed
us of all unrighteousness in our baptism, and has made us heirs of His eternal
life through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. He has freely given us His forgiveness and
salvation through His grace and mercy.
We are His people and even in the busiest of times He gives us His
Spirit to allow us to live a life of joyful noise, glad service, and loud
singing. I hope that the rush of life
never causes you to forget this wonderful news or keep you from living a life
of joy and gladness.
I am
singing my songs of praise to our good Lord for the blessing He has given me in
bringing me to Brookings and Mount Calvary.
I want to thank each and every one of you for making me feel so welcome
here my first couple of weeks. It means
so much to me to have the opportunity to serve, grow, and learn in a church
family that is as faithful and loving as this congregation. My prayer is to faithfully serve both the
congregation and the college students to the best of my abilities with the help
and guidance of the Lord. I look forward
to working with both groups and hopefully bringing both groups together quite
often. Being the one body of Christ, I
hope to see us all serving and worshipping together joyfully! Again, I just cannot say enough how much I
give thanks to Him and bless His name for the wonderful place He has led
me. The Lord is good and His steadfast
love endures forever!
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with
praise! Give thanks to him; bless his
name! For the Lord is good; his
steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm
100:4-5
In Christ,
Vicar Kevin Richter
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Vicar Richter!
Greetings to you in the name of our Risen Lord! I am excited to announce I am officially a vicar now. I was installed this morning at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Brookings, South Dakota. I suppose I should change my blog name to ChurchVic (Church Vicar) since Seminary Student became Semstud, but that doesn't sound as cool so I will just leave it. I know I have not been very good about blogging this summer, but now that I will have a normal weekly routine again I am going to try blog at least once a week. I thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and apologize for the lack of effort I have put forth.
Brookings seems like a nice small city and the people from church are wonderful. My installation was during both services this morning and everyone at both services made me feel very welcome. Mom and Dad left home at five this morning to make the four hour drive up here for the late service. It was nice to have them here for it. I will be letting you know more of what my vicarage all includes as the weeks go on. My first real action as vicar was to attend the freshman orientation as South Dakota State University where I will be doing campus ministry. There will be a couple more of these as the new students come in waves. One of the older college students who is involved with our group was there to help me. We set up our board at a table and most people walked past us without paying much attention. However, I did get a few people to stop and talk to us and even guilted a few into taking our pamphlets and information cards. I did get one contact card filled out and returned so I will be emailing him this week to make sure I stay in contact with him. It got me excited to have the chance to reach out to these college kids and hopefully bring a few more into our group.
I want to fill you in about the past couple of weeks. I spent the end of June just working on campus and hanging out with friends and Erin as much as possible. Then on June 30th, Erin and I made the 13 hour drive to her parents house in Pennsylvania. That Sunday her mom, her, and I went to church. Then after church she drove me through the Gettysburg battlefield, since her home town is only about 10 miles from Gettysburg. We did not really get out and do anything because it was packed with people for the 150th anniversary celebration. However, it was so neat to get to see it and I cannot wait to go back sometime when we can spend more time actually seeing it. Then that afternoon we spent the day with her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her grandma and her new husband Dean. It was a fun afternoon and good to get to know her family. During the week days her parents still had to work so Erin and I would hang around the house or go run errands or things like that. I did do some tree trimming, bush trimming, and mowing for her dad which he appreciated. Then Monday night we went out to eat with her half sister and her husband and daughter. Tuesday night we went to the county club they belong to for a good dinner and fire works for the 4th. Then on the actual 4th we cracked Maryland crab. I had never done this before but you literally pull an entire cooked crab covered in Old Bay seasoning out of the bag, start ripping legs and claws off, and then crack open the body to dig out the meat. It was fun to do, but a lot of work for the meat. Then the rest of the day we played cards and just had a nice day with her parents. Friday morning her mom and dad had taken the day off so all four of us went golfing. The girls only played nine and then went shopping but her dad and I played all 18. It was another fun day. Then that next weekend Erin and I made our way down to Memphis so she could start her clinical there. She will be there ten weeks total so nine left. She is living with three of her classmates and good friends so it should be a fun time for her. I spent a few days in Memphis checking out the town and just relaxing.
Then this last Wednesday I left Memphis at 6:30 in the morning and rode the Megabus to St. Louis. It was my first time taking public transportation long distance like that. It was interesting but actually not that bad. It only cost me six dollars for two seats because I had to buy a second ticket for my golf clubs. Then when I got back to St. Louis I packed up the last of my things and drove home to Adair. Thursday morning I went and picked up my new car. I bought a 2004 Saturn Ion from a family in Adair because my other car was slowly falling apart. This one is five years newer and almost half the miles as my old one. It is a nice little car, but little is the key word. So I had to get it licensed and registered. Then I spent the rest of the day going through everything I own that has been stored at mom and dads deciding what I needed to take and what could be left behind. It should have been about a week job, but I busted my tail and got it done in one day. I only brought one car load up with me to start since I am house jumping until I can move into my house for the year. However, I left one giant pile of stuff and furniture that mom and dad will bring up to me once I am in my house. Then Friday I played a round of golf with dad and then drove up to South Dakota.
Saturday Pastor Wurm, my supervisor, took me golfing with one of the elders, and then we worked the men's club apple crisp and ice cream booth at the Arts Festival in Brookings. It was a fun day. That brings us all the way up to today and pretty much fills you into what I have been doing the last couple of weeks.
I start tomorrow at 8:15 in the church office and my year is already ticking by. I will try to do another blog with my thought for the day later this week, but for now I just want to fill you in and get another blog up. I know I am so blessed to be here growing in both my faith and my education through this opportunity and I thank the good Lord for how good He is. I kindly ask you all pray for me as I continue through this year so that I may be the best servant of the Word I can be to faithfully bring the gospel to more people. All praise be to Him who gives us our salvation as a fee gift, and gives us His Spirit to bring the good news of this gift to others.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please be with me as I begin my year as a vicar. Please use me in this position to bring Your Word and Your faith to the people of both Mount Calvary and the students of SDSU. Give me Your Spirit so that I may always act faithfully according to Your Word and that all I do and say may be for Your glory. I also pray for all who read this blog, that wherever they may be and whatever stage they may be at in their lives, You would be with them and keep them in the one true faith also. Let us all be Your faithful children living a life that serves and honors You. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Brookings seems like a nice small city and the people from church are wonderful. My installation was during both services this morning and everyone at both services made me feel very welcome. Mom and Dad left home at five this morning to make the four hour drive up here for the late service. It was nice to have them here for it. I will be letting you know more of what my vicarage all includes as the weeks go on. My first real action as vicar was to attend the freshman orientation as South Dakota State University where I will be doing campus ministry. There will be a couple more of these as the new students come in waves. One of the older college students who is involved with our group was there to help me. We set up our board at a table and most people walked past us without paying much attention. However, I did get a few people to stop and talk to us and even guilted a few into taking our pamphlets and information cards. I did get one contact card filled out and returned so I will be emailing him this week to make sure I stay in contact with him. It got me excited to have the chance to reach out to these college kids and hopefully bring a few more into our group.
I want to fill you in about the past couple of weeks. I spent the end of June just working on campus and hanging out with friends and Erin as much as possible. Then on June 30th, Erin and I made the 13 hour drive to her parents house in Pennsylvania. That Sunday her mom, her, and I went to church. Then after church she drove me through the Gettysburg battlefield, since her home town is only about 10 miles from Gettysburg. We did not really get out and do anything because it was packed with people for the 150th anniversary celebration. However, it was so neat to get to see it and I cannot wait to go back sometime when we can spend more time actually seeing it. Then that afternoon we spent the day with her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her grandma and her new husband Dean. It was a fun afternoon and good to get to know her family. During the week days her parents still had to work so Erin and I would hang around the house or go run errands or things like that. I did do some tree trimming, bush trimming, and mowing for her dad which he appreciated. Then Monday night we went out to eat with her half sister and her husband and daughter. Tuesday night we went to the county club they belong to for a good dinner and fire works for the 4th. Then on the actual 4th we cracked Maryland crab. I had never done this before but you literally pull an entire cooked crab covered in Old Bay seasoning out of the bag, start ripping legs and claws off, and then crack open the body to dig out the meat. It was fun to do, but a lot of work for the meat. Then the rest of the day we played cards and just had a nice day with her parents. Friday morning her mom and dad had taken the day off so all four of us went golfing. The girls only played nine and then went shopping but her dad and I played all 18. It was another fun day. Then that next weekend Erin and I made our way down to Memphis so she could start her clinical there. She will be there ten weeks total so nine left. She is living with three of her classmates and good friends so it should be a fun time for her. I spent a few days in Memphis checking out the town and just relaxing.
Then this last Wednesday I left Memphis at 6:30 in the morning and rode the Megabus to St. Louis. It was my first time taking public transportation long distance like that. It was interesting but actually not that bad. It only cost me six dollars for two seats because I had to buy a second ticket for my golf clubs. Then when I got back to St. Louis I packed up the last of my things and drove home to Adair. Thursday morning I went and picked up my new car. I bought a 2004 Saturn Ion from a family in Adair because my other car was slowly falling apart. This one is five years newer and almost half the miles as my old one. It is a nice little car, but little is the key word. So I had to get it licensed and registered. Then I spent the rest of the day going through everything I own that has been stored at mom and dads deciding what I needed to take and what could be left behind. It should have been about a week job, but I busted my tail and got it done in one day. I only brought one car load up with me to start since I am house jumping until I can move into my house for the year. However, I left one giant pile of stuff and furniture that mom and dad will bring up to me once I am in my house. Then Friday I played a round of golf with dad and then drove up to South Dakota.
Saturday Pastor Wurm, my supervisor, took me golfing with one of the elders, and then we worked the men's club apple crisp and ice cream booth at the Arts Festival in Brookings. It was a fun day. That brings us all the way up to today and pretty much fills you into what I have been doing the last couple of weeks.
I start tomorrow at 8:15 in the church office and my year is already ticking by. I will try to do another blog with my thought for the day later this week, but for now I just want to fill you in and get another blog up. I know I am so blessed to be here growing in both my faith and my education through this opportunity and I thank the good Lord for how good He is. I kindly ask you all pray for me as I continue through this year so that I may be the best servant of the Word I can be to faithfully bring the gospel to more people. All praise be to Him who gives us our salvation as a fee gift, and gives us His Spirit to bring the good news of this gift to others.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please be with me as I begin my year as a vicar. Please use me in this position to bring Your Word and Your faith to the people of both Mount Calvary and the students of SDSU. Give me Your Spirit so that I may always act faithfully according to Your Word and that all I do and say may be for Your glory. I also pray for all who read this blog, that wherever they may be and whatever stage they may be at in their lives, You would be with them and keep them in the one true faith also. Let us all be Your faithful children living a life that serves and honors You. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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