It's Maundy Thursday, and I'm finally sitting down to write an update - my humble apologies for my inattention to this.It has been almost 4 months since I posted last - here's what's been going on here:
Right before Christmas, I finished my first semester at seminary - all my papers turned in, finals taken, and library books turned in and for my efforts and with your prayers and support earned an A- average for the five classes I took (Church History, Historical Theology, Biblical Interpretation, Greek, and Church Music). So far, so good.
My son John flew in on Christmas Eve - it was great to see him and spend a week with him, including a visit to the Milwaukee Zoo (he works at the Fort Worth Zoo). Our first Nashotah Christmas was great!
After John returned to Texas, I started preparing for the mission trip (and course) to Lima, Peru. I had 6 books and a reflection paper to write beforehand. Immediately following the celebration of Margaret's birthday (our first birthday celebration in Wisconsin), I started packing - we would leave very early on the 6th, layover in Houston (with barely enough time to get my driver's license renewed), and fly to Lima, arriving that night. We spent the next 11 days visiting several missions in the poorest parts of Lima, and the nights in class, studying the Mission of God. This experience certainly changed me. As many of you saw in my facebook postings, the people of Peru are truly wonderful, generous, and loving, though driving is not their best thing. I returned to Wisconsin full of the blessings of God, but exhausted. No rest yet, though - there were now two papers and a presentation to write to get credit for the course. I finished these and my laundry just in time to start the spring semester (Eastertide).
This semester has me taking 5 classes: Church History, Historical Theology, New Testament, Ascetical Theology, and Parish Ministry. Looking at spring break next week, I have 1 big paper, and 9 little papers to write, as well as beginning the preparing for two final exams - one oral and one written, and 5 more weeks of classes before they're all due. As Snuffy Smith used to say, "Time's a -wastin'" (I date myself).Aly is also at spring break next week and looking forward to a break from her busy year also. She got a top grade (a one) in her regional flute solo competition, as well as a one in her ensemble.
Margaret continues to work in the Nashotah House kitchen part time - everyone looks forward to her days and her great recipes that add excitement (as well as better health) to the land of bland. She hopped down to Texas a couple of weekends ago to do a wedding consultation, attend a memorial service, and go with John to a renaissance faire.
All of us are looking forward to spending the weekend of April 21 in Fort Worth, visiting friends and family, I'll touch base at Radioshack - I still do a little work for them, Margaret and Aly will reconnect with some of their friends, and we will attend St. John's on Sunday 4/22, where I will be preaching at all 3 services - I've got to start working on my sermon this week also. We are putting together our summer plans also: We will spend most of the summer in Tallahassee, Florida at St. Peter's Anglican Church where I will be doing an internship. While there, I will be teaching a 10-session course on N.T. Wright's "Simply Jesus", practicing parish ministry, preaching at the Sunday services a couple of times, and learning as much as I can. We also look forward to hopping over to Fort Worth for Stephanie and Chris' wedding early in the summer. I suspect that Margaret and Aly will spend some time touring - hopefully, I'll get to help out a little. More details on this later.
We have been blessed (the natives say) with the mildest of winters - the temp "only" got down to -8 for a couple of nights and we had not much more than a foot of snow through the whole season (don't I remember getting about that much in the Fort last year?). Every thing's starting to bloom here - the days are warmish (50's) and the nights are not too cold (40's).We have made many great friends up here - at school, at our church (St. Michael's), and in the community, but we really miss our Texas friends and family (and Mexican Food!). May God bless all of you that continue to pray for and support us.
Peace, Richard
