Van Minutes November 7th

Van Minutes

χαρις ὑμιν και εἰρηνη ἀπο θεou πατρος ὑμων και κυριου Ἰησου Χριστου!

At least 7 of our supporters should be able to read that! For the rest of us it is Paul’s standard yet heartfelt greeting, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” and so we say it to you! Those very same greek words still echo after 2000 years to the same people: God’s graced children. By way of this nerdy introduction I share with you some of my developing passion – one: for sound biblical scholarship based on a good understanding of the original languages of the bible and two: for missions. But first things first!

Reading week and Thanksgiving (yes, again!) are coming up really soon. We get two weeks off,  2 weeks of class plus 1 week of exams, then Christmas! Coursework for me has never been more grueling, but with the completion of two smaller classes (just wrote a final yesterday) should give me some room to breathe. But every time I back away from the work and get perspective – every time – I get a real sense of peace and actually joy, that this is exactly what we should be doing. That motivates me and Karin notices. The upcoming break doesn’t hurt either!

Karin has worked hard on and is now enjoying a S.W.I.M. (Seminary Wives in Ministry Conference) for most of today (Sat). The theme is “Finding Tranquility in Chaos” with author and speaker Becky Harling, author of Finding Calm in Life’s Chaos and Rewriting Your Emotional Script. There are over 110 seminary wives registered. Karin is truly the behind the scenes girl, exercising her talents. She worked on both secretary and treasurer positions (no longer secretary) for S.W.I.M., the registration, all the name tags, part of the lunch, the decoration setup and more. She’s ready for some tranquility! She is still enjoying volunteering in the business office and Luke’s closet as well. She has enjoyed having meaningful tasks that help so many people.

During reading week four of us students are carpooling to New Orleans for the 61st annual Evangelical Theological Society meeting. This is like the major leagues in North American evangelical scholarship, where over 2000 people – theologians, seminary presidents, college profs, publishing house people, will gather from coast to coast to discuss this year’s theme “Personal and Social Ethics.” A small bonus for me is that two profs who taught me at Redeemer University College will be there. One of these, Dr. Al Wolters, will be a response speaker at one the biggest events. Yeah, Redeemer! This is great; I haven’t played dutch bingo in a while!

I may never read as fast as some of these guys write but I aspire in that direction as you encourage and God provides! I am planning to pursue a double concentration in New Testament studies and missions & intercultural studies. This will all fit in the 120 hours required for the Th. M. degree. Once I found that out, double tracking didn’t seem so bad. This is truly a praise for me vocationally. And for Thanskgiving Part Deux: American Edition in our second week off some older Americans who love us has given us turkey and all the fixings for a feast big enough for 10 people! This gentlemen is battling cancer and quite ill, yet they seek us out regularly with gifts we just don’t deserve. Things like this just keep happening!

Speaking of ‘things like this’, fundraising is going well…and we haven’t asked you for financial help yet! We have received another Canadian scholarship amount of $3000 – the most yet! We are now at around 60% of what we need for this school year. Thank you! We also need to repair our car. We had a full inspection/estimate on it. Engine/tranny is fine, it is quite drivable but needs repair within weeks to stay safe. 4 or 5 things need work and the the estimate is in the high hundreds. 

We are looking for help to cover:

• the cost of books/tuition & living (the 40%)
• our car repair

Please pray about this, think about this, and give only the prayer and financial support God is prompting you to. Many of you, especially the older ones, have even through great suffering seen things work out, utterly beyond your logic of how they should happen and to your surprised delight. We have had those moments of anonymous cash envelopes, clothes donated just in time, an email and a prayer and a phone call just when we need encouragement to continue. And some of these prayers for our peace, even recently, have come from family, friends and profs that I know are suffering greatly. As I was taught this fall from Job, ” Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job in Job 2:10) “He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity” (Elihu in Job 36:15). This was emphatically taught to me by a man who lost a son 30 some years ago on the mission field and went on to plant over 20 churches there. He taught this fall with so much face nerve pain that he has had surgery to stop it (didn’t work). And he is praying for me. These are touching and challenging examples teaching me to walk on in Christ. Grace and peace to you as you trust God with His plans for peace in your life.

 

Van Minutes: Thanksgiving Edition

Van Minutes: Thanksgiving Edition

Hey guys, this is Karin. Happy Thanksgiving!! I’d love to give you all a big hug but I might spread the flu. It seems like that’s all people talk about these days, there are a lot of school closures and a few H1N1 deaths, people are getting pretty cautious not to spread the flu, which is great we certainly don’t want it.  Its been raining for 2 weeks now, we had drought all summer but now you’d think you were in England. I’ll like the rain better than the heat.

We want to wish all of y’all a Happy Thanksgiving! This year we are not going to miss out on Thanksgiving, although we will miss seeing our family and friends! A fellow Canadian girl and her fiancé, who she met through e-dating site, (who’d of thought those sites could work) are hosting all the people with Canadian roots, I think some of the roots are pretty long though. Of the 4 professors coming some haven’t seen Canada in over 20 years.

On Sunday night we hosted three couples from our Sunday school class, and enjoyed a nice home style meal on the big table. So that was fun. We haven’t done that before, and it was a special time. We are so blessed and grateful for the chance to live here, and experience neighbourhood living. We have one neighbour in particular who has even helped us fix our car. It has taken some time to adjust but we are feeling comfortable now (The cooler weather helps) and enjoying the space, especially the many reading chairs, this free house is truly a very special privilege.

Dan’s health is good now, we were very blessed to receive free antibiotics from the doctor!  He is still feeling behind the eight ball though, trying to catch up on the work. A big help has been getting his work hours cut back, so he will slowly get caught up. Dan registered this week for next semester, and choosing between 2 tracks the New Testament studies track and the world missions and intercultural studies track. Last night Dan said its like you never get to let your breath out and feel that pleasant relief when an assignment is done because there’s another assignment due. He would love your prayers, and your “thatta boy you’ll git it done,” pats on the back.

I led my first Bible study last week and it really wasn’t that hard I’m co-leading with Kalina from Kazakhstan. I am also hoping to set up my sewing room, or at least get started on it this week now that its cool enough to spend time in that room.

When you think of us pray that God would protect our marriage that we would be loving and encouraging to each other when we encounter daily stress, problems and uncertainty. Also thank God for the provisions he’s given us when needs arise, we can’t get through DTS on our own strength.

We love to hear from you too! Let us know what’s going on in your life.

Love,

Karin and Dan

 

Van Minutes Sept ‘09

Van Minutes

Happy Fall Everyone!

It feels like only yesterday that we left for Dallas Seminary and now we are already started the 2^nd year! We’re so thankful for it. I would write a thanksgiving list on our message board; on any given day it was so easy to put a bunch of things on there off the top of my head. This year has been a blessing in more ways than we can count!

Spring ‘09 was busy and stayed that way until finals (picture: studying for my Greek final – yikes!). Though hard pressed I still managed to get solid marks. Karin is proud of me and I am proud of her – we made it! We both completed the Perspectives mission class through church and we had a good time learning all about God’s missionary heart for the world. Three years left to go and I honestly think it’s going to get even better.

It was very uplifting to see our both sets of our parents twice – once here in Dallas and once this summer. We enjoyed parts of Dallas we had never seen, like aquariums, restaurants, exhibits, museums, gardens, etc. (Picture: Karin in the zebra grass at the Dallas arboretum, us at the King Tut exhibit) Karin also joined her family in the U.S. and a few days Canada this summer before we spent one week together with my family in Niagara Falls. These times are too few and far between for sure!

Karin has not yet recovered her baggage full of quilts and her reimbursement claim was denied. The challenge of this financially and spiritually cannot be underestimated. It hit us both and has undermined Karin’s months of hard work. She plans on getting back to quilting this winter. She is now volunteering in 3 places – Luke’s Pantry, the DTS financial office, and is on the board of SWIM, the group that coordinates many activities for the wives during their time in seminary.

I got a job in the DTS library! Although I had lots of hours in the summer and still work there now, I had simply signed on for too many hours this fall. I now work 10 hrs/wk. This has had an impact on budget projections, but other neat things have happened. We live in a house 30 minutes from school for free! This was almost unbelievable – a rare blessing for a DTS student (we checked) and we are very thankful! The story behind this is detailed, but in summary someone we know moved to work overseas and could not sell in the weeks they had to prepare. We are house-sitting until they come back to sell the house in May.

The commute would be a little smoother if it weren’t for our car. It stalled in gear this morning and would not come back to life, so it’s not working at all right now. Since we are house sitting there is a car available for emergencies so we drove to church in that. Karin is going to get a repair estimate and based on that we may look for a used car. We are in the middle of this and do not know yet what the cost will be or how it will turn out. The challenge is that we must have a car for commuting but cannot make regular use of our landlord’s.

I am quite happy that I had no lung infections for over a year! If you know me, this is very good news. Well, I got one last week. Between this, my job and a day fixing the sprinkler I lost a bunch of time. Right now I am playing catch up in Greek and Hebrew. It is very hard just to stay on pace in those two classes. Catching up is a feat. Please pray for strength for me as I do not feel my full strength yet.

This year we learned to ask for what we need in Jesus name, in thankfulness that it will be given, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). We are still so happy and thankful to share all of our news with all of you. To “make much more of the King” is the number one reason for our newsletter, our time at DTS and beyond. I am excited for what God will do and I hope that you will partner/continue to partner with us to make it possible!

In His Service,

The Van Minnens

 

Bibleworks 8 software review here

Hello

Click here to see review. If that doesn’t work, go here:

http://cal.vini.st/2009/06/cal-vini-st-first-anniversary-giveaway/

 

DTS Update for last month of class

Hello again everyone, for the last time during school!

It’s once again a beautiful 22 degrees outside our window! I have noticed in the last week or so, with papers added to classes, tests, reading, reading and reading, that droopy eyelids grow numerous here. Since I had taken a winter course, I have gone the school year without more than four days off. The books! In 30 days I’m not even going to read the exit sign on my way out of my last exam!

Karin is looking forward to the S.W.I.M. (Seminary Wives in Ministry) weekend she just left for. She is also looking forward to getting her bag with $6000 worth of quilts back. And my passport. Good news! There is a 99% chance that the bag is in the “dead bag” room at DFW airport. This room is like Fort Knox. Only the chosen ones, highly vetted and special airport staff with no spot nor blemish, may go in there and look for lost bags. There are thousands and first lost, first served. By the way, the Canadian government really doesn’t like it when you lose your passport…

After stewing, we have decided that even though I did not get the on campus job, we are not moving to Canada for the summer. We are both happy and sad. One reason is that after 9 months here and proof of economic hardship, I can apply in May for permission to work off campus, maybe as early as June and if economic hardship continues, for the duration of my studies. Our ‘intent to sublease’ deadline for this apartment came up this week, and being worth our while we passed on that, sealing the deal to stay in Dallas. How would you like to move internationally twice in a summer? The decision to stay felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from the both of us.

This whole process was a step of faith. We gave up the quest for Canada and a few thousand dollars we could ‘control’ in the near term in the belief that yes, God really does want us here and is preparing us for some fantastic ministry. So far the first benefit will be that we will be around for the next membership class for our church in May. That will allow me to serve the church in leadership (someday), which is the whole point of my studies. I must tell you that I am actually excited to see how God will provide for us. If God can feed all Israel for nearly 40 years in the desert (which we discussed Wednesday), then he can take care of the two of us. That kind of God quite literally gets me up each morning.

Now, since manna no longer falls from heaven we need to do fund raising. We have sought expert advice on how to approach this and plan on rolling out next year’s strategy/needs next month when I have finished out the year. One bonus: no more raising every penny before starting class! We covet your prayers as we seek to faithfully follow God’s plan this summer.

Even though I wouldn’t call the next few weeks a thrill ride, really the year as a whole, the “much” that has been given me (Luke 12:48) is a special privilege and it really feels that way. I thank God literally each day for something amazing about being here, big or small – including those of you who read this – who through your faithfulness have kept us here all year!

Have a great Easter next weekend!

He is risen,
Dan and Karin

 

Very important prayer requests for Dan and Karin!!!

Very important prayer requests for Dan and Karin!!!

First, please pray for Karin’s suitcase full of quilts. These quilts were lost on her way back from Canada! One lost bag arrived and the one with the quilts is missing. She worked so hard on them and we can’t sell them until we have them back!

Second, please pray for my sudden and upcoming on-campus job interview Tuesday, March 24! It’s in the media center of the library, and it deals with circulation of DVDs and CDs, video and still cameras and projectors, as well as the hard part – being knowledgeable about the software and it’s uses. We have a “media arts in ministry” concentration here at the school, so this isn’t just a few dusty cameras in the corner. It sounds a little daunting. So this is a job, and there’s about 7-10 people going for it (I saw the resume pile). Please pray that I am up to the task and that they pick me!

The bigger deal is that this is the job – the only job I can get. This is the first job since the hiring freeze. The year is almost at a close.

Without this job, our Plan A:
•    sublease the apartment (may still pay part of the rent)
•    drive our clunky car all the way to Canada (pay to fix it up first?)
•    find a place to live (therefore potentially paying 1½  rents)
•    find a summer job
•    quit the job
•    transfer $CDN to $US (lose over 20%)
•    move back to school
•    hope that this whole process produces some savings
•    repeat 3 times

Well, I was just talking to someone in Canada who said that the jobs that only students would take are now going to out of work adults who need to feed the kids and pay the mortgage. There may really not be many summer jobs for us.

With this job – Plan B:
•    keep media center job for three full years (most likely)
•    I can take summer courses!
•    we will not have to move 6 times
•    no subleasing
•    we can get more involved at church (summer missions, etc.)
•    no exchange rates, international moving, or extra rent eating our savings
•    I can see my work out of our apartment window
•    more $$$ than Plan A
•    Fundraising is easier to plan on a fixed income

We do trust the Lord to meet our needs, but without this job we face a difficult task in the job and the fundraising categories, to the point that we’ll either (1) have to raise quite a bit more than last year or (2) not come back to DTS until we save some more money. The Tuesday interview is our only chance at Plan B.

We humbly believe that seminary is the direction in which God wants us to take. Therefore when Jesus promises, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son…” that this applies to our work here. Please pray ‘in His name’ that we might be able to stay here and bring glory to the Father for what he is doing through us. We do want to support ourselves as much as possible and I loathe to press too hard for financial support. Thank you to for taking this to heart and praying just a few times for us. It is a critical time in our lives. On Tuesday it’s all over and we’ll let you know ASAP who is hired.

Love,

Dan and Karin

 

DTS Spring Break Update

Happy Spring to you!

I am sitting here on a balmy 25 degree Saturday, there are pink blooms on the bushes and the big tree outside has green buds on it. People are happy here that ‘the worst’ is behind them. I still can’t get over the fact that I’ve never worn a winter jacket here and I can wear shorts almost daily now.

Although I still miss my family, scattered around the globe as they are, and my old friends, Karin (as ‘her’ half of our mailing list knows) is back home in Ottawa until Wednesday. Besides her cousins wedding, she has been quilting away these past 2 weeks at her Aunt Mary’s house. She is very keen on meeting a big goal; I told her yesterday not to worry if she couldn’t get 14 quilts quilted on her trip! She really wants to get the most out of the quilting machine because there really is no way to finish what she starts here in Dallas.  Well, “Ora et labora” (pray and work) I like to say. As we try to be faithful together to the “labora,” I “ora” each morning early that God might bless Karin’s hand, and all that we do here, so that we might continue here being built up in the knowledge and grace of God, that we may in turn share our faith in ministry to build up others and make Christ known. Sounds kind of biblical, but I am pleased that that’s the whole point. DTS is equal to the challenge of equipping insignificant people like me for just such a mission.

Nothing much has happened here that’s exciting in the last 5 weeks. I just began a two week break so the last month has been all about getting reading and assignments finished/underway, to finish over “break,” which is really just a lull with no classes. I have been tired. In the past month I have: gained a new appreciation and love for Leviticus, learned about the importance of the inter-testamental period as the backdrop for what’s going on in the New Testament, the importance of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to formulate Trinitarian doctrine – the foundational doctrine of Christian belief, started a paper on homosexuality and studied the history of missions.

We are also gearing up for our World Evangelization Conference this coming week. We suspend regular class for a week to learn all manner of aspects of mission: biblical, historical, cultural and strategic. There is a plenary speaker and oodles of workshop classes, ministry booths, fun events, etc., all designed to get more future pastors, religious educators and counselors who are studying at DTS to think about how they might be a blessing to the nations. I’m proud of my school for shutting down for a week for the sole purpose of promoting mission and I’m happy to be helping out as a volunteer in my own small way.

We are meeting with a professor here in late March who trains people on biblical support raising methods. He has shared with us numerous times in class his 30 years of experience in this matter and understands the challenges and the blessings in undertaking building a team of people up for prayer, financial and emotional support. We are looking forward to the guidance, and pray with thanksgiving that God has already provided for next year, just as we are so thankful for all of you who were so supportive this year.

I am looking forward to getting my wife back *sniffle* (check out my ‘no wife’ pic) and also my parents for a week three days after Karin gets back, from March 14-21. It will be nice to socialize more than study for a little while.

It’s time to get back to those books! I hope this update finds you healthy and happy.

Dan