Van Minutes


Happy Fall Everyone!


It feels like only yesterday that we left for Dallas Seminary and now we are already started the 2nd 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