Becoming Your Husband's Friend, Fan and Flame

Today I went to the Placerita Baptist Church Marriage seminar for women along with my friend Elna. It was such a great time of fellowship and learning! The church was beautifully decorated, and the speakers and their topics were excellent! Here are some of the highlights of the day!

Games Night at the Pidal's

This evening we went over to the Pidals for dessert and a games night.  We had great fun hanging out with them and the Vaughn's, and we played a game called "Things".  We were treated with Apple Pie and icecream, and then laughed histerically while we played!  It was soooo funny, some of the things people come up with!!!

Volunteering for Shepherd's Conference

I am so excited to be here at Grace Community Church for my first Shepherd's Conference!  Andrew is the guy in charge of the whole Bookstore this year and will be really busy, so I have decided to volunteer to help at the conference too.  I will be involved in the shepherds shoppe where they sell all the merchandise for the conference.  It looks like I will be receiving some training before the conference so I can be an overseer of the store, helping to fix any problems that come up...  Today was the volunteer's meeting after the service, and there were over 600 people there, all ready and eager to serve the 3500 pastors and men who will come from all over the world to be encouraged and refreshed for ministry!  The volunteers are all assigned to different areas and will be working together to make the conference as effective and smooth as possible.  I am so blessed to be a part of this church!

 

Andrew and I can't wait to see a few of the South Africans who will be coming out to the conference, it will be such a sweet time of fellowship and ministry!

Shepherd's Conference Website

The Shepherd's Conference is from March 3-7 2010.

"Our mission is to provide the opportunity for men in church leadership to be challenged in their commitment to biblical ministry and to find encouragement as together we seek to become more effective servants of our Chief Shepherd."

TMS Placement Workshop

The Master's seminary has such great resources for outgoing students and they play a huge role in helping students with placement in churches all over the world!  Twice a year, this placement workshop is held by Ray Mehringer who organizes speakers who can offer useful insight into how to think about, and what usually happens in looking for a church to minister at.

"One of the most important decisions a pastor will make is what church to accept a position at.  In the same way the choice of a wife will effect your everyday existence, the choice of a church will become the world you live in."

My New Friend!

 I have a new friend!  I have truly been blessed to have met and developed friendships with so many godly people while here in the States, and Melissa is no exception!  The Pidal family has just moved up to Newhall and lives now only a few apartment complexes down from us, and Andrew and her husband Gus carpool together since they both work at the bookstore.  So Melissa just decided to call me up and have me over for lunch today!  

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is Ryan Mitchell's Birthday and we booked them for the evening, bringing with us the greatest gift one could ask for!!!  In-n-out for dinner!!!  Even Calista got her own burger, and we made Ryan try out the animal fries!  We really enjoy hanging out with them and are so glad they came to Seminary!

A Full Time Worker!

We have been given an extraordinary blessing from the Lord by receiving Andrew's R1 visa, and as of today, he is a full time employee of Grace Community Church! This means more hours of work a week so he may drop one of his classes, but does mean we are able to save up some money to head on back to South Africa, Lord willing, at the end of this year!

My itchy arm...

So on Monday or Tuesday I began to feel an intense itch on my right arm and shoulder area. The best way to describe it is that it feels at though someone is sticking me with a bunch of needles, or as though a swarm of bugs are biting me. It is not constant, but comes is frequent waves, a second apart. The intensity wavers throughout the day with no real pattern. It is a combination of a sting, itch, tickle and pain! It is mainly on the softer underside of my arm, my underarm, a spot on my chest and another on my shoulder blade, all on the right side. There is no visible rash. The only thing that seems to help it is an ice pack that numbs my arm! Please pray that it is nothing serious and that it goes away! It is quite hard to handle the sensation day in and day out and wakes me up sometimes at night even. I spoke to a doctor who gave me some cream to try, but it hasn't really helped. I'll be waiting a few days to see if it goes away and will go in if it's still a problem after the weekend...

R1 Visa Approved!

Praise the Lord for an answer to our prayer! We have been thinking through whether we should just forget about the visa or not in terms of planning for future ministry. We decided that if we didn't hear anything this month that we would plan for without it. But this evening, just before bed we got the email letting us know it is approved! we are not sure exactly when we will get the actual visa or how it will affect our plans, but we will keep you posted!

A BBQ in the Park with the Mitchells

Yesterday we had to buy a new tyre for our car. It had been very shaky and was deteriorating so we checked it out and it was badly worn. We also got it aligned again. Today we had to buy a new battery for it. It wouldn't start when Andrew went to the shop and had to have it jump-started! Poor guy! It's going to stretch our budget tight, but at least it is up and running again! We also went to get Andrew a haircut for school! It was so long!

My Last project in SA...

This is the last of my work is South Africa before I got married and moved to the States so it has a special place in my heart!  It is an ablution block that I designed as an add on to a sad looking tea kitchen...  It is located at Highbury Preparatory Boys School where my mom works (the joy of having contacts!) and has eternalized the Ramsden/Dedekind name on the School!

Thanks mom for sending me pics!

Coffee with Elna

So Calista and I are now apparently best friends!!! What a precious girl! I went to visit Elna today, and walked from my apartment to hers, it's really a pleasant walk! When I got there, Calista babbled on and on about something to me, I'll have to get the video Elna took! It was a great time of fellowship with Elna, and I'm sure there will be many more occasions like it!

Ryan and Elna move to their Apartment

Who would have thought that 5 people and ALL their belongings would fit in our apartment?! I t has been so much fun to have Ryan and Elna stay with us, and I have gotten to know them really well over the last four days since we came back from Frazier Park! Little Calista and I have already formed a close bond, and man is she cute!

The Getty's at GCC!

I love Keith and Kristyn Getty. They write the most incredible new hymns! Like "In Christ Alone", "Beneath the Cross", "The Power of the Cross" and "Speak O Lord". We sing all of these at Grace, and today, they came to lead Grace Community Church in worship for the evening service! I got Andrew to take me super early so I could get a good seat and hear them practise! It was totally worth it and here is the results!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year!!! Although Andrew and I just rolled over at midnight to say happy new year and then went back to sleep, we have much hope and excitement for 2010 (Apparently the correct way to pronounce it is "Twenty-ten", like "Nineteen-ninety"!). This is Andrew's last year at Seminary. It also holds our first Anniversary, and a great deal of opportunity for our great God's will to be unfolded in our lives. We will begin looking for a place for Andrew to minister, primarily South Africa, but we are open to anything... We will be waiting only a little longer for Andrew's R-1 visa, and then move on if it doesn't come... We will be waiting on the Lord's will and timing for us to start a family... We will continue to rely on Him for providing for us from month to month till we cross the finish line... We will continue to put our marriage first above all else in the sight of our God.

We hope and pray that for all those reading our blog this year, that it will testify to how great our Lord is, how much we need Him, and how faithful He has been and will continue to be!

Happy New Year!!!