morning memories

Hello to everyone! We are writing this having both just finished a number of papers. I just finished my finals, and John David is wrapping up a project for a client. We are tired, out of breath, and looking forward to some much-needed time off as we rest and reflect on the past year and what God has been doing in our lives.

We have been enormously blessed in many ways during this past year. We started off last January packing to leave Atlanta for a new project with Accenture in Houston. During our time in Texas, we were fortunate to meet many of you and develop some very special friendships through Houston Mennonite Church. Though we were only in Houston for five months, the people we met have become some of our closest friends. The community in Houston welcomed us into their homes and into their lives, leaving an imprint of their love on us, and for that we are eternally grateful. The community blessed us with prayers and an amazing amount of emotional support, as we prepared to leave for a summer full of work in Kyrgyzstan.

At the end of our stay in Houston, John David was finally able to leave his job with Accenture. We packed up and headed back to Atlanta, packing up our entire apartment and driving over 3,100 miles in just one week. 3,100 miles is about the driving distance between Orlando, Florida and Seattle, Washington. We drove from Houston to Nashville to Atlanta to Southern Alabama, back to Atlanta, on to Kansas City, and then, finally, from Kansas City to Goshen, Indiana. Upon arriving in Goshen, Raphael and Pillar Barahona graciously allowed us to stay with them so that we could rest and prepare to leave for Kyrgyzstan.

Our time in Kyrgyzstan was a long-awaited answer to not only our prayers but also the prayers of the leadership team in Kyrgyzstan. The New Life leaders were frustrated with the fact that so many individuals come to work in Kyrgyzstan for one or two years and then leave, promising to return again and then never getting around to it. Things happen, situations change, and that’s ok, but it’s frustrating for those that are promised return visits that never come.

In Kyrgyzstan, we did many different things including reuniting with past disciples, introducing my husband to the culture and people that will continue to be a huge part of our future, working with children in Pamka, Aksu, and beginning to lay the ground work for secure New Life communications. (You can read more about our work in previous posts.)

Throughout our time in-country, I was ill, first with a cold and then with Giardia (an icky parasite). Because of the Giardia, we ended up having to cancel our long-overdue honeymoon that we had planned for our return trip through Moscow. I was diagnosed with Giardia while still in Kyrgyzstan, but the medicine I was given did not eradicate the bacteria (though it did help). Once back in the States, it took a number of visits to our internist and, finally, a specialist before the parasite was conclusively diagnosed as Giardia, and, all in all, I went through six different prescriptions over the course of five months before I was finally well again.

Transitioning to life on campus has been quite enjoyable though somewhat stressful as we’ve been adjusting to a new hometown, making new friends, finding a church, and living with a new and radically different schedule. Throughout, AMBS has been a welcoming and loving environment. For example, during our first semester, we were assigned to spiritual directors and spiritual friends, and these intentional relationships, in addition to two silent retreats required by one of our classes, have given us enormous space for reflection and growth. Since moving here to Elkhart, we have also been able to spend some of our free time with Nicholas and Jonathan, the two boys that live across the hall. We meet with Nicholas and Jonathan’s family as well as another couple twice a month for worship and communion in our homes. We are also now regularly attending Southside Fellowship Church that meets on campus, and we are looking forward to spending the next four years in community with the people we have met here in Elkhart.

I am pursuing the three-year MDiv degree. I will finish in four years, going full-time, but not at breakneck speed, majoring in Theological Studies with a focus in Peace and Justice. John David is currently attending part-time, and he is changing his degree program from an MDiv to a two-year Masters of Arts in Peace Studies. This past semester, I took Beginning Hebrew: Reading Ruth and Reading the Bible by myself. John David and I took Formation in Ministry and Human Development & Christian Formation together. This spring, I will be taking Foundations of Worship & Preaching and Hebrew Readings: Prophets. John David and I will be continuing in our Formation in Ministry seminar together as well as Mission and Peace: Church’s Ministry in the World. Neither of us are taking a January class, as I am preparing to petition for a thesis and have a decent amount of paperwork to put together. Please pray for this project, as I’m not quite sure what my thesis will be on exactly. I do know that my thesis will be on Kyrgyzstan, but I need to have a prospective title and outline for my research by the rapidly-approaching end of February. This project has just started to come together in the last two weeks, so this is news to me as well!

In the midst of all of this, we each celebrated our 24th birthdays in February and November and our two-year anniversary in October. This past year has been full and meaningful for us both. We are grateful for each of you, and we wish you all a Christmas full of peace and a New Year full of hope and expectation.

Love and peace to you all,
Jamie & John David Hollis