Sisters

Sisters

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Albert's update 20 May 2013

Spring Banquet
Exams are finished! Through God's grace I have made it through another semester. It's hard to believe that I am now one third of the way through Seminary.

As expected, it has been a full on semester. The workload was heavy, and I had to learn how to balance the demands of my time, which I have been more successful with the second time round.

The exam round was not as tough as last time, with five exams to be taken over five days, rather than 7 in 5 last time. One of our professors dropped the final exam due to the workload that we had over the Semester, which we were all very grateful for!

I started my exams on Thursday, doing two on the first day: Pastoral Care, followed by Liturgics. The next exam was Doctrine of God on Monday. This exam is a big one, lots of material to cover and consolidate. Tuesday was Greek, and I finished off with Hebrew on the Wednesday. Hebrew was probably my toughest exam, but I have done well through the Semester in that subject, so I left that one to last.

At the beginning of the week I also met with my local Session to sit a licensure exam to allow me to preach in the URC churches here. Thankfully they were very gracious in their questioning, and I was passed. I enjoyed the experience, and found it very encouraging.

On Wednesday night we picked up Supervising Pastor for the Summer, Rev Kuiken. He was in Chicago for a Seminary Board Meeting, as well as for Graduation. It was lovely to meet him, and I am looking forward to working under him this Summer.

Graduation was a lot of fun. I helped out with ushering, and it was awesome to watch the Seniors go up on the stage. Two more years and that will be me up there. It's all going so fast. The one sad thing about graduation was saying goodbye to the Seniors, as many of them we will probably not see again.

So now we are setting our sights on Pompton Plains for the Summer. We are there for 11 weeks. The preparations for moving are going well, and we hope to head off early on Tuesday morning. We hope to drive 9 hours on the first day, and then two or three the next day. We are overnighting in a Hotel on the way. The girls are VERY excited, as are the grown ups!

I am beginning preaching on Sunday night (26th), and then again on Sunday morning the next week. A friend is coming to stay for the weekend on that weekend, we are looking forward to catching up, and it will be a privilege to preach for another Kiwi.

Hopefully the updates will be a bit more regular over the Summer, and I will be able to share with you all my preaching experiences. The major aim of the Summer is to work on my Preaching. I am look forward, with trepidation, to the challenge.

Thank you all for your support during exams, every bit helps. And a special thank you to those who are supporting us financially. We cannot do this without you all. We feel blessed, and overwhelmed by the support, both from here, and from home.

Blessings,

Albert

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