Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Life in Virginia.......

Things are going amazing here in Richmond as we get adjusted to quad life, school life and hyper-spiritual mode all at one time. We are learning tons everyday. Our minds and hearts are being filled with God's Word every session.

Since time is very limited and creativity takes time, here are some highlights of our time here:

1. We thought most of our classes would be based on theory or principle. Instead, everything that is taught to us is taught directly out of scripture. It has been amazing and challenging to be devouring the word in every class.

2. Last week we were required to have a 3 hour retreat of silence. Yes, 3 hours....As a mom, carving out this kind of time in silence is like impossible. However, they allowed us this time to focus on the Lord and His ways. We all came back together and shared what God had taught us. For both of us, it was a very powerful time of fellowship with Jesus.

3. We are having church in our Quad with 4 other families and our children. Actually, our children get to stay with us which is very nice. There are 8 children in our quad so we experienced fellowship with lots of little ones joining us. What a blessing it was. This "home" church experience (which is very similar to the types of churches we will be planting) is showing us that you don't need a fancy building, people who are great at playing instruments or singing, or even a lot of people to worship the Lord and have a church service. We truly had an intimate hour and half of worship and teaching in our small quad with 8 adults and 8 children. It was definitely a testimony to us that more isn't always "better."

4. Some spiritual issues we are being challenged in are:
Being a servant leader
Spiritual Warfare
Walking in the Flesh
Having Sound Doctrine

Each topic has brought conviction, repentance and renewal in both of our lives.

We are both growing daily in relationship with the Lord and our knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.

Also, the kids are thriving in their classes here and the situation has been without incident.

The only bummer here is that we do miss our friends dearly! Our hearts are glad to be here, but we do wait for the day we can see our loved ones again.

Well, time is limited and I must pick the kids up from their classes. Love and hugs to you all.

3 comments:

SurgeryDad said...

Greetings to the Phamily! So great to hear of your good health, good learning, (learning of the Good - sorry, bad pun, eh?). I was actually on a 3 day silent retreat this weekend, although no one was "completely" silent the entire time. But, I did think of you two and your beautiful kids, and hope you will be happy to know that I said prayers that your work goes well and that you all prosper - I think you will and I admire your commitment.

For my part, I'm trying to make sure every moment counts, too. If I ever have a few more, I'll put a link from my page, www.SurgeryDad.blogspot.com to yours. Funny how we met over the internet, back when I was just SurgeryDr, right? I'm looking forward to the day to meet all the Pham's and for "y'all" to meet the Haser's.

Meantime, all my good intentions and prayers.

Kelly B said...

Jessica,
I am so excited to hear of your home church experience. I am convinced this is the way to comminucate the gospel; that is, sharing in an intimate setting where there is more accountability, more vunerability. Though we attend the largest church in the county, we finally have started small mentoring groups meeting weekly. This has changed us.

-Kelly

Kathryn Carri said...

It is so awesome to hear of God's provision for you all in every instance. WE are so glad to hear that everything is going so well. WE love you all!!!

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