In early September, Judy and I (along with our son and all of our pets) will be moving 10 hours north to Houghton, MI. We have accepted a pastoral call in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Our assignment will include pastorship of a small church in Houghton, two companies near the area, and the establishment of a campus ministry at Michigan Technical University.
Although we are very honored by the call and will enjoy this new line of ministry, we are also hesitant to leave our friends and colleagues at CAMPUS. This year promises to be one of the best years for CAMPUS with a great Missionary Training Program, a revived student group, and a more dedicated staff. We’ll miss being a part of it all.
On Thursday we will meet with the conference office to discuss our transition which will start in a couple of weeks and will go through November. CAMPUS is also working out the final details to get Pastor Steven Conway and his wife from NJ/NY to replace our current position.
For those living in Ontario, we’ll be your neighbors separated only by Lake Superior. Same thing for those in MN. We’ll probably be closer to your conference office than to ours. We are in the process of getting rid of our cars to buy one with 4WD along with a snowmobile. They get close to 300 inches of snow in a year sometimes.
Make plans to visit us! Especially in the winter. Our new place will have it’s own sauna for Andy and Dave 🙂
There are snowmobile trails with campsites along the way. So we’ll be our own vacation land…call us Little Maine. And in the summer…Scuba Diving. You can even preach at our (little) church…es 🙂
CMX is the airport code. I know some of you are already looking into getting tickets to come and visit!
Keep us in your prayers, as it may be a difficult experience finding out who our friends REALLY are (the ones that visit us way up there).
Hesitant to leave just “your friends and colleagues at CAMPUS”, huh. What about the rest of the breathing world? I’m sure Juan and Co. aren’t too happy to hear that one, either. That’s ok… I guess your REAL friends are the ones you forget to say goodbye to. =) But really. Even though I’m sad to see you guys go, I’m happy (or trying to be) that you are following God’s calling.See, I even had to look for a “sad cow” profile pic for this comment. Who’s the ‘real friend’ now?
wow, houghton….that’s kinda crazy. almost seems it’d be easier to move to africa. unless you really like snow, but for me it’d be more like moving to africa. on the brightside it is definitely going out into the world as a missionary. and i know that you guys will receive blessings beyond your imagination. good luck with your new mission area and God bless.
Jen…it was supposed to be read FRIENDS (EVERYONE! [including cows and babies]) and COLLEAGUES (colleages are those who work at CAMPUS including people like Dr. Pipim and Pastor Skeete who are never there!) -IR
So you guys are really going, huh? I guess I’ll see you when you come visit SoCal… =P
congrats! It’s rather sobering to think that it’s kinda the end of an era (at least for Judy, who’s been here longer than Israel…ha ha, you can thank me later Judy), and it’s really sad actually, since it’s a ridiculous drive just to get up there, but it’s God’s will, and He’s leading. What about DKAY in your mention? ha ha
Wow, thats so great. My brother went to school up there. It is a huge mission field. It sounds like you all have a great challenge for God to work in and through. It is exiting to see what He will do. May His grace be with you all.matt
heh heh. just kidding. love you guys.
I know, I know. I sorry. I’ll call you guys when, you know, I’ll see you again.
Baaaaaaahhhh.
So, so sad. But I do believe that this is the Lord’s leading, and so it will be okay. But I will try to show myself a true friend (and visit as often as is possible).
Just don’t let Imanuel forget his Auntie Stephanie. 😉
It’s up to you whether or not Manu will forget Auntie Stephanie…you visit, you’ll be his favorite auntie…you don’t visit…he’ll say: “who’s that?”
yikes! that’s awesome! 10 hours?… hmmm… that’s not too bad… ;Op
Wow, are you guys moving to the North Pole?!?! You said it’s closer to Ontario, but the wrong part of Ontario……too bad….You’ll be still 12 hours away from Toronto…….our hopes went up for jsut a second there….:( All the best with the new field of work! Praying for you!
I’m just sad that I just met Imanuel and now he’s leaving me! You know that look of consternation in his face must have something to do with this fact.
Wow! That’s news. Well, since I’m not going to be at CAMPUS too much anymore, I guess there’s no point in you guys staying there either. : ) haha Upper peninsula., huh? And you thought Ann Arbor was bad during winter……….Just wait. I’m happy for you though, I know you’ll be very much appreciated wherever you go. Now it’s Pastor Ramos. Cool.
So, IR Missions is spreading wings, again, huh? Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll be missed, and Steve will have a whale of a time filling your gap. I hope Judy is happy in MI.