February, School, Possibilities, and Reviews.

Good Morning Friends, Family and Internet Wanderers

If you have been keeping up with this Blog, you might remember that the past few months have been difficult ones for me, with January being the positive exception. February has been a bit of a mixed bag. While ministry and school have been going well, the earlier mentioned situation with some friends has not improved the way I would have liked to see. All that being said a lot happened in February and I am happy to share that with you.

Thankfulness:

While no one really likes things to be difficult, it is in these times that you feel the love and support of friends and family. Last month I mentioned how I have been re-connecting with my family and how much their support means to me. This is still the case but I feel I should also mention that there are friends who are doing the same. Without naming anyone specific I had the opportunity to be blessed by my friends at MB Mission, by a prayer warrior from my old church, and by some of my peers who I went to university with. Their friendship and genuine care for me, in big and little ways has been incredibly encouraging. I am so thankful for them, and for you.

Also in February I had the chance to take a one week intensive course. For those who may not know what that is, it is a whole university course in a week, essentially 8 hour days of school. It was definitely a challenge but I have found both the content and the conversations with peers that came with to have been invaluable. The class was all about young people and how they are forming their identities. It was about transformation and what a mature christian looks like. There is too much to share here, but ultimately the conclusion I drew from the course is that for me and anyone else who seeks to teach young people we need to model what we are teaching. I am very thankful for the course as I am finding the content coming up again and again.

Finally I must say how blessed and thankful I am to the Lord and to you for your generosity. The church accountant gave me a summary of where my fundraising is and I have enough money to cover me until the end of October! I am blown away by your generosity and words cannot express my deep appreciation for the care I have received in every area of life.

Prayer:
As many of you know, I have been experiencing difficulty in some of my close friendships. Without going into specifics, the basics of life, eating, sleeping, and even recreation have been affected. Now all that being said January has seen an improvement in this area from December, but February has not really improved upon January. This is a relationship which for the time being I cannot avoid and yet I do not know how to repair or even work on it. I feel very much like the desire for reconciliation is only coming from me and I do not know what to do when another party does not want to work on something that needs to be worked on. Please pray for wisdom for all parties involved, that I would act in a way that is representative of God's love to these people, and that they would do similarly.

February is the month that my church does pastoral reviews, and as such the elders of the church have been interviewing those who I work closest with in order to present me with my review. At this time I do not have any reason to be concerned, but I find myself nervous anyways. Please pray that the review would be an honest reflection of both my skills and the areas I need to work on. Please pray that I would be able to understand and implement the direction given to me in such a way as to build up the church and my ministry areas.


Thank you for all your support, and for your prayers

May God bless you this month as you continue to bless me.

-Stefan Klassen