August and September Settling In and Starting Again

Hello Friends, Family, and Internet Wanderers!

It finally happened. The months went by so fast that I forgot to send out an August update. I do hope you can forgive me. These past two months have been a flurry of activity as school and ministry have started up again. In this time I have finished moving and unpacking my new place in St. Boniface,  the youth group, Sunday school, and young adult ministries are underway, and I am deep into my studies for this semester. That being said, with everything going on there is a lot to pray for and a lot to be thankful for!


Thanksgiving

As I mentioned last time and above the recent move has been a huge blessing for me. While there are definitely some things to get used to in my new place I am ultimately able to rest and experience a significantly greater level of peace. The past weeks I have been unpacking and doing my best to figure out how to organize and decorate my apartment; I have never been able to do this without consulting someone else! And thanks to the blessing of my grandparents as well I am being given some living room furniture which was one of my concerns and prayer requests last time! Once I receive and set up the new layout of my place with this furniture I believe I will be comfortable hosting people. In the process of moving I found that my kitchen table, which was constructed by my great grandfather, would not fit through the hall. thinking this a simple matter of removing table legs I found myself several hours into a project of disassembling a table which appears to have been built to survive an atomic blast. I took out dozens of screws and many brackets to eventually get the table apart enough to move it in. :)

At the end of this last year I had been feeling at a loss when it comes to spiritual friendships. This is not to say I do not have some amazing friends, but I was noticing that many of my experiences in ministry are either confidential or hard to relate to. What is more is that a mentor of mine left the province and while I was excited for him, I did not realize how significant a role he had been playing in my life and ministry. So as I have been praying for this two new opportunities have arose for me. The first is that I have started seeing a Spiritual Director. This is something I have been thinking  a lot about but frankly was not sure what it meant or involved, and after one session I am still a little unsure. The person I am meeting with is a student practicing on me so I am helping her as well as she is helping me. Secondly and more excitedly is I have started meeting for monthly coffees with another pastor who is my age. While I would say that he is remarkably more 'successful' in his ministry we have a shocking amount of similarities. These conversations for me have been really fruitful as he knows the types of issues I am reflecting on without my having to name specifics and we are able to hear each others stories and offer insight and prayers. And while I think I am probably getting more than I am giving, I hope that this friendship will be a two way street and bear fruit for both of us.

Other things I am thankful for this month are the growth of the youth group and seeing new faces in church. I am thankful that I was able to start and write a term paper in the first few weeks of class so that now as school ramps up, it will only do so in one class.  I am thankful for family and friends and the support that I receive on a regular basis. Letters in the mail, texts, willingness to help when asked and being invited and included. Thank you all for the big and small ways you show your love and support to me.

Prayer Requests

I mentioned several months ago that I volunteer with a high school once a week and help teach newcomer teenagers English.  When the teacher I work with found out I work as a pastor at a church she approached me with an idea to have a prayer group similar to how the new Muslim students do. After waiting for a while and hearing nothing about this moving forward I received an e-mail from this teacher about a conversation on this subject involving the principle. To make a long story short, they were not interested. But in conversation with the teacher it appears the principle had a lot of confused notions around what was being asked for. As a result I have been asked to speak with the principle about this topic and am doing so today in fact. This is a public school and so historically is fairly hostile to faith but I know God can move here if He wills. Please pray that I will speak well and that the principle will hear and consider what is said and that if this door closes, that God will open another.

As mentioned I am continuing to work on my masters degree and am finding this semester in particular to be extremely challenging. I do not know what the difference is between this year and last but the work is pilling up and I find myself having to decline a lot of other things so I can do the school work. Particularly there are extra events or opportunities to invest in the youth, or the young adults which I don't have the time for I would like to. Please pray that I would be efficient in my studies and that I would know when to put down the books and minister to those who need it.

Finally as excited as I am to live alone I realize that some of my decisions are not the healthiest ones they could be. I find that I am going from periods of extremely busy at work, to incredibly bored and lonely at home. Whats more is I am finding I no longer have an excuse for bad eating habits or lack of exercise. I have always wanted to be healthier but I find that I lack the will to make those good choices, at least consistently. Please pray for me as I seek to find a method of living healthier in the various aspects of life. Please also pray that I would not find myself alone all the time. I confess that this is one of the reasons it took me so long to live on my own. Please pray that I would find someone who has similar interests and schedule to me that I would be able to experience the closeness that I find myself longing for, but again in a healthy way.


God Bless
- Stefan Klassen