seminary update

Several people have been asking lately how my plans are coming with seminary. Things are actually a little interesting right now. In January I applied to Moody. I don't usually put all my eggs in one basket, but decided at that time to only apply there and wait to see what their response would be b/c I had my heart set on Moody for several reasons.

The end of February I got an email from them saying they had my entire packet minus one letter of recommendation and they would be in touch with me as soon as it was complete. After spring break, mid March, I decided to call and check on the progress and they had NO record of me in their system anywhere. Hmmmm. They checked all week, I called all that following week and NO record of me ANYWHERE. My check cleared, they had it at one point, but now, nothing. Prior to this I had been praying that God would make it very clear by closing and opening doors as to where to go to school this fall. After this week of phone tag and no paperwork coming up I feel like this may be God's way of closing a door.

This past week I applied to two other schools I had been looking at and one that prior to Urbana wasn't even on my radar. The two I had been considering are Wheaton, just outside Chicago, and Columbia in South Carolina. Columbia is HEAVILY missions minded and is a big draw to me. The third place I applied is Southern Baptist Theological in Kentucky, the seminary my dad and grandfather graduated from...dad 30 years ago and my grandpa 60 years ago.

A little story being Southern. I stopped by their booth at Urbana to get a magnet for my dad as a little alumni souveniere. Of course I got talking with them about my association with the school so I signed their follow up sheet giving them my address and email. Since the conference in December I've gotten 2 phone calls, 4 emails from different departments and 3 letters from various departments following up and asking if I'd be interested in coming to visit. Grant it all schools follow up differently, some more than others, but I found it almost humorous that they have been SO persistent. I even tried to email a response back to one department and it was sent back to me as "undeliverable." Evidently "no" is not the answer for now. SO, I went ahead and applied to their program "Missiology." One of the things I am attracted to about Southern is they have various missions degrees one focusing on the exact things I want to know more about, "Missiology."

Nut shell summary, new schools are in the works and I am excited to see how it will all turn out. I was approved for my year leave of absence from work so I don't have a job for the coming school year. One of those, God knows I just have to step out, be patient and have faith that it will all work out just as he deems best. The south would definitely be a change of pace for a girl who's always lived in COLD places (AK, ND, MN). I'd love your prayers too as I continue to wait!