Catching Up

Hello everyone!

We are sorry for the delay in posts. Things have been a bit hectic in our lives, and I'm sure you'll understand why when you get to our November update.

October

In the middle of October, Mikaela and I had the fun opportunity to go to Chicago both to see a musical, and to explore the city. While it was a little chilly, and of course windy, we had a fun time wandering around the downtown area, going to the Navy Pier, and falling in love with Gino's East pizza.  All in all it was a fun weekend, and a great break in the middle of all our fall semester.

November

November is where things truly got hectic. At her doctor's recommendation, Mikaela had an elective surgery to fix an issue she was having with a hormone imbalance that was causing health concerns. Everything went well, and by all accounts at this point she is completely healed, and the surgery achieved its intended purpose. But it was an interesting adventure. Mikaela was bed-ridden, or rather couch-ridden, for an entire week, which mostly consisted of watching through all eleven seasons of MASH. Thankfully some of our friends were in town for Thanksgiving and invited us over, or else it would have been a rather low-key and drab meal. Other than the surgery though, November was a rather quiet month.

December

The season of Christmas always adds some level of chaos to daily life. Most of Advent was spent fully recovering from surgery and wrapping up school stuff before we broke for Christmas. Our adventures really began when Mikaela got out of school. Our plan was to dash to the airport as soon as she was finished up at school. That didn't exactly happen though. As we were heading out the door, we received a notification that our flight was delayed. So we stayed at home, ate some dinner, went for a walk. Just took our time. Then, as we were leaving for the airport once again, we got another notification that our flight was delayed. This time we went, which was a good thing, because it seemed like the airport was shutting down. Security was closing, and we were the last people through. And then we sat at the gate for hours as  our flight got delayed a couple more times. Eventually we left sometime after eleven o'clock on a flight that when we purchased the tickets, was leaving at four thirty. But despite the extremely late hour, we made it safely to California.

Once we were in California, though, we had a wonderful time. We were able to see our whole families, something that hadn't happened for at least a year. Some of the highlights were getting to meet our second niece, as well as hang out with the first, wear warm weather clothes, just generally hang out with family, and of course eat at In-N-Out. Multiple times. On top of that I was able to preach at my home congregation, St. John's, on New Year's Eve.

January

Missouri, upon our return, was freezing cold. Literally. We returned for a cold spell which turned out to be one of the longest since the '80s. It was quite the drastic change to go from temperatures in the 70's to single digits, not even over night, but in a plane ride. On top of that Mikaela had to almost immediately jump back into teaching, whereas my break was somewhat longer. Instead of taking an intensive class, my schedule allowed for me to audit one, which is what I chose to do. Which meant that in one week I spent over twenty hours sitting in a classroom listening to one professor lecture, but I didn't have to go home and do all of the reading associated with the class. That made it a much more enjoyable time, and I was really able to glean a lot from the class.

Mikaela, on the other hand, has had to prepare for her school's upcoming musical. Every year they have done one, but this year the date has been moved up before her spring break. While this does force the schedule into a more packed time frame, one huge benefit is that the musical does not fall on the same week as Call Day this year. This means that she will be able to dedicate more of her time to each as it comes.

Speaking of Call Day, the fact that it is swiftly approaching has become a reality for us. As a part of the call process, churches that are looking to call an associate pastor are permitted to interview a few candidates to see how well they will work in the church. We have had a few of these interviews, discussing ministries, church leadership, and worship styles among so many other things. While our part in the process is limited, one thing it has done for us is made us realize that we really are almost done at seminary, as well as give us a few possible locations as to where we may be living in six months. Of course, we aren't revealing any of this information. If you are interested in finding out about our call, Call Day is April 24th, at 7 PM St. Louis time, and it will be live streamed by the seminary. We will provide more information as the day draws near, as well as giving you an update sometime later that week.

We thank you for your prayers and continued support through these last four years at seminary. As our time here draws to a close, we know that your support has truly blessed our time here, and we will always be grateful for you. Please keep us in your prayers as we await the anticipated Call Day and accept God's plans for our lives. 

In the name of Christ our Savior, 

Nicholas and Mikaela Duerr