Our California Journey

We finally started a blog! This picture was taken by me (Caanon) last week while on a hike with some friends. We have been in Northern California now for a little over 6 months, and one thing that we are continually awed by is the beauty of this place. Whether we are standing on the beach, hiking through a redwood forest, or camping in Yosemite, we love getting to experience this part of God's creation.

There have been challenges we have faced in this new place. Moving out of the Bible belt (hence, the title of our blog) was a difficult adjustment. We knew that the culture would be very different, but it is really hard to prepare yourself for something so drastic! We both work with and for non-believers (there is one Christian at the school I work at). This was hard at first because we have both for the most part worked in Christian environments all our lives, or at least places where Christianity was looked upon favorably. Here people just look at us like we are whackos, or they will smile and politely change the subject. Most have never even heard of the seminary, even though a main road is Seminary Drive!

God is so strengthening us through all of this though. He is teaching us how to be ministers in a place where the culture is not Christian! We have had some wonderful experiences sharing the Gospel (especially in the city). It is honestly kind of refreshing to get to share with someone who doesn't already know what I am going to say! In Texas it was common for someone to already know the "shpeel", and so verbally sharing the Gospel was very difficult. Here, no one has heard, so it is a very interesting experience. The county that we live in (one of the wealthiest counties in the US) is .5% away from being classified as an unreached people group (using the International Mission Boards classification). Isn't that unbelievable? Even though it is really hard, we are honored that the Lord has placed us here and allowed us jobs where we get to be involved in the lives of the people who live here, the lost, not just involved in the seminary. We pray that He will use us while we are here to be lights to this community and change lives, for His glory.

It has also been difficult to make new friends. We live in an apartment complex full of other married couples, but have only connected well with a few. We were tending to just kind of hole up in our apartment and watch movies or play on the computer instead of trying to make friends, but we have resolved to change that. We are going to try to have another couple over once a week for dinner and/or games or a movie. So far we are having fun! We have had two couples over since coming back from Christmas and both times we had a lot of fun. So we'll see if this changes things!

Daniel has his last day of Hebrew tomorrow!!! He has worked so so hard, I am so proud of him. He will have a break until next Thursday when the Spring semester begins.

Well, this has been a long first entry, but I got going and I couldn't stop. Thanks for reading! Be blessed!