at home and on campus - what we're up to

I figured we were due for an update.  What do you think? :)  We're working on a newsletter (with exciting news about Haverford College!) but maybe you'd like to know what we've been up to recently.

Elliott

At church:  Elliott has been preaching periodically, in an effort to grow as a leader and discern whether or not he should head into pastoral ministry.  You can listen to a sermon on Habbakuk here and one on Advent here.  This coming Sunday is our young adult service, and he will be preaching again!  (We'll put it up once it's on the internet.)

On campus:  Elliott continues to meet with small discipleship groups (made up of about 3-4 college students/young adults) and is taking a greater leadership role in Transformed, the drama ministry group at Eastern.  He has been leading the group in Bible study and has helped direct some skits. We have about 20 students signed up for the Jubilee Conference from Eastern University so far (very exciting!), and we're having a Pancake Dinner Fundraiser to raise money for transportations and scholarships.   He is still involved in Haverford Christian Fellowship and is one of the lead members of a faith group started by the college itself.

Rachel

At home:  Rachel has been very busy at home, spending much of her day with baby Gwendolyn and cleaning up at the house (as well as finding nifty ways to save money and the environment - you can read more about that here).  She has finished her M.Ed in Secondary Education, and teaches part time at an after-school children's theatre program.  Recently she also got a second job as a writer for a business (very, very part time).  

On campus:  Rachel continues to mentor girls one-on-one, both on campus and at the house.  Although she has been unable to be there for many big events, she tries to stay involved in the ministry with the relationships already formed from last year.

Gwendolyn

Gwen has been learning how to shuffle across the room.  She is quite skilled at shuffling backwards, but can shuffle herself forwards with great gusto when there is something she's not supposed to play with (like a computer).  She is teething and likes to wake up at all hours of the night, but is so sweet that we easily forgive her.  Her favorite hobbies are singing and putting everything into her mouth.

a home in which to do ministry

We have been settling in, offering this home to God as a place for His ministry to thrive.

And He has used it to His glory!

Since moving in, we have had people over almost every night -- including many, many students.  Less than a week after moving in, we hosted a group of twelve students chaplains over for dinner.  The student chaplains at Eastern University cultivate community and discipleship on their halls by leadings a weekly Grow Group, which is a chance for the hall to engage with the Lord in order to bring spiritual growth.  As they are so focused on pouring themselves out to their peers, we wanted to be able to fuel them -- both with food as well as spiritual encouragement.  This dinner was a chance for them to talk about what was and wasn't working, and to pray for their ministries -- as well as their personal walks with the Lord.  It was an incredible night of fellowship, and before the night was over, they were asking when we would have them over again (we're hoping to do gingerbread-house-making before they break for winter!).

Never before have we been able to open our home to students in such a way.  We feel abundantly blessed to invite students into our lives -- all the time asking that God will use our family and our home to bring people closer to Him.

Please pray for all who enter our house -- that the Holy Spirit would enter into our conversation and that people would be encourage and refreshed.  Pray especially for the student chaplains -- that the Lord would continue to give them personal support, and that they would see the fruit of their leadership.

We're Moving (Again)

Five months ago, we moved in with two of our students and their new baby.
We thought we'd be here for a year or two -- in it for the long haul.

This past Monday, God gave us an opportunity for another direction.
And we've decided to take it.

For the first time since we got married, we will have our own home.
And we move in exactly one week.

Some students will be helping, and we're hoping to use this house for ministry opportunities.  It's not big, but it's big enough.

More details are here.

on God's unusual provision

I find it somewhat amusing (not really the right word) that this blog started with car saga, and here we are again in the midst of car saga.  It seems that car troubles are a theme in our ministry.  Let's have a quick recap, shall we?

Goldie, our Ford Focus, collided with a commercial truck during a support-raising trip Elliott was taking in Maryland.  The car was totaled, the truck that sideswiped the car was long gone, and Elliott was (praise the Lord) unscathed.  We were car-less and ready to go to Haiti.  We told God if He didn't provide a car, we would be going to Haiti.


God answered our bold prayers and gave us Sam, a blue Saturn Wagon.  Sam came from the friend-of-a-friend who literally just wanted to give us his car.  He was also a believer (whose name, incidentally, was the inverse of my brother's) and God made it very clear he wanted us to stay and continue in campus ministry.  We named the car Samuel because we dedicated his purposes to the Lord.


Once we found out we were pregnant, we started for looking for a more reliable car (and a car with air conditioning since Sam's air was un-fixable).  After months of praying and no time to look for a new car, a supporter (my father!) gave us his old car: another Ford Focus whom we'll call Red for the sake of this post.  It's the newest vehicle we've ever had and has less than 100,000 miles on it.  We never thought we'd live to see the day! ; )


Well unfortunately for us, apparently 2006 Ford Focuses had bad transmissions.  So our transmission went about four weeks ago to the day.  To add insult to injury, the warranty on the transmission expired two months ago.  So it's been to two shops and still has yet to be worked on.

But I'm not writing this for pity's sake.  I'm writing because of how awesomely God has provided for us.  About 2 1/2 weeks into our newest car being in the shop, my eyes welled up with tears, and I angrily asked God, "Why is this happening?  What sort of good is coming from this mess?" 

God answered, "My provision, Rachel.  My provision."

Last Sunday at Sunday School, I was reflecting on how we had already borrowed six vehicles from six different parties (only two of which we asked for -- the rest were just offered to us here and there), and I wondered how we would get through the next week.  Just then a student from Eastern University who is part of our ministry turned to me and asked, "Rachel, do you guys need my car for the week?"

: )

Can you believe it?

What a mighty God we serve.

-Rachel

P.S. You can still pray about the car and the bill.  It looks like we'll be borrowing this student's car for two weeks.

A Change of Pace

Alright, friends. We admit we've be remiss at keeping up this blog consistently, so here's what we're going to try to do. Harkening back to the beginnings of this blog, I (Rachel) am going to try to commit to writing for 15 minutes about campus ministry. Now, Elliott strived to write 15 minutes per day about ministry, but at this point, baby Gwendolyn won't let me. So here's what I will strive for: a 15 minute update per week. Perhaps I will be able to do more, but I figured weekly was a good starting point, considering we were doing every other month or so.

Okay, let's start the clock. 11:45 am. I have until noon.

To give you a swift update of our life since we last wrote, we've actually moved in with two of our students. Zack and Jocelyn were married a little over a year ago and have a little baby. They got a pretty good deal on a house rental but had a little too much space. So after much prayer and seeking out of wisdom, Elliott and I decided to move in. You can read more about our day-to-day experiences on my personal blog. It's definitely been a shaping experience, but we have seen God's hand through the entire process. We have been able to mentor Zack and Jocelyn on a more personal level, but at the same time, living in intentional community with them has strengthened us spiritually as well. It's pretty cool how God works like that. :)

We're also thankful for the move in that it has brought us to the very neighborhood where we do ministry. Although we loved living in the city, it brought us so far away from our church home and the campuses where we work. We now live about 10 minutes from our church (and walking-distance from a number of church members), 15 minutes from Haverford, and 20-25 minutes from Eastern.

11:50 am. 10 minutes to go!

As for the summer, a lot of our students have gone on trips. God provided in full for the three girls mentioned previously on the blog - in mighty, miraculous ways! And there were many others that we didn't share about on here that also saw miraculous provision. There are also a number of students who have remained behind on campus. Elliott has put together discipleship groups of about 3-4 students and meets with them weekly or every other week. He has also been playing games with a group of students once a week. Tonight, we're actually having some people from the discipleship groups over for a big game night.

As for me, I've been (and am still) on maternity leave. Come this fall, I'll be scaling back my hours a little bit. But I'm thankful that the CCO is flexible and I will still be able to stay involved with college students. In case you couldn't tell, Elliott and I really love what we do and consider it pure joy to have the opportunity to do what we do.

So thank you for reading and praying and supporting us. It's 11:57 right now, and I suppose I haven't lived up to my promise of 15 minutes.... but Gwen is squirming and seems discontent so I better attend to the needs of my three-week-old.

This is Rachel, signing off!

Team Simko Just Got Bigger!

In case you hadn't heard the word on Facebook, we'll clue you in:

we had a baby!

Gwendolyn Shiloh was born on 6/21/11 at 12:44pm. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and arrived with a full head of brunette hair.

Her name means "Beautiful Peace."

We're sorry we haven't been updating our blog as much -- the last couple of months have been very busy. We moved in with some students -- another young married couple and their baby. You can read about our community-living experience on Rachel's blog. Rachel was also finishing up a graduate class up until the baby was born. We have been busy, though, and will start updating again soon!

God bless!!!

CCO Spotlight: Elliott Simko!

Check it out - Elliott is in the CCO Spotlight this month on the website:

Just wanted to share!

-Rachel