From Bryan and Keah servants of Christ Jesus.

To our friends and family who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

First, we thank God through Jesus Christ for all of you, God has heard your prayers on our behalf. God has met every one of our needs, even through some of you. We long to see you in person that we might hug you and encourage you in person.

As you can tell Keah completed a Seminary class studying Paul and his Epistles (Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Titus, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, 2 Timothy, Philippians). One week full of 8 hour lecture days (also called a Summer intensive class) is not enough time to learn enough on this topic! It is more like just seeing the tip of the iceberg! There is so much to learn from Paul. The introduction to this letter is structured on Paul’s letter to the Romans. This style is unusual today but for Paul’s time it was the common layout only he writes it through the lens of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul was the Lord’s instrument to carry God’s name, the Lord says this Himself. We pray the Lord’s continual work in shaping us as His instruments that will carry His name to all who we come into contact with.

We have completed our stay in Cheyenne, Wyoming as Vicar and Deaconess Intern at Our Savior Lutheran Church. We have moved back to Fort Wayne, Indiana to attend Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne for our fourth year. We hope to complete our studies in May, Bryan for a Master of Divinity and myself with a Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies.

Up Coming Dates to keep in mind are:

·       April 25, 2023 - Call Service (we will receive a call which will tell us where we will be and who we will be serving. No we will not know beforehand, we will find out with all who are there with us or watching live!)

·       May 19, 2023 - Commencement

Both of which will be broadcasted live.

In the meantime, Bryan will be completing his studies with a full course load each quarter. He is also working with Calvary Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Indiana on Sundays.

Keah will be finishing up a couple classes also. She is also working full-time for Just Neighbors Interfaith Homeless Network. To learn more about them you can check out their website https://www.ihnfamily.org/ Keah works in their Eviction Intervention Program. This program has only existed since May of 2021 and has already cut Fort Wayne’s evictions by 50%!

The children are attending Ascension Lutheran School this year. Bless Rory, she has now attended four different schools in four years. This year she gets to return to one she has already attended. Rory is 8 and Dalton is 6 (Just turned 6 last week). It is hard to believe that Rory was 5 when we first came to Fort Wayne in 2019.

Backing up a bit:

Here is a little more on what we did with Our Savior Lutheran Church in Cheyenne.

Vicar Payne.

Last year was a fantastic year for Bryan as he worked with Rev. Joshua Scheer (his supervisor) and Rev. Marcus Baikie as vicar at Our Savior. To tell you the truth, he is still processing everything that he learned and will probably not realize just how formative this year was until further into the future! The whole congregation at Our Savior was so welcoming and patient with Bryan as he learned just what it means to be a pastor, an under shepherd of Christ’s flock.

Bryan’s vicarage was focused on learning to teach and preach God’s Word and to properly administer His Means of Grace. He also visited those congregation members who were sick or homebound and learned to care for them with God’s Word and Sacrament. Bryan was given the opportunity to teach and preach a lot and observe the consecration of the Lord’s Supper and help distribute Christ’s true body and blood in Holy Communion. He helped with many baptisms and funerals as well as a wedding. He was honored to visit some of the members who were near death and bring them and their families the comfort of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the salvation He won for them on the cross.

Bryan also learned to balance his time with the church with his time with his family. He grew in his devotional life, both his personal devotional life and leading his family’s devotions.

If we tried to discuss all that Bryan learned as a vicar… well, we couldn’t! We couldn’t discuss it all because there is just so much that he learned. Bryan’s vicarage year was a wonderful blessing from God, and we give thanks to Him for the Pastors and staff and congregation of Our Savior Lutheran Church!

Deaconess Intern Keah Payne.

Last Summer Keah switched from the Residential Deaconess Program to the Distance Deaconess Program. This allowed her to volunteer at Our Savior Lutheran Church as a Deaconess Intern while she completed an online practicum class throughout the year. This switch also required her to return to Fort Wayne, Indiana during the heart of winter (Jan/Feb) for two weeks of intensive classes. She was able to met the online deaconess distance ladies face to face and grow instant relationships! It was hard to be away from her family for two weeks and see snow every single day. The intensive classes were very good and she learned so much.

So in what way did she serve Our Savior Lutheran Church last year? Keah saw herself as one who could fill in anytime when and where needed. Nothing was too insignificant, if it needed done, she was willing to help get it done for the church.

Keah worked in the office every morning until Dalton was done at the Preschool. This allowed her to see and learn more about the inner workings of Our Savior Lutheran Church. She was asked to sit in on meetings of all kinds. She was there to learn but when her opinion or thoughts were asked of her they where taken seriously under consideration.

Here is a list of some of the things she accomplished to fill in where needed:

Weekly Facebook posts and other graphic design needs. Organized meal trains for various members in need. Teaching Old Testament lessons to the Preschool children. Fill in assistant for the teacher at the preschool. Joined the alter guild. Visited the homebound members. Assisted the Sunday school superintendent and filled in for when needed. Teaching various ages of Sunday school classes. Learning through the adult study was something that she really liked to do. The members of Our savior ask such great questions and have received wonderful teaching to help them understand the Word of God. This goes for all the various Bible studies too! So many opportunities to learn! 

Now we are back in Fort Wayne, back in our home. The Fall quarter of Seminary is in full swing and we find ourselves getting back into the routine of classes, work and home. The kids are enjoying making new friends as are we! The Seminary flow of students and their families is ever changing. The year of students ahead of our year have all received calls and left. The year of students behind us has left on vicarages. Now we get to meet last years group and the new ones! Meeting up with our friends from our same year has been good we are all pretty excited about this coming year.

Now we will conclude with Paul’s conclusion from his letter to the churches around Ephesus. “Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.” Eph 6:23–24.