Mustain Christmas Update 2011

                                          

Dearest Family and Friends-

“By God’s grace we are doing well.” This is a saying our good friend and ministry partner from Ghana, Vincent Asamoah, lives by and has modeled for us. It is our hope that we will all live each day with the awareness that it is a gift of God’s grace.

2011 has been an action packed and busy year full of family, friends, church, laughter, travel, work, many changes in hairstyles, and of course graduate school. We are grateful for our many blessings and opportunities, recognizing this past year has been difficult for so many in our world.

It feels like there is so much to try and pack in in such a short amount of space but here it goes! I have continued with my enjoyment of running as I ran one half marathon and two full marathons this year. In April I ran the Go! St. Louis Marathon with my brother-in-law Caleb and in November I ran the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon.

May and June brought lots of travel as we traveled for nearly a month straight. As soon as I took my last final, we were on a flight to Birmingham for a good friend’s wedding. And since we were in the “neighborhood”, we visited dear friends of ours from our time at AIM in both Chattanooga and Gainesville.

At the end of May we led our second trip for Baylor to Kumasi, Ghana. It was such an incredible experience to see the kids and staff from All Nations Charity Home again. We are honored to participate in God’s transforming work in Ghana. Transformation is a two way street and we are continually blessed through the ministry of Vincent, our other friends, and of course the kids. They have impacted and transformed our lives in more ways than we could ever share.

We ended our summer travels with a trip out to Colorado to visit family and friends. This photo was taken in the approximate location where we were married in August 2008.

Throughout the rest of the summer Heather worked and took classes as I led worship for Baylor’s freshman and transfer student’s “Line Camp” experiences. Speaking of Baylor, how about those Baylor Bears and Heisman Trophy winner RGIII! It’s good to be a Baylor Bear!

On August 2^nd we celebrated our three-year wedding anniversary with a short getaway to Houston. We continued our tradition of releasing the number of balloons equivalent to our years of marriage. The balloons signify our remembrance of the past year and by God’s grace, the new beginning of continued life, love, and happiness together.

In August we also began our third year of seminary and Heather began her final year of her Masters of Social Work program. As part of her program Heather has a 9-month internship at our new church home, First Baptist Church Waco. God is doing amazing things in and through Heather as she loves the opportunity to come along side individuals, families and communities in leading them in holistic life transformation. In September Heather did a phenomenal job directing Baylor’s “Be the Change Missions Conference” for the third and final year.

I continue to work as a resident chaplain for Baylor. In the spring I was offered the opportunity to move to a larger and more challenging residential community (which included a larger apartment!). I love the chance to invest in the lives of students and to walk with them through some incredibly difficult times. I am also in the midst of a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) course at our local hospital, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. This hospital chaplaincy experience has, hands down, been the most difficult and most rewarding educational and ministerial opportunity of my life.

As always, Christmas break will be busy for us. We’ll spend a few days in Dallas with my family and then head off to North Carolina to spend Christmas with some of Heather’s family. Over New Year’s we are thrilled to participate on a mission trip to Guatemala with our church. This trip is also part of Heather’s research project and internship at FBC Waco.

Toward the end of May we look forward to returning to Kumasi, Ghana for our third year. A part of my Masters of Divinity program includes the opportunity to mentor at a church or organization. We have decided to serve in Bend, Oregon for the summer where I will do my mentorship at a church we have a previous relationship with. This brings an excitement for us as we look forward to spending the summer with a wonderful church community in a beautiful part of the country we have not yet explored.

Well, I guess that is the long and short of our past year. By God’s grace we await with great anticipation another year of participating in God’s redeeming work all over the world.

Grace and Peace to you and yours,

Chad and Heather Mustain