Seminary

Matthew and I are on an exciting journey.  I started a discernment process with my local church and with my diocese to determine if I might be called to Holy Orders for the priesthood.  In January of this year, the Bishop of Arkansas granted me postulancy.  The next step is formation and in the Episcopal church, that means seminary! 

In mid-February Matthew and I visited the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.  We fell in love immediately with the community there. 

In March we were accepted into the Master in Divinity program at Southwest and we were just awarded a full tuition grant.  Even though we've qualified for the grant we still have everyday expenses that we will have to account for.  (rent, utilities, food, books etc.)

(You can check out my blog for more details about the seminary and our visit.  I'll add more as time goes on)
https://bshaynes.blogspot.com/2019/02/pearls.html 

So how can you help?
1. Pray-Pray for the community at Southwest.  Pray for the ministries and the people that we as seminarians will eventually work with.  Pray for the faculty and staff that will be imparting wisdom and knowledge to us.  Finally, pray for us.  Seminary will take time, patience and love.

2. Give- This is the hard part.  Even though we've qualified for the full tuition grant, we still have living expenses to cover. (rent, utilities, books, food etc) 
 Here is some ideas about amounts:
1.  A day of rent-$25
2.  A day of utilities-$3.50
3.  A book for a course-$30
4.  A day towards meal plan-$5

3. Another way to give-Amazon.  Maybe it is easier for you to give on Amazon or feel like you want to give something more tangible than money.  We've created a list on Amazon of products that we need for everyday living. (laundry detergent, dog food, cleaning supplies, shampoo, soap etc)

4. Share-Maybe you can't give financially but we hope that you would keep us in your prayers.  You can also help out by sharing this post on Facebook or with your friends and family.

Lastly, thanks.  Thanks for your prayers, your gifts and keeping us encouraged as we continue this journey. We can't wait to see what God is doing at Southwest!