Hughes News

I've fallen behind and skipped my November and December updates! (at which some of you probably thought you were off the hook) :) And now it's January. Let me get everybody up to speed. --------Where I'm at: I am beginning to pack my bags to head back up to Michigan for my final semester at New Tribes Bible Institute. I have been telling everyone here that my time there has been the best 2 years of my life. And truly, I have been forever altered. I treasure now more than ever the Gospel which is the power to salvation - not just initially but every day as I walk in the power of the new risen life of Christ by the Spirit. Man, how many times in my life have I tried to improve myself - the "old man" - rather than walk in the new? and then only been able to produce the "fruit of Jessica" instead of the fruit of the Spirit. My mind is blown by the realization that this awesome God in the Bible I've devoted 2 years of my life to studying is the s...

And O is for "O my gee! It's practically November!" How in the world did that happen... Life is never dull here, and October just confirms that. I think every weekend was packed down to the last minute. First it was work, then it was Romans outlines, then the DRAMA team was here and we did a lot at my church, then a couple from my school did a concert, I got a surprise visit with my old roommate Lindsey Kuyt, I went up to Lansing for Silent Word Ministry's Fantastic Saturday and got to catch up a little bit with my friends Jim and Terry Bracelin and brush up on my sign language too, and this weekend was the Tribal Cup which is where my school plays a whole bunch of sports against the other New Tribers from our Wuakesha, Wisconsin Campus. I guess it's been the month of catching up with people and I have loved that so much. :) There were a few things this month that honestly have just been hard. First was that I ended up quitting my second job. It was way mo...

Whew! It's been crazy trying to find a moment to write an update this month. I got another job about a week and a half ago and they piled on the hours for these first two weeks, but I am very thankful to have the extra income. When things are all settled down I should be working about an average of 20 hours a week now and a good portion of that being weekend hours. So that will be nice to be a little more freed up during the week. Anyways, here's a little peek into what I've been up to over the last several weeks :) Classes have been phenomenal! In the first block we had Angelology, Romans, and Family Relationships, and I really knew virtually nothing about what the Bible has to say about angels, demons, and Satan before I was in Angelology, so I loved just soaking that up. Now I'm in my second block of classes which are The History of the Church and Missions, Romans (continued), and James. Yes, that's right. Romans and James on the same day. It's insanely...

Alright then, ready, set, go! I'm back at school and things are picking up! It was so great to walk in and feel like no time has passed even though it's been 3 months :) This summer has been completely delightful and I have loved every minute of it. Just a brief recap of the last 3 months: I came home to catch the DRAMA 10th Anniversary Banquet and Nicole (Weaver) and Austin High's wedding. I started working with Friendship Community a week later. The job was a a complete blessing! I loved the staff I worked with and the individuals I served. If you haven't heard of Friendship, check them out (www.friendshipcommunity.net) - it's easier than me describing it. haha So many good times at that job :) Anyways, early June, I became the woman of the house while my mom went out to Alaska for 3 weeks to catch the arrival of my new nephew, Joshua Nathaniel Funk. While she was gone, Tim and Chris were also at camps all summer, so I was not only the woman of the house, bu...

          I was thinking the other day about school and all that's gone on in the last month and realized I never wrote my last update - and May probably had the most going on! (or at least it felt that way) I'll try and get things back up to date and then I probably won't post an update until it's close to time to head back to school.             Well, first, I was able to get off for the last 3 weeks of work so I could come home and stay home for the summer rather than heading back up to work in Jackson till June 16th. I am so grateful for this! I really didn't expect it to work out, but God is consistently greater than my expectations and my awesome coworkers pulled through for me. :)            The last block of classes were excellent and I learned a lot. I really enjoyed the 1 Corinthians class and look forward to getting 2 Corinthians this fall! Bible Bas...

Wow, so I kind of missed my April update. that should say something about how crazy it's been lately. I'll try to recap as much of the last 6 weeks as I can remember in a few concise.... paragraphs. Well, since my last update, in March I got the opportunity to mime at school for our Talent night (called "Hollywood's Got No Talent" Night) and that was a full night of fun. And consequently 3 pastors contacted me to see if I would do that mime at their churches for Easter. haha :) I was thrilled to oblige. The next week we had a team from the Missionary Training Center in MO come and speak in chapel for us for a whole day and then we had a day off. It was so encouraging, and I won't lie, being able to eat breakfast because it was a couple hours later for our day off was also a huge highlight. haha the little things I take for granted... Then in April I had the pleasure of starting off the month by going home for spring break! I was able to catch my litt...

"Why did the chicken cross Mesopotamia? To get to the other Sidonians!" Compliments of my teacher for Life of Christ, Chris Darland. :) As y'all can see, I am clearly learning intense amounts of spiritual information here at Bible school. lol :p But seriously, can I just say that God is beyond words? no, I suppose not. Because even that puts Him into words which are too small to display His glory. Really, He has been blowing my mind. I am learning so much right now, and I am continually more and more amazed at how much of the Bible I didn't understand before. I mean, I thought I had it pretty put together, but the Word of God is so much more put together than that. It's deeper, and wider, and sweeter, and more challenging than I ever realized. Yeah. So, let me tell you a little bit of what I've been doing and learning, what God's been doing, and how you can continue to be praying. Right now I'm in Hermeneutics II which is actually not so ...

Trying to stay caught up on keeping everyone caught up. :) Here's a brief update and prayer list for y'all who aren't here in Jackson: School is going really well. We just finished our first block of classes on the 8th, and it was a super light block as far as homework goes, so things are getting more intense. The last block I had a theology class and 2 hours of Prophets, and I just finished an elective on Spiritual Disciplines from a Grace Perspective. This block I'll have Man & Sin (aka Anthropology & Hamartiology), Life of Christ, and continuing Prophets. Classes have really been phenomenal so far and I have particularly been loving going through the prophets. I had never read books like Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Nahum, etc. but they are actually pretty great books. It's also new to me to be going through them chronologically, and let me tell you, they make so much more sense in their cultural and historical context! haha who knew? :) A few thing...

I guess I'm kinda copy-catting my roommate Jasmine (thanks for the inspiration mate!), but I wanted to give y'all an update of where I'm at right now and I apologize for those of you who have heard most of this before. :) I appreciate your prayer muchly. School is just about to start up in full swing and I'm very excited to see what God has in store for this semester! Already I can see His hand at work. So let me see if I can summarize what He's been doing over break and give a projection for the semester ahead. Christmas break was a great time for a lot of reflection and making resolutions for next semester. I learned a lot about how great God is and how much I need Him. And, unfortunately, I would say most of what I learn, I do so the hard way. Very humbling. Once I was home though, I also reflected on the numerous opportunities I had last semester to invest in the people in my circles, and the opportunities to serve, many of which I did not take. This is on...

Yes. I finally started a blog. Not because I need more things to do, but just to make it easier for friends and family to keep track of what's going on in my life as I experience studying the Word of God full time at New Tribes Bible Institute. I have been writing updates on facebook monthly since the beginning of my second semester in January, 2011, and I am basically going to start the new blog off by importing all of those posts to over here. I thought it might be nice to have them all in one place. So, without further ado... here come the stories of the life of the King of NTBI! :) - Jessica King