BJ & Carissa in Jewish Studies

Dear friends,

I am so excited to tell you that God has seen fit to move BJ and me on to our next step in His plan for our lives. Over the past many months, we have seen His hand clearly directing us into full time Jewish evangelism. To become better equipped for this work, we have now officially enrolled for the 2014 Fall Semester in the Jewish Studies program at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois.

The past couple years have been a time of great learning and growing for us, filled with many challenges and many truths revealed about God’s perfect plan and enduring faithfulness. As most of you know, both of us have had some health issues. So we had put off school until now to seek treatment in Waukesha, WI, where we’ve been since we graduated New Tribes Bible Institute in May 2011. BJ is almost back to full health, but still lacking some of the vigor and energy of a healthy 22 year old. My health is also still a cause for prayer, as I am still battling Lyme’s Disease, and dealing with considerable pain and sickness as a result. At this point it would still be too much for me to take on a full class load at Moody, so I plan to enroll as a part time student, and we expect even this much will be difficult. But we leave this as it ever was, in the hands of our faithful Father, and would so appreciate your prayers for healing, if it be His will.

Despite these continued challenges, we are ready and so excited to move forward. Now begins the planning and packing and figuring out of all the fun, technical details of getting ready for school. We will both be done working by June 15th, when I am done driving kiddos around in my bright yellow school bus! After that we plan to spend most of our summer with BJ’s family in Missouri, where BJ will be studying and working to further his budding career in web design. It is his goal to use this work to pay our way through these next couple years of school. Because he will only work part time, and I cannot work at all due to my health, we won’t make enough to cover our expenses. Please pray with us as we apply for scholarships and wait on the LORD to provide. We are confident that He is guiding us in this direction, so we are eager to see how He will work it all out!

We invite you to partner with us in prayer, for “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” (James 5:16). and stay connected with us as God moves us forward into His work. We ask for your encouragement, input and accountability to accompany us as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 3:14) and endeavor to walk with Him and make Him known. If you would like to keep in touch and get continued updates from us, email us at bjandcarissa@gmail.com or visit our new blog at kerstetterconnection.com. We’d always love to hear from you!

Because of His love,
BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

Here are some ways you can pray for us:

• Praise the LORD! We’ve been accepted into the Jewish Studies program at Moody Bible Institute for Fall 2014. Hurray!
• Pray that God will prepare our hearts and minds to study at Moody.
• Pray that God will continue to provide financially for us to go to school and continue Carissa’s treatment.
• Pray that Carissa will continue to heal and be ready to study alongside BJ in August.
• Pray for a new “Lyme- literate” primary care physician to work alongside Carissa’s current naturopathic doctor.