Susan's Adventures in Seminary and Life

The Call Process

2011-04-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is long overdue...

I've been assigned to the Northwest Minnesota Synod, which is my home Synod! Mike and I are thrilled to be going back to familiar territory. It will be nice to be among colleagues I had when I was in Youth Ministry. We are feeling blessed and optimistic!

On April 5th Mike and I met with the Synod Staff in Alexandria, MN. It was an excellent day. We found out more about the Call Process and what to expect as we move forward. We also had an excellent meeting with the Bishop and got some ideas about possible churches. The good news is that there are many good possibilities and I would be blessed to serve any of them.

Now we wait!

We will receive paperwork on churches and they will receive mine. If the Call Committee from a given church is interested they will be in contact to schedule an interview (or more than one). If and when a Call Committee feels like they want to offer a call they schedule a Congregational Meeting (they have to announce it two consecutive Sundays before they can vote). Then if the congregation agrees with the Call Committee's recommendation I'll receive a Letter of Call and we have to decide if we want to accept (I have 30 days). Sounds time consuming, huh?

The only part of this process I am struggling with is the waiting. I love to plan ahead and that's just not possible with so many variables. So for now we're staying in Dubuque indefinitely and I'm getting a summer job, just in case. We can stay on campus until at least July 15th. Hopefully by then we will be further along in the process. I am confident that God is at work preparing a place for us. I may need to continue reminding myself of that.

In the meantime there is a lot to keep me busy. Final papers and projects (due by the end of April), Graduation on May 15th, a summer full of work and travel and fun! If that weren't enough there's always packing and sorting that can be done because someday soon we will be moving back to Minnesota!

Regional Assignment

2011-02-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

In February of your Senior year leadership of the ELCA meet and decide first what region candidates will be assigned to a Region of the ELCA. There are 9 regions in the ELCA. We affectionately call this process "The Draft", which isn't far away from the way the process actually works. Before this meeting the leadership that gathers recieves the paperwork for all the candidates seeking call and on the day of the draft they work hard to match candidates (based on their gifts) with a Region that will best utilize those gifts. Before the meeting all 65 Bishops of the ELCA are asked to report the number of 1st Call Openings in their Synod. This number helps the group to divvy up the candidates so that each Synod receives a number of candidates that will help them fill their vacancies. At the same time this group wants very much to help candidates find a call. On February 22nd & 23rd the 2011 Draft was held. As a result of that meeting, I have been assigned to Region 3 of the ELCA (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota).

In the next week or so the Bishops from Region 3 will meet and they will decide together which candidate will go to which Synod. The Synods are visible in the Region 3 link above. For now Mike and I know in general where we are going and are now looking forward to more specific information. We are also looking forward to interviewing at churches for first call.

Picture of Mike and I
Opening the Regional Assignment Envelope

January Interm in Haiti

2011-02-15T09:06:00.001-08:00

In January I traveled to Haiti for my January Interim. The trip was led by Pastor Doug Hill from Abiding Hope Lutheran in Littleton, CO and professor Brad Binau from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Ohio. We spent a week in Littleton learning about Missional Leadership and partnership with Christians in other places. Then we traveled to Haiti for 9 days to meet with Abiding Hope’s ministry partners from the Haitian Timoun Foundation . The HTF serves the children of Haiti in many ways and we visited their ministries in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. St. Joseph’s Family is an amazing organization that offers group homes for the throw-away children of Haiti, including street children, child slaves (restaveks), and children with special needs. Pazapa (meaning step-by-step) offers schooling for special needs children, and is now one of only a handful of facilities that offers a school for the deaf. Tetkole (meaning heads together) helps reunite children with their families. Fonkoze (meaning shoulders together) is Haiti’s largest micro-finance institution (MFI), helping raise women and their children out of abject poverty.

There has been a lot of coverage in the news about how little has been done in Haiti since the earthquake. During this J Term I learned a great deal about how important it is partner with local people in order to be more effective when attempting to be of assistance and especially when partnering in ministry. While it is true that there is much more work to do in Haiti and a lot of the aid has not reached the people who need it, we saw good work being done by the HTF. Likewise the money given to Lutheran World Relief is funneled through people in Haiti who know how to use it best. There is great hope in the midst of great struggle in Haiti and the Haitian people are beautiful loving people of great strength and love. If you get the opportunity – visit Haiti! It is an incredible place.

A video of my Haiti trip by a fellow student and traveler from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Ohio.

Approved for Ordination to Word and Sacrament Ministry.

2010-12-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, December 16th I met with a sub-committee (4 members) of the Northwestern Minnesota Synod Candidacy Committee for my Approval Interview. This is the important final interview with the committee. In this interview they could have decided to approve me for ordination, postpone my ordination (usually until certain conditions have been met by the candidate), or deny my application for ordination. In our meeting we had excellent conversation about my Seminary experience, CPE, Internship and my Approval Essay for about an hour and a half. When we were finished they let me know that they were planning to recommend that I be Approved by the larger committee. On Thursday night I received a phone call that I have been approved for ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry.

This has been a long journey, but a blessed one. I appreciate so much all the prayers and support I have received from family and friends along the way. These four years have been a time of growth and affirmation of my call to serve God and God's church.

NEXT STEP: Regional Assignments on February 23rd! REGIONS OF THE ELCA

Senior year... so far

2010-10-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

It was recently brought to my attention that I haven't written anything new recently and this is true. My good friend Trish recently said, "Susan, update your blog. Lots is happening!" She's right, lots is happening. First of all Mike and I have moved back to Dubuque, IA for my senior year at Wartburg Theological Seminary in late July. In August my nephew Ethan stayed with us for a week and we learned how fun and exhausting talking care of an 8-year-old is. I took Ethan back home to Spokane and visited my sister. Now senior is under way and all the important final steps toward ordination that go with it.

Before school started I wrote my Approval Essay. This essay was reviewed by members of the faculty, who then interviewed me. On October 27th the entire faculty met and approved our entire class for ordination and composed language that will be a part of my file. In December I will meet with my Candidacy Committee in Moorhead, MN and they will make a decision whether to approve me for ordination or not (the other options are postponement or denial - see "Seminary Tutorial" post, recently updated).

On December 1 my first call paperwork is due. This paperwork goes to the church leadership (bishops, regional coordinators, etc.) who will make regional assignments . The regional assignments will be made in February. In March the bishops from each region will meet and make Synodical assignments. After I find out which synod I've been assigned to the process for finding a first call will begin. Ordination will happen once I have a call.

Stay tuned for lots of new and exciting developments as Senior year continues!

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in De Smet, SD

2010-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of people have asked me about the annual pageant here in De Smet. The dates for the 2010 show are;

July 9, 10, 11
July 16, 17, 18
July 23, 24, 25

For even more information check out

http://www.desmetpageant.org

Maybe you'll even know one of the actresses...

Moving as a way of life

2009-07-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

I love moving. Not the back breaking work, not the exhaustion that comes with it, but the process. Mike and I have been married for nearly 9 years and the move to South Dakota will be our sixth move. One of those moves was literally across the street (we moved from 617 to 618 main, but we still moved).

The best part of moving every few years is that you get a chance to reassess your stuff. What do you have that you don't need anymore? What do you have that you can live without? Long distance moves especially help you to really rethink your possessions. For Mike and I we really have to love a piece of furniture to go to the trouble of loading it in a truck and hauling it across country.

The other great thing about moving so often is that all your little stuff gets reassessed too. We look through our clothes, our papers, our knickknacks. All this moving has helped us to eliminate clutter in our lives. So even though moving is a lot of work it allows us to keep our lives more ordered.

The blessing and the curse of seminary is that you move to seminary and after 2 years years you move away for a year of internship and then you move back to seminary for a final year of school. Then after graduation you move again. So that's four moves in four years. By the time we get to first call we should be down to our most valuable possessions.

Just so we're clear, while Mike and I like to declutter our lives by moving, our cat Berronar hates moving. She hates car rides and being locked in a room while we load the truck and new places freak her out. She'll be alright though as long as she has Mike to pet her on the long car ride and at the end of the journey.

New Address - effective August 1, 2009

2009-07-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

The move to South Dakota is quickly approaching. We leave Dubuque on Friday July, 31st and arrive in Bancroft on August 1st. Here's the new address:

615 Main Ave.
Bancroft, SD
57353

* * * coming soon - a blog post about packing and my philosophy about moving * * *

Move to South Dakota scheduled

2009-04-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

We have more information about the move to South Dakota! The plan is to move out of our apartment on campus Friday, July 31st and into the parsonage on Saturday, August 1st. We'll spend the first two weeks in South Dakota getting settled in and oriented.

Also next week all the Internship supervisors are on campus Tuesday thru Thursday. I'm looking forward to meeting my supervisor Rev. Randall (Randy) Koeller. I'm excited to get started, but I keep reminding myself that I need to stay focused until the semester is over.

Internship 2009-2010

2009-03-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Starting in August Mike and I will be living in Bancroft, South Dakota - population 37 (not a typo). I will be serving as an Intern at St. John's Lutheran (37 members - average attendance on a Sunday 16) in Bancroft and American Lutheran (728 members - average attendance on a Sunday 165) in De Smet. We will live in the smaller town in a 3 bedroom parsonage. The assignment is an interesting mix. I'll spend half my time working fairly independently (with back-up from my supervisor) at St. John's in Bancroft and the other half of my time with my supervisor at American Lutheran in De Smet. We're very excited about the assignment and we think it will be a great place to be for a year. The church in Bancroft has been training interns since 1970 and we know they will teach me what I need to learn. We start in August, but we don't yet know the exact date.

A fun and interesting side note - De Smet was the setting for 5 of the 9 books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder about life on the prairie in the late 1800s and is a popular tourist site featuring the LIW homes, museum and annual pageant! As a Little House fan I couldn't be more pleased :D

Pictures from the afternoon we received the assignments!

I was excited before we even opened the envelope

"We're going to....
SOUTH DAKOTA!"

(Thanks to Jealaine Marple for taking pictures on Assignment Day!)

Announcement postponed

2009-03-11T15:23:00.001-07:00

We got our assignment and we're very excited to announce... but we've been asked to wait until the supervisor has been notified. Sorry!

Update on Endorsement, China, and Internship

2009-02-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

I have been very lax in posting. Can it really be that I haven't written since October? So much has happened since then! Three things to report.

I am officially Endorsed by the Northwest Minnesota Synod Candidacy Committee. We got the official paperwork while I was away in China. Being Endorsed affects #3.
I went to China and back in January and it was incredible! Expect a new post sometime soon.
Now that I am officially endorsed I am cleared to go on Internship. Internship Assignments are coming to our Seminary mailboxes on March 11th.

A few words about Internship... Internship lasts for a full year. We will leave sometime this summer and then be back for my final year of school in the summer of 2010. This is an assigned placement. The Seminary has an internship committee that reviews the student and church applications and tries to make the best match. We have some say in where we go because we fill out a lengthy preference form as part of our application. Some students choose to restrict their location for a variety of reasons, but Mike and I chose not to restrict. We're looking at it as an adventure and we're hoping 1) for a good supervisor fit, 2) for a great congregation and 3) to learn a lot. Watch for a post in mid-March letting you know where we'll be summer 2009 - summer 2010! see the post from May 2008 about the seminary process - recently updated!

Endorsement

2008-10-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in news on Endorsement.

Pr. Laurie Natwick, Assistant to the Bishop and Pr. Dale Pepelnjak, from Pelican Rapids were here to do the two interviews for our Synod. All the students from NW MN and their spouses went to dinner with the candidacy committee representatives on Tuesday night. My interview was at 7:15 am on Wednesday morning. After our interview they are recommending endorsement to the rest of the committee at the next meeting in December. So until then I am provisionally endorsed awaiting official endorsement. I'm so glad they were able to make the trip - we're a long drive for them and it was nice to have them on campus, even for a short time. Overall it was a very good experience!

SH <><

Two bits of news

2008-10-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

I am posting with two bits of news with the intention of posting more at a later date about both items.

First, I am headed to China January 5th - 19th! Each year students at Wartburg take one class during the month of January (called J Term). We're allowed to choose for ourselves. Last year I stayed nearby and took the Violence Against Women and Children class. This year I'm joining the trip to China led by our Lutheran Confessions professor Dr. Chung who is originally from South Korea and has many connections in China. We will be visiting Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. I'll tell you more about the trip as more information comes along.

Second my endorsement interview will be this week on Wednesday morning. Two members of the NW MN Candidacy Committee will be on campus Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon to conduct two interviews. Mine is at 7:15 am! I will let you know how it goes, please check out the info on candidacy from an earlier post for more info on endorsement.

SH <><

Back to life, back to reality!

2008-09-20T08:10:00.001-07:00

So I'm back in Dubuque after a summer away in Wisconsin. Over all it was a nice summer, but challenging to be away from home so much. After CPE was over in early August I was home for a few days and then off to visit family. I spent a week with my parents and then took my nephew Ethan home on the train after a month with grandma and grandpa. I was at my sister's for a few days and then I headed back west. I stayed with friends in Fargo for a couple of days and then we met Mike for camping and the MN Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, MN over Labor Day weekend.

Mike with the Washing Wenches at Ren Fest!

Me writing my Endorsement Essay while camping

It's good to be home. Mike seems happy to have me back and I'm beginning to feel settled. School started the 2nd with Prolog week (Our first week of school is always a week long 1.0 credit class) and then regular classes began September 8th. After two weeks of class I'm starting to get back into the routine of things. I'm doing work study in the Library again for 10 hours a week. I'm also still in partnership with a local congregation as a Youth Ministry consultant 10 hours a month. So I'm keeping busy for sure. So far the biggest challenge this year is Hebrew! My brain doesn't want to go right to left and the letters are very foreign, but I'm taking it as a challenge and hoping things will improve if I work hard.

Endorsement (see the post from May about the seminary process - recently updated!) is coming sometime in the next few months. We're still awaiting details. I'm excited about taking the next step in the process. We also just had an informational meeting about Internship. I'm really looking forward to Internship and both Mike and I are thinking of it as an adventure. We're open to going anywhere and focused on finding the best Internship fit possible. Of course the assignments won't be made until next spring so we have a lot of time before then to wait and get nervous.

It's great to be back at Wartburg! The fun of seminary is that you take the journey with your class, but meet other classes along the way. The Senior's from last year are off being pastors at their first call. In their place we have a new Senior class, back from their Internships. The Middlers from last year are busy with Internship now and we have a brand new Junior class. So the campus is full of new faces and new friends to make. What fun! Well I should go study Hebrew so TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Susan Haukaas <><

9/16/2008 - 8 years of marriage to my favorite red head!

2008-06-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm halfway through Clinical Pastoral Education. On Friday I observed an open heart surgery and saw a human heart beating. It was incredible! I was amazed and awed by the experience. It's given me a new appreciation for the way the human body is put together. We are incredible creations and our creator must be incredible as well! CPE is challenging, but I'm learning a great deal. Mostly I'm learning a lot about myself. All in all things are good, I would like CPE a lot more if I wasn't so far from Mike. Seeing each other once a week is not great fun. I'll be much happier when the summer is over and we're under one roof again!

TTFN

Happy Birthday to me!!!

2008-06-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

I love birthdays in general... what's not to celebrate when you've had another year of life! Today is a big deal though... today I am 30. Somehow 30 feels very adult. I feel very old in a good way. So happy birthday to me.

I am in the midst of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) so I was at the hospital all day. I was home in Dubuque for the weekend though and celebrated with some Wartburg friends and Mike. We had cake and game night up at the castle Saturday. Then we had lunch at Applebee's with more friends on Sunday and more cake. Another great part of birthdays is cake.

Tonight some of my classmates from CPE and I are going to dinner.

All in all a nice birthday.

Seminary Tutorial

2008-05-07T21:33:00.001-07:00

How does Seminary work??

Candidacy - the process of getting approval from your Synod to attend Seminary. If you don't have their endorsement then you can't be rostered and you can't take a call at a church in the ELCA. There's a lot to this process. You meet with the committee and you also take extensive psychological tests and get evaluated by a mental health professional. I was approved for entrance (given permission to start school) in May of 2000 (but I didn't go to Seminary immediately). The NW MN Synod allowed that decision to stand after meeting with me again in April 2007.

Summer Greek - All Master's of Divinity Students are required to take Greek in undergrad or the summer immediately before starting Seminary. I took some Greek in college, but that was a long time ago (1998-1999) so I took Greek in the summer of 2007. Five weeks of conjugating verbs!

List of classes Below you will find an ever updated list of classes I took. Some everyone takes and some are electives. This is the list of classes I took specifically each semester.

Junior year - First year of Seminary.

Fall Semester Classes

Jesus & the Gospels (Study of the four Gospels)Exegetical Greek (Translating the Gospel of John)
Anthropology & World Religions
Spiritual Practices
Justification & Justice (Intro to Theology)
Early Church History

January Interim

Responding to Issues of Violence Against Women & Children

Spring Semester Classes

Text to Sermon
Pauline Letters (Study of the letters of Paul)
Systematic Theology
Parish Worship
Medieval History
Pastoral Care of Adolescents
Speaking on Tones (Chanting)
Israeli / Palestinian Conflict (Audit)

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) - Usually this part of Seminary takes place between Junior and Middler year. It must take place before you can begin internship. Juniors have interviews with CPE supervisors here at Wartburg and then send the written report to the CPE sites they want to apply for. Most of the sites are either in hospitals or nursing homes. We work as Chaplains to learn more about ministry and ourselves. It is a practical learning setting.

My site was Gunderson Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, WI. La Crosse is about two and a half hours from Dubuque. I'm lived in the Lutheran Campus Center house of the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, with two of my classmates, during the week. I tried to get home on weekends to help Mike remember what I look like. CPE lasted from May 27th - August 8th of 2008. In the hospital I was assigned to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), the CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and the cardiac step-down unit as a Chaplain Intern. Our days consisted of visiting patients on our floors and classroom time.

Middler year - Second year of Seminary.
During the fall of Middler year you meet with your Candidacy Committee to receive Endorsement which is required before you can go on internship. After that meeting the committee will make an internship recommendation.

Fall Semester Classes

Lutheran Confessions (Study of the Book of Concord)
Educational Ministry (Learning about how do do education in the Parish)
Liturgy and Life: Marriage, Sickness, and Death (learning about the worship options around these life moments)
Hebrew Bible (Study of the "Old Testament")
Hebrew Language (This is HARDER then Greek!!!)
Systems Thinking and Family Theory (Learning about how different systems affect people's actions)

January Interim

Trip to China (Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai)

Spring Semester Classes

Preaching
Theology of the Congregation
Seen & Heard; Foundations of Youth & Family Ministry
Hebrew Language (part 2)
Hebrew Bible (part 2)
Ethics: Luther, the Religions, and the Global Economy
Contemporary Rural Issues

Internship - 1 year serving in a church with a supervisor. The location is assigned by the Seminary and can be just about anywhere in the country. The assignments happen in March of your Middler Year.

I served my Internship with 2 congregations in South Dakota; St. John's Lutheran in Bancroft, SD and American Lutheran in De Smet, SD. It was a rewarding year filled with lots of great experiences.

Senior Year - Final Year. Candidates write a 17-20 page essay. The seminary faculty and candidacy committee must both approve the candidate before they can be assigned and ordained. In February of your Senior year leadership of the ELCA meet and decide first what region candidates will be assigned to and then what synod (http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Synodical-Relations/Regions.aspx). Then candidates begin interviewing at churches for first call.

Fall Semester Classes

Church Administration and Mission
Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Christianity and Islam
Children, the Family, and Faith
Practical Theology
Senior Preaching - Preaching the Hebrew Bible

January Interim

Trip to Haiti

Spring Semester Classes

Shalom Church
Spiritual Practices 2
Senior Bible - Isaiah
Senior History
Bible in the Parish
Leaders in Mission

GRADUATION - MAY 15, 2011!

My first blog... ever!

2008-05-07T21:08:00.001-07:00

I'm really excited about starting a blog. I originally thought of it because I often have lots of people I want to update about my life and it takes so long to email and I have to edit and send different versions to different people. This seems like the perfect solution.
To begin with I should mention that I'm just finishing up my first year at Seminary (see the next post for a tutorial on the Seminary process). We're all in finals mode around here. Right now I'm working the extra late shift at the library that happens the last two weeks of the semester. I'll be here until midnight. I have several projects that I'm finishing up, but everything should be finished in a little more than a week.
Seminary so far has been a great success. I have enjoyed it more than I anticipated. Greek has been a challenge and Systematic Theology has made me wonder if I ever really knew anything about God, but all in all school has been great fun. Both Mike and I also like Dubuque (even if Mike is calling our years in Iowa "the exile years"). We keep busy with people our own age, which is great fun, and there's always something going on at the castle. We call Wartburg the castle because it is modeled after Wartburg castle in Germany (where Martin Luther translated the bible while living in hiding from the pope). All in all life is very good.
I am currently looking forward to:

The end of the Semester (assuming I pass everything)
Our trip to St. Paul for my broth -in-law's graduation with a master's in business (May 17)
Our trip from St. Paul to Fargo to see friends and borrow my mom's car for the summer (May 18-20)
The beginning of CPE (I think, I'm a little nervous) in La Crosse, WI

Okay that's all for now - goodnight!