End of the Year Update

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a while since we have communicated with you about our lives in Washington. We have been absolutely crazy busy this last year and there is a lot to share!

Jordan and classmate sitting in the
cockpit of a restored DC-3 aircraft.

Jordan has been studying hard at the Aviation hangar for the last year. He has finished over two thirds of his program. There are three parts to the aviation mechanic certification: General, Air-frame, and Power-plant. Jordan has finished the first two sections and is a couple weeks into Power-plant. On average Jordan spends 40-50 hours a week at the hangar, 10-15 hours a week on homework, and 8-10 hours a week working as a janitor at both the hangar and the biblical studies campus.

Jordan often studies at Starbucks
when Hannah is working.

Hannah is still working on her Bachelors in Intercultural Studies with a Interdisciplinary in Counseling. Last semester Hannah took 21 credit hours, worked 25 hours a week at Starbucks, janitored 15 hours a week with Jordan at the biblical studies campus, and was a TA for three different classes.

Hannah learning how to make Sudanese flat bread.

On top of school and work, we also spend time each week with our church and our small group. The two of us have really settled into our church here in Spokane. They are like family to us. Also, we have worked with a refugee family of six from Sudan. Each week we spend time teaching the parents English and helping them acclimate to American culture.

Yet in spite of everything going on with school tuition and the slightly higher living expenses of Washington, we are still debt free! Although it has been difficult financially as well as costly on us physically and emotionally, we are nearing the end of our journey.

Next semester (which starts in 3 weeks) will be Hannah’s final semester. She will walk in May with a Bachelors in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Counseling and Psychology. Then she will have an internship working with refugees in Spokane over the summer and will be entirely finished with her Bachelors by June. Hannah will continue to work at Starbucks as she prays for God’s guidance for the future.

For Jordan: He will finish his mechanic training this June as well. Hopefully over the summer he will be able to take the tests to be officially certified to work on airplanes. Then starting in August, Jordan will transfer to the biblical studies campus to get his bachelors degree in biblical studies. Jordan will graduate in May of 2017 with his bachelors. So he has two and a half years from now until he finishes school. Jordan will continue working as a Janitor and will begin looking for a mechanic job to start in the fall.

If we get any free time, we love to hike all around Spokane

So that’s us! It’s been very busy and looks like it will continue being busy for a while. For those of you who continue to pray for us: thank you. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions or would like to know more!

Hannah and Jordan !

March Update

Dear Friends and Family,

Dad, Jamie, Hannah, and Jordan on Mount Spokane

It’s been a while since we have posted! Truth is, we have been very busy the last couple months. Our winter break was relaxing, although we really did miss home. Jordan’s dad and sister came to visit us in January, which was probably our highlight of break. The four of us visited Seattle, toured Spokane, and spent a lot of time hanging out and having fun.

Since then school has started. For the most part Jordan is at the aviation school hanger from 7 am - 4 pm Monday through Friday. He has absolutely loved the first few weeks of Aviation Maintenance training. So far Jordan has received his new tools and gained experience using the shop machinery.

Jordan and a friend at the Aviation Hanger.  

Hannah is still taking a full load at the Biblical Studies campus. She is on her way to graduate not this spring, but next spring. This semester she is taking two counseling classes that have proved to be both excitingly interesting and extremely informational.

Jordan is continuing to work as a janitor at Moody, although his hours have been reduced some due to the intensity of the Maintenance program. Hannah is still enjoying her job at Starbucks.

Overall, we have found that we are incredibly busy, which can be difficult at times. Please pray that we will never be too busy doing things for God that we forget that God has already done everything for us. Also pray that amongst our busy schedules we will be able to spend time with each other.

In Christ,

Jordan and Hannah

December Newsletter

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2013

We hope you all are enjoying this Christmas season. For us, with the end of our first semester back at Moody Bible Institute, our attention has quickly shifted to much less stressful activities… such as making Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, spending time with friends, and of course eating those Christmas cookies!

Looking back on this past year, it is amazing to see not only how God has taken care of our needs, but also the ways he has abundantly blessed us. Throughout the past semester, we have continued to receive financial support from many different sources, which has covered the majority of our school bills.

Christmas cookies!

In addition, one of our priorities and prayer requests has been to find a church in Spokane, and we are very excited to say that God has lead us to a church called Soma. In just a short time, we have developed strong relationships with the people in this church community who have encouraged and challenged us in our faith.

In the home of our refugee
family from Sudan/Libya

We must admit that the holidays this year are bittersweet for us as it is the first time we will not be home to celebrate with the rest of our family. However, we are very much enjoying the opportunity to start Christmas traditions of our own. Thank you for all of your prayer and support this past year. We are looking forward to see what God will do in 2014!

In Christ,

Jordan and Hannah Fischer

Open Invitation

Dear Friends and Family,

Over the past couple months, God has been teaching us something about our home. First of all, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, God has given us a wonderful, beautiful home for which we are incredibly thankful! However, God has also helped us to see that our home is really just a house...That is to say it is not our refuge. It can protect us from rain, but not from heartache. It gives us a place to sleep, but not to rest the burdens of life. Jesus, on the other hand, is our refuge, protector, and place of ultimate rest.

In addition, there are many cultures in the world that do not view a person’s home the way ours does. For example, in many cultures throughout the world, neighbors, friends, and even strangers come over any time they’d like. Many cultures are group-oriented (America tends to be individualistic). They like to do everything as a group, which means someone showing up at your door unannounced is a polite gesture, not rude or inconsiderate. One friend from such a culture told me “You can’t just say, ‘go away, I’m busy now.’ No matter what you’re doing you let them in and do life together.”

This means that since we believe the gospel and also want to prepare ourselves for the chance that we serve overseas in such a group culture, we are opening our doors. Not literally, because Hannah hates the cold. But, we are extending an open invitation to anyone, anytime. We cannot guarantee the house will be clean or anything like that, but please drop in whenever. Remember, you will be helping us to trust in the gospel and prepare to live in another culture! And for those of you who would need a plane ticket to take advantage of this offer… we have an extra bedroom!

Jordan and Hannah Fischer

Happy Halloween!

Dear Friends and Family,

Here we are coming down to the last few hours of October and we haven’t posted all month! October always seems to be both one of our busiest months as well as one of our favorite. Nothing major is beginning or ending, we are in the swing of work and school, and of course, both of our birthdays are in October!

While we really enjoyed celebrating our birthdays together (we might have found our new favorite restaurant in Spokane!), one of the best parts of the past few weeks has been our Practical Christian Ministry, or PCM. Each semester Moody students participate in a PCM by taking part in a real life ministry in our local community such as a food bank or church children’s ministry for example. This semester, we get the privilege of working with a Muslim refugee family from North Africa, teaching them English and helping with the adjustment to life in America. While our interactions started out as slightly awkward, they have developed to the point where we almost feel as part of the family. In fact, the past two weeks when we arrived at their home they had prepared a HUGE meal for us! Later on when we thanked them for the food, Mohammed, the father, gave us a stern look shaking his head and telling us that we should not thank them because we are “a part of their family” and “there is nothing different between us and them”. It’s pretty amazing to see such generosity and care from people who have started over from scratch in a foreign land. We have come to know the family fairly well, as well as several other Afghans and Iraqis who stop in to say hello every time we visit. At times it is easy to imagine that we are already “in the field” serving in some international culture, learning to live life in a whole new way. Needless to say, we have really enjoyed this experience!

We hope you have had a good month as well! Be sure to check back soon for another update on life here in Spokane.

Happy Halloween!

September Newsletter

Friends and Family,

Well the weather is cooling, the leaves are just starting to change (not every tree out here is an evergreen), and classes are now in session. Autumn has begun and summer is over.

Our summer was absolutely wonderful! We packed up a moving truck and drove from Bloomington, IL to Spokane, WA, and truly enjoyed the almost 2,000 mile journey that made for our first cross-country road trip. We got to see much of God’s beautiful creation and spent time talking about where we see God leading us in the future.

We were met in Spokane by some friends who helped us unload our truck in under an hour and we had everything unpacked and settled in fairly quickly. Then we spent some time exploring the beautiful northwestern countryside of Spokane. Hannah started working at a Starbucks less than a mile from home and Jordan got a job working as a custodian at Moody. The highlight of our summer was our one year anniversary!

Honestly, we are very excited for school. Despite the odd feeling of going back after a year off, our first week of classes was wonderful. We really cannot wait to see what God is going to teach us in this upcoming semester. Jordan is quite eager for his Hermeneutics and Theology classes which should help him further develop the skill of teaching Biblical truths and how they apply to everyday life. He is also looking forward to his new job as a janitor at the school. Hannah is particularly excited about her Intercultural Communications class where she will learn how to listen to, and serve individuals from other cultures, and then have the immediate opportunity to apply what she has learned at work.

At times, it is easy to be overwhelmed with all the new things coming at us, but one thing we have learned is that through our faith in the gospel, God gives us the ability to get through each day as they come.

In Christ,

Jordan and Hannah Fischer

One Down, Rest of Our Lives to Go.

Dear Friends and Family,

Last weekend we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary! What a great year it has been for both of us! A mere 365 days has opened our eyes in many new ways and we would like to take just a moment to share a few things we’ve learned over the past year.

1.) Marriage isn’t going to make us happy.

Before we got married, we both thought that we were pretty much the perfect spouse and that our marriage was just going to be fantastic all the time. Now of course we had read dozens of books and had months of pre-marital counseling that told us otherwise, but to some degree we still believed that lie. It didn’t take long, however, to realize that we were definitely fallen humans, and that our sin was a major factor in our marriage. We’re both very sinful, very selfish, and very prideful. God has graciously shown us through our marriage that we ourselves are incredibly sinful, and our spouse is as well. We have learned that our marriage cannot be the source of our happiness.

2.) Marriage is a lot of fun!

So, our marriage will not be the root of our happiness; however we certainly have been happy in our marriage! It seems as if many of our peers have a very negative view of marriage, which is not a shock when you hear many older couples (if they’re still married) complaining about their spouse/marriage. (Husband calling the wife the ball and chain; wife calling the husband incompetent; both complaining about being stuck together). We have come to find out that marriage is indeed a lot of fun. It’s not easy, but this last year has been some of the best times of our lives. We have become even closer friends and realized what a blessing it is to share life with one another.

3.) Marriage teaches us about the gospel.

Over the last year our understanding of the gospel has grown immensely. The Holy Spirit has used our marriage to reveal to us who God is, what he’s done, who we are, and what we’ve done. God created marriage before sin entered the world. He created it to be good because he is good. However, we sinned; we rebelled. So marriage is no longer what it was originally created to be. But with the gospel there is hope. And through the gospel there is hope even for our marriage. The gospel teaches us that we don’t have to make our spouse pay for hurting us, because Christ paid for both of our sins. We don’t have to expect our spouse to fulfill all our wants and desires because Christ fulfills us. As we learn to believe the gospel and understand how it affects our marriage, we find that the Holy Spirit is making us more like Christ every day.

Overall it has been an absolutely wonderful year full of fun, (some pain), laughter, and growth. We know that we have a lot more to learn. In fact at times it feels like we know less than when we began. But we are confident that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in and through us until we meet Jesus face to face.

In Christ,

Jordan and Hannah