The Weather Is Getting Cooler Yet Things Are Heating Up

Hello!

It has been a little while since our last update.

So much has been happening that the days, weeks and months are flying along at the most hectic speed imaginable. We are thankful that His grace is sufficient!

We hope that you all are doing well!

Since our last update we have seen the Lord continue to work in our lives. Whether that is providing for us, stretching us, challenging us, He has been certainly working in our lives.

We had a lovely visit from Grandpa (Lisa's Dad) and Nanny Kate recently. They took us up into Yosemite National Park and we were able to venture around and soak up the most magnificent scenery! It was great to have them here with us for 2 or so weeks and Kyah had a blast!

Seminary, ministry and the internship in the Biblical Counseling department, along with the joy of helping out in the TMS Admissions department means that the week is stacked. Though we are thankful for the times we do get to spend together as a family.

Speaking of which, many of you would be aware that we are now (after 9 or so months of training and preparation) certified for foster/adoption. We were recently placed with siblings (a boy and a girl) into our home. This has been a tremendous joy & adds to the busy life we are living, yet we feel compelled of the Lord to pursue this. We are hoping that, should the Lord see fit, that we would be able to grow our family in this way!

Lisa has been at home this past week with the all the children so please pray for her as you can imagine it can get pretty busy with 3 under 3 running around a little apartment.

It has been almost 12 months since we arrived here in the US.

The first full completed year of seminary is fast approaching. Being away from all our friends, family and home church can be tough - we are so appreciative of your ongoing prayers for us here. If you are able; please do continue to pray for us that the Lord would sustain us here, that we would grow & mature and that as a family we would seek to honor Christ in all that we say and do. And that He would continue to equip us and prepare us for the ministry.

Again, we miss you and think of you often. It is great to hear from you.

Thank you for your ongoing love, support and prayers for us over here.

- The Johnston's

Fall Semester, Nanna April & Desiring To Adopt

Hello to all our friends and family!

So the second semester at The Master's Seminary is now in full swing!

We have just had a week long visit by Nanna. This was a great time. Not only did April do what all grandmothers do best, namely spoil their grand kids, she also spoiled Lisa and I rotten, as they say.

We played tour guide and took Mum to many of the places you'd want to visit when you come to California. First we headed to Hollywood and jumped on a tour bus to see the homes of all of the celebrities. This was a necessary tacky novelty - made enjoyable by a humorous tour guide who had a 'different' take on the seeming "glamour and glitz" of Hollywood. Later that afternoon we settled in at Santa Monica and enjoyed the first of many dinners (re: spoiled rotten) at restaurants around California. From there we then set out for San Diego and spent two days looking around what may be one of my favorite cities. We then returned to LA and the ladies then spent the day checking out the Getty and various other spots around the place. To have Mum here was such a special time. We had a great time and Kyah got to know her "Nanna April" more and more. Needless to say she was very upset when she left for the East coast. We miss you Mum!

Life has been a blessed and busy time.

As you have hopefully heard (via church announcements, GraceVine, etc) by now that we are certified foster/adopt parents. Prior to our departure and upon arrival, Lisa and I have been prayerfully and carefully looking into the possibility of adopting whilst we are here. Unlike in Australia, it is possible to adopt here in the US without cost (through the foster-adoption program). There is a Christian adoption agency here that many seminary families have adopted with, including international students. We are now, after 9 months of intense training, certified. We would covet your prayers regarding this; that the Lord would place the right child(ren) into our home that we are able to adopt and return to Australia with. This is a desire that the Lord has placed on our hearts. Please pray for us!

There is a family from church over here that are also in the process and they are in need of their foster/adopt child to be looked after for a week. So, we will have a 4 week old baby in our home very soon! It should be a good pre-cursor and introduction for us & we are happy to be able to serve a family from church in need of some help.

I have been continuing to intern in the Biblical Counseling department - this is a great time of learning and being challenged. It is something I am grateful to the Lord for. This semester I began helping out in the seminary's admissions department also. This too, is a real joy! It has been great to be able to work along side such godly examples.

SemWives has started up again, so Lisa will meet with many other seminary wives each week. This is a great time fellowship, encouragement and teaching from the Word of God.

Kyah continues, as always, to grow at a rapid rate!

We want to thank you for your loving support of us over here & hope to speak to / hear from you soon! Thank you - we love and miss you so much.

The Johnston's

--the photo above is the 2011 Fall class at The Master's Seminary.
It was taken by Jason Drumm.

Summer Time With A Storm On The Horizon

Hello, G'day and How ya Going!?

We hope that all of you who read this are doing well!

It is summer time over here now so we are beginning to melt. Summer school, which consists of Hebrew II and New Testament Studies has wound down (although I have a Revelation paper left to do) and we are enjoying a little interval between semesters. Fall semester begins later this month. And it is going to be one busy time! "A storm" as one guy put it to me recently.....

Some of you may have seen photos of us and the Holes in the apartment complex's pool. That has been a good place to escape the summer/desert heat. [Rumor has it JB jumped off the roof into it when he lived here - so Rod and I are are eyeing that off , but don't tell the landlord :) ]

We took a 5-6 hr drive up north to northern California -- to the city of San Francisco. It was good to see another side to the US outside of LA. We enjoyed it up there - it is a lot like Melbourne in certain ways. It was great to get away as a family and spend time out 'n about , especially before the next semester of work begins. Very thankful and stoked our car made it there and back!

I have begun, along with Rod, to intern in the Biblical Counseling department. This has us grading papers and counseling - along with valuable discipleship from older, wiser men. Something that I crave and miss. (Although I am sure the elders back home don't miss me hounding them with numerous questions all the time!).

Lisa and Kyah are doing great. We celebrated Kyah's 2nd birthday, she is growing up super fast and talks and sings a lot. Lisa and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary recently - so much has happened in such a small amount of time. God is so good to us when we are so undeserving.

We miss you so much - It is great to get the opportunity to speak to some of you on Skype and via emails etc. We think of you guys a lot and do not take for granted the times we get to touch base!

Please do keep us in your prayers; if you are able please pray that the Lord would sustain us over here and praise Him for doing so thus far! We love and miss you and are immensely thankful for your support of what we are doing over here!

All our love,

- The Johnston's

Been A Long Time

G'day!

Still feels good to say that.

It has been sometime since the last update.

Probably due to the absolute hectic nature of all that has been going on around here of late.
Seems like everything is just flying along at speeds fit only for JB's old yellow ute.
(*not that he actually sped in it but rather it had the potential to really hammer)

We have been busy!

Seminary flies along at a rapid rate - from one Hebrew exam to the next, Kyah keeps getting taller, cuter and cheekier with every passing day and Lisa has us all eating fresh, healthy and yummy food! Speaking of that, there has been a real health kick roll through the Johnston home. Lisa and I run each day, play tennis using rackets we got from the local Op-Shop and generally try and be active. It has been fun and enjoyable!

We continue to press on with life over here - missing you all back home!

It was great to have Alison and Graeme out here with the Holes for a holiday. It was great to have some Aussie company - Graeme was the fruit man, purchasing various fruits from the street vendors out front basically everyday. And as far as I know, there were no bouts of food poisoning. That was reserved for me a month or so ago. Ate a pear from a local farmer's market and it nailed me - big time.

Again, we want to let you know just how much we are missing you all and we do think of you often. It has been a real blessing to have you praying for us and loving us in such an overwhelming way. We are thankful to the Lord that we have such a loving family and wonderful church we know loves us as much as we love them.

So until next time; thank you. We love and miss you.

In Christ's enduring love,

- The Johnston's

Loving It and Missing You

We have been here for just a little over 4 months now. Feels like a long time and a very short time mixed together.......

Settled in and enjoying being at Seminary, Grace Church and our beloved apartment complex filled with other seminary families and their children.

But we miss you all back home!

This 1st semester is rapidly coming to an end and then its onto to Summer school. For those who want/have to graduate in 3 years - summer school and winterim's are a must.

Last Sunday we were streamed live our church back home's Sunday morning service. Many of you reading this were sitting there watching us on the big screens at church! It was great to see you all! And get to spend sometime with you!

A number of you are pregnant and some have had children whilst we are away - Lisa and I want to congratulate you. We hope and pray the Lord will bless you as you continue to go forth and multiply! :) Congratulations to both Dan & Emmy and Jonothan and Madeliene!!!

Lisa is doing great - she really enjoys it here.
But she misses you all back home!

I am really enjoying it here also, it is very challenging - I hope above all that my character is changed and that I may be useful in the Lord's hands.

And I really miss you all back home!

Being spring break (5days) the Johnstons and the Holes hit the road for the beach just the other day. A quick 1hr sprint up the freeway to the beach/market was a good unwinding day.

My footy team is 4-o and sitting on top of the AFL ladder.

And a pile of work and Hebrew study sits before me.

We miss you!

Please do continue to pray for us - and thank you for your prayers!

It's a joy to know we have so many of you back home in intercessory prayer for us over here!
Thank you so much for everything!


In His grip,

- The Johnston's

Firehose

Hi Everyone! (Both back home in Australia and in other parts of the world),

We are doing well. The weather is heating up and so is the workload at seminary.

Things are moving along fast - we continue to watch Kyah grow bigger and cheekier day by day. She is running now - which makes for grazed knees.

The 2011 Shepherds' Conference just rolled by. The faculty and other seminarians talked it up as being the highlight of the year. I did wonder how that may be so. However, now that its over I can say that it may just be. It was an amazing time. Adrian and I walked around a lot of the time and chatted to other people, he drank coffee like it was becoming extinct and I got my hair cut & shoes shined. (complimenatary for attendees)

The messages were epic. Really beneficial to getting through the rigors of study.

Another thing that went down since the last update was the TMS 25th Anniversary Banquet. Being a milestone, the seminary threw a massive dinner. It was at the Ronald Regan Museum. That contains many things - including an original Air Force One plane hanging in the air. It was an amazing evening with all the students, wives and faculty and pastors together eating dinner.

At one point as we sat there both Lisa and I thought, "Air Force One is hanging right above, Dr MacArthur is speaking, the food is great and all of the seminary is here". It really was fantastic.

Lisa has been getting up early most Saturday mornings and heading off with Helen and some other ladies to go to Garage Sales. They love it! And its a great way to acquire things we need.... very cheap. Lisa got a much needed and really nice mirror (fairly massive) for just 10 bucks. I could sell it at Camberwell market for a fair bit I think :).

Please continue to pray for us.
We are so thankful for your prayers - you guys are the biggest blessing.

We miss you much!

Thank you for your ongoing support of what we are doing over here. We pray that this training we are getting may be used to impact people for Christ and to teach His Word.

Blessings,

- The Johnston's

G'day from LA

Hello everybody!

We hope that this update finds you all well and enjoying your first two months of 2011.
Hopefully by now all that rain has subsided and you can get on with the start of the AFL season in just a few short weeks. I know that Rod and I are keen to get online and watch games when we can (which will probably be rare considering how under the pump we both are!).

Lisa and Kyah are doing very well.

Kyah is growing up fast. ( I know a lot of you saw her pictures on Facebook). She continues to learn more and more words and is slowly showing signs of perhaps putting her first short sentence together.

We have been enjoying church over here. It has been great to be able to begin serving.

In saying that, man we really miss our GCBC that's for sure. Its crazy!

We had Darrell and Cathy here the other week. And now Lisa's sister (who has been living in the US) along with her husband are coming to stay with us this week. What makes this extra exciting is that they have their new baby with them! Lisa and I are really excited to have them all come and stay with us!

At the same time, and just as exciting, Adrian and Jenny will be here in the US for about a month. Adrian's parents live about 5-10 minutes away from where we live. So they will be staying there. It will be really awesome to have Devon, Zoe and Kyah all playing together here in our home.

Coming up in a few weeks time, the Shepherd's Conference begins (click here).
Each year the President of The Master's Seminary, John MacArthur, requests that every seminary student sings at the conference. So we begin next week , rehearsing. Yes, I know.....me singing? Oh I will be singing! Singing well?.....I doubt it.

Regardless, it will be a great experience to both sing and sit under the teaching of some of the most renowned pastors in the whole world.

Please continue to pray and thank God for us. We are daily reminded of and in need of His grace.

Seminary is flat out at the moment - I have many papers to write, my first Hebrew EXAM on Thursday to study for (including tests and workbooks for it), just shy of 10 books to continually read and write observations for, along with a list longer than both my arms of other studies to do! I am not complaining - I love it. There is lots to do!
(JB warned me so I knew it was coming.)
We love you all dearly and miss you all so much!

Once again, get skype and call us! Or let us know you have skype and we will call you!

With all our love and absolute thankfulness,

- The Johnston's

What's Been Happening?

Hello! A few of you have voiced your utter disdain at the fact that we have not updated you with what has been going on over here in LA. Apologies for that - the firehose that is seminary is now in full swing!

Well, here goes......

Kyah can now say a whole bunch of words like; "Jesus" , "Bible" and "No"!

She particularly likes the last one - so we are working through that :)

The other day whilst I was at seminary, Lisa and Kyah went to the Zoo. One of the ladies in our apartment complex has a year pass that allows multiple guests in for free. So off Lisa and Kyah went, with a whole bunch of other kids and parents to see monkeys, rhinos and lions! They had a great time and I were all stuffed ( which means tired for your American readers) when they got home.

Lisa has been going into Sem Wives each week and has met a number of other ladies whose husbands I go to seminary with. This has resulted in us having dinner with a few couples who we are now friends with. They all have kids who Kyah just loves to play with.

Lisa has helped out with the children's ministry over here. This is something we may pursue further depending if it is where the Lord wants us to serve - we'll see.

I begin some work around Church on Wednesday afternoons this week - Just helping out with one of the fellowship groups. Thankful for the opportunity to begin serving the people there.

Rod and I took a little one night break out in the bush over the weekend. It was so good to get away out of the mega city that is LA and into some dead silent forest! We went with another TMS guy and camped out. It was refreshing!

Right now, Darrell and Cathy are here! We spent the day/evening at church with them yesterday - and they are coming to our place for dinner tonight. So in the one little apartment you'll have all of us, along with Rod & Helen and the kids, BBQing some meat and generally being Australian in the midst of a large group of Americans who think we are a bit crazy as it is! :)

We continue to miss you all so much! It is like Skype and the infamous Facebook are our connection to many of you back home. Seeing all the photos and stuff really hits us from time to time. We are thankful we have been able to speak to many of you - and if we have not spoken yet please get skype!

Seminary continues to fly along at a a frantic rate. The work is non stop and it really is like a truck hitting you at a million miles an hour (Hebrew is mind bending). However, it is incredibly enjoyable to be able to study theology. I count it a great privilege to be here and thank the Lord each day.

Please continue to pray for us - we really need it.

Thank you all so much for you support whilst we are here. Again, there is no way we could be here without it. I am already getting excited at the prospect of getting into the work of pastoring once we complete seminary, Lord willing. I do know we have a long and very challenging way to go!

Lets talk soon!

- The Johnston's

Seminary Days

So it is official.
Seminary has begun.

The pleasantries of orientation are behind us (it was a great time of meeting everybody, having lunches with the faculty & pastors and exploring the campus) and now it it time to get down to some hard work.

I have had a full week of classes (minus one day as TMS was closed for audit) and it was a great experience. I have not been in school for many, many years so please pray for me as I adjust to it all.

Just to remind you all I am doing : Introduction to Preaching, Hebrew, Biblical Counselling, Exposition of Prayer and Hermeneutics. (everybody says that is a heavy load - but if you are going to do it in 3 years that's what its got to be! So please, please pray for us)

Lisa is doing great. She has begun attending the nights put on for the wives of seminary students. This has been a great way for her to meet some ladies going through the same thing.....You know, those ladies who are having their husbands getting drilled day in day out with lots and lots of homework?

(Don't take me wrong please :) - I count it a great privilege to be here and pinch myself every day walking around campus on my way to class)

We have continued to get to know the other people in our complex - and Kyah just loves playing with the kids around here! Infact, when she cannot play, she truly bears witness to that biblical doctrine we know as 'total depravity'!

Speaking of Kyah; she is doing great. She was quite sick there for 5 or so days with a bad cold / cough, but that seems to have improved. So, please also pray for little Kyah.

We are so very thankful to God for what He is doing in our lives. There are times of ease and times of trials whilst being here but one thing remains the same; God's faithfulness.

We miss you and love you.

Please contact us and let us know what is going on in your life & how we can pray for you.

Once again, thank you for your loving support of us here as we seek to be trained to be used of the Lord to serve His Church.

In His grip,

The Johnston's

O Week Eve

So tomorrow morning I begin orientation week at The Masters Seminary. That is followed by a a weekend and 2 day break & then it is go time. Seminary begins!

I have learnt the Hebrew alphabet off by heart (not in written form just yet) and I will get stuck into this semesters books right away now that we have purchased them and they arrived in the mail.

We are all doing well. Perhaps except for Kyah on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights! Our precious baby girl is not enjoying the nursery at Church. She gets really upset and has to be held the whole time by the women serving in the nursery ministry.

Many other families have also struggled initially with their kids - and they have all gotten used to it so hopefully Kyah settles in soon. We have started taking her into the fellowship group (a smaller church service before the main service) and so far she has been well behaved.

Kyah is really enjoying it here. She plays with the other kids in our apartment complex often and has made some friends. The biggest by far is "Shellwee" as she calls Michelle Hole. Kyah just loves her! She cannot get enough of playing with Michelle and thankfully Michelle likes to look after Kyah and play with her.

We are really missing you all! We have enjoyed chatting to quite a few of you on Skype. For those of you who do not have Skype please download it and talk to us! We would love to hear from you. We really would. Oh, and for a couple of you who have called and missed us - please forgive us we will call you back in the next day or so.

It is great to speak to our family and friends. We miss you whether your a Sister, Brother, in Laws, Mums, Dads, Nanna's, Grandpa's , Uncles and Aunty's! We love you heaps.

We miss GCBC alot. We miss hanging out with you all and listening to JB preach. We love you so much and are so thankful that you pray for us and keep us in your lives even though we are on the other side of the world.

Church here has been good. It is massive and took a bit of getting used to but we are slowly settling in and working out where best we can serve.

Lisa has been meeting more and more of the other seminary wives / mothers. They are all so welcoming and lovely. Lisa is still keen on looking into a course at The Masters College that is specifically tailored to TMS wives. That should be great!

Please keep praying for us. We are at the mercy of a lot of things here. We are so reliant on the Lord and trust that He will continue to maintain and sustain us over here. Keep us informed of your lives and how we can best pray for you also.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Thank you for your love and support.
In His grip,

The Johnston's

Holiday Season - The Calm Before The Storm

So another Christmas has rolled around. Except this time we were on the other side of the world.

For Christmas this year, we began by going to the Streets home on Christmas eve. There we were spoilt rotten by John and his wife who cooked up Cornish hens and vegetables. We all had one hen each! They were cooked to perfection! We all got to know one another better and were thankful to the Lord for the time we had together.

The following day we arose early and headed over to the Hole's place (literally 10 metres away) and had a real American breakfast; donuts. After that sugar hit, we then proceeded to devour more meat than a man should eat. Pork and Turkey cooked perfect by Rod and Helen.

It was a great day!

We played American football in our car park with a few of the TMS men. They can throw but cannot kick to save their life.

We have been meeting more and more people! It is so lovely to be constantly surrounded by people who love the Lord and that love over flows into great relationships. We are thankful for the friends we have made. But don't think for one second that we don't often think of you all everyday! We miss you all so much and sometimes it hits us hard.

The storm is coming.

Seminary begins in just a little while and many people have given us their take on things. They are all taken back by the fact that we are doing this all in 3 years. Most guys do it over 4-5 years. But according to our friend, it is designed as a 3 year course. Matthew takes heart in the fact that JB did it in 3, Rod is doing it in 3 and a few other guys have done it 3 years also.

From what I have been told - it is going to be super, super hard. Thankfully the Lord helps us.

There is a conference on at the college in early Jan that coincides with the start of Seminary, that features Voddie Baucham, Alexander Strauch (author of the books GCBC uses for Elders and Deacons training) and John MacArthur. We have been offered free tickets to go and we will if we are able to. It would be great to hear those guys!

Lisa has also been told by the same friends of ours who offered us tickets, that she can complete some studies at the College also. She is keen to check that out and see what is available. It is a course that is specifically for seminary wives.

We are going car hunting tomorrow (again!), in the hope of purchasing one that is suitable & reliable . This latest car to look at is down by Huntington beach, so we are going to go and make a day of it. So hopefully we'll have some more photo's for you all soon.

Please continue to pray for us, call us on Skype anytime and please don't forget us! :)

We are so very thankful for your ongoing support!

Until next time..........

- The Johnston's

***follow Matthew on Twitter ( I know, I know) by clicking here.

Settling In Slowly

So we have been here about a week now and we are slowly settling in.

In our apartment complex of about 40 or so apartments there are 10 Seminary families. They basically all have children - a few of which are very similar ages to Kyah.

We have been slowly acquiring a few more things for our apartment, which has been good. Eventually it will look and feel a bit more like a home. We really enjoy living in this complex and are becoming friends with others here.

Lisa got to do some searching for goodies in an op shop today - she really found some gold! A cool (and much needed) toy box for Kyah and some other odds and ends for around the house. Seems like the Americans don't really do the whole op shop thing over here, so it was great to find we have a local one just down the road a little bit.

Matthew went into TMS yesterday and signed up for his classes. Rod took him into sit in on his last OT class for the year - which gave Matthew a headache just thinking about how hard and complex everything is. Thankfully , you build up to the sort of level that was taught in that class otherwise things would be very interesting!

We spent our first Sunday at Grace Community Church. (Which is where the picture above was taken) The place is massive, seriously huge. John MacArthur preached a message from The Gospel of Mark on how hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It was great.

We are in need of a car - please pray that the Lord would provide a suitable one for us.

It is a little over 3 weeks til the classes begin for Matthew.

The subjects he has been enrolled in for the first semester are; Hermeneutics, Beginning Hebrew, Pastoral Counselling, Introduction to Preaching and the last subject is Prayer.

Both of us (along with Kyah, when we say your names) miss you all so much! We hope you are all doing great & we think of you often.

Please pray for us - that the Lord would continue to provide for us whilst we are here & that we would continually lean on Him for wisdom and understanding.

With all our love,

The Johnston's

We Have Arrived!

After a very long flight (okay so its only 14 hours) we were met at LAX by Rod who then drove us down the biggest freeway we have ever seen.

We arrived in the apartment complex, made our way into see Helen and the kids, and then sat down and ate some food that Helen had prepared. It was incredibly tasty and I am sure we looked funny eating whilst being totally exhausted. The reason we were so wrecked was that we did not really sleep on the flight over at all. Maybe 1 hour in total of drifting in and out, all while we nursed baby Kyah who was fast asleep for most of the flight. (She did spew everywhere at one stage!)

So we are here and we are just beginning to slowly settle in. There is still much we need to organize.

It is so strange waking up in a new country.

Rod and Helen have been so great! They are driving us around and doing so much for us. We really do wonder how much more difficult everything would be without them to help us get started.

****We will get the camera out at some stage today and take some photographs, which we will place up on this site really soon.

Tomorrow we head off to our first Sunday at Grace Community Church.

Thanks again for your support -
We would not be able to live and study here without it.

The Bags Are Packed

Well, its time to leave this wonderful country of ours.

The bags are packed and all the necessary organization is finalised. In just a few hours we will head off to the airport to be met by our family and many of you, our dear friends.

What an amazing privilege it is to have such a loving family and friend support base.

We are sure that saying goodbye will be quite sad - however we know that we will keep in touch with you all & hope to see some of you when you come and visit!

Be sure to keep updated by visiting this website frequently. May we suggest you bookmark this page so you ensure easy access.

We love you all so dearly and we will miss you so much!

- The Johnston's

Welcome!

Here you will find regular updates of our time in Los Angeles and all that goes on whilst Matthew studies at The Masters Seminary.

Updates will come in the form of photography, video and written articles.

We love you and could not be doing this

without your prayers, love and support.

Looking forward to sharing this journey with you.

In Christ's love,

The Johnston's