Jason, Courtney and Norah Bilbrey

Living here

2008-10-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

LA is phenomenally NOT boring. There is a never-ending list of things to do and see (for example, Malibu sunsets in the above photo). We do miss the down-to-earth friendliness of Midwesterners. (A common comment we get is "Boy, you two are sure smiley and friendly!") Everyone here is still quite nice and certainly diverse, well-educated and have had interesting life stories!

We love being racially outnumbered. (At women's breakfast I recently attended, the topic of discussion was each person's Asian heritage. Being the only non-Asian woman present, a friend said, "Well, we know where Courtney is NOT from!")

Jason at Rose Bowl, watching sunset

Jason finished his first round of classes in Sept. and now is starting several new ones (we are taking one evening class together). We had a rough time with his first set of classes, as I work in Fuller's Housing office during the day, and his classes were four evenings a week. We know better than to do that to our marriage and have since enjoyed the rewards of better planning. Jason is really enjoying soaking in all that he is learning in his classes. Fuller's professors have had such diverse experiences--from prayer ministries in Indonesia to human rights work in Southeast Asia to teaching at Ivy League schools, it is such a privilege to be under their influence.

I have enjoyed working in Fuller's Housing office. It is about a 3-minute walk from our apt to work! It is a nice break from social service volunteering and jobs that I did in college and the year afterwards, and will give me some time to stop and pray about where to go with my education in the future. I think this is a time of learning and rest for both of us before we make big, decisive decisions about the future. I can already feel that God is working in both of us in more and more ways. I think we will mature both emotionally and spiritually in these next couple of years.

A few photos of our apartment:

Our church

2008-10-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

New City Church LA

Since moving here, we have started attending a church that meets in downtown LA, in a former Shakespearean theater turned dance club. This is a church plant originating from a Korean American church. Jason has been serving as worship pastor here, developing worship teams and leading.

We have really enjoyed the diversity of this church and have found fellowship and friendship with others here. Many of our friends here have had lives of struggle or addiction in the past (for example, drug addiction, homelessness, divorce, different religions) and have found such a joy and passion in knowing Christ and His church. The newness of their relationships with God has been refreshing for those of us who have been raised in the church and often take it for granted.

(Photos professionally taken. Click on title to visit our church's website.)

Photos

2008-06-24T16:57:00.001-07:00

Link to photos of our trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028885&l=fdf44&id=179202094

We are here!

2008-06-24T15:27:00.001-07:00

We arrived at Fuller late Monday night, seeing Pasadena for the first time at about 3 AM Indiana time. Our apartment is in a small Fuller housing community of about 20 apartments, mostly young families and married couples. We are evidently the youngest couple here! The families here are from around the world (there are multiple Korean families in this complex). Several families have come out of meet us and help us with unloading the moving van.

Pasadena is a gorgeous city, very neat and clean. Both its old historic buildings and its new buildings are works of art--this city loves aesthetics! Pasadena is also extremely busy. There are lines at the gas stations for the almost $5/gallon gasoline! Needless to say, there are multiple reasons to walk rather than drive.

Jason and I were also thrilled with the groceries here. Being very fair-trade, green-minded, these Californians are the type that protest big, bullying chains like Walmart and flock to health food stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes. We have never seen such a wide variety of health food in an average grocery stores.

Our apartment is very large compared to what we are used to! We were thrilled with the layout of the apartment (which we knew very little about).

Well, we are very grateful that the trip went so smoothly and that our transition here has been easy thus far. It is hitting us that we are not moving back to Indiana. This is sad (we miss those back home), scary (we don't know anyone) and a relief (no more snow!).

We know that this is where the Lord has us and we're praying that He will use us here, as well as allow us to learn from these unique families around us! Also, we're praying that He will strengthen our marriage, as this is the first time we've really had only each other to lean on.

Much love!

2008-06-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hello from Arizona!

We have had a long two days on the road, driving through Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Let me tell you: Oklahoma and Texas are great long stretches of nothingness along I-44! We were delighted to come into the great landscape of New Mexico, which seems to be a mixture of mountains, desert and little random hills that spring up all over the place. We were very surprised at how the stereotypes of Texas ring true! Nice people with great accents, but lots of desert with old, rotting buildings. Lots of ranches, farmers, immigrant workers! Not a lot of motels or gas stations, which posed a problem for us travelers . . .

We have had no problems with our giant vehicle (still smaller than a semi!), though it's quite annoying to be towing a car on a dolly. My first hour of driving the vehicle was absolutely nerve-wrecking; luckily, Jason is a lot more confident.

We've been pretty tired. As an example, at 1 AM on the road last night, Jason and I were talking about how grateful we were that we had no flat tires or other problems out in the middle of nowhere. He suggested we pray and thank God for that. After one sentence of his prayer, he dozed off, waking a moment later to ask, "This is a weird question, but was I just praying?" :) (Luckily, I was the one driving!!)

Today, we are taking a break to visit the Grand Canyon, only an hour off our route. We arrive tomorrow at Fuller to check into our apartment.

We miss you all already and have talked about this multiple times. Please post comments/send emails to keep us updated on your lives!

2008-06-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hello! Thanks for visiting!

We wanted to start this blog because our early move to CA was so last minute. Originally, we determined that we would move to Pasadena, CA in September, in order that Jason (and possibly I) could attend Fuller Seminary. However, due to the ridiculously high cost of living in Southern California, I decided to start looking for jobs on campus rather than attempt to attend school full-time. Just a week ago, I was accepted as the "Service Coordinator" (a fancy term for "secretary") for Fuller's Housing office. The staff there sound absolutely wonderful and we are excited to be a part of Fuller's international community. Also, I will be able to attend Fuller part-time in the evenings due to tuition remission for employees.

Jason will be working part-time and studying full-time, to obtain his Master of Arts in Theology degree. He will have a concentration in "Worship, Theology and the Arts", which explores how we can utilize cultural and artistic expression to worship the Lord. He is looking forward to someday being able to serve in a pastoral position overseas, working with traumatized individuals and families.

I will be (most likely) working towards a Masters in Family Life Education, which combines theology, intercultural studies and counseling classes to help prepare a student for doing preventative/educational work with families (rather than remedial social work).

We will be living in university-owned apartments, in a one-bedroom over twice the price of our Fort Wayne apartment! The staff at Fuller have explained to us that most people walk to the grocery store and to do other errands. The campus and apartments are in the historic tourism district of downtown Pasadena. We are also nearby a roaring highway that I have no desire to drive on!

We are leaving for Fuller on Friday, the 20th of June. We will arrive the following Monday. I do want to apologize for not being able to spend time with many of you. We had hoped to have the summer to say goodbye, but knew we could not let this rare on-campus job opportunity to pass by. We will be back at Christmas to visit family and friends--hopefully, we will be able to see you then! Until then, please stay in contact via email.

We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel, finances, good budgeting skills (!!!) and for our families. My (Courtney's) mom is in South Africa for the summer, helping an England YWAM team reach out to the community we love so dearly. My dad is starting camp this week, with the help of Katie, who just graduated from high school a few weeks ago! This is a crazy time for our family.

It will also be very hard to say goodbye to Jason's family, as we are accostomed to seeing them regularly. Pray that the distance does not impact our closeness.

Also, please pray that we would be in-tune to the Lord during this time. We very much feel this is where He has us. We hope to utilize this time to grow and learn from other believers from around the world as we study and prepare to go overseas.

With much love,

Courtney (and Jason)