Blogs??? RSS????

I like to know what David and Dawn are doing, but their posts are sometimes few and far between. I don't want to have to go to their website everyday, only to be disappointed by the lack of new posts. What should I do?

I'm glad you asked. You should do what I do and subscribe to the RSS feed from our blog. Don't know what a blog is? Don't know what RSS feeds are? Try looking them up here http://www.wikipedia.org/.
And watch this little video here: www.blip.tv/file/205570/ or here www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english.

This way you can check all you blogs quickly without going to every site. It's nice. I like. There's a picture of my reader at the top. All my blogs are listed in the left column, with all their posts listed below them. Then when I click on them, they show the whole post in the main window. And I don't have to go to any of those sites to do this. It's neato.

Salyers in St. Louis

If you would like our new phone numbers, send us an e-mail.

davidanddawn@gmail.com

Dear Friends and Family,

We have been in St. Louis for nearly two weeks now. The move went well. When we pulled up to our new apartment we were swarmed by about a dozen seminary students who helped us move in and brought us food and toilet paper. The apartments we live in are kind of a community within a community. Everyone here attends the seminary, which is about 20 minutes to the west. Even in this short time we have already made some friendships with other couples here. Last Saturday we ate with three other couples and played some impromptu Frisbee golf around the neighborhood. At UNK, we were in the minority because of our age and being married. Here, the single people are the minority and the average age of students is 28. We are still a bit odd though as we are younger than many students but have been married longer than most.
We moved down on Monday and I had my first Intensive Greek class on Thursday. It is as easy as it sounds. I am used to writing and reading and this has been almost entirely memorization. I have a huge stack of flashcards already. I am in a study group with two other guys from the apartments so that has helped. I am certainly being challenged but it is such a blessing to think that I will be translating the word of God in the original language by the end of the summer.
My Greek professor shares a devotion with us every class. These have been particularly timely and helpful. One text was John 1:20. John the Baptist is asked, “Who are you?” and he replies, “I am not the Christ.” The professor makes us repeat John’s answer until he is satisfied that we are saying it like we believe it. He shared that we must remember these words as seminary students who tend to be very afraid of not being perfect. Our failures and weaknesses prove to us that we are not the Christ and they must also make us grateful that a Christ has been provided for us and that he is perfect. Our inadequacies serve to glorify him all the more.
Between studying and trying to settle in to our new place, we have found time to take advantage of the city. The first Sunday we were here, we visited Grace Community Chapel where a former pastor of ours now preaches. That night he and his wife invited us to “Shakespeare in the Park” where Much Ado About Nothing was being performed with an Old West setting. It was great. On Wednesday we went to the Botanical Gardens for a free Jazz concert. On Tuesday, one of my favorite bands is coming to town so we have tickets for that. There are a lot of free events this summer so I hope we can take advantage of more of them. We’ve also been finding some great restaurants and have already had Ted Drewes frozen custard twice.
Dawn has been looking for a job. She’s interviewing at Bed, Bath, & Beyond today. Please pray that she finds something that will compensate her well for the hard work ethic that she is known for. She really likes the city so far. She’s registered for two classes in the fall, one of which we will be taking together.
So things are going well thus far. We are adapting well but we really miss our good friends and family in Nebraska. You have been in our thoughts often. Stay in touch.
Hebrews 13:20

David and Dawn

Update/Support Letter

This is the support letter we have been giving out-

“The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.”
- Proverbs 16:9

Looking back on the years since we got married and left McCook for the University of Nebraska at Kearney, we are very grateful that God has been establishing our steps even in times when our hearts were making other plans. Over the last two years God has slowly been redirecting our hearts towards full-time pastoral ministry. This is something that has always been in the back of our minds but God has used various people and circumstances as well as the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures to bring it to the forefront in the last two years. We have felt specifically lead towards Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. God started opening doors and we just keep walking through in faith. I (David) was accepted last fall and have been awarded a 50% scholarship for my first year of studies. I will be pursuing a Master of Divinity degree, which is the standard degree for those entering into pastoral ministry. My goal is to finish in four years. We trust it will be a time of challenge and deep spiritual growth for both of us.
Having graduated from UNK this May, we will be moving to St. Louis the first week of June so that I can begin with an intensive Greek course before starting regular classes in the fall.
We ask for your prayers as we make this transition and begin training for ministry.
• Pray that we would find good employment that is flexible with school schedules.
• Please pray that we would trust God to provide for our financial and spiritual needs.
• Ultimately, pray that we would treasure Christ above all and that we would grow spiritually as well as intellectually during our time in St. Louis.
We would also be grateful to any who feel led to partner with us through financial support. Attending seminary is expensive and so is living in St. Louis. There are two specific reasons why we need assistance in this area. First, it is common that pastors right out of seminary do not make a lot of money. While doctors and lawyers often make enough to pay off student loans in their first years of employment, many pastors have to take a second job just to make ends meet. This can result in emotional and physical burnout – something we would like to avoid! Our goal is to remain loan-free throughout seminary. Second, Dawn is willing to work full-time to help support us financially, but this kind of schedule would hinder her ability to take advantage of Covenant’s Spouse Scholarship program that allows her to take seminary courses for free as long as I am enrolled. If possible she would like to work part-time and pursue a masters program that Covenant offers specifically for Christian lay-workers. We feel it is very important that she be well equipped to handle the special calling of being a pastor’s wife.
If you are receiving this letter you have probably already been a part of this process, in one form or another, so we thank you for your love and guidance. Many of you have been encouraging us and fostering our spiritual growth for many years and we thank God for your presence in our lives. We feel that God has called us to this ministry and we strive to be obedient to his will. It is our desire to glorify God and serve his people faithfully. Let us all drink deeply from the fount of every blessing.
Walking in the steps He has established,

David and Dawn


FINANCIAL PARTNERING:

If you would like to partner with us financially you can send donations directly to us or you can send them to our account at the seminary. Money in this account will be used to pay for tuition, fees, books, rent and living expenses. These donations are not tax-deductible and are considered gifts to the student by the IRS. Make sure to include “DAVID SALYER, STUDENT ACCOUNT” in the memo line of your check to ensure that the money is applied to our account. Checks can be made payable to “Covenant Theological Seminary” and sent to the following address:

Covenant Theological Seminary
12330 Conway Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63141

Questions? Contact Covenant’s Financial Aid Office: (314) 434-4044 ext. 4940


CONTACT INFO:

If you would like to get periodic updates on our progress, please send us an email or letter to that effect.

Update

Three full weeks of school left plus finals. We are graduating on May 4th and having a reception with some others at our church after the ceremony.

Dawn=Bachelor of Science in Organizational Communication and Bachelor of Arts in Theatre

David=Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy, minor in History

We're getting ready to move. We're trying to sell some stuff and figure out how we are going to get what's left to St. Louis. We will most likely be living in some apartments owned by the Seminary. I'll start Summer Greek on June 7th.

We're going to be in McCook for Mother's Day.

Hoping to get up to Lincoln to see some friends and family before we leave.

First Suit!

So I bought my first suit this year. Calvin Klein. On sale of course. It's a milestone. It is hard to find suits for tall, skinny guys with long arms. So I still don't look good enough to be with such a beautiful girl, but now I don't cramp her style as much.

Graduation and beyond

Things are plodding along. Dawn is working a lot. I am going to school and working a lot. We will be graduating May 4th. Then we're moving to St. Louis the first week of June to attend Covenant Theological seminary. I got a 50% scholarship which is a huge blessing. Looking forward to getting there, not looking forward to the moving or leaving our friends. More on all this soon. We will be in McCook for Easter. 8 new episodes of HOUSE starting this Tuesday. peace

2007 Off to a Great Start

We just got back from San Diego with my family. It was great. We went to the zoo, Sea World, got to see where Dawn lived when she was on summer project, ate a lot of great food and enjoyed the incredible weather and scenery.

My last semester of classes at UNK starts tomorrow. Dawn is going to be working full-time.

Our new year's resolution is to read through the bible. It's going well so far.

For those of you who don't know yet, myspace is letting you have up to 300 photos on your page right now, so I put a bunch up tonight. Link to the right ->

We also got to see some good friends over the holidays. Rob and Tiffany Stanton dropped by. Seth and Sandy Bates had Chinese with us and then we went over to visit Alex Helmbrecht and his family who live in Kearney now. Amanda (aka Hoser) Novak was in McCook and her brother let me rock out on Guitar Hero for PS2. Good times. We are blessed to have a few very close friends and wish we were closer to all of them.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and wish you a happy new year.