Greetings in the name of Jesus! As always, we thank God for your support of our family at the seminary. By his grace, I have completed the MDiv (pastoral degree) program and am accepted into the PhD program. God willing, we will carry on at the seminary for two more academic years before taking a call and entering the ministry. I will be in the History of Exegesis doctoral program, studying how the Christian teachers and fathers of the church of the first five ( or so) centuries AD read and interpreted the Bible. It will be a joy and a privilege to open up the spiritual wisdom contained in this important era of the church's history for the benefit of the church both here and abroad.

We are thrilled to be staying in St. Louis for a little longer. The area around the seminary is beautiful, and now that summer is here we can fully enjoy the green spaces, the walking paths and the zoo over at Forest Park. But the best part about being here is that we have family nearby. My brother, Daniel, his wife Jess and their five kids live on campus a short walk away. And this fall yet another Vanderhyde sibling will move on campus, my youngest sister Jenna, who is getting married this summer to a future seminarian. Larson, Hollen and Adelaide love spending time with their cousins and will have a blast with their Aunt Jenna and Uncle Josh. God willing, our three little ones will be joined by a fourth in September, as Grace is approaching her third trimester of pregnancy.

We're so grateful for your steadfast support and encouragement on our out-of-the-ordinary seminary journey. Most of all we thank God who watches over all of us and provides every necessity for us and for you, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:3–4). God be with you as you live every day in the grace of his Son by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Benjamin Vanderhyde served as an intern at Saint John’s the summer of 2017. He is a student at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. During his vicarage year, Ben and his wife, Grace, served the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) as missionaries in Sri Lanka. In his role as vicar, Benjamin trained up musicians to serve the Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church while assisting the other LCMS missionaries serving in Sri Lanka with their work and learning from them.