Mariah & Isaac Hertzler
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your
reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 4:4-7
The themes of this past year would be: weddings, babies, and travel! Isaac and I were invited to nine weddings this year, two of which I (Mariah) was a bridesmaid in. It has been a special season celebrating with many friends as they enter into marriage! My dear friend whom I’ve known since I was seven, Hannah Box, got married last March, and I was honored to be her maid of honor. Then in July, my good friend from camp and fellow teacher for a year, Elizabeth Kuperus, was married, and I enjoyed being one of her bridesmaids! I am considering opening up a rental shop with all the bridesmaid dresses I have accumulated over the years! If you know any petite women who are in a wedding, you know where to find me and my hundreds of dresses!
Then to make life more exciting, both of us have sisters who had babies this year or
will be having babies soon!! We love the time we get to spend with nieces and nephews on
both sides of the family. And it is not just our siblings who are having children, but
also many friends in the area. A few weeks ago, we were serving with our small group, and
the elderly woman we served saw me holding one of the children and mistakenly thought she
was mine! Then, the following week a two year old from our small group asked, Where is
your baby?
when I was seen at Panera without her. He did not believe me when I said
that Josie was not my baby. It truly is my joy to know so many young families and to soak
up all the cuddles and play times!
Last year felt like a busy year, and I remember thinking, Maybe 2024 will be a
little quieter.
Well, that was a nice thought. The year began with travel to Indiana
for my friend’s wedding and the twins’ musical. Then in April, Isaac and I began to make
trips monthly as I am support-raising for my new ministry position with Real Life Campus Ministry at Ferris State University!
One of the biggest blessings of working in a ministry where my salary is purely by the
support of others is that I have been able to connect with so many family and friends from
years past! If you are interested in hearing more about my work with college students,
please either text or call me at 317-903-7923 or email me
at burgermf@sbcglobal.net. I love sharing what
God is doing in the hearts of young people!
Aside from monthly support trips, we also traveled to Kentucky for a married sibling retreat. What a treat it was to rent an Airbnb together and enjoy game nights, cooking for each other, hiking adventures and simply time to reconnect. During the month of May there were many northern lights sightings in Michigan, so one evening Isaac and I piled in a car with college students and drove around until we found a quiet dirt road to stop on and view the beautiful lights! In July we drove to Wisconsin for the annual Burger family vacation. While there we stopped to visit some friends from college and see Lake Michigan from the Wisconsin side! The summer was perfect for short day trips to Ludington, South Haven, Traverse City, and Rockford. It finally hit me that I live in Michigan and am much closer to beaches and little towns than I was in Indy! If you ever come up to Michigan, we love to have guests and visitors stay with us! To end off the year of travel we will head out to Pennsylvania to see Isaac’s extended family. We are thankful that God provided us with a Honda CR-V this fall to help with future travels, even though the circumstances of getting in another car accident were not ideal. I am daily reminded that there is provision for all things and that God truly does work all things together for good for those who love Him!