Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Kim Marks ('98) (and fiance!)

Kim has some exciting news to share:

"This last spring, the Lord brought a wonderful Christian man into my life. His name is Marcel Petruţiu (said Mar-chel Pe-trut-ziu). You can read our story below from Marcel."

A Note from Marcel:

"Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Pacea Domnului (God bless you!). Let me introduce myself. I am a Romanian who grew up in Oradea, Romania. My family has been attending Maranatha Baptist Church (a BMM church plant) for the past two years, but I wasn’t there because I was in the United States.

"I lived in the States for four years while Kim was living in Romania for 4 years. After I returned to Romania, I met this wonderful lady. Actually we were introduced by Maranatha’s pastor, Rev. Valentine Ţenţ. During the time we spent together, we realized that our personalities complemented each other and we believed that the Lord would like us to spend the rest of our lives together serving Him.

"On the 3rd of January, Kim’s parents are coming to Romania and together with my family and Pastor Valentine, we will celebrate our engagement with a traditional Romanian engagement dinner. The wedding will be on May 17, 2009 at Golgotha Baptist Church (Oradea, Romania) where I grew up. After our wedding, we plan on coming to the States for a short visit to celebrate our marriage with family and friends and to meet you, Kim’s faithful supporters.

"We believe the Lord would have us to continue in full-time missionary service. I have a desire to finish my nursing degree so we can help suffering people through a medical ministry. During my schooling, we plan to continue serving the Lord with the BMM Romanian team. We know that it’s not going to be easy, but we trust you will pray for us as we follow our Great God. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year."

John Voorhis ('08) (and Sam and "new addition")

John says, "we are doing good here in ole TX. I have been working for Chrysler Financial for five weeks in the remarketing department and Sam just got a job as a teacher for a pre-school. We love it down here. (the weather is great!:) We joined a church here a month ago and we did a puppet show for the kids this past Sunday. We are now looking at a duplex to purchase for us to live in one side and rent the other side (the beginning of our real estate investing also). The Lord has been so good!"

Monday, December 15, 2008

World Championship of Brownies

'Twas the day before finals and all through the Stevens' house ... well, never mind.


Senior business student, Richard Anderson, challenged Professor Mark Stevens to a contest for the world's best tasting brownie. Now, here, on your own MBBC Business Alumni blog you can enjoy a blow-by-blow account of the dual.


On Sunday, December 14, 2008, judges Sue Kurschner, Laurie Pfaffe, and Judy and Dave Lingle assembled for their most serious deliberations.

Early on, Richard looked worried, but in the end who won? It's hard to tell, isn't it.













Sunday, December 14, 2008

Mark and Lindsay Hoots ('02)


Mark writes "an update of how our family is doing. Alana Grace was born this past February. Carson just turned 3 years this month and Gabrielle will be 5 in February. Lindsay is doing a great job as a stay-at-home Mom. She arranges the music for church and plays the piano there, as well as helping me teach the Teen department at church.
"I was promoted to a Senior Buyer at my company (CB&I) in May, and again to Project Procurement Manager (PPM) in September.
"Our church is growing well, we are in the middle of building our first church building, we teach the teens with another couple, and was asked to serve as a deacon earlier this year."

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Kevin Miner (’04) and Phil James (‘04)

Kevin and James listening intently to Mr. Miller (as usual :^) ) while new professor, Jeff Drost, looks on with amazement during the 40th anniversary of Maranatha!

Kevin is currently working for Kerr Corp as a Master Scheduler/Forecaster in Middleton, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Brooke, are living in Lake Mills. They are serving the Lord at Rock Lake Baptist Church where Kevin is the King’s Kids director and church treasurer.

Phil lives in Morristown, Minnesota and works in Faribault as the dispatcher for the Midwest Regional Terminal for Aldi foods. He works for the company Black Horse Carriers which contracts with Aldi and other companies such as Menards, Pier One, Ford, Affiliated Foods (Shur Fine label), Deli Express, etc. He has been working in Faribault for a year and is spending some of his “free” time working on his house. He attends First Baptist Church in Faribault.

Rocco Fell ('94) and Shannon Sivula ('93)

While at this fall's 40th reunion, offered an update:

"Rocco is currently working at Brinks, Inc. as a Regional Account Executive in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been married to Shannon Sivula (’93) for 14 years now—crazy, I know! They currently have three dogs (chows) and three cats. His life revolves around work and anything with a motor!

"Shannon is currently going to school for Interior Design with a planned graduation date of May 2009. The plan is start an interior design business to go along with the bridal design business she currently owns."

Sara Anderson ('08)

Sara now knows what it's REALLY like to be busy -- no more school days and easy schedules!

She works in Madison, Wisconsin, as a Leasing Consultant for JEK Properties. Sara says that she has "learned Quickbooks and I actually enjoy it:) I also get to go to the courthouse every so often to file for evictions and other small claims cases."

At Calvary Baptist in Sun Prairie Sara shares: "I am the Sparks Director in the AWANA clubs and I help in Jr. Church on Sunday mornings. I stay pretty busy with that but I love it!"

Her former professors are excited to hear how Sara is putting her training and her enthusiasm to work.

Christina (Adam) Monge (’07)

Christina and her husband Justin moved near State College, PA this year where Christina serves as an administrative assistant at Manito, Inc., an alternative high school, and Justin teaches at Centre County Christian Academy. They also traveled to Israel in 2008.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Vince ACCEPTS the Challenge...Runs Test Mile

...he got 22.8 mpg!

His conscience, James Bingham (also a freshman in Introduction to Business), advised him not to claim that he had already run a mile in 22.8 minutes!

Dr. Pfaffe Throws Down the White Board Marker

But why did he throw down the white board marker? Reportedly, he doesn't own a gauntlet to throw down.

It's all about Vince Pardo, freshman student in Dr. Pfaffe's Introduction to Business class and the-straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back event that occurred at the annual Department of Business Christmas open house at Professor Ron Miller's home on December 9. After a humiliating loss in pool and a crushing defeat in Wii Baseball at the hands of Mr. Pardo, Dr. Pfaffe has challenged "the menace" to a one-mile run on or about the first day of Spring 2009.

Mr. Pardo has yet to respond to the white board marker challenge. More later (hopefully)!