"Howard and Ruth would reach out to students in the colleges, invite them into their home, provide transport, cook meals, offer support, encourage fun, and generously pour out Christian love. Howard and Ruth loved students and, even more, they loved students to enter into a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And this has left its legacy on me....

A vlogger recently asked alumna Miranda Shepheard to answer a few questions including:

"How do you define yourself?"

"What are you most proud of?"

"What are your biggest regrets?"

You can watch the interview here.

Since graduating from
my Bachelor of Behavioural Science at the end of 2014, a lot has
changed. My husband Aaron and I moved to Sydney the January after,
primarily for the purpose of him undertaking a theological degree at
SMBC.

I managed to secure a
full-time job (my first actually - was kind of hoping I might get
away with always being a part-timer!), working as the Event
Coordinator for Geneva Push (the Australian Church Planting Network).
This has been a tough year full of ups and downs in the role –
feeling as if I’ve often found my feet only to lose them again! But
I am really pleased to be finishing the year feeling very positive
about next year, having learnt a lot and motivated to give it my all.

Stephanie is from the United States and came to UTAS on exchange. She was heavily involved with the Uni Fellowship during her time her and has just recently received her first assignment as a missionary to Kenya.

Below is an email she wrote to Crossroads Presbyterian Church, her home church while in Hobart and attached is her missionary prayer letter.

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To the church:

Though it's been over three years since I last saw you all, I still look back on my time in Tassie with great affection. So, as I am taking a new step forward in my journey with Christ, I want to share this part of my life with all of you, since you were part of the reason I've decided to become a missionary. II saw during my time at Crossroads people who took risks and stepped out in faith, trusting God to provide and seeing Him work miracles in response. I saw God at work in the lives of His servants, those who teach or sing or cook or just greet people at the door.

Graduating from uni and
starting full-time work is a pretty big change. There are great
things about both stages of life and there are challenges as well. I
really enjoyed my time at uni, learning heaps, spending lots of time
with friends and being involved in Uni Fellowship. Starting work as a
nurse was a huge change. It was great to be able to use what I’d
learnt over the course of my degree, but there was still a
considerable amount for me to learn, especially as I was in theatre
which requires a very different set of skills to general nursing. I
loved the challenge though and really enjoyed all that I was
learning, as well as working with a team of people. One of the
challenges to working full time is having a lot less disposable time.
I found myself with much less time to spend with friends and family
and it took more effort to be actively involved in faith and ministry
during the week.

In
January this year I started my life ‘in the real world’ - as the
life of a university graduate is often called. After 20 straight
years in the education system, concluding with 6 years at university,
my time had finally come to be released into the world and find my
place in working society. This thought was as terrifying as it was
liberating!

My
name is Tim, I’m a medical graduate from UTAS. I completed my
undergraduate training in Hobart and spent my last 2 years at the
Rural Clinical School in Burnie. As of the beginning of 2014 I work
as a medical intern, or “junior-most-doctor”, at the Royal Hobart
Hospital.

I have lived in Tasmania since I was born. But in February this year my family and I moved from Hobart to Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. I had secured a job as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Horticultural Science department of the University of Minnesota. After being here for seven months, it almost feels like home. In those seven months, the one thing that has turned out just how I thought it would, if not better, is my work. My bosses have been fantastic.