Quite a few people have inquired about our past Ventana students, so in an effort to keep you up to date I thought I’d feature a few every once in a while.  And so it is with great excitement that I announce our first Ventana couple!  Emily from Hemet, CA, and Austin from Portland, OR, got engaged a few weeks ago in Southern California, and are in the midst of planning a June wedding. 

Emily and Austin were part of our first group of students, and are now in their second year of college.  When they joined us in the Fall of 2006, we had no idea that two years later they would be on the brink of marriage.  Dating fellow students is not allowed in Ventana, but after nine months of trying to keep their flirting to a minimum, we realized it was inevitable. (What do you get when you mix blue and pink? You got it … purple. Get it?) 

Emily is currently working at their family trophy shop in Hemet, and taking 16 units online through a junior college.  Between work, school, helping with the Jr. High program at church and planning a wedding, she is mostly on the run.  Austin is also getting his education online at the moment, and in the midst of starting a brand new skate church in Hemet.  An accomplished skate boarder, he hopes to attract students to Christ through the common love of skating.  Amid school and church, Austin has been working tirelessly building ramps, advertising their grand opening, and meeting new students in the Hemet area.

I asked them each to recall what they missed most about Ventana, and their individual answers were almost identical.  They both miss the tight community that Ventana facilitated.