Meet Pastor Marv Friesen

For Marv Friesen, who began serving as pastor of University Mennonite Church in September 2010, moving from Ontario, Canada to State College, Pennsylvania held a pleasant surprise: peace and quiet.  Living within two blocks from Penn State fraternities, Marv and his family expected to encounter some noise and rowdiness.  “But it’s actually been pretty calm and laid-back,” Marv says.  “And we’ve received a very warm welcome from the neighborhood.”

As Marv gets down to the business of learning to know his new congregation, he’s been struck by the diverse nature of the group.  “There’s a little more diversity here than I’d originally thought—in terms of economics and formal education as well as theology.  I think that’s a real strength of our group, that we can challenge each other in terms of where we find ourselves as we struggle to make sense of life and our faith.  It’s a real gift of this congregation. 

“Part and parcel of that,” he continues, “is what I observed at UMC’s recent Camp Hebron retreat.  On Sunday morning when our sharing time focused on the faith community as the family of God, it became crystal clear to me that the relationships in this congregation are important enough that we’re willing to work at them.  We may not always see eye to eye, but at the heart of our faith are those positive relationships with one another.”

Meet Fran Osseo-Asare

Fran Osseo-Asare’s faith journey unfolds like an adventure story. It starts at UC Berkeley, takes her across the continent and across the Atlantic to a small fishing village in Ghana, and ultimately, it lands her in State College, Pennsylvania.  It includes a tale of forbidden love, lots of prayer, a number of dirty diapers, and countless experiments in the kitchen.

Fran was born in Portland, Oregon, but spent most of her childhood in the small town of Brisbane, California. In the sixth grade, she moved to San Carlos, where she got the idea that she wanted to go to college. That dream came true when the state of California offered her a four-year scholarship to UC Berkeley.

“I just loved being in an intellectual atmosphere where books were liked, and I could question things, and I could stay up late and talk about philosophy,” Fran says.

Her search for “something more” brought her to a Campus Crusade for Christ Bible study during her sophomore year of college.

“When I became a Christian, it felt like I was coming home, that Jesus was calling me home,” she said.

Through her involvement with InterVarsity campus ministry, she met a Ghanaian student named Kwadwo Osseo-Asare, who became her mentor. Much to their surprise, their friendship turned into love.

Fran’s family vehemently opposed the interracial romance and threatened to disown her if she married Osseo. They finally agreed to let her marry him if she spent a year, alone, in his homeland. With only faith and a tourist visa, Fran flew to Ghana, where she secured a job as a school teacher in the village of Nungua.

Meet Ruth Parrish Sauder

Ruth Parrish Sauder is 24 years old and a newlywed.  She married Eric Sauder on June 21, 2009 and is enjoying the simple pleasures of their common life, like mixed-up laundry and a complete spice collection. "I'm a fan of marriage," Ruth says with a smile.

When Ruth arrived in State College, she was a first-year student in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. She soon met an upperclassman named Janelle Zook, who shared Ruth's love of music and her roots in Lancaster County, PA. The two students also shared a familiarity with and affinity for Mennonites, and so it happened that Janelle brought Ruth to visit UMC.

Ruth studied piano at Penn State until she developed wrist problems and was forced to change her plans. She took up a French major, studied abroad in France, and discovered that she loved teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). After Ruth graduated with her bachelor's degree in the fall of 2007, she decided to do a master's degree in ESL, which she completed this spring.

Ruth met Eric while serving on the leadership team of a campus ministry, and they both thrived in a growing group of students and young adults at UMC. The UMC congregation has been a safe place for Ruth and Eric's faith to be challenged and deepened, both together and as individuals. "It's a good community to ask questions in," Ruth says.

Meet Tom Spicher

Tom Spicher has two jobs that he loves: teaching high school chemistry and raising sheep.  It's an ideal combination, he says.  "Sometimes in the evening when I come home, I just need to go out and do some manual work.  That refreshes me." 

Tom, who has been a teacher since 1973 and has taught at Huntingdon Area High School for the past twelve years, considers teaching to be his calling.  He calls his classroom "a little different."  Rather than practicing zero tolerance, he believes in second chances.  "In the church I've seen forgiveness and healing, and I've seen mercy trumping [retributive] justice," Tom says. 

"So I try to do that in my classroom.  Kids can have a bad day, they treat you disrespectfully, they act up in class, they don't do their homework.  But after I've had a run-in with a student, I'll say, 'We might have had a problem yesterday or last week, but today the board is clean.  Today is a new day.'  I do that often.  After the kids hear it often enough, they start believing it, and the classroom climate changes into something positive.