2026 Update:
We’ve moved our blog to a new site! And we have plans to be more intentional and regular in writing posts.
Christian and Leigha Stoltzfus currently work with Mennonite Mission Network, the mission arm of Mennonite Church USA. They serve as Service Adventure Unit Leaders in Colorado. Service Adventure is a gap-year program for recent high school graduates that focuses on Christian service, intentional community, and church fellowship. We live with 2-4 young adults as they navigate becoming adults and serving God.
Christian is also a seminary student working towards an MDiv degree with a concentration in Biblical Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS). Learn more about AMBS at ambs.edu.
Leigha also works for RAWtools, a ministry focused on responding to gun violence through prophetic creativity. One way they do this is by sponsoring events where people can cut up unwanted firearms (often ones used in violence) and receive a garden tool beaten from the remains, in the spirit of Isaiah 2:4: “They will beat their swords into plowshares / and their spears into pruning hooks / Nation will not take up sword against nation / nor will they train for war anymore” (NIV). Learn more by reading the book Beating Guns or visiting rawtools.org.
We also take care of and play with our two adorable children, Naomi and Josiah.
2022 Update:
This blog originally started as a way to send updates during Christian’s Study-Service Term with Goshen College in China. After Christian and Leigha got married in 2019, they repurposed it to be a medium for sending updates to family and friends. Now, it’s been updated and moved to WordPress. See this post for more information.
Christian and Leigha work as teachers at Chengdu International School (cdischina.com). Christian teaches middle school math, coaches volleyball and basketball, and works with a robotics club. Leigha teaches high school math, physics, and yearbook, coaches volleyball, and organizes the school’s science fair. We love the community we have found at CDIS and the chance we have been given to live and work in the beautiful country that is China.
2019 Update:
I am now back in China with my wife Leigha — see our newest post here. I graduated from Goshen College in April with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (concentrations in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Bible); she from the University of Northwestern in St. Paul with degrees in Mathematics and Psychology in May; and we were married August 10, 2019. We are in China for the year, teaching English to university students through Mennonite Partners in China.
Original “About Me” (2017):
This is the blog of Christian Stoltzfus, a third-year student at Goshen College in Goshen Indiana who loves school, family, music, computers, books, and God.
I am currently in China and am starting this blog about halfway through my trip. You can learn more about my thought process regarding the blog’s beginnings here.
I am working on an Interdisciplinary degree at GC. Therefore, my major is formed of probably my three favorite disciplines: Bible/Religion, Computer Science, and Mathematics. However, I am also involved in music (I play piano, cello, and guitar and participate in Men’s Chorus), a number of clubs (Hymn Club, Unity (a small weekly Christian gathering), and Computer Science Club) and intramural sports (volleyball and frisbee) at GC. I love all these various parts of my life, as well as my academic life and the many wonderful classes and professors I’ve had, not to mention the friends and connections I’ve made, and I’m very glad to be at Goshen College.
My faith is central to my life, and I give thanks and credit to God for many of the wonderful things you’ll read about here — not the least of which is my trip to China, the original reason for this blog, as it wasn’t originally my intention to come here at all. I’ve been blessed with a variety of experiences across numerous strands of Christianity, and they all play parts in who I am today — God’s child and servant.
I have three younger brothers, Andrew, Daniel, and Jacob, whom I enjoy watching grow up (albeit at a distance for now). My parents, Rose Shenk and Bruce Buckwalter, live in Ethiopia as the country representatives for Mennonite Central Committee, part of the service arm of the Mennonite Church, working for “relief, development, and peace in the name of Christ” around the globe. You can read a little more about their experiences at buckshefusethiopia.wordpress.com, or about MCC at mcc.org. I encourage you to give as you are led or feel able, particularly to MCC as they are truly doing wonderful, Christlike work in this chaotic world.
I tend to write lengthily, particularly when at a computer, and I use a lot of parenthesis (among other sentence breakers — such as dashes). As a result, my sentences sometimes ramble and might take effort to decipher (though I don’t really know, because it usually makes sense to me). I invite you to let me know if something makes particularly little sense or if you have any formatting advice born of frustration with something I’ve done. And of course, I would love to hear or read replies — verbal or written/typed — for any of my thoughts, on this blog or elsewhere.