Ok, I admit it.  It wasn’t the smartest thing we ever did.  No one will refer to us as “the sharpest knives in the drawer.”

But hey, nobody stopped us from putting 419 kids in a 12m by 5m single room church building and shutting the doors on both ends. Talk about a captive audience!

And a glowing one!  Well, dripping with sweat might be a little bit more accurate to say.  Might the reason for the abundance of perspiration be the combination of the full sun at high noon, 80*F temps, metal roof and 419 children sitting shoulder to shoulder in a brick building with the doors shut?  We’ll have to put Detective Columbo on those clues.

What were the kids doing?  A better question is, what were we doing?  At that point in time, we were doing our level best to give each kid a whopping 25 g bag of stale corn chips for a snack at the end of a VBS program.

We wanted to know how many children were in attendance.  Instead of trying to count the kids, we decided to count the snack bags.  By keeping track of the number of snack bags we handed out, we were able to keep the kid count each day.

So here was the plan:  Put all the kids in the church and let them file out one by one.  Some brave soul would hand each emerging child a snack on the way out.  There were 50 individual bags of snacks in each big bundle so all we had to do was the math to figure out how many kids attended VBS each day.

That was the easy part.  But how did we keep the kids from all trying to exit the building at the same time?

Three highly rated, popular and effective techniques that you should never try at home or in your own church:

1) local church members serving as chaperones brandishing bamboo sticks over the heads of the VBS students;

2) a strategically placed wooden bench in front of the door. It served somewhat like a shin-busting hurdle.  I guess the thought was that by obstructing what would normally be a clear path through the doorway, it would force any child to give serious pause before trying to run out of the church just to be the first to get a snack.

3) courageous pastors standing at the doorway doing their best to usher kids out with some semblance of order while at the same time fighting off heat stroke, fatigue and dehydration.

It all worked out! No riot. No panic. No anarchy. No stampede. Ok, maybe a little pandemonium.  A touch of chaos.   A dab of bedlam.  But hey, isn’t every VBS a bit like that?

But there are more ways than those to describe the VBS program that was held in Usisya, Malawi from 3-7 August 2017. Yes, there was occasional mayhem, but there were also the moments of wonder:

• A child’s rapt attention.
• A stunning answer to a Bible question.
• A little girl who knew the song for the day.
• A pastor’s telling of the old old Story.

• Young boys using their God-given gifts during arts and crafts…with mud!
• A chaperone lovingly working with a child who needs help.
• Kingdom Worker volunteers teaching English songs to Chitumbuka-speaking kids.

Ah, yes, the Kingdom Workers. Four volunteers who raised money to come to Malawi to observe the Jesus Care’s Ministry (JCM) to the disabled and to participate in a Vacation Bible School (VBS) program for children.

Kingdom Worker Country Director, Mr. Dan Tyrrell, had advertised these short term mission opportunities and didn’t have a hard time finding four willing volunteers to come to Malawi for a 2 ½ week life and faith adventure:  Ashley, Gail, Tristan and Tim.

Though this fearsome foursome had to endure stretches of bad roads, crowded boats, chilly water, sleep deprived nights and one extremely annoying stray dog, they seemed to enjoy their unique and memorable experience.

Ashley smiled with this highlight of hers: “I was so happy because this little girl actually learned the VBS song we taught her: This Little Light of Mine!”

Gail had this prayer request for her KW team mates: “Please pray that I follow through with my personal goals and that I let my light shine among the people God has placed in my life Tim shared this comment: “It was very humbling to see Christ’s light shine rightly through the JCM volunteers as they followed His example in helping the poor and disabled.”

Tristan reflected on ways that he would continue the process of learning and engagement upon returning home to the States: “I would like to spread the news of the VBS and JCM going on in Malawi.” Tristan also mentioned any number of times how stunningly beautiful God’s creation really is:  from the stars to the fish to the waterfalls to the animals to the mountains to the sunrises and sunsets.

No wonder he carried around his camera wherever he went!  Even under water!

But no matter how beautiful Malawi is, we all got to see through our nightly Bible Studies how much more beautiful our Savior Jesus really is!

Just imagine…Jesus was willing to…

• leave a perfect heaven
• enter an imperfect world
• become one of us
• suffer horrible pain and rejection
• experience the punishment we deserved
• drink the bitter cup of suffering
• die an excruciating death
• forgive us our sins. All of them.
• prepare for us a home. An eternal one.

Talk about a shining Star and a bright Light!

Talk about the most beautiful SONrise of all!

Say, what’s that I see when I look at you, dear Christian?  You have a certain glow about you.  It doesn’t look like sweat (unless you’re in a locked church someplace waiting for your snack).  But you do have a certain luster, a brilliance, a brightness.  Reflected light.   It’s not coming from the sun, it’s coming from the SON.

The Lord make His face shine upon you…

Just for the fun of it, do what the 4 KW volunteers did for 3 days straight in Usisya, Malawi: poke your index finger in the air and joyfully sing a song that’s not meant for VBS kids only:

This little light of mine,  I’m gonna let it shine!

Missionary John Holtz, Malawi

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

What’s the biggest gift that you have given to God and to his church?  Every Christian has given their heart and life to Jesus.  The Holy Spirit brought us to faith through the gospel and set us apart to be God’s people.  But out of all the earthly resources that God has given you, what’s the biggest and most valuable gift that you have returned to God?

Hannah gave her son.  Read her amazing story in 1 Samuel chapter 1.  Childless, she prayed that if God would bless her with a son, then Hannah would dedicate the child to God’s service.  God listened.  Hannah conceived.  A healthy boy was born to her.  Hannah rejoiced to name him Samuel, which in Hebrew means “God listened.”

That boy could have been a tremendous asset to Hannah’s family, he would have been a capable worker at home or on the farm.  But Hannah had made her promise, and she kept it. When Samuel was still a boy, Hannah brought him to God’s temple.  She told the High Priest: “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord” (1Sa 1:27-28).  Samuel became one of the greatest prophets in the history of Israel.

Over the past few months, things have been rather quiet here at the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Lilongwe, Malawi.  The school trains young men to serve as pastors in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. Every three years we accept a new group of students who bring their families with them to live on our campus. Last June, our most recent class graduated and moved on to the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia, where they will spend another three years training for the ministry.  After they left, the student houses all stood empty.  The classroom was silent. The LBI campus was “childless.”

But not anymore.  Last week the LBI chapel hosted the opening service of a new school year.  All 20 desks in the classroom were full.  These 20 students have been carefully selected from more than 50,000 members in over 250 Lutheran congregations in the countries of Zambia and Malawi.  They were chosen because they demonstrate a high degree of God-given gifts for leadership in the church. They could have made a comfortable life for themselves and their families by following secular callings, but they have set their hearts on being public servants of the church.

Thanks be to God, the Giver of all good things!  Thank you to the congregations who sent us the finest young members that they had.  And thank you to 20 faithful “Hannah’s” who have offered up their sons for service in God’s church.

As our Lord said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)

Missionary Mark Panning, Malawi

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

Nigeria and Cameroon have a combined population of over 200 million people. Guess how many resident WELS missionaries are based in West Africa? There are only two – and one of them must split his time between both countries.

Everyone agreed that it would be difficult to find someone to serve in this capacity. But the Holy Spirit knew who would be willing to take up this challenging position. Rev. Jeff Heitsch and his wife Stephanie (Mueller) will now represent our Synod as missionaries to Nigeria and Cameroon. Pastor Heitsch spent the last 19 years serving Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming where his closest brothers in ministry were an hour’s drive away. He will have a little further distance to travel for pastors’ conferences now.

 

Although Missionary Heitsch is the coordinator for Nigeria he will not be living there, due to the challenging security issues in the country and the needs of the church in Cameroon. Instead, the Heitsches will reside in the city of Bamenda, a city of about half a million people in the northwest region of Cameroon.  Bamenda is a three and a half hour trip by car to the Nigerian border.

Our two sister church bodies in Nigeria, Christ the King Lutheran Church and All Saints Lutheran Church, have a combined membership of over 5,000 people served by 52 Nigerian pastors and 52 lay preachers. Because Missionary Heitsch will be away from home quite regularly, his wife Stephanie will accompany him on his visits. The daughter of a former WELS missionary to Africa and a pastor’s wife, Stephanie will be a great support for her husband and resource for the wives of Nigerian leaders.

Isolation is a challenge for our missionaries in West Africa.  Missionary Dan Kroll, a veteran of Africa missions for over two decades, has been serving in Cameroon for just over three years.  He and his wife Karen live in the city of Kumba, which is a five and a half hours drive from Bamenda.  Bamenda does have some North American missionaries from other denominations, so the Heitsches will form friendships there.  It’s not the same as fellowship, but at least there will be people who “know the ropes” in Cameroon and can help them understand their new surroundings.

The Krolls are very familiar with the ministry in Nigeria and are eager to share the challenges of ministry of Cameroon with their new mission partners.  The two families will share both struggles and blessings as the Lord provides.  After several years of missionaries cycling through the field, and the retirement of Rev. Doug Weiser in June of 2017 we pray that Missionaries Kroll and Heitsch will assist the Lutheran Church of Cameroon to maintain consistent attitudes and policies.

Keep our newest missionary family in your prayers as they share the love of Jesus with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria and Cameroon. You can keep up with the Heitsches as they transition to their new life in Africa by following their blog at https://jsheitsch.wixsite.com/africa 

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa