“Come over and help us!”

This first century request came from a man in Macedonia (Acts 16:9).  Convinced that this plea was an outreach opportunity from God, a four-man team (Luke, Paul, Silas and Timothy) set out on a mission journey to answer the Call and share the gospel of Jesus.

They traveled to various locations, spoke to the local people, visited the places of prayer, “reasoned with the people from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead…” (Acts 17:2, 3)

The gospel did amazing things.  It gave the people…

New Hope.

“Come over and help us!”

This twenty-first century request came from a man in Bugiri,
Uganda.  Convinced that this was an
outreach opportunity from God, a three-man team was formed and set out on a
mission journey to answer the Call and share the gospel message of Jesus.

What Paul and his team did in Macedonia and beyond, the three-man team did in Uganda: traveled to various places, spoke to the local people, visited the places of prayer and expounded the Scriptures.  By God’s grace, the results were the same: the gospel worked wonders and it gave people in Uganda…

New Hope.

The first century mission opportunity came by way of a vision (Acts 16:9). Last month’s opportunity came via an email.  The request for help came from a man named Makisimu Musa, a pastor leading a fledgling church body in Uganda.  Back in 2008 he caught wind of a Lutheran Church body in America called the WELS as well as a synod in Zambia and Malawi called the LCCA.  (Pastor Musa was attending a school in Kenya and was told about the Lutheran Church, specifically about WELS and the LCCA in Zambia & Malawi.) He heard about their sound doctrine and practice and wanted to know more.  He consulted with his fellow Pastors and Evangelists and together they decided it was time for them to reach out for help. 

Frustrated with church politics, confused with false
teachings, discouraged with a lack of Biblically sound materials, and uncertain
of a God-pleasing way forward, they sent the message:

“Come over and help us!”

Those weren’t the exact words nor the only words but it was the bottom line message. It went first to Pastor David Bivens (Divine Savior Lutheran Church, Sienna Plantation, Texas), the Chairman of the Administrative Committee for Africa.  Pastor Bivens then passed it along and eventually it landed on the desk of Missionary John Hartmann in Zambia who is the One Africa Team (OAT) Outreach Coordinator for Africa.  He assembled a team, set the dates and planned the trip.  On 1 December 2018 Missionary Hartmann, Pastor Pembeleka, and Missionary Holtz touched down in Entebbe, Uganda. 

The mission journey began. (The outreach mission trip dates were set for 30 November 2018 – 13 December 2018.)

We stayed with Pastor Musa and his family in his rural based
home.  He had put together an aggressive
schedule for us:  travel to 8
congregations, meet 6 pastors and 5 evangelists, teach three days of lessons,
and attend two days of meetings.

In it all, we witnessed the Body of Christ in action:

• Church leaders attended 18 hours of  lessons and presentations (Justification, the Church, and Stewardship);
• Pastors preached the Word & administered baptism;
• The Pastor’s dear wife and others cooked our meals, washed our clothes and tidied our rooms;
• A Lutheran member drove us safely to all our destinations;
• Congregations prepared meals and traditional entertainment of plays, dramas, dances, and songs;
• Several people served as translators, turning our English words into Luganda and Lusoga.

Spending a dozen nights and covering over a thousand kilometers gave us a glimpse of the Ugandan people and their beautiful land.  Uganda truly lives up to her name: the Pearl of Africa.  So many natural wonders!  Among the many, Uganda boasts the second largest lake in the world (Victoria) and the source of the longest river on earth (Nile). We were blessed to see them both. 

But for us, the real Pearl of Africa is the Pearl of Great Price (Matthew 13:45,46):  the gospel of Jesus Christ!

• It’s what prompted the first email from Pastor Musa;
• It’s what motivated our mission outreach trip;
• It was the foundation of our lessons¹ and the focus of our meetings.

And it will guide any future plans and discussions with these new found brothers and sisters in Uganda.

Dear Mission Partners, may I humbly send you a request, too?  Our plea comes from Uganda:

“Come over and help us!”

You don’t need to go there to answer the call. We simply, yet
resolutely, ask for your prayers.  Will
you put Uganda on your prayer list?  Pray
for this mission outreach effort.  The Lord
has given us this wonderful opportunity and the gospel is already doing amazing
things.  The Pearl of Great Price is the only
True Pearl of Africa…and the world! 

Oh, by the way, as these Christians in Uganda find their footing and forge ahead, it’s this “Pearl” that reminds them why they chose the name they did for their new church body:

New Hope.

Your Malawi Mission Partner,
John Holtz

One Africa Team and the Pastoral
Studies Institute are partnering to serve the spiritual needs of refugees from
the Nuer tribe of South Sudan currently living in camps located in Ethiopia and
Kenya. This week read how WELS members in Mankato, Minnesota are reaching out
to Nuer immigrants in their community.

Christmas
blessings to you from Risen Savior Lutheran School in Mankato, Minnesota!  We rejoice with you this holiday season as we
celebrate Christ’s birth and His coming for all mankind.

Risen Savior
Lutheran School (RSLS), a WELS Christian day school in south central Minnesota,
continues to grow in God’s grace. 
Operated by St. Mark in Mankato and St. Paul’s in North Mankato, Risen
Savior exists to teach children God’s message of salvation found in His Holy
Word.  Nine of our 92 students enrolled
are the children of South Sudanese refugees. 
Our student body is blessed to call these students from four families
our brothers and sisters and friends in Christ.

These
Sudanese parents have moved to America to experience a better life for
themselves and their children.  Although
they have escaped the ravaging of political war and the poverty and
displacement of refugee camps, life is still anything but easy.  Five of the children come from single parent
homes.  The jobs parents get often
require long, overnight hours.  These
families are in poverty in America and live with government assistance for food
and housing. 

With the
conditions of their new life in America, these families must often rely on other
friends to help them raise their children. 
Parents at Risen Savior also become a pillar of support, so these
Sudanese children can take part in the same activities that their new friends are
doing at school.  You can see the faith
of these Sudanese parents as they allow their children to be transported with
American parents they often do not know, so their children can participate in
extracurricular events with friends.

In October RSLS
held an All-School Read event.  All
families were given a copy of “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park.  We then gathered to have a book discussion
about this Sudanese refugee’s true story and the need for simple things like
clean water in Sudan.  Children and
parents attended to learn more about this situation and to even enjoy a feast
of traditional food prepared by two of the Sudanese moms.  One of the Sudanese moms, Mary, worked all
day, prepared a dish of meat and rice to share and then attended to help
educate our school body about her experiences in her home country.

At the end
of October our school held its annual forensics night.  All students prepared a poem to present to families
of the school.  One of our Sudanese
students, Nyeriang, received the highest score in her classroom’s
competition.  Her family was working and
unable to attend but another family picked her up so she could do the honor of
showcasing her poetry to those in attendance. 
She showed much courage in public speaking and such growth from when she
first attended Risen Savior four years ago.

The Sudanese
students are like their American friends and want to participate in the sports
our school offers.  Friday, a fifth
grader, received rides to practices and games when she played soccer this September.  And now Kon gets rides home from cheerleading
practices and Friday, Nyeriang, Nyanak and Hannah get rides so they can play
for the Risen Savior girls’ basketball team.

We are now
preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth with our Advent concert.  Practicing for this beautiful event, filled
with recitations and songs by the students, takes special practices at an area
church.  These special practices mean
extra rides that Sudanese families cannot give. 
Pastor Keith Siverly of St. Mark will often transport some students
there, as will other school families.  With
this extra effort and commitment, our school will all glorify God together this
season.

We work
together; we learn from each other; we share the same faith.  Please pray for the South Sudanese at Risen
Savior and their adaptation to life here. 
Please also pray for the American families at Risen Savior that they
will not grow weary of doing good.  We
are blessed to share this life in America with our Sudanese friends and we
await sharing life in heaven with them as well!

Jenni Heins serves as a Teacher at
Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Mankato, MN.

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 do 10-year-olds in rural South Dakota know about Africa? Probably what a textbook or teacher has taught him or her. Probably that there are seven continents, and Africa is one of them. If they attend a WELS grade school, perhaps they know that there are missionaries in Africa. A 10-year-old South Dakotan would probably do better at telling you how to operate a combine than how to locate either Malawi or Cameroon on a map.

On October 31st and November 22nd, students from St. Martin’s in Watertown, SD, had the opportunity to Skype with missionaries from Africa and learn some lessons I pray will stick with them for life.

Why Africa? Why Watertown, SD? What’s the connection? How and why did a partnership developed between St. Martin’s Lutheran School in Watertown, South Dakota, and the One Africa Team?

Two months ago, St. Martin’s students wrote letters to 12 missionaries and their families across the world. Huge 25×30 inch letters were written with big handwriting and colorful somewhat messy pictures. The letters shared that students were praying on behalf of the missionaries, their families and their congregations. Students asked what life was like in their settings and shared Bible passages to encourage missionaries and their families.

We heard back from many of the missionaries. Some sent email replies. Another missionary sent a 12-minute YouTube video response. It was rewarding for students to hear back from these missionaries and their families. Through back-and-forth discussions with John Roebke, a missionary on the One Africa Team, we decided to attempt a Skype call between Missionary Roebke and the entire St. Martin’s school.

Because neither St. Martin’s nor Missionary Roebke had tried this “live audience” Skyping presentation method before, we held a test Skype call and worked through some of the technology glitches and operator error.

The day of the presentation was Reformation Day, Wednesday, October 31, 2018. (St. Martin’s has chapel on Wednesday mornings at 8:30.) After chapel, we showed a slideshow of images from Malawi and a short video of John’s security guards preparing and eating lunch. These served as background information and a “lead up” of sorts to the actual Skype call and presentation. At 9:04 am in Watertown, SD (4:04 pm in Lilongwe, Malawi), we called John Roebke. He answered. His face showed up about 12 feet tall on our two large screens in church and he greeted all of the St. Martin’s students with a “Happy Reformation Day!”

John spent 15 minutes sharing about life in Malawi: the food, the people, the place and what his ministry was like. As we Skyped I remember thinking it was incredible that we were over 8,800 miles away and yet were able to interact and hear a presentation from a real-life missionary. After his presentation, the students asked questions they had prepared. What is the weather like? (Hot.) What kinds of food do you eat? (Nsima, mangoes and pineapples) How big is your congregation? (40,000 members, because I get to help produce sermon books for all the congregations of the LCCA in Malawi) Do you ever miss home? (This is my home.)

Three weeks later on, on Friday, November 22, we were able to Skype with a second missionary and his wife who serve as part of the One Africa Team: Dan and Karen Kroll, who serve in Cameroon. Because of the tense political state in Cameroon, Cameroon was no longer a safe place to be. Instead the Krolls were staying at a house in Malawi. We were able to Skype with them and hear about how the Christians in Cameroon, who need our prayers, are still committed to sharing God’s Word during this time of political unrest.

We also heard about a day in the life of Dan and Karen. Dan shared how he gets to serve as a teacher for individuals looking to become pastors in Cameroon. Karen shared how she enjoyed serving in whatever way needed as a missionary’s wife – including everything from a morning of exterminating rats in their house to driving an ambulance in the afternoon. Additionally, Karen explained how she leads Bible studies for the wives of Dan’s seminary students.

Once again, students were able to ask questions: What is the weather like? (Hot) What is church like? (Sometimes a long distance to travel) Where is your home? (We’ve lived and served in Africa for over 20 years in Malawi and Cameroon. This is our home.)

The experience opened students’ eyes. Students were able to see and talk to a real-life missionaries in real time over 8,800 miles away. Students learned that missionaries serve in multiple ways; they not only preach, but also teach, write and encourage as a big part of their ministries. Students heard that missionaries were happy to serve in their homes of Africa, and that Africa is indeed their home.

Both John and the Krolls closed their respective Skype sessions in the same way. They encouraged the students to consider how they might serve God, not only now, but also in the future. They planted a seed for mission work perhaps somewhere down the line and urged students to think about how they might be able to share Jesus with others.

The Skyping experience was a wonderful opportunity. It provided our St. Martin’s students an opportunity to hear why and how missionaries share Jesus with others. It was free and fairly easy to organize. Students now have a few real faces and names to connect with mission work in Africa. We look forward to Skyping again and,we look forward to seeing how God blesses the missions in Africa and the students here in South Dakota.

Jonathan Niemi is the Principal of St. Martin’s Lutheran School in Watertown, S.D.

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