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

WELS’ third visit to Liberia brought together two originators of the Confessional Lutheran Church of Liberia (CLCL) and two members of WELS’ One Africa Team (OAT).  Besides CLCL’s regular attendees (they have gathered several times in recent years), we started to incorporate a few men from another group that has recently been started by a WELS Liberian in Minnesota AND another group that had expressed some interest in joining us.

Each side had much to offer: CLCL already has a constitution and organizational structure. They have about 240 hours worth of study behind them.  OAT has experience with our staunch WELS understanding of Scripture in an African context (the two missionaries representing OAT carried about 45 years experience with them).  Knowing the right way to shake hands is cool, but gaining a spiritual connection through Christ is incredible—done only by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I say our mission work there is “a work in progress” because we are only now getting this program organized and bringing it into line with our other programs in Africa.  Our Liberian efforts are actually not much more than a foundation (solid – Scripture) and a bunch of building material stacked around it. Those materials are the 80 or so men and women with enough knowledge of Scripture to go beyond being simply part of a group or getting some sort of degree.  These are men and women who are beginning to understand about their Savior “…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14).  There were some great questions as people discussed amongst themselves.  My favorite was the day before Reformation Day when one of the men challenged his brother: “Can you prove that from Scripture?” We still have a lot to do to establish a group in fellowship with WELS, but I think we are on the right track with our solid foundation—I can hardly wait to get back (Feb 2019) to put a few more blocks in the walls!

Missionary Dan Kroll serves West Africa and currently resides in 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