Mission updates and prayer requests from One Africa Team
The coffin was lowered. The dirt was heaped. Wreaths were placed. But the funeral was so much more than a burial. It was a “witness to a stricken world.”
In Christ, who tasted death for us
We rise above our natural grief
And witness to a stricken world
The strength and splendor of belief. – CW #607
“Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7a EHV). This is a timely section of Scripture for us all but especially for those of us involved in worker training. Back in March of 2020 most all of us throughout the world were beginning to experience the different challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic. At the Seminary here in Lusaka, Zambia and at the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Lilongwe, Malawi it meant the closure of our two worker training schools. They work closely together in training up future pastors for the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA). Little did we realize that for all the challenges the closure of the schools would bring, trying to open up our LBI and Seminary would bring even more.
Continue reading “Be Patient Until School Starts”
The last time I celebrated Christmas with my parents and siblings was 2003, when I had a 3 month gap between calls in the public ministry. Pastors are busy leading worship services at their congregations during the holidays. For a few years in the mid-2000’s we lived close enough to our relatives to spend a few days after Christmas with relatives, but for the rest of our married years it’s been too great a distance for my wife and I to travel “home for the holidays.”
This year is no exception as we prepare to greet our Savior’s birth in the balmy tropics with one of our daughters, who will spend two months with us. Thanks to COVID she’s doing all of her schooling this semester remotely, so it doesn’t matter if she’s logging in from her apartment in Milwaukee or from our home in Africa. Our other daughter lives 8,000 miles away in Wisconsin and is getting her first taste of winter driving. It’s also the first time we will be apart for the Christmas holidays.
Continue reading “Family Gatherings 2020”