Mark is a student at the University of Minnesota.  He participates in True North Ministries – a WELS Campus Ministry in the Twin Cities area.

I look around my almost vacant room and realize I am almost completely done with my college career.  My furniture, clothes, and kitchen supplies are slowly moving out.  All I have left, my very last task to complete at the University of Minnesota, is to walk the graduation stage for my parents.  This moment I never thought would come, it seems unreal.  During finals week, midterms, or the night before a paper deadline my diploma seemed light years away.  However, when I look back at college and all that God has done in my life I cannot help but feel nostalgic and realize my parents were right.  College was actually much shorter than I thought it would be.  Just when I was getting used to it, it finished.  The amount I matured as a person is more than I ever imagined.  I like to think that if the past me meet the future me, I would be very excited to grow up (mostly because I can grow a decent beard now).

Anyway, after some light reminiscing, I started thinking about what is coming next in my life.  In a couple of months I will be moving to China to serve with Friends of China.  After that, I do not know.  The best part of not knowing is that I am finally comfortable with not knowing.  It occasionally makes me anxious but the possibilities are endless much like God’s love for his people including me.

True North and the people I have met there have been the greatest blessing in my life.  My relationship with the Lord has grown beyond what I thought it could be, but I know I still have much learning to do.  True North is a church for area college students and young adults.  This means everyone is struggling with approximately the same issues I am.  This has been a great help to my faith.  It allows me to talk about the issues bothering me such as professors, classes, and deciding what I want to study with people of the same values and faith I have.  This is an experience I have come to appreciate more than I would have expected.   The friends I have developed because of these conversations will hopefully be with me the rest of my life and will at least affect me for that long.

The experiences I have had at True North will leave a lasting imprint on my life as well.  I had the experience of going to Bible studies that not only applied to my life but changed my view of the world.  I had the chance to prepare and give a sermon at True North.  I was able to present to high school seniors who were in the same place I was only a couple of years ago and expressed why God should be important in their lives, especially after high school.  I was able to help with outreach on campus by handing out flyers, participating in a Valentine’s Day Blood Drive, talking to hundreds of people during the Jesus Challenge, or just wearing a shirt with Jesus written on it.  God works through us in many ways and I have never felt it as readily as I did at True North.  God prepared me to have a genuine conversation about my faith with someone that is not a Christian while at True North, to share the hope I have.  My time at True North has helped me realize that God is the one in control, always.  I have grown so much as a Christian because of these and many more experiences God has blessed me with at True North.

When a couple of my friends and I were presenting at the local Lutheran high school, I was thinking back to my days when I was in the same shoes as these students hearing about why church after high school is important.  At that time, I did not take the presenter seriously.  I treated and thought about church like it was an item on my To-Do list.  I did it Sunday morning and checked it off for the week.  Only a couple years later would the Lord show me differently.  I would learn how important church and Christian friends are to help get through the obstacles and challenges of life.    They would remind me where I should put my trust by their encouragement as well as their attitudes and actions.  My non-Christian friends could not offer the same encouragement or hope but can only offer the fleeting comfort of this world found in the bottom of a bottle or heedless complaining.

The Lord has poured out so many blessings on me through True North and I could spend years talking about them.  However, the most important blessing that has been given to me, and everyone else, is his Son.  Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection give me the hope I need to get through the struggles college contained and that my future might hold.  My time at True North has helped me realize this truth and I pray future college students will be as blessed through True North and other campus ministries as I have been.

With confidence I, and you, can move forward in life knowing God is with us at all turns.  As Jeremiah 29:11 says “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Chris and Janine Pluger are volunteers with Lutheran Bible Translators with WELS’  mission in Zambia.  They are helping to translate the Bible into the Nsenga language.

Beginning on Monday, May 28th, nearly twenty mother-tongue speakers of the Nsenga language will gather at Chimwemwe Lodge in Petauke, Eastern Province, Zambia, for the Nsenga Bible Translation Project (NBTP) Translator Selection Workshop.

The main purpose of the weeklong workshop is to select three people to be full-time Mother Tongue Translators (MTTs) for the Nsenga project. In addition, the workshop will offer attendees instruction in the basic philosophy and practice of Bible translation, a chance to meet members of the NBTP Committee and the Bible Society of Zambia, and an idea about the day-to-day running of a Bible translation project.

“I’m really excited that God has blessed us with so many participants,” says Chris Pluger, the Exegete and Translation Advisor assigned to the NBTP. “At first we were worried that we would not have much of a response. But so many qualified applicants have stepped forward that it will be difficult to narrow it down to just three.”

The selection process includes tests in English reading comprehension (in order to test the candidates’ ability to make use of the many Bible translation resources written in English), basic Bible knowledge, Nsenga culture, as well as face-to-face interviews and an oral storytelling activity designed to evaluate fluency and naturalness in the Nsenga language.

Candidates will also work together in small groups to translate a portion of Scripture into clear, modern Nsenga – a very practical way for the committee and the representatives from the Bible Society to evaluate the candidates’ ability to perform the basic task of Bible translation as part of a team.

Once the three MTTs are chosen, they will receive further training in translation principles and also in ParaText, the Bible translation software used in projects around the world. It is the goal of the NBTP Committee to begin translation of the Holy Bible into the Nsenga language by the 1st of July 2012. This workshop is a big step in that direction.

“We pray that Almighty God will bless the translation project, and especially the translators, so that the word of God may come quickly to the hearts of the Nsenga people,” said Canon Father Fasten Y. Tembo, Chairman of the NBTP Committee.

Please join us in praying for the work of the Nsenga Bible Translation Project, especially during the week of this workshop.  Learn more about the Pluger’s ministry here.

Kristy Goodman serves as ESL Director at Sure Foundation Lutheran Church in Woodside, New York.

One of my favorite parts of teaching has always been getting to know my students. This has been especially true of my new position as the ESL teacher at Sure Foundation Lutheran Church in New York City.

The students who come to our ESL classes are primarily from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. Some are recent immigrants to the United States while others have lived here for quite a few years. As a graduate student living in uptown Manhattan, I get to see a very different picture of New York through my students’ eyes. Every week they bring new stories to class to share with me and their friends.

Ernesto, an older man from Mexico, often tells us long stories about the people that he encounters while making deliveries from the deli where he works. His job, where he works 7 days a week for 8 hours or more a day, takes him all over a 20 block area of the East Village.

Jenny comes almost every week with her son Juan who is a bright, energetic first grade student. Jenny is good at helping me remember the names of foods and customs from Ecuador where I studied abroad in college and where she calls home. She claims there isn’t a single good Ecuadorian restaurant in all of Queens.

Elsa, who has been a housewife most of her life, excitedly reported to me that she has a new job during a recent class. She’s very happy to be spending her days watching a neighbor’s baby. When I asked her how she got the new position, she told me that she met the baby’s mother at a bus stop one day and commented on how hard it must be to take the bus with a stroller. This led to a conversation that led to them discovering that they are both from Paraguay which led to the mother and Elsa’s new babysitting arrangement.

One of my most enthusiastic students has been Javier, a man from Honduras. He is eager not only to learn and practice English (he is the only student to have ever asked me for homework!) but also to learn and study God’s Word. Javier frequently comes to both the English and Spanish church services on Sunday morning and the Sunday evening service. He is working to read through the Bible in a year in both Spanish and English. It was Javier’s desire to learn English that first led him to church. He, like many of the other students, heard the Gospel during our ESL devotions leading to the Holy Spirit working faith in his heart.

The ESL classes continue to be a strong way to reach out to the community and bring new people in to share God’s love with. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to work in these students and that more new students come to learn English and, more importantly, about God’s love.

Dr. John Lawrenz serves as professor at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong.  He writes here about training workers around the world in biblical  Hebrew.

Recently Missionary John Lawrenz and his wife Phoebe spent two weeks in Nepal, a south Asian country that lies in the shadow of Mt. Everest.  In fact they spent April 13—New Year’s Day in Nepal—flying between rural Dhangadhi in western Nepal and the country’s better-known capital of Kathmandu.

Phoebe took part in a two week intensive biblical Hebrew class together with the WELS contact in Pakistan and his wife and the WELS contact in Nepal and his adopted daughter. Phoebe’s husband, Professor John C. Lawrenz of Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong did the teaching.

What year was ushered in on April 13?  According to the Kathmandu Post the year was 2069!   Since Phoebe and John were married in 1969, the year 2069 marked one hundred years of wedded bliss—a feat probably not to be repeated by any WELS missionary for some time to come.

Nepal counts its years, as do others in nearby India from the time of the legendary king Vikrama.  This Indian warrior led the peoples of South Asia in a great victory over the Scythian tribes who threatened from the north where they held sway all the way from China to the Danube River in Europe.  The victory occurred about 70 years before the birth of Christ and a century before the first Good Friday and Easter.

The valor of Vikrama is believed to rival that of the sun itself.  On April 8, five days before the Nepali New Year, the Lutheran congregation in Dhangadhi celebrated the death and resurrection of God’s “sun of righteousness with healing in his wings” (Malachi  4:2).

Very few Nepalis or Pakistanis celebrate Good Friday or Easter.  Christians who study the Hebrew Old Testament are probably unique in either country.  Nepal is 80% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 4% Muslim, and only a half percent Christian, making it one of the least Christian nations in Asia and the world.  Nepal’s 30 million people are dwarfed by the 177 million of Pakistan whose population is 97% Muslim and only a little more than 1% Christian.

Within the past decade contacts were made by Pastor Harold Essmann and Pastor Paul Hartman of WELS Multi Language Publications with believers in both countries.  Luther’s Small Catechism has now been printed in Nepali and will soon be published in Urdu, the language of Pakistan.  There is a popular Nepali and Urdu version of the half-hour WELS video “The Road to Emmaus.”  No WELS missionaries serve in either country, nor can they, because of political realities.

Teaching biblical languages to emerging churches in Asia is a goal of Asia Lutheran Seminary, the WELS mission seminary in Hong Kong.  ALS believes that every native church should have some leaders who have the ability to stand on the words of the prophets and apostles as they were inspired to write God’s Word in the original Hebrew and Greek.  All WELS pastors in America learn both languages as part of their training to serve WELS congregations.  Dr. Lawrenz has been teaching Hebrew in Hong Kong for the past seven years.

Eleanor Koester is a member at Peace Lutheran Church in Granger, Indiana.  Eleanor had an interest in Haitian missions and, together with the Peace Ladies Sewing Circle, put it into action.

I became interested in the Haiti mission work through WELS Connection and an article in Forward in Christ.    About the same time, I obtained a pattern for a simple dress for the orphans.  I have many scraps and useable pieces of fabric left from many projects. So I decided to experiment with making a dress.   I made three samples and showed them to the members of Peace Ladies Sewing Circle that I belong to.  They had been looking for something new to work on and became interested in the project.

I got into contact with Missionary to Haiti Terry Schultz. I asked if this was a project that would help the orphans.  He said it was a very worthwhile project.

Our sewing circle displayed several dresses to show our congregation and welcomed material or monetary donations.  Just before Easter I sent a box of 50 dresses to a WELS Kingdom Worker who was going to travel to Haiti and would take the dresses.

We recently received a letter of thanks from Missionary Schultz.  He wrote: “On Friday, April 13th, I arrived in Leogane, Haiti with all of the dresses you had made for the Haitian orphans.  After the Bible class with 11 orphanage headmasters (directors), the dresses were placed on the table, about a dozen at a time.  The headmasters took turns selecting dresses for their orphans.  I can hardly put into words how excited the headmasters were to receive the beautifully-made dresses!  They were simply thrilled!  The headmasters depend on donations to keep their children clothed.  The number of children in each orphanage ranges from 12 to 42.  Having enough clothes for the children is a never-ending  challenge.  The sizes of the dresses worked perfectly, as there are children of every age up through teenagers.

The children that I saw at four of the orphanages were completely excited to receive the unexpected gifts.  The dresses are assuredly the nicest article of clothing of each child that received one.  The children were excited yet shy and somewhat self-conscious to pose for photos.  They weren’t sure how to react to the unexpected, fabulous gifts!”

I was humbled by the letter from Missionary Schultz and the pictures.   I am thankful I can use the talent of sewing, that the Lord gave me, to bring joy and serve a useful purpose.