Rejoice and give thanks to God with us. The Haitian congregation in Santiago celebrated the adult confirmation of Wisler on Sunday, Feb 17. What a joy to confess publicly the unity we share through faith in Jesus!

May the Lord bless Wisler and all of us as we continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ.

The Lord bless you with His peace,
NW

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” These words from the book of Proverbs generally serve as a guide for Christian parents who seek to raise their children in a Christian home. However, there are two significant challenges in fulfilling this duty in the Hmong villages. The first is that most children do not have Christian parents to train them. The second challenge is that many children are sent far away from home to receive a free education at Buddhist temples simply because their parents cannot afford the cost of education in their home village.
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The Baan Ruam Thai 9 Hmong Lutheran Church is in its second year of a program to bring these children back home, and it ensures that these children are receiving Christian training and education in the process. The fittingly named “Bring the Children Home” project provides funding for families to send their children to school in their home village on weekdays. The children then spend Friday night through Sunday afternoon at the church. There the children are provided with not only food to eat and a safe place to sleep, but most importantly a Christian education from the village evangelists.

Each weekend, the evangelists teach about Biblical truths, alongside classes in Hmong literacy, music lessons, and much more. The evangelists in the Hmong villages work tirelessly to share God’s love. Instead of taking the weekends off, they are teaching Bible classes, along with instruction in music and Hmong literacy, to the many children who stay at the church over the weekend. In the process, these children are gaining very valuable skills which will prepare them for a life of Christian service. In a homeland that primarily worships and fears spirit gods, how sweet is the sound of these children at Sunday morning worship singing praises to the Great I AM! As the church continues to “bring the children home” to their families in Village 9, it is a great blessing to know that through the Christian training provided, these children are being prepared to be brought to a heavenly Home someday.

From February 3-5, when much of Brazil was busy celebrating Carnaval weekend, the ILB (Brazilian Lutheran Church) had the privilege of holding its first General Assembly. This gathering, similar to a Synod Convention was hosted by Estrela de Belém congregation in Dourados, MS. Although this General Assembly was very small compared to the conventions of larger church bodies, it was a significant first in the history of the ILB and an exciting time for the missionaries and leaders of the two Lutheran congregations that were represented.

For those who participated from Jesus Salvador congregation in Gravataí, RS, the events of this Assembly began already on Feb. 1 when the men went to the bus station and settled in for a 20 hour trip. After arriving in Dourados the following afternoon, delegates and representatives from both congregations enjoyed fellowship, the chance to get to know each other better, and the opportunity to get a good night’s sleep before the beginning of the Assembly.

The Assembly began on Saturday, February 3, and was conducted under the theme: “Perdoados, Temos Coragem!” (Forgiven, we have courage!). The presidential report revisited the many blessings that have been evident in the short history of the ILB and was followed by other items of business. Among the topics discussed were the logo of the ILB, the value of a Seminary training program to produce future called workers, and a lengthy discussion of how and where the ILB can concentrate their efforts to bring the Gospel to other locations in Brazil. Above all, however, the Assembly was an opportunity for spiritual brothers to grow in the Christian faith. Regular devotions, two Bible classes (on Forgiveness and Christian Courage), and joint worship with the Dourados congregation helped remind everyone why the ILB exists – to fortify those in the faith, and to reach out to those who don’t know Christ.

As the Assembly came to an end, those who participated could only give thanks to God for the time well-spent and the opportunity to grow together. Please take the time to thank God as well for the blessings he has poured out on the ILB!

Missionaries are also literally breaking new ground as they travel to their congregations this rainy season in Zambia.  They travel very muddy roads that at first glance look impassable, and sometimes they make it through, but sometimes they get stuck.
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The rainy season is record-breaking this year, with a number of roads and bridges being washed out and flooding in homes and fields.  One missionary who has a rain gauge said that we had already received more rain in December and January than the whole rainy season last year (typically it rains until March).  According to one of the national pastors it hasn’t rained this much since 1921.  I don’t know where he got that fact since he is not that old, and I wonder if they were keeping records here back then… but it sounds impressive doesn’t it? Another evidence of how much rain we have had is the fact that one large section of our “wall fence” fell down.   We have “wall fences” made from concrete blocks that surround our yards and serve as a form of security complete with barbed wire on the top and a big black metal gate to get in and out of the yard.  One night it rained really heavy and was very windy but Jason and I were not home at the time.  We came home, ate dinner and were getting ready for bed when we heard barking in our yard that was not the bark of our dogs.  Strange.  So, we went outside and the neighbor’s dogs are in our yard!   We walked around the corner of our house and saw: the other yard (when we normally just see a wall) because the wall separating the yards was completely down!  Yikes!  However, it was good because our neighbors are the mission guest house- so no problems there, it was just a big mess and took a lot of work to clean up and put back up.

Life is never dull, as God continues to give us new opportunities to break ground.  Please pray for the missionaries and national pastors here in Zambia as they travel to preach the word and break new ground spiritually in people’s hearts

The Zambian mission field is breaking new ground in several ways.  This blog is one of them and we are eager to share news and stories about the mission and life.

My name is Amanda Paltzer, and I am working here with my husband Jason in the recently established Lutheran Health and Development Program (www.healthlcca.com).  This program is a ground-breaker in the Zambian mission field aiming to support the gospel ministry of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA) and the Lutheran Mission Zambia (LMZ).  It has been growing over the past 4 years into an established part of the Zambian mission field.  Missionaries over the years have dealt with caring for the physical needs of their congregations along with their gospel ministry.  As the apostles assigned other men to this work of “waiting on tables” in Acts 6:1-6 to support their ministry, the Lutheran H&D program works to support the ministry in Zambia by building up the pastors and members of the church in education, health care, and supplying for some physical needs keeping Scripture as the foundation for all programs.  As this program is so new, it has gone through many successes and failures and the staff of 4 often has long meetings hashing out ideas, discussing areas for improvement, and encouraging each other.

New ground is also breaking for the missionaries here.  In January, Missionary Steve Lawrenz and his wife Lori moved to Blantyre, Malawi to begin serving the Malawi mission field.  Missionary Lawrenz has said that the changes are difficult and he is challenged with the language and getting to know the people he is serving.   Missionary John Holtz, his wife Mindy, and their two girls Rachel and Heather will also be moving soon to Lilongwe, Malawi to also begin serving the Malawi mission field.  Both of these families had to wait many months to get work permits to be allowed to live and work in the country, and now the Holtz’s are waiting for repairs on the house they will live in.  Please pray for these missionaries in their new work and the challenges they will face in a new ministry and environment.  Missionary Lawrenz served in Zambia for 21 years and Missionary Holtz for 10 years.

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