The LWMS visiting team has come home to the USA. Michelle Markgraf, Carol Egelseer, Sarah Malchow and Pastor Weiser arrived home on 26 April. Ima Udofia landed two days later, along with her husband Ikpe and son Anieti. They made a family trip of it, by flying along with Ima. And yes, it was great to get home again to the embrace of family and WELS friends.[slideshow=43]

But those who visit Africa know this, especially those who interact with our sisters and brothers in our mission partner churches. They know how it feels to leave a part of your heart with such loving people, in our case, with fellow Christians in Nigeria. Their welcome, their embraces and smiles, their bitter-sweet goodbyes make leaving an ambivalent activity.  Everyone asks the LWMS visitors to come back another time or makes vain promises of meeting us in America some day. But such wistful wishes end with a lift-off from the tarmac, and a realization that you may not see some of those people again until we meet on the common ground of heaven.

The LWMS team of women had a great visit with sisters in our Nigerian churches, and they did a wonderful job of teaching and interacting. I think it’s safe to say the impact of this April field visit will last for years. And it was worth the cost of leaving a piece of your heart in Nigeria. Hear all about the mission trip at the LWMS convention in Tucson in June.