Join us in giving thanks and praise to God as we celebrate the birth of our new little girl, Noelle Grace!

Noelle arrived on Friday, October 24th, and is a super sweet, snuggly baby – the perfect addition to our family! We’re going to baptize her this Sunday.

God certainly works in amazing ways…I always wanted children, but never, ever would’ve guessed that I’d have two babies while living in Mexico! We are extremely thankful for our two healthy laguneras (name given to people born in our region of Mexico).

“I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

Thailand is a country with an abundance of fruit.  Some of these fruits, such as bananas, oranges, and pineapples, are common to the Western tastebud.  Venture into a local street market and you’ll likely be introduced to some new ones as well (dragonfruit, rambutan, and jackfruit, just to name a few).  Regardless of its shape, size, and taste, there’s something important to remember that holds true for all fruit: it needs a connection in order to grow.  The same is true for God’s people: good fruit is borne from a continual connection with God’s Kingdom, deeply rooted in the Word of God.[slideshow=81]

The WELS Thailand Mission recently hosted a stewardship seminar in Chiang Mai to nurture and encourage its growing national workforce of “branches” serving throughout the region.  The two-day seminar began with a communion service, during which special recognition was given to all in attendance formally called to serve the Lord in various capacities — missionaries, pastors, vicars, evangelists, and interns.  The number of people within the ranks of the church who stood to receive this recognition was strikingly larger than it would have been just a few years ago, a testament to the Lord’s faithfulness to the mission.

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I finally made it back to Africa, but only for a couple weeks.  Missionary Jeff Enderle and I spent two weeks in Nampula, Moçambique working to sort out the registration of our Lutheran Mission, and also gathering more specific information regarding potential homes, vehicles, and schools for our children.

Our registration has been a trying process.  Twice in the past three years we have been invited by Moçambique’s Department of Religious Affairs to register our mission and begin work, yet we still have not finished the process.  Just prior to this trip, we assembled all of the information and paperwork we thought would be necessary to finish our registration application, and we had high hopes that when we returned to Portugal, we would return with our application completed.  And, during the two weeks, as we worked with the Department of Religious Affairs, it seemed everything would be completed.  However, on the Thursday before leaving Nampula, we found out that we had been misled as we had been given the instructions for registering a church, not the instructions for registering a foreign mission.

While this was very discouraging, it also led to some self-examination and I believe we simply have moved too slowly since we were first invited to register in February 2005.  Since the first invitation to register, the Chief of the Department of Religious Affairs has retired, and many policies and guidelines have changed.  So, we are left to cope with the changes and re-organize ourselves.  I am still confident we will finish the process, it will just take a few more months than planned.  The main delay is that we are now required to have a list of signatures of 500 Moçambican resident-members of our organization who in effect are petitioning the government to grant our registration.  This is one of the new and very recent requirements for registration.  Fortunately, because of the ministry in the border regions of Moçambique near Malawi, we will be able to collect these signatures; it will just take a few weeks to finish this work.  Then we will reprint all of our other documents and have them all notarized again (always a requirement in Portugal and Moçambique) and then head to Maputo to submit our application.

During our stay in Nampula we were very happy to find that our children will be able to Read more ›

We are happy to report that WELS Kingdom Workers has sent a volunteer to Russia. Jason Franklin arrived on September 24th. Jason will serve as a business manager for the Russian mission. There is a lot of business that goes along with mission work, and Jason is here to help Missionary Luke Wolfgramm with that aspect of the field. We have been getting to know Jason little by little. He is a capable, energetic, fun-loving guy who is willing to serve.

The second day he was here I gave him instructions on how to take public transportation from the apartment where he is living in Akademgorodok to our apartment in Berdsk. He did it! He found his own way to church on Sunday. He fearlessly tries out the Russian words he knows and strikes up conversations with people. He has had his first Russian language class. I’ll call him up tonight to find out how it went. I know he was excited for it.

We are looking forward to getting to know him and having his administrative help in the church. We are also looking forward to the Friday night Bible studies we have planned with him in English. Thank you, WELS Kingdom Workers, for sending Jason. And thank you, Jason, for being willing to serve!

Upcoming Chat and Live Streamed Service

Multi-Language Publications and Cristo Palabra de Vida , our WELS Spanish outreach ministry is partnering to bring two events to our Spanish speaking WELS members. Pastor Gonzalo Degadillo writes with excitement in anticipation of the celebration:

“Spanish speaking WELS members will celebrate the 491 years of the Reformation with the following two events:

1. Chat about the 491 years of the Reformation on Tuesday October 28, at 8 p.m. central. Members from different parts of the world are already invited.   Those who do not have an advanced knowledge of Spanish are also invited to visit.

2. Live streaming service on Friday October 31, at 7 p.m. central. The service will be celebrated at Risen Savior, Milwaukee, WI”  Visit CristoPalabra.wels.net or streams.wels.net for more information.