“He must become greater; I must become less.” – John 3:30

For the first time in writing updates for the past two years, it’s time to use the word “I.”

That’s not to say that I haven’t been writing mission updates from my own vantage point.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.  I have been present for the joyful baptisms, the exciting outreach opportunities to share the gospel with people who had never heard it before, the jubilant desire of new Christians to share the love of God with everyone they know, the ordination of the mission’s first national pastors, the prayerful commitment of national workers to carry out the Great Commission despite great financial strain, etc.  In short, I am a witness to the powerful work of our Almighty Lord.

It has been a blessing and privilege to see the Lord’s grace and favor so evident in the lives of people I have come to know and love these past two years.  I have been refreshed in spiritual living through walking with my brothers and sisters in the faith, both nationals as well as the foreign mission team.  I have been challenged in my understanding of living my life for Jesus as I’ve seen faith expressed in many unique and beautiful ways.  And I have been emboldened in my resolve to share God’s love with others, as I’ve witnessed others boldly doing the same for family and friends still living in spiritual darkness.

As I return home, knowing that I will treasure all these things in my heart for the rest of my lifetime, I can’t help but give thanks to God for the opportunity he has given me to be a witness to His work in Thailand.  In coming here to serve Him, He, in fact, continued to serve me.  How great is our God and worthy of praise!

This past week we had news of the death of a young woman we had known from the time she was one year old. As an infant she had been adopted by a young couple in the congregation where we were serving. Her parents brought her to church where she took instruction classes and became a confirmed member of the congregation. This past week her time of grace came to and end.

We all hope for a long and full life, but when we look at the world around us we see that this is not always the case. Our lives are truly not our own, and when as believers we realize the price at which we were bought, it fills our lives with joy and thankfulness and gives us purpose in all we do.

How faithful and generous God was to this young girl, using her parents to bring her to the Word so she could know her Savior. Every day our Savior puts people in our path, souls to be witnessed to and given the opportunity to hear about Jesus’ life of fulfilling the Law for us and giving His life in exchange for us to enjoy eternity in heaven.

This is what motivates us to witness to all those who live around us. Sometimes our actions and words seem like they have little or no effect, but we trust that God is working. He is continually holding His arms out to a lost and fallen world. What an amazing task the Lord has committed to us. (Amazing that in spite of our sinfulness he would even consider us to handle his precious gospel). We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

God used these parents to bring his gospel to the heart of their adopted daughter. May he also use us to witness to many others, to make his appeal – through us – to a fallen world.

Kathryn Strackbein

This letter, written to WELS President Rev. Mark Schroeder, by a visitor to a WELS home mission congregation in the Denver area. 

Dear President Schroeder,

You wrote of the Convention agenda, “But all of those discussions will revolve around how we can best use God’s resources to carry out our mission of preserving and proclaiming God’s truth.”

I have just returned from a ‘road trip vacation.’  My wife and I worshipped in our church at Grand Junction Colorado one Sunday and at Denver the next.  It is of the Denver church, Christ Lutheran Church that I will comment.

The congregation, which I found through our synod website, is a mission, meeting in a low-income part of town. The building is far from imposing, a former store. Mrs. Eileen Zanto, trained as a teacher, had given me telephone help the night before and explained that she had been the pianist and coordinator (organizer of guest pastors) of the mission for the eight established Denver congregations for some nine years.  She was very helpful.
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This blog entry is written by Cathy Meier, wife of Mr. Bill Meier. Meier and Rev. Jeff Enderle accepted calls in 2007 to serve as WELS’ first missionaries to Mozambique; however, due to synodwide budget cuts, the two-man team has been recalled. They and their families had been in Portugal for the past year and a half to learn Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique.

Since the budget cuts were made at the beginning of May, my mind keeps coming back to the same phrase, “Once a missionary…always a missionary.”  There is no doubt that our lives have really changed direction.  We are no longer going to Mozambique to open up a WELS mission there.  Instead we find ourselves back in the States.  Even though we had fair warning that there was a good chance the Mozambique field would be cut, it was still a shock to get the news.  Oh how our hearts yearn for the people of Mozambique who do not know their Savior and we are left with many unanswered questions.  Who will go and tell them if we don’t?  When will WELS have the opportunity to go there again?  How could this happen? Read more ›

We are so thankful to the Lord for the special blessings we received during our experience at the recent LWMS Annual Convention in Denver.  What a whirlwind few days that became the culmination of our plans and dreams over a year in the making.

When we were informed that our congregation was chosen to be the recipient of the Kid’s C.A.R.E. offering, we were thrilled!   As a special expression of our thanks, I had the dream of bringing our church choir to sing at the LWMS convention.  After much planning and preparation, our group of 21 souls met at Peace In Jesus in Boise at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 25th.  We all prayed together, asking God to be with us, protect us, and bless our proclamation of God’s praise at the convention.  We were on the road by 6, and pulled in to Denver thirteen hours later.  We were tired, but thankful and excited for what the next day might bring.