On Saturday, August 22nd, members from the Kenosha, Wisc. area congregations gathered at Shoreland Lutheran High School in Somers, WI, in support of world missionary families returning to the States.  The event was being held to help Missionary Dan & Karen Kroll and family.  

When the Kroll family would come home on furlough every two years, they would invite friends and family together for a cook-out at their furlough house.   It was a great way for them to see many people and stay in contact with them on a consistent basis.   When Missionary Kroll learned that he was coming back to the States, there were so many things the family had to consider to reestablish their lives here that the cook-out took a backseat to everything else.

A family friend thought it would be a nice gesture to continue the furlough cook-out tradition on their behalf, hoping it would allow friends and family an opportunity to gather and show their love and support for the Krolls.   The friend mentioned the idea to her pastor, which he then mentioned to the other Kenosha area pastors.  They loved the idea of helping this missionary family, and they asked that their congregations have the opportunity to be involved as well. Read more ›

The city of Puebla, located in central Mexico, was Mike’s last stop on his tour around Mexico.

For his visit, the three small congregations in Puebla held a joint service. After the service, the women served pozole, a popular soup in Mexico (check out this recipe for chicken pozole).

Here’s more info on the congregations -

Cristo Glorificado (Glorified Christ), the largest of the three congregations, is served by student pastor Gonzalo Rodriguez. During Mike’s visit, there was an adult confirmation at the congregation – the first one since Gonzalo began serving the congregation earlier this year.

Iglesia de Cristo (Christ Lutheran) amd Solo Cristo Salva (Christ Alone Saves) are served by Vicar Carlos Rosales. He and his family live in the downstairs of the church building for Solo Cristo Salva (pictured above).

Carlos and his wife Vicki are very proud parents of Ezra, born July 7th. Ezra is a big baby, and they jokingly called him bebesaurio (baby dinosaur). I love his cute crocheted sleeper!

It took seven years. But if you ask me, it was worth the wait.  And judging from all the joyful comments, the crowd was thinking the same: “God has really blessed us!” “This is history in the making!” “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

On September 13, 2009, members from five area congregations gathered at Mtendere Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA) in Lilongwe, Malawi for the installation and ordination of Pastor Stanley Daile.  It is a day that will long be remembered.

Behind Stanley are three years at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi, three years at the Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia and one year of congregational work as a Vicar back in Malawi.  The years spanned from 2002 to 2009. Seven long years culminated into a day that exploded with blessing and emotion.

Pastor Doug Weiser, WELS liaison to our sister churches in Nigeria, shares a story from Mrs. Johnny’s clinic, Uruk Uso, Nigeria.

We sincerely thank the people of WELS for the support towards our Childbirth Clinic construction.

I am glad to inform you that the construction of Mrs. Johnny’s childbirth clinic is still in progress, and we are working seriously towards the accomplishment of this goal. We have been able to round up the blocks work with the funds sent, hoping to continue from there soon.

We thank the Lord almighty for his blessings, opportunity granted my mother to save lives through child delivery and medications. We had new converts yesterday at CTKLC (Christ the King Lutheran Church), Uruk Uso as a result of Mrs. Johnny preaching to patients during treatment.

There is a story I want to share with you and WELS Humanitarian Aid Committee about how God used Mrs. Johnny to save Mrs Ikponke Ikpe Moses (a pregnant woman). She came to my mother for treatment and child delivery, after treatment by traditional healers failed.  Read more ›

Mike just got back from taking a tour around Mexico. He spent two weeks visiting various congregations, preaching, and giving a presentation about the IELC (abbreviation for the Mexican church body).

During the next few posts here, I’ll include updates from some of the places he went.  Let’s start with Sonora. Mike gave his trip there an A+. Here’s the scoop:

Activity abounds in Sonora. Missionary Ron Baerbock (pictured above on left) oversees two congregations there. He also helps maintain several preaching stations.

There’s so much work there that the Mexican Lutheran Church recently called two pastors to help serve the congregations. They’ll head there in January. The people in Sonora are extremely excited about the new arrivals.

Mike spent five days in Sonora. He gave his presentation 4 different times to a total of slightly more than 200 people. Here are some pictures from his visit: