This blog has moved...

If you follow this blog, you've noticed it hasn't been updated for a while.  Sorry about that.

We invite you to follow new ministry updates on these blogs:

www.latteontheroad.blogspot.com  --  Ministry updates on the work of the WELS Latin American Traveling Theological Educators team (LATTE).  This blog focuses on the ministerial education that is going on in the national churches of Latin America in fellowship with WELS, including periodic updates on the Dominican Republic.

www.welsinbolivia.blogspot.com  --  Missionary Phil Strackbein and his wife Kathy were relocated from the Dominican Republic to Bolivia to assist a national church there more directly.  This blog focuses on the ministry and culture there.

Please note that the ministry here in the Dominican Republic continues through national pastors, even though their work may not be updated here.  So please keep the gospel ministry here in your prayers!  We thank God for you!

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
Missionary Wagenknecht

Mother's Day for Sandra

Sandra's father died when she was eight years old. He had been suffering from leukemia for over a year and she had watched the disease ravage his weakened body. Homemade remedies and pills of different sizes and colors became quite common until he no longer had any strength left to fight off the disease.

Sandra's mother was left alone, with six small children and another one on the way. Without work and no income, she had no way to continue supporting all her young ones. Her first thought was to "farm out" the children to different relatives even though her husband's dying wish was to keep the family together. Plans were set in motion to send the children to different relatives.

Then Merecedes, a lady from the community, stepped forward and offered to take all five of the girls. Sandra's mother agreed, and so it was that Sandra was raised by Mercedes along with her four sisters. Mercedes honored the dying wish of Sandra's father.

Some time later Sandra's mother remarried. Sandra hoped and hoped that now that her mother was no longer on her own she would come for her children and reunite her family since they were still living in the same town. This did not happen. Her mother eventually had two more children with her new husband, but never approached Sandra, her sisters or Mercedes.

Sandra grew up under Mercedes' care and married and started a family of her own. Her husband, Alex, is a seminary student in the WELS and studies with LATTE professors. Alex began talking to Sandra about God's agape love, how much He has loved us, how much He has forgiven us.

This concept of agape love was a difficult struggle for Sandra. Years of resentment and rejection against her mother had built up inside her heart. "How could a mother treat her own children way? Why didn't she come for us once she had the means to do so?" Alex patiently repeated to her the truth of God's forgiveness and His agape love. A tear forms in Sandra's eye and her chin begins to quiver. "Then I began to understand how unfair I was being with my mother. I was harboring anger in my heart and sinning against my Savior. Continually I sinned against Him with my anger and He just kept forgiving me. How could I point my finger at my mother?"

Does Sandra still struggle with the pain and anger? "Yes, there are days when the memories creep back into my mind. Sometimes the same questions go round and round in my head. Many days I forget about God's love and how many, many times He has forgiven me. But the Holy Spirit brings me back. He shows me the cross".

Sandra is planning a trip out to the "campo" where her mother is living. She doesn't visit very often and hasn't seen her for a while. But a desire is starting to form in her heart. She wants to talk to her mother about this agape love.

Encourage One Another

One of the important aspects of teaching is to encourage the student to do his best, using and developing all the talents that the Lord has given. Each student has been blessed with a unique set of abilities and brings different talents and life experiences to the classroom. As teachers, we encourage them to develop these capacities and use them to their fullest in their ministries.

In the classroom the students are encouraged to ask questions, to share experiences, doubts and concerns so they may grow in their knowledge of the Word. The teacher can encourage the student and the students encourage each other to trust in the Lord.

All of our students here in the DR are active in ministry. They spend their mornings in seminary class and dedicate their afternoons and evenings to doing ministry among their people, preaching and teaching, encouraging their members with the Word. We try to attend as many of these services as we can to listen to their sermons and classes, watching them interact with their members and discussing with them any counseling sessions they may be having.

What a blessing to watch them grow in their work, in their ability to use their talents to serve and in their ability to see opportunities to encourage others with the Word. What a blessing for us to be able to encourage them in this work.

"Encourage one other and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing".

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the many Easter cards we have received. Mail is slow here, so the Easter cards are still coming in. Thank you for all of YOUR encouraging words. Each card reminds us of your love, of your desire to encourage us so that the saving Gospel may continue to be spread among the people here. Thank you for encouraging us!

Encouragement

One of the important aspects of teaching is to encourage the student to do his best, using the talents that the Lord has given. Each student has different abilities and life experiences that they bring to the classroom and to their work. As a teacher, we try to help each student develop these talents and learn how to use them in their ministries.

Watching the students in their own environment helps to evaluate how they are doing. The teacher is able to observe how the student interacts with the members of his group, how he is delivering his sermons and classes and ask about any counseling sessions they are carrying out with their members.

All of our students here in the DR are active in ministry. They dedicate their mornings to seminary classes and use their afternoons and evenings to study and to reach out with the gospel. Whenever possible, we attend these classes and services to better be able to encourage the students in their ministry.

What a blessing to watch them grow in the work, to watch the members grow in their trust of their leaders. "Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing".

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who have sent us Easter cards. Mail is slow here, so the Easter cards are still coming in. Thank you to all of you for YOUR words of encouragement. Every card reminds of your love and we thank you for all your prayers, they are deeply appreciated. Thank you for encouraging us!

Farewell

This past week the Dominican mission said goodbye to another of its faithful workers. On April 2, Nate Wagenknecht left the field after having lived and worked here for three years.

The members of the church gathered to say farewell, giving him a plaque of recognition and gratitude for his labor of love among them. Many happy memories were shared and smiles of joy and comfort as we mutually assured each other that if not in this life, then in heaven we would once again enjoy each other's company.

The people will all miss Nate's cow jokes (What do you call a cow when it lies down? Ground beef), his smiles and cheerful nature, his faithful and godly wisdom and counsel.

Thank you, Nate, for all your work and efforts in this mission field. We wish you God's blessings on your new endeavors. May He lift you up on eagle's wings and always hide you beneath the shadow of His wing.

Spreading the Word

Two times in two months on two different trips two strangers bump into each other on an airplane.

Two months ago, LATTE professor Philip Strackbein went on a teaching trip. On the airplane leaving the Dominican Republic he sat next to a man by the name of Andy who was passing through from Europe on a business trip. During the two hour long trip, he had an opportunity to witness to Andy, talking to him about sin and the Savior using Scripture to answer his questions and doubts about spiritual matters.

This week, two months later, Philip was on a different teaching trip. When he boarded the plane, he found surprisingly that he was again seated near to Andy who was also traveling. Once again, he had the opportunity to witness to his new friend. This time he gave him a DVD of a personal presentation of the law/gospel message to take home with him and to share with his family.

We are the Lord’s servants and He uses us to spread his message of salvation in Jesus the Savior. Two times he placed the same two strangers together so Andy could hear this beautiful gospel message. We pray that the Holy Spirit use these two witnessing opportunities to create faith in Andy’s heart, so he too may enjoy heaven eternally. And we pray that Andy, too, will speak to others of the Savior so the Word may reach others in his home town.

by Kathy Strackbein

World Missions shifts resources to reach more people with the gospel

The following quote is from President Mark Schroeder's "Together" e-newsletter to the WELS, November 3, 2008:

The Board for World Missions (BWM) continually discusses and plans how best to use the resources available for foreign mission work. The BWM has often stated that these decisions should be made for "strategic" rather than for financial reasons. In other words, the board is always looking for ways to get the gospel to as many people as possible. It also strives to plant mission churches that will be able to flourish independently after WELS missionaries leave. Sometimes this approach requires shifting missionary manpower and funding from one field to another—not because the funding for World Missions has been reduced, but because the opportunities in one field may appear to be more abundant than in another. Certainly, all of these decisions involve the prayerful use of sanctified human judgment.

In its October meeting, the BWM considered new opportunities such as those in Asia, as well as factors "on the ground" in several existing mission fields. The board made a decision to reallocate some of their resources. Support for mission work in Bulgaria and Albania will be reduced; two missionary positions in Latin America (a missionary in the Dominican Republic and one of the positions in the Latin American Traveling Theological Educators team) will also be vacated. The financial resources that had been allocated for these areas have been reallocated to other promising mission efforts in eastern and southern Asia. In addition, the BWM will continue to work with people in the reduced fields to help them adjust to the new circumstances and to make sure that the spiritual needs of our fellow Christians continue to be met.

What does this mean for our WELS mission in the Dominican Republic?

As President Schroeder explains, as faithful stewards of the offerings of God's people, the Board for World Missions is called on to direct its resources to areas where it appears the Lord is opening the door to share the gospel with the greatest number of people.  Our WELS mission in the Dominican Republic is being suspended in order to redirect manpower and funding to other also promising mission fields.

Since October, the DR mission team has been working toward a smooth transition to turn the work completely over to the Dominican and Haitian congregations.  This means:

• the WELS Kingdom Worker sponsored EFL program ended in December.  Volunteer Vanessa King returned to continue her studies at Martin Luther College.  Volunteer Julie Majerus accepted reassignment to the EFL program in Mexico.
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• DR Missionary Shiloh Monday accepted a stateside Call to pastor St. Mark Lutheran Church in Salina, Kansas.  He and his family left the field on December 20.
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• LATTE Missionary and DR field coordinator Nathan Wagenknecht (that's me) accepted redeployment to assist the seminary program in Brazil.  I will remain in the DR until my Brazilian visa is approved.
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• LATTE Missionary Philip Strackbein and his wife Kathy will remain in the DR for another 2 or 3 years to finish the seminary education of our current four students.
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• As of December 1, all five congregations are being pastored by Dominican or Haitian men and will continue their gospel ministry.

While it is certainly sad for those of us who have or will be leaving to say farewell we REJOICE that the Gospel seed has been planted and cultivated here in the DR for the past 15 years.

We TRUST in the Lord that he will bless the preaching of his Word through the local congregations who remain and will faithfully continue their ministries.

We PRAY that the Lord bless the many souls in other mission fields who will be better served as resources are redirected their direction.  May Christ's saving name be proclaimed and glorified throughout the world!

The Lord bless you with his Peace,

NW

Prayer for Latin America Traveling Theological Educators team

Lord of the living harvest, bless the labors of the LATTE team, a team of missionaries aiding in the seminary training and continuing theological education of national pastors throughout Latin America.  Bless especially their efforts to use modern technology and the internet to offer their classes in various countries at once in the near future, even as rising travel costs make it difficult to be present personally and teach their students face to face.  Thank you for giving us modern technology to be used as a tool in the spread of your saving gospel.

Amen.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,

NW

Translation into French

As has been mentioned in previous posts, our mission in the DR has the blessing of being a stepping stone into Haiti -- even though Haiti is not currently an official mission field of the WELS. One challenge, however, is that none of our missionaries speaks French. That means we entrust the work into the capable hands of our Haitian brothers who are studying with us (in Spanish).

As our Haitian students look to the future, they want to take the Gospel with them back into Haiti and start a national church there. One step in the process is translating our current materials from Spanish into French. What a blessing the Lord has provided in Rona Abraham! (To see other posts about Rona, click on "Rona" in the list of labels below.) He is a LATTE graduate now working on his engineering degree here in Santiago so that he can return to Haiti and support himself with a job as a professional while also sharing the freedom he knows in Christ with his fellow Haitians.

In the meantime, he is working faithfully at translating resources into French. He has completed the majority of courses for the Bible Institute (pre-seminary), various Evangelism resources and Bible studies, and will soon start on seminary level courses.

Join us in asking the Lord to bless his efforts, to give him wisdom and insight as he wrestles to force our Spanish books to speak French, and for continued funding for his translation projects. We trust that these resources will be blessings for the Haitian church for years and years to come.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

Praise Him with the Keyboard

Presently, there are several people receiving training to play hymns with the chord method of piano playing. Each of the students is a member of one of our congregations and our goal is that in the future we will have people able to read music and lead the members in singing and praise with musical instruments.

We would like to give our deepest thanks to Roxanne Martens (wife of LATTE Missionary Ralph Martens) who wrote the music course that the students are using. She wrote the program herself and gave us permission to reproduce it to train more people. So far it is working well and the students are making good progress.

We thank the Lord for gifted people like Roxanne who are willing to share their talents with the church, and we thank God who bestows musical talents on His believers and fills their hearts with the desire to praise Him by learning to play hymns to His glory.

[ The above was written by Kathy Strackbein. We thank the Lord for her service as well. --NW]

Where shall I serve, O Lord?

Rona Abraham is our first seminary graduate in the Dominican Republic. (Read other posts about Rona by clicking here.) He graduated in July and was so excited about returning to his home country of Haiti to share the life-saving Gospel with so many who are still lost in sin and unbelief. But...

...Rona may not be able to carry out his plans. He intended to return to Haiti and start a "tent ministry" -- sharing the Gospel while supporting himself with a secular job. With his seminary diploma giving him the title of "licenciado" (equivalent to a bachelor's degree), he planned to get a job as a teacher. But...

...He recently found out that since our seminary is not yet registered as an "institution of higher education" with the Dominican government, his degree is not recognized. Without a degree, he cannot get a job. Without a job, he cannot support himself in Haiti. So...

...In the DR, we are looking into the requirements to register our seminary so that we can confer degrees that will be recognized and accepted. In the meantime, we ask for your prayers:

• that the Lord would bless our efforts to register the seminary
  
• that the Lord would guide Rona to know where and how He wants him to serve
• that the Lord would direct us as we consider other alternatives

James reminds us to say, "If it is the Lord's will" when we make our plans for the future (James 4:15). We know that all things are in His hands -- His good and gracious hands! We, therefore, trust Him to bless Rona's ministry wherever that may be.

(The above was first posted at our sister blog "LATTE on the Road". For more information about our LATTE travels in other countries, click here.)

The Lord bless you with His peace,
NW

Freddy Antonio Aquino

Freddy Aquino is a young man studying at our seminary in the Dominican Republic. Raised in the Pentecostal church, he was studying at a Nazarene institute when he met Julio, another of our seminary students, back in 2002.

Through Julio, Freddy studied the Bible and was confirmed in the Christian faith in 2003. He immediately began Bible Institute (pre-sem) studies, which he finished in early 2006.

As an example of his love for the Gospel and desire to share its life-saving power with others, Freddy left the his job and "comfort zone" of family and friends in San Pedro and moved with his wife Elizabet and infant son Freilin to Santiago (where they didn't know anyone) to attend our seminary. It was a major change in their life, but they have settled in and enjoy the support of their "new" family, fellow Christians in the seminary and local congregation.

We pray for the Lord's blessings on Freddy's growth in the Word, his service to God's people and his family's joy and contentment.

(By the way, this post can also be found on our fellow blog "LATTE on the Road" -- click here.)

The Lord bless you with His peace,
NW

Prayer suggestions

What a marvelous blessing prayer is! Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, invites us to pray with the same confidence and persistence as dear children talk to, ask and thank their loving father. Jesus teaches to call on God as "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give hims a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11)

Occasionally brothers and sisters in Christ ask us what they should pray for on behalf of our mission. Following are some suggestions, but is by no means exhaustive:

• Pray for the Latin American national churches that are striving to grow and become self-supporting sister churches of WELS: the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mexico, the Evangelical Lutheran Confessional Church in Puerto Rico, and those in Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Brazil.
• Ask God’s blessings on the LATTE team as they help spread the gospel in Latin America: Missionaries Schlomer, Martens, Retberg, Strackbein, and Wagenknecht.
• Thank the Great Shepherd of the sheep for the seminarians and national pastors serving him in the Dominican Republic: Rona Abraham, Obed Bazin, Julio Corporan, Alexander Torres, Freddy Aquino, Robert Helve, and Elise Abraham.
• Call on our God of grace to bless Missionary Monday's ministry, to watch over the Monday family and to grant them joy.
  
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen and keep the members of our congregations -- most of whom are first generation Christians, or at least first generation confessional Lutherans -- in the true Christian faith until they receive the crown of life in heaven.
• Ask our loving, perfect Father to help Christian parents raise their children in the "training and admonition of the Lord".
• Seek the Lord's favor on Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) congregation in Moca as they look for their own permanent building to dedicate to the Lord's service.
  

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

One point of comparison

As one of the professors in our Dominican seminary, I thank the Lord every time I get to see the students progress in their understanding of Scripture and grow in their faith. This week I got to see some evidence of that growth once again.

One of the classes I teach is called "Hermeneutics" in which we study how to interpret the Bible. The number one rule is really to let the Bible interpret itself, in other words, let the Bible speak for itself. The Bible says what it means, and means what it says.

This week we discussed how the Bible often uses illustrations and comparisons to teach a spiritual truth. Figures of speech are common in literature, in teaching, even in our daily conversations. So it should be no shock that they are common in the Bible too, to help us understand. When we make comparisons, we really intend only one point of comparison; we don't intend the person we're talking with to go off and make comparisons for every little detail. For example, if I say my nephew is growing like a weed, you understand that I mean he's growing very fast. That's the one point of comparison. Anything beyond that--that he has green skin, prickly stickers, or roots growing out of his feet--is going too far.

That applies to illustrations and comparisons in the Bible too. We used the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as an example. It is not uncommon to hear people explain the parable, saying that mankind is the man who was beaten up, robbed and left for dead, the devil is the robber, Jesus is the Good Samaritan who treats our wounds with oil and wine (Jesus' blood), etc. While those are interesting ideas, that's not the point of the story!

Looking at the situation when Jesus told the story, we see that Jesus told it to point out to the teacher of the law that he had *not* loved his neighbor as himself, as he had just claimed. Jesus is showing him how far he had fallen short by not showing mercy to others as the Good Samaritan did in the story. That's the one point of comparison. Anything beyond that is going too far.

Mankind was beaten up by the devil and left for dead in our sins? Yes. But that's not the point of this parable. Jesus has loved us, shown us his amazing mercy, and saved us by washing away our sins with his blood? Yes. But that's not the point of this parable. These truths are found in *other* parts of Scripture, often using *other* parables and illustrations.

After using a few other examples to apply the same principle, I got to see the light turn on. The men started applying this "one point of comparison" principle on their own, even correcting each other as loving brothers when they noticed someone was going beyond the simple, obvious point of comparison.

I thank the Holy Spirit for leading us to see and understand that the Bible says what it means, and means what it says, with simple, straightforward language.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

First seminary graduation, part II

This past Sunday, July 22, we celebrated the first seminary graduation for the DR field. Join us in thanking the Lord for providing for and protecting Rona Abraham during his years of seminary training. I encourage you to click on the label "Rona" at the end of this post to see other posts about him (or simply click here).

In contrast to many seminaries that exist today simply as "schools of religion", our seminary exists for the sole purpose of training men to serve in the public ministry of the church -- just as the Apostle Paul wrote to his coworker Timothy, "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2).

We celebrate the Lord's goodness in supplying his church with these "reliable men who are also qualified to teach others." Please join us in praying for:

• … God’s blessings on Rona’s future ministry in Haiti.
• … our five other seminarians – Obed, Julio, Freddy, Helve, Alex -- who will be returning to class on Aug 6.
• … more workers in the Lord’s harvest field (Matthew 9:37,38).

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

Back from teaching trip

God is good.

He granted me safe travels during a ten day teaching trip to another country. I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with other pastors and study the book of Galatians with them, translating and interpreting it on the basis of the original Greek. Martin Luther compared the book of Galatians to his wife, saying "I am married to it!" Such was his love for the pure gospel the book teaches -- that God declares us "Not guilty!" purely because of the merits of Christ; thus we are FREE IN CHRIST.

Please pray for Pastors Frank, Catalino, Vladimir, Carlos, their families and their ministries. Despite the many man-made obstacles they face where they serve, the Lord is blessing the preaching of his Word. We pray he guards, protects and encourages them at all times.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

First Seminary Graduate

Thanks be to God for being with Rona Abraham, our soon-to-be first seminary graduate here in the DR. We ask the Lord to bless him as he plans to return to Haiti this summer to share the Gospel with his fellow Haitians. His planned departure, however, leaves a vacancy in the Haitian congregation here in Santiago where he was serving as a student-pastor.

To fill the vacancy, the Haitian congregation met and called Helve Robert, another Haitian seminary student, to serve as their shepherd. We praise God for providing this gift to the church, another humble servant who will lead God's people to see Jesus their Savior. Please join us in praying for the Lord's blessings on Student-Pastor Helve's ministry.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

PS -- My apologies for not updating last week :-( I'll spare you my list of excuses :-)))

Seminary Fellowship Day

LATTE professors are working in Santiago training six future leaders for the church in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The men study seminary courses every weekday and also participate in church and evangelism activities.

Several times a year we plan Fellowship Days in which the students, teachers and their families spend some time together – playing, eating, and sharing their faith.

The day begins with a short devotion in which everyone joins their hearts and voices in praise to God for all His blessings. The devotion is followed by an activity of interest to all which is related to the work of the church.

After this activity, the group breaks up for games and fun. The children enjoy stories, puzzles and games. The favorite game for the men is dominoes. The women are learning different board games. This is a great time to strengthen the bonds of friendship between our families and become more united in our goal of growing up in Christ.

Three cultures - Dominican, Haitian, American – all coming together to serve the Lord and extend His gospel to all nations. People from three countries, three cultures, three languages all one in Christ, united to serve Him.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

(Submitted by Kathy Strackbein. Thanks, Kathy!)

Seminary classes with Missionary Martens

Since this is a new blog, some of these posts will be "old news", which is really an oxymoron, isn't it?

One of our joys in the DR is preparing local men to become pastors and leaders in the church. The Lord of the Church has blessed us with six men who desire to serve Him as pastors--Alex, Helve, Obed, Julio, Feddy and Rona (seated, left to right). We ask for your prayers that the Lord bless their seminary studies.

We welcomed LATTE Professor Ralph Martens (standing) for a three month teaching session last year (15 Aug - 15 Nov 2006). He taught Dogmatics (doctrine), the Formula of Concord (one of our historic Lutheran Confessions), New Testament Isagogics (an introduction and overview of each book of the New Testament), Pastoral Theology, Greek, and the Life of St. Paul. Yes, his plate was full. We thank God for his labors!

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW