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

Multi-Language Publications

Multi-Language Publications has been a blessing to our work here in the Dominican Republic because many of the Bible studies and Evangelism resources we use were produced by them. Following is a four minute video highlighting their work and how they contribute to sharing the Gospel message of God's forgiveness in many, many languages and cultures throughout the world.



For more info on MLP, go to their website here.

The Lord bless you with his peace,
NW

Moving day...

Back in January, we discontinued the use of our WELS subsidized outreach center and seminary classroom on 27 de Febrero Avenue (the one that was broken into five times).  That meant packing up, moving out and cleaning up.  The below pictures show some of the fun we had  :-)

The two Santiago congregations that were using the outreach center for their weekly Sunday services were successful in finding new locals to use and will continue their ministries.  They took whatever evangelism and worship resources they could from our outreach center and will use them at their new locations.

The seminary will continue in a less expensive and more secure location in a third floor apartment.  We're still in the process of putting everything in its place in the new seminary classroom...

The Lord bless you with his Peace,

NW

Another personal note

Dear friends,
My brother Daniel, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Yorba Linda, CA, wrote a blog entry about our mother and God's grace to her and our family. I invite you to read it by clicking on the following link:

Pastor's blog, Grace Lutheran Church, Yorba Linda, CA.

The Lord bless you with his peace in Jesus,
NW

A personal note

     God sent his holy angels to carry my mother to her Savior's side this Sunday morning, 2:00am Arizona time. The following note is from my father Myrl:

Dear Loved Ones,
     Our gracious LORD in His good time called Marcella [Marcy, Mom, Grandma, Aunt] home to Himself in heaven at 2:00 AM on February 1, 2009. The LORD granted her 70 years of sojourn in this world, and through the blood of Jesus grants her eternal life with Him. She has been on hospice care since January 6, and totally bed-ridden for two weeks. The hospice program kept her comfortable except for the painful coughing fits about once a day. After a very bad night on Monday, we have used meds to keep her comfortable. She went to sleep Friday evening -- after saying goodby to her brother and a cousin who visited on Thursday.
     Resting her confidence in our Savior, she said goodby to her brother with, "I'll see you again in heaven." She was a 24 year survivor of breast cancer, and endured four years on chemotherapy. She was a 41 + 1/2 year survivor of marriage to me. What a wonderful wife!
     Her earthly remains will be cremated without further viewing. We are planning a "Victory Celebration" at Grace Lutheran Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. The timing on this will depend on when Nathan and Julie can get in from Dominican Republic and Mexico. If I can work it out, I would like to also celebrate her life with many of you in some way both in Texas and Wisconsin.
     Join me in praising God for all His blessings on our life and on our family.
Love,  Myrl

The Lord bless you with his peace, just as he is blessing our family with peace, comfort, and sure hope through Christ's resurrection,

NW

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.
• 
  
• 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.
• 
  
• 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.
• 
  
• 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.
• 
  
• 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

Here is a quick, but hopefully fun, entry.  Can you decipher the following sign (written in Spanish)?

Does this help?

• SuPERCOL eL PiCAZO TE iNbiTA ESTE BiErNE 27 A SE LEbrAL EL DiA de LA Madres CON RAUL ROdrige y SU CON gUNTO de VAChaTA y MUChoMA --  TE ESPErAMO Aqui
  

How about this?  (corrected spelling)

• Supercolmado El Picazo te invita este viernes 27 a celebrar el Dia de las Madres con Raul Rodriguez y su conjunto de bachata y mucho mas --  te esperamos aqui

Here's a rough translation:

• El Picazo grocery store invites you this Friday, the 27th, to celebrate Mother's Day with Raul Rodriguez and his group (band) of bachata (a style of Dominican music) and much more --  we hope to see you here.
  

The Lord bless you with his peace,  :-)

NW

Alexander Torres Paulino

Alexander Torres was born on May 21, 1975, in the town of Moca, Dominican Republic.  He was baptized and grew up in the Roman Catholic church, but at the age of 24 he joined a non-denominational Evangelical church with Calvinistic teachings.

Towards the end of 2004 and into 2005, Alex met some of our WELS missionaries through a mutual friend named Javier Guzman.  Even though Javier did not agree with Biblical, Lutheran doctrine, he introduced Alex to the missionaries, and they started studying together.  At first, Alex had a hard time accepting certain doctrines--he himself especially mentions infant Baptism--but he was impressed that the missionary's response was always to say: "Let's see what the Bible says about that..."

Alex credits "God's great, great mercy" for leading him finally to put his own human reason aside and submit to God and his revealed Word.  He joined the Lutheran church in October 2005 and immediately started studying in our Bible Institute and Seminary.

He brings with him a wide range of work experiences including:  credit assessor, auditor, sales manager and collection agent.  He is also quite an entrepreneur, having started his own factory of disinfectant cleaners, a washing machine rental agency, car rental agency, and a handcraft shop.  His knowledge of the business world serves him well as he interacts with his community and serves Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) Lutheran Church in Moca.

Alex is married to Sandra, and they have three children: Joseph, Alexandra and Alejandra.  (It is common in the DR for parents to simply combine their names when naming their children.)  Sandra and both daughters suffer severe asthma, so we pray the Lord keep them in good health.

"Lord of the Harvest, thank you for providing Alex and his family as gifts to your church.  Bless his service to your people."

The Lord bless you with his peace,

NW

Helve Robert

Helve Robert was born in Cabo-Haitiano, Haiti on March 13, 1972.  After studying Communication in school, he worked for a while at a radio station and also taught French Grammar and Speech at an elementary school in Haiti for two years.  Helve then decided to change professions and spent four years in medical school.  In 2006, however, before finishing medical school, he decided to change again, this time deciding to study in our Lutheran seminary here in the DR in preparation for serving as a pastor some day back in Haiti.

Although Helve was baptized in the Roman Catholic church as a child, he grew up in the Baptist church.  It was in early 2005 that one of his fellow medical students--a friend of Rona Abraham who was pastor of the Haitian congregation and studying in our seminary--invited him to attend a Sunday service.  Soon thereafter he grew in his faith and understanding of the Gospel through a Bible Information Class.  He was convinced we were teaching the truth and joined the Haitian congregation.

Helve is an active member of the congregation and studied in our Bible Institute, desiring to serve more.  He graduated from the B.I. in Feb 2006 and has been studying in our seminary ever since.

Helve was married, but sadly his wife abandoned him and their infant daughter Ester shortly after Ester was born.  We ask for your prayers that the Lord give Helve the wisdom and strength he needs to fulfill his duties as a single father and seminary student.

We praise the Lord for giving Helve as a gift to his church and pray that he bless Helve's family and ministry.

The Lord bless you with his peace,

NW

Freddy Antonio Aquino

Freddy Antonio Aquino (nickname "Charlie") was born in Bayaguana, Dominican Republic on September 27, 1979. He has had a variety of jobs over the years, working in a rice mill, farming and cattle, house painter, mechanic, and in the "zona franca" free trade zone manufacturing. Beyond his high school education, he has taken courses in Human Relations, Public Speaking, and Cell Phone Repair.

Freddy attended the Pentecostal church for much of his life and came into contact with the Lutheran church in what the world would consider a "chance encounter". In 2003 he was just waiting at a bus stop in the city of La Romana. Julio Corporan, pastor of the Lutheran church in San Pedro de Macoris, was waiting at the same bus stop for the same bus. Julio started talking with Freddy about the Lutheran Church, and Freddy became interested. He actually went to Julio's house and watched a video called "Spiritual Identification". From there he moved on to Bible Instruction Class and became a member by the end of the year.

Freddy has served his congregation by teaching Bible studies, preaching and evangelizing. He studied in our Bible Institute in order to serve better, and has been studying full time in the seminary since 2006.

"Charlie" is married to Elizabet, and they have a four-year-old son, Freili.

We thank God for Freddy, Elizabet and Freili; and pray that he bless Freddy's ministry.

The Lord bless you with his peace,
NW