San Pedro

Saturday we traveled to San Pedro to visit the congregation there. We found Julio sitting outside sewing a man's dress shirt on his sewing machine. As he sews, a group of young people gather around him and he patiently answers their spiritual questions, witnessing to them about the Savior.

Several of these young people are in instruction class and Philip had the opportunity to talk late into the night with one of them, named Felipe. His questions revealed his confusion about free salvation and his own good works since he has visited other churches. But he was also amazed when he heard Philip giving him the same answers he had heard from Julio. "This is what the Bible teaches", and Felipe wanted to know more.

Saturday night we attended the Bible study. Julio is reviewing the catechism with the congregation and new people. Sunday worship was led by Julio with Papo participating by leading a part of the singing.

The area of San Pedro where the church is located is a poor area of town, you still see horse-drawn carts on the street, but it has been blessed with people who love the Word and have a desire to serve the Savior.

postscript: On the three hour drive home we had a flat tire. We pulled over to the side of the road and as Philip worked on changing the tire, two cars stopped to help. It turned out to be a great witnessing opportunity and each of them took home one of Philip's law/gospel dvd's. An unpleasant experience - like having to change a flat tire - became a blessing for us and for our helpers.

Just As He Said

This past Sunday, Christians all over the world celebrated and rejoiced in the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. In midst of uncertain times, our faith was strengthened as we heard again of Jesus our Savior rising victorious over sin, death and the grave; just as He said.

Here in the Dominican Republic, we also celebrated the joy of Jesus' resurrection. Alleluia's rang out as we sang our triumphant hymns of praise. He is risen, just as He said. Alleluia!

The children also participated in an Easter egg hunt. They RAN to find the eggs just as the disciples and the women ran to the tomb. The children found plastic eggs filled with chocolate treats. The disciples and the women found an empty tomb. He had risen, just as He said.

What comfort for us in our struggles and desire to serve our Savior. Since He rose, we can be assured that all His promises are sure. "Your sins are forgiven" - just as He said. "I am going to prepare a place for you" - just as He said. "I will be with you always" - just as He said. "I will come again to take you with me" - just as He said.

We usually don't like to find things empty - except on Easter. Then we rejoice in the empty tomb. "He is not here. He is risen. JUST AS HE SAID".

A very blessed Easter to all.

P. Strackbein

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

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.
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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

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