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

Santiago break-in #4

I'm a little pressed for time, so please accept this quick note.

The downtown Santiago outreach center was broken into again this last Tues night/Wed morn (Aug 19/20). That’s number 4 if you’re keeping count. The thief (I personally think it was a one man job) stole the offering from the past few Sundays and a large tool box that one of our members had left since he was working on replacing all of the electrical outlets and switches. It is indeed frustrating, but we know we are still in the Lord’s hands and he PROMISES to work even this out for the good of his children. We take him at his word!

We renew our efforts to make the building more secure.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,
NW

OK after Fay

The Dominican Republic has been in the news lately in the states due to a minor earthquake (tremor) and Tropical Storm Fay. Thank you to everyone who has called or sent emails asking how we are doing. We thank the Lord for your concern!!!

I can say that -- by God's grace -- we are all OK. Some of us (including me) didn't even notice the tremor last week. Tropical Storm Fay brought heavy, heavy rains and strong wind gusts, but none of our members were negatively affected. At least, not to my knowledge.

We were actually thankful for the rains because it has been quite dry here lately. The water authorities were starting to ration water service. And that, together with longer blackouts of electricity than normal, was causing greater tension and stress in certain communities. The rains from Fay helped alleviate that a little.

We keep Haiti, Cuba and the southeastern US in our prayers as they also were/are in Fay's path. May the Lord keep all in his caring and protecting hands.

The Lord bless you with his Peace,

NW

!En tu mano están mis tiempos!

"My times are in your hands." - Psalm 31:15

Our Lord wisely teaches us to rejoice more than anything because our names our written in heaven (Luke 10:20). What greater blessing could we ever receive than salvation from hell and the free gift of eternal life by faith in Jesus? We take our cue from God's holy angels and find our next greatest joy in every single sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

We also find many reasons daily to rejoice and for which we are compelled to give thanks to our gracious and merciful God, who "still preserves me by richly and daily providing... all I need to keep my body and life" and "by defending me against all danger."

Missionary Monday - and all who have sent him to preach the gospel in the Dominican Republic - give thanks to the Lord for sparing him from serious injury or death last week. On his way to the grocery store on Wednesday night, what we presume was a stray bullet smashed through his passenger-side window and out the driver-side window, passing within inches from his body as he drove. By God's mercy, Missionary Monday was not hit by the bullet or injured at all, with the exception of a few tiny pecks in his right forearm from broken glass.

Stray bullets and shoot-outs, though not common, are not unheard-of happenings in a city the size of Santiago. Innocent bystanders are occasionally injured or even killed because of such criminal or reckless behavior. Perhaps this is not much different from the city you live in. It is certainly no different from the dangers that threaten each of our bodies as we drive our cars or ride the bus or fly in an airplane. As the Lord extends our lives day by day and uses his powerful angels to protect us, let us all remember that "all this he does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven, and not because I have earned or deserved it." And "for all this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him." Ask Missionary Monday, and he'll say it with you: "This is most certainly true."

"I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." - Psalm 104:33

Only in the DR...

I have been away from home a lot this month, so updates have been few. Here, however, is a quick posting of pictures you might only see in the DR (or similar countries...)

How many people can *you* fit on a motorcycle?

Someone used a bit too much coloring on their Easter eggs. (Yes, these are colored chicks.)

An overpass to nowhere...

Any guess as to why we have so many power outages?

The Lord bless you with his peace,
NW

Handing out "The Promise"

Below is a short video clip (one minute, fifteen seconds) from an evangelism event in San Pedro de Macoris. A group of members from Santiago and Moca travelled to SPM to participate. We handed out copies of "The Promise", a colorful 14 page magazine which summarizes the Gospel story in seven lessons: (1) God's creation, (2) The fall into sin and God's promise of a Savior, (3) The Savior's birth, (4) The Savior's death and resurrection, (5) We are declared not guilty, (6) The Holy Spirit gives us peace, and (7) The promise of eternal life. [Check out the website for Multi-Language Publications located in the "Recommended Links" section to the right if you would like more info on this excellent evangelism tool available in many languages.]

As we handed out "The Promise" we also invited people to a special service in the afternoon. God blessed us with a full house. We thank God for the fellowship the members from the four congregations were able to enjoy, and for the opportunity to share in San Pedro the Gospel Promise of forgiveness of sins and life eternal through Jesus Christ.

In the video, Pastor Alex from Moca hands out "The Promise" in a few colmados (small grocery stores) with typical Dominican music playing in the background.

[Thank you to Missionary Phil Strackbein for submitting the video.]

The Lord bless you with his peace,

NW

Pentecost Party

This post dates back to May 3rd. Sorry for the delay -- I'm trying to catch up :-)


At the end of each 6 week English class session, we provide an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) party for our students. This is an opportunity to get to know our students better, meet their family members, and share God’s Word with them.

This session, the party began with fellowship teamed with playing cards and dominoes. Snacks consisted of apples, crackers, ham and cheese, cookies, peanuts, raisins, and the popular homemade “rice crispy bars”.

Volunteers and craft projects welcomed the students’ children. Coloring sheets, crossword puzzles, and crafts kept the little ones busy the entire afternoon.

The English teachers hosted an activity similar to the popular game show “Jeopardy” focusing on things the students learned in class. Topics included “numbers”, “verbs”, “animals” “weather”, etc…. There were even two topics labeled “Helena” and “Julia” to see how well the students knew their teachers. The final bonus round featured the topic “Pentecost”, highlighting the theme of the occasion.

The event concluded with a Bible study led by Pastor Shiloh Monday. A blessed opportunity to share the coming of the Holy Spirit and message of the Savior with all!

[Thank you, Julie, for writing this post. We thank God for both Julie and Polly for their volunteer service as English teachers this last year.]

The Lord bless you with His peace,
NW

Robbed again

As you can see from the title of this post, our church in downtown Santiago was broken into again. I can't go into too many details right now, but here’s a quick summary:

(1) Thursday night/Friday morn (May 22/23) – thieves bent back a zinc (tin) roofing sheet and came down through the ceiling tile in the back third of the church (only front two thirds has cement roof). They took the CPU of a computer and a DVD player (I hope they watch the Communicating Christ DVD that was in it.) On Friday, we filed police report and cleaned up the broken ceiling tiles, replaced tin sheet and secured it as best we could.

(2) Saturday night/Sunday morn (May 24/25) – thieves broke in again, this time they completely removed the burglar bars at the women’s bathroom (we see now they were poorly installed) and forced open the louvre window. This time they cleaned us out: 29” TV, water cooler, the rest of the computer (monitor, speakers, etc), window a/c unit, wall fans, Missionary Monday’s tool set, even a 3 liter bottle of communion wine! By God’s grace we had removed the congregation’s cash on hand lock box after the Friday morning break in, so they didn't get that.

After a delayed Haitian service on Sunday, I attempted to file a police report, but was told to come back on Monday. Obed, one of our Haitian seminary students, and I replaced the burglar bars (temporarily) with cement, and cleaned up except for four items that had obvious fingerprints. Following EFL classes and the Spanish service in the afternoon we removed anything we thought the thieves might come back for (used batteries, three fans that remained, etc).

Mon morning we planned for a “work day” at church to improve security, only to arrive and find out that during the night they had broken into the veterinary office below us and took their computer and some equipment! Within a few minutes after we got there, news people started arriving. Freddy and I were interviewed. I even got to speak live on the radio with Jose Gutierrez, a well known news and commentary program here in Santiago with a large audience.

The police “CSI” team arrived and after they finished taking fingerprints, we cleaned, fixed the roof better and cut back tree branches to open up visibility. Still in the morning I went to file our police report from Sunday, only to be told to come back in the afternoon. I went back in the afternoon (an hour before they told me to return), and after waiting two hours, was told to come back the next morning!

So on Tuesday I went early to file the police report that we couldn’t finish Sunday or Monday because their computers were down. After close to three hours of paperwork and waiting in lines, the case was put on a list to be assigned an investigator. I finally went to church, hoping to get in at least an hour of seminary classes. Immediately when I arrived at church, however, some of the neighbor businessmen came over and said they knew where our stuff was.

Since our case was still waiting for an officer to be assigned to it, we had to return to the police station personally to inform them. They “immediately” assigned us an officer who took his time waiting for a partner – then he told me that they didn’t have a vehicle!!! “Can you drive us?” they asked. “What if you take someone into custody?" I responded. “Well, we’ll put him in the cargo area...” (I have a jeep-style vehicle.) Next thing I knew, Freddy (one of our sem students) and I were driving around these two officers to do their investigation. So much for teaching any seminary classes...

After asking around and driving to different places looking for information, we are 99% sure that the next door neighbors to the church either are responsible for the break-ins or at least bought the stolen merchandise from the thieves, to resell it later. But we have no confidence that the police will do anything about it--unless we decide to "wet their hand" (mojar la mano), give the police a cash incentive to act. (What we take for granted in the US!)

But God is good. We wait to see what the Lord has in store for us. Your prayers are requested!
Believe it or not, that is the *SHORT* version!

With you, declaring God’s praises!
NW

[By the way, in the third and fourth pictures above, you're supposed to notice what *isn't* there -- no TV on the TV cart, no air conditioner unit in the window...]

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

Yes, this post dates back to Palm Sunday (March 16). The following is a video of the seminary students singing "Cabalga Majestuoso" which is equivalent to the hymn "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna", found as hymn 130 in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal. (You may purchase a copy through Northwestern Publishing House at this link -- and no, I was not paid for that plug :-)

[By the way, the first stanza was recorded from behind the students. In the second stanza, you see their faces from the front.] I hope you enjoy it!



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