On February 28th I winged my way eastward, from Medan to Kuala Lumpur and on to Manila. There I met my colleague, Rev. (and soon to be Dr.!) JP Cima. JP and his family have served in Cambodia for the past seven years after spending a decade working in Vietnam. But through the middle of March, I introduced him to the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Baguio, the seminary of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP) and frequent spot for my work in either teaching seminary students or deaconesses. I’m always looking for ways to collaborate and utilize the immense talent and expertise the Holy Spirit has provided to our team in Asia, and this time JP’s schedule worked out so he could teach with me for two weeks.
We were asked to teach a total of three courses between the two of us. I taught a course on Ephesians, JP taught a course on Hosea, and together we taught their first-year students their first preaching course (Homiletics I). This was a more relaxed schedule for me than when I taught three courses on my own this past August! The only challenge (now as then) was teaching all three courses in a single intensive 2-week schedule. But the students were great and we accomplished our goals.
The above photo is with the fourth-year students including a deaconess student. They completed both my Ephesians class as well as JP’s course on Hosea.
The above photo was during an all-seminary dinner we hosted for the LTS community. We ordered pizzas and got a variety of chips and sodas for an informal time of fellowship. Rev. Cima immediately made a new friend who was fascinated with him but also felt the need to order him around!
We also served at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Baguio, with me preaching our first Sunday there and JP preaching the following Sunday. It’s always a blessing to be invited to preach and share the good news of Jesus Christ with the faithful. It was also nice because we were there over the beginning of Lent, and were able to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday.
Rev. Cima chatting with Rev. Ehican, pastor at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Baguio.
This was Rev. Cima’s first time visiting Baguio, and enjoying the 5-hour (give or take!) bus ride to Baguio from Manila and then back again. I think he enjoyed himself though, and I know our students were grateful as was the seminary staff, who is stretched thin at the moment!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 