Gena and I will leave this evening for Wittenberg, Germany, where we’ll join the entire Asia team for our annual gathering. It will be a time of learning and discussion and fellowship. There will also be two intensive days of leadership meetings beforehand that include five of the Asia team plus our interim Regional Director from St. Louis.
The leadership meeting will be a time of planning and finalizing the Regional Strategic Plan that will guide what we do, where we do it and how we do it for the coming five years or so. Since this is our first time working through one in detail it’s a lot of work. We began the process in Seoul, South Korea at the end of January and are continuing the efforts now in Wittenberg. God-willing we’ll have it done soon and ready to present to the team. It’s based on the feedback they provided last November at the annual Asia Workgroup meeting, but it will be their first time seeing it in a formal format. Whenever it’s ready, that is! So Paul’s first two days in Wittenberg won’t be spent seeing any of the sights – that will need to wait until the All-Asia Retreat formally starts on June 16.
It may sound strange that the annual All-Asia gathering is occurring…not in Asia! You’d not be wrong for thinking that, because I thought the same thing when I first heard the plans a year and a half ago. This is part of a larger move by the LCMS and OIM involving all of the four overseas regions. Each region will have a turn visiting Wittenberg to deepen their appreciation for our Confessions of faith and as an opportunity for re-invigorating the team for returned service in their global region. This year it’s Asia’s turn.
It works out well for us as we can break up the long trip back to Asia – and the corresponding jet lag – into two parts. It will be interesting to see some firsthand some of the things we’ve heard about and studied since Sunday school – the church where Luther nailed his 95 Theses. The castle where Luther hid for ten months and translated the New Testament into German. A lot of history tied up in a relatively small parcel of real estate!
We’ll fly overnight to London, arriving about in the morning before boarding a final flight from London to Berlin. Then the following day we’ll take a train from Berlin to Wittenberg.
The Nelson Family Indonesia 