Six years ago Gena visited Papua New Guinea with her father. It was the first time they returned to PNG after departing in 1983 for the US. During her visit, while at an outstation in the Highlands, Gena was befriended by Bella, a 16-year old PNG girl. She tried to teach Gena some pidgin, the… Continue reading Connections
Category: Change
Fun With Progress
I apologize for being absent here so long. As happens frequently, the site I use to host this blog makes tweaks to their platform from time to time. Sometimes these are merely cosmetic updates. Other times more core features are updated or changed about. Like logging in. For the past month I’ve been unable to… Continue reading Fun With Progress
Supporting Staff
A large chunk of my responsibilities as an Area Facilitator (AF) is to be the main connection between our deployed staff in the Region and Regional leadership as well as leadership back in St. Louis. In that capacity I’ve been involved with assisting Rev. Dr. Walter Steele and his wife Robyn, who decided to transition… Continue reading Supporting Staff
Leading in Sri Lanka
With the departure of all the executive leadership in the Asia Region, I and my colleagues Rev. Steven Mahlburg and Rev. Matthew Wood, as the Asia Area Facilitators, are tasked with holding down the fort, so to speak, as the search for new executive leadership begins. It will likely not be until early next year… Continue reading Leading in Sri Lanka
Necessary Evils
I have learned and maintained over years of experience in a variety of vocational fields that meetings are a necessary evil. At best they accomplish some imperfect good. At worst they are a perfect waste of time. I like to think this attitude is not evil in itself, though I’m sure there are folks who… Continue reading Necessary Evils
Blessings in Baguio
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… Continue reading Blessings in Baguio
Oh, the People You’ll Meet!
I had the opportunity to meet an unexpected visitor this week! A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a man at one of our first supporting congregations, Peace Lutheran Church Camarillo. Our connections with this congregation go way back – to my first pastoral Call just out of seminary. I was called to… Continue reading Oh, the People You’ll Meet!
Homeward Bound
My flight from Asia to the US was: Medan to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore to Chicago to Ft. Wayne. But tonight as I started back towards Asia my route is a bit longer. Tonight I flew from St. Louis to Chicago. Then tomorrow morning bright and early I fly Chicago to Los Angeles to Tokyo… Continue reading Homeward Bound
Renewing Old Connections
My wife was born in Papua New Guinea where her parents served in LCMS missions. I’ve been hearing their family stories about that formative decade overseas for over 30 years now, 20 of them as part of the family by marriage. And one of the recurring characters in those stories were their teammates on the… Continue reading Renewing Old Connections
Frigid-er January
When I passed through immigration control at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago (first time I’ve gone through immigration there), the immigration officer asked me where I was headed. When I told her Ft. Wayne, she made some sort of exclamation which I took effectively to mean thank-goodness-I’m-not-there-because-it’s-colder-than-Chicago. She was not incorrect. I arrived on the… Continue reading Frigid-er January
The Nelson Family Indonesia 