I never cease to be amazed at the miracle of air transportation, even as I lose the slight jitteriness I’ve always had pre-flight. I’m now able to fall asleep relatively easily, sometimes without even meaning or wanting to. Waking up to find 30 minutes have tiptoed past and pleased at the prospect of the journey… Continue reading Overhead
Category: Theology
Busy In Singapore
I still pinch myself. Here I am, sweating my brains out, clothes soaked through, lugging a 60-lb suitcase through the subway system. By all accounts I ought to be miserable, and I certainly do wish it was cooler. But then I remember, I’m in Singapore! That seems almost unimaginable still, even though Singapore is getting… Continue reading Busy In Singapore
A Busy Tuesday
Normally my schedule is busiest when I’m not in Medan, but today was a welcome exception! I had a lunch meeting today with the missions executive for the Lutheran Church of Australia, Rev. Matt Anker. Rev. Anker does a lot of work in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore and I’ve been hoping to meet… Continue reading A Busy Tuesday
Good News and No News
The good news is three-fold. The first part is that I’ll be catechizing James in Kuala Lumpur towards baptism, and will be able to bring him the Eucharist as I’m passing in and out of KL on future trips. That’s very exciting, and I think a relief for James who has struggled as to where… Continue reading Good News and No News
God Provides
It wasn’t the night I expected. I awoke shortly after falling asleep, realizing something wasn’t right. After tossing and turning for a while I realized I had some sort of food poisoning, most likely. The already-short night was tragically spent mostly not in bed sleeping. By the time my driver arrived I was dressed and… Continue reading God Provides
Unexpected Visit
I was pleasantly surprised to have time with Bishop Lawrence, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia (ELCM) today. While we have been in touch via e-mail, this is our first in-person meeting in almost a year. During our time together we discussed the possibility of restarting deaconess training in Malaysia, something that has… Continue reading Unexpected Visit
KL Visit
People here refer to Kuala Lumpur as KL. Much easier to say, for sure. That’s where I’ve been so far this week. It’s my first extended time in KL in several months and I used the opportunity to catch up with James. James reached out to the LCMS last year, wanting to have conversations about… Continue reading KL Visit
Updates
It’s the beginning of the month already here in Medan. It’s hard to believe how quickly time passes in weeks and months and years while at the same time dragging by in terms of seconds and minutes. When we last heard from our intrepid heroes….no wait, that’s the wrong update. Never mind. Word has it… Continue reading Updates
Meals & Relationship
We were invited by a mutual friend of our family and another ex-pat family to come to her home this past Saturday. It was sort of an extension of Eid al Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan and their month of daylight fasting. Technically Eid al Fitr fell… Continue reading Meals & Relationship
Tokyo
Saturday evening we flew from Okinawa to Tokyo. Sunday we met the Jastrams for worship in Shinjuku, a suburb slightly west of downtown Tokyo. We experienced a traditional Lutheran worship in Japanese. The small congregation was very warm and welcoming. The building where a congregation of the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) meets. A fairly… Continue reading Tokyo
The Nelson Family Indonesia 