Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

Submitted from Cairo, by Abigail Sylvester
Khalas…lakina liss; this is how I feel about my upcoming departure from my role as Director of Adult Education at St. Andrew’s in Cairo, Egypt. I hate goodbyes, I would much rather say “see you later.” But this time it isn’t a cop out. I truly believe there is a “not yet” part to this story. I’m not done with Cairo and I’m not done with the refugee community that has evolved into friends and family. I can’t give exact dates, career goals, or itineraries of when I’ll visit or see folks again, but I am genuine when I say, “I’ll see you later.”

Much has been happening this spring: President Barak Obama made a guest appearance in Cairo, a construction crew managed to build an extra classroom on the top of the gatehouse which will allow us to serve many more children and adult students (pictured), and just today I received a precious “I love you, Ms. Abigail” drawing from Yasmine whose father attends adult English classes. There is so much to process and analyze as I say goodbye (or, finish… but not yet), but for now I simply want to enjoy these last days with people.

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This devotion by the Rev. Brian Konkol appears in the Summer 2009 issue of the Hand in Hand Global Mission Support newsletter (www.elca.org/handinhand). Pastor Konkol’s devotion and the Rev. Christa von Zychlin’s feature article from the issue are available in reproducible formats for bulletins and newsletters; John 6:1-21 is the Gospel text for July 26, 2009. Contact Global Mission Support to request distribution copies of the Summer 2009 Hand in Hand newsletter.–Sue

Daily bread questions and challenges
based on John 6:1–21

When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:5).

Monday is “trash day” in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the day residents place their garbage bags near the streets to be collected by municipality workers. As a result, it is also the day men, women, and children come out in massive numbers to search through the multitudes of containers before the trucks arrive.

They are looking for “daily bread.”

“How could someone do this? How would someone handle the filth and stench?” I initially wondered. However, those first questions were soon replaced with better ones: “Why are people placed in such unjust situations? Why do billions of people struggle with extreme poverty in a world filled with abundant resources?”

Perhaps the feeding of the 5,000 account in John 6 is more about Jesus empowering the disciples to consider the material poverty of those around them, and the spiritual poverty within themselves, than it is about Jesus amazingly producing “miracle bread” out of thin air. Perhaps Jesus knew that the amount of bread was not the challenge, but rather, it is the fair distribution that needed to be confronted and transformed.

Gracious God, Help us to see the spiritual and material poverty within us and throughout the world. Open our hearts and minds to receive the gifts of others, and teach us to put our faith into action by seeking justice and care for neighbors in need. Amen

– The Rev. Brian Konkol

ELCA missionaries the Rev. Brian and Kristen Konkol serve in South Africa as Young Adult Program Coordinators.

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“On behalf of all the teachers and students, I thank you for bringing new hope and reading opportunities with these many great books. We have learned and gained new knowledge: how to be a person, how to study, how we can be kind and have a good heart for all people and things.

“The stories I read are all very fascinating, moving and real. Some make me think, often rousing up my imagination, and I wish I could write as well. For many years, we have not had books like this. We did not write well. However, now that we can read so many books, we have much higher standards in writing skills.

“I remember a quote from one of the books: Reading is the best knowledge. I also learned from my teachers that we must study each story carefully to sense the emotions of the authors. After I understood this, I have done just that – to read with care.

“These books are treasures to us, for the contents are precious and there is much to learn. It is an ocean of knowledge. We must read more so as to know that they contain true wealth and beauty.

“Thank you, for you have brought hope and happiness to us. Every time we see these books, we not only see them as books, but your lasting care and support.”

“–Speech given by Zhao-Ling, 6th grader at Ju-Xian Elementary School in the mountains above Gulin, southeastern Sichuan Province. With the assistance of the ELCA, Luzhou Christian Church (Sichuan) purchased library books for this village school. Most of the students are of the Miao ethnic group, and many are Christian.

–As heard by and submitted by Y. Franklin Ishida, Director for Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Global Mission

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The Rev. Dana Nelson and her husband, Thomas Ososki, are ELCA missionaries serving in Peru. Pastor Nelson sends this request for our prayers.–Sue

Please, from wherever you are, pray with us for an end to the violence in the Amazon rainforest of Peru where the native people and national government officials are killing each other over land rights. The area where the native people have been living for generations has oil and gold in it.

Please pray with us. The Church of Sweden is joining us in prayer together with our Peruvian Lutheran Church (ILEP) and churches of all denominations around Peru.
Peace,
Pastora Dana in Lima

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Fourteen years ago, Stephen Deal met Francisco Aguilar in Guatemala, where both served with the Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala. Deal, a new volunteer missionary at the time, was mentored by Aguilar. Fourteen years later, Pastor Deal, now an ELCA missionary in Costa Rica represented the ELCA at the ordination of Pastor Aguilar at Resurrection Lutheran Church in San Salvador, El Salvador. What a joyful example of accompaniment and mutual support! –Twila Schock

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“Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.” — Psalm 47:1 (NRSV)

Taking time out of the busy, busy schedules of the Hong Kong lifestyle, students & faculty of the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Hong Kong honor the international students who are graduating this week. They will soon be returning to their home churches in places as diverse as Myanmar, Cambodia, and Germany, to preach, teach, and serve God’s people with the good news of the love of God for people of all nations and cultures.

When all is said and done, it’s moments like these that make life worth living!

Our hands. God’s work.

Christa von Zychlin blogs on the many facets of her new life in Hong Kong. She and her husband Wayne Nieminen are ELCA missionaries with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, with Wayne serving as a professor of Practical Theology in the area of Marriage and Family Pastoral Care.

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While no one sang the birthday song, a sizeable congregation joined in singing Ein Feste Burg as the ELCA Wittenberg Center celebrated its 10 years of ministry in Wittenberg, Germany on May 9. The ELCA Wittenberg Center is an ecumenical, international learning center dedicated to bringing Lutheran identity in dialogue with issues facing the church the church today (e.g., health care, globalization, Christian education, sexuality). ELCA missionaries Steve and Jean Godsall-Meyers have co-directed the Center since summer, 2006. Pictured, right, Dr. Stephan Rhein, director of the Luther Memorials Foundation, congratulates co-director Jean Godsall-Meyers at the anniversary reception.

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Noboru Nakajima was walking down Okubo Ave near busy Shinjuku on a Saturday and noticed the sign for Tokyo Lutheran Church. He made a mental note to come back for worship the next day.

On Sunday morning, however, he ended up loitering in front of the church, hesitant to come in. It was, after all, 50 years since he last set foot in a church. And while the English-language service time fit his work schedule the best out of three services, English was not his forte.

Indeed Nakajima had been baptized in 1950 by a Lutheran pastor. That pastor had signed a Bible for him, which he still held on to dearly. He attended church regularly until he moved away because of work. With the many life changes after that, Nakajima had lost touch with church.

Several years ago, his wife died of cancer and was found gripping a cross. It was only then that Nakajima realized his wife was a baptized Christian as well. In Japan, people often get baptized and don’t tell their families or loved ones for fear of being rejected.

Now was his chance to enter into the life of the church once more. But taking that step across the threshold of the church was difficult; it was shameful to admit his long absence from church. Fortunately, one of the members of the congregation saw him, took him by the arm, and brought him into church.

This was Ascension Sunday, and though he couldn’t understand all of the sermon, which was in English, he knew the message was that all of Jesus’ followers would be God’s witnesses. Indeed, the member who dragged Nakajima into church was a witness. The people who engaged him after church during fellowship were also witnesses. The old Bible in his hand, his wife’s cross in his pocket were witnesses.

And the Holy Spirit was a witness, as Nakajima came back the next Sunday, Pentecost, to celebrate, with all those gathered, the birthing of the church with a renewed faith.
–Y. Franklin Ishida
Director for Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Global Mission

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