Missison Ethiopia 2008: August 2008

Where in Scripture do we find the purpose for our involvement in missions?
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God gives each of us our own purpose for involvement in missions. Each of the Mission Ethiopia 2008 team members share their reasons below.

Steve Soldano
Around 10 years ago my daughter spent the night at a friend’s house. The following day they invited her to go to church with them. When she came
home, she asked me " dad why don't we go to church?" I didn't have an answer for her. So we decided to start attending different churches trying to find one we liked. We chose Concordia because of Pastor Karl...we liked the message he gave. Soon after, I started to get involved with ushering, the prayer chain, delivered bread to new members, served donuts at bible study, cut the lawn, and now I help serve communion. All these activities brought me closer to God, but I feel Him tagging at my heart to do more. So God and I decided for me to go to

Ethiopia

and engage people with Jesus. I figure if God can choose me to follow Him beginning with one question from my daughter. How many more people can I reach witnessing about the love of Jesus Christ in

Ethiopia

Another reason I want to go is for God to enrich my life and help me to continue to grow in His love. My only hope is I will be spiritually prepared for this mission, but I believe God is with me and He will
continue to guide me.

Faith Hilty
There are several reasons why I want to go to

Ethiopia

. First, and most importantly, I love God. There are so many people that don’t know him and I feel compelled to share. I have had numerous events in my life that could easily have left me bitter and reclusive. Abuse, attempt on my life, deaths of family members, blindness, etc. But God has shown me so much love and comfort through it all and continues to do so each day. I can’t tell you how many times that things just happen to fall into place and work out even when it seems like it wouldn’t. He has given me so much. It is time for me to give more back. I have been on other mission trips before, mostly with youth, and it was incredible. Even though I am usually a chaperone, there for them, I have received so much from them. I love watching how excited they get working for God! It has inspired me to do more. I love people. My kids tease me that we can’t go anywhere without running into someone I know and how they are always waiting on me because I have to talk to everyone. They also tell me they think it’s funny that I can talk to a complete stranger about anything. Once at a Wizard’s game, I talked with this lady next to me, for two hours, like we were old friends. When we left, my kids asked me who that was and I told them I didn’t have a clue. People are fascinating to me. The thought of meeting and talking to people in

Ethiopia

is exciting. I can’t wait. If I can share, even with one person, how wonderful God has been to me, and make a connection, then I will have done what I believe God wants of me.

Barb Johnson
About a year ago I was asked to be on a committee for the school in order to write a curriculum because the church and school were going to make a three year commitment to spread the Gospel to

Ethiopia

. This didn’t seem that difficult. I have written curriculums before so with others we would be able to do this.

At the first meeting when the faculty representatives meet with the church’s mission committee, I was asked if I was planning to go on a mission trip. Inside I was thinking that this was crazy. That was not what the faculty asked me to do. I had no plans to do this. I kept going to the meetings until the mission committee decided to write a mission statement for the church. The faculty committee members didn’t attend again until this was completed.

The next time we were asked to attend was in February, 2008. I was the only faculty member to show up. I brain stormed ideas with the committee. Then they also talked about the continued growth of Buddhism I knew about a Buddhist temple that was being developed down the road from my church as well as down the road from a school I recently taught at. After the meeting Gary Penner and Pastor Kevin came to me and asked me personally to consider going on the trip. Of course I came up with all kinds of excuses.

As time went on my excuses fell apart. I couldn’t afford it because my husband lost his job. Well he now has a job. The principal wouldn’t want me to be gone so long. In the mean time Bob Boyd realized that an educator should go. Then I would miss too much school. When the dates for the trip were decided, I realized that I would only miss two days. I also thought that my husband would not like me to be gone so long. Well when Dan and I talked, he said that this would definitely be outside my box. However, he said I should go because he felt that this would be something I could do and succeed at making a difference by using my music with children. My own children also said that if I didn’t go I would always wish I had. Well there went all of my excuses.

As I was praying and asking God to help me make a decision, I came across the passage of John 20:21. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” I have done that with children for the past 25+ years in the states of Wisconsin and Indiana. Right before my final commitment I was practicing for a contemporary service at church when I noticed the words in the refrain of a song we were singing for the service on the following Sunday. It goes like this by Dan Schulte:

“Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard You calling in the night.I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”

I also thought about Buddhism being spread right in my neighborhood it made me want to find ways to change these people mind’s and come to find Christianity. I know that there are children here at Concordia who come from Buddhist families. What can I do to help them grow in Christianity? I felt this trip would teach me ways to help children grow in Christ. I could make a difference even in small ways. If I save one or two children, I could tell myself I made a difference and spread the Gospel.

I believe that Christ is using me to “preach the Gospel to all nations” because I know that “People Need the Lord”.

“I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”

Gary Penner
Top ten reasons “Why I’m Going”

I am a sinner; God has forgiven me and changed me – redeemed me and made me whole. He has bought me with Jesus’ blood. In response to what I believe through the power of the Holy Spirit, I want to live my life in His grace, in His service.
I believe God wants me to see what he sees, feel what he feels, and carry his passion for this world.
I believe Christ wants me to become more mature in Him -- that he would make my love deeper and stronger.
My participation for 11 years as a member of the Concordia Praise Singers taught me the value of working in God’s kingdom with fellow believers to His glory.
My participation in the Thailand mission in 2005 opened my eyes to the possibilities of sharing God’s love and message of salvation with others – even within my own family.
God has blessed me with the resources to go and with a family that knows I must go. And in turn, I am blessed with a family that ventures daily into their own mission fields.
I believe Mission Ethiopia will result in life-changing experiences for the team and for those with whom we come in contact.
I believe that all Christians are missionaries, wherever we go and that Mission Ethiopia will help this fact become more widely known.
I believe God has called me to document Mission Ethiopia in pictures and words to show his hand at work.
I have family, friends, and co-workers who trust that God will bless Mission Ethiopia and in turn, bless and protect me and the rest of the team. Sent and commissioned by my supporters and the congregation, I serve as an extension of their love and an expression of their faith.

Pastor Kevin Wendt
The Lord has both convinced me by His Word that He has made me His missionary everywhere I go and compelled me to be His missionary everywhere I go. The Lord has made His mission to seek and save the lost a personal mission for me.

The Lord has also given me a compulsion to share with others what He has given to me. I want what God has made personal for me to become personal for others.

I have witnessed this over the last 4 years as I have been a part of short-term international mission teams to Peru, Thailand, and Ethiopia. And now the Lord is leading us back to Ethiopia with two powerful enhancements: a partnership beyond Concordia among 3 Fort Wayne Lutheran churches and a design for long-term relationships with Ethiopians.

Why am I going? People are headed to hell unless the Gospel transforms them into believers in Jesus Christ. These people live in Fort Wayne and Ethiopia. These people can be blessed by the growing global / local partnership of spurring one another on in Kingdom work (Hebrews 10:24). I am going because the Lord is leading the Christian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, into a long-term ‘glocal’ partnership with the Christian Church in Ethiopia ... and I am blessed to take part in it.

Kelly Herring

I believe God sends us on journeys though our lives to grow and mature. I believe he puts us in situations to learn from others. I believe things happen for a reason. I believe God puts people in our lives to learn and grow and for support . . . for us to support them, and for them to support us. I believe that as we live our journey, we make choices along the way. Sometimes we choose to listen to God, and other times we choose not to listen. Two years ago, I chose not to listen to God and stayed home from the Ethiopian Mission Trip because I thought I was “safe” in my home environment. This time I choose to listen to God and “Go” on this mission trip to Ethiopia. As I look around me I see so many people who God should be choosing to send . . . Why me? Their faith is so much stronger than mine. They speak better than I do. They do not seem afraid. I’m not very good at making friends or reaching out. My whole life I have not made very good choices. I don’t have much to say. I’ve spent my life feeling alone and unloved. I’m sad a lot. I have trust issues. I’m afraid for myself and for my daughter of getting sick, of what we will see and hear, of the environment that we will be going into. I’m afraid for our lives. I’m afraid that “going” will change my life . . . what is to come out of all of this? But yet, there is calmness this time. A calmness that we are going for God’s purpose and not mine. Only God knows, “why me?” All I know is that He is sending me and I must say, “Yes, I will go for you, Lord.” Whatever happens, happens . . . and is happening for a reason. This time I am choosing to follow God’s voice telling me to go. Whatever it is that I am supposed to learn from this will be made known to me in God’s time. I believe it may be for my daughter and that the true purpose is for her opportunity to learn and grow to go on and do more. I believe it is to teach me to listen to God and Trust in Him. I believe it is to let go of my fears and let God take the reigns. He leads, I follow. This is just a baby step. I believe God meets us where we are and helps us make the right decisions if we will just take the time to listen to His calling.

Mackenzie Herring

I’m going because I feel this is an opportunity to witness and tell people how great God is and what He can do for you. Also, I can help people and make friends and in doing so grow closer to God and stronger in my faith. I have never really liked to tell people what I think. I have always sat back, listened, and just sat on the sidelines. This is a chance for me to jump in and get involved. Going on this mission trip, I think, is just a great opportunity to grow and share my faith and I wouldn’t want to miss it!

Doris Kayser
“Being a missionary…” is what my 94-year-old grandmother said to me just months before she went to be with Jesus in 1997. We were eating lunch and discussing what kind of occupations she saw her grandchildren fitting into. My maternal grandmother was one of my spiritual heroes. She greatly influenced my life for Jesus Christ. “You were born with a passion for talking about Jesus, never being afraid of what others thought, even when you were a little girl…” she continued. I guess she was right. I was born with the mission/gospel bug. I thoroughly enjoyed campus ministry for three years during my college years, even at the expense of failing nursing classes. I quietly considered full time Christian work then, but didn’t do it. Next was working as a “live-in” counselor at a rural Christian rehab facility for troubled young pregnant women for a year. Working as a RN in mental health and as a social worker cemented the passion the Lord grew in my heart for the less fortunate, needy and those without any hope. Working in the professional world, one can only do so much without naming Jesus as the ultimate healer of broken hearts and lives. Again, the gospel was at the heart of the message I was to share. JESUS CHRIST was the one and only TRUE and SOLID ROCK answer to my own brokenness and is for all!! As a middle class American, I also came to see how materially rich I am. That also added to my passion to work in a developing country. To help a culture with so much pain and heartbreak related to AIDS, would be such a privilege as a Christian nurse. Having lived in the Philippines for a summer, many years ago, showed me how well I do living in other cultures. With my host family shocked that an American teenager came to the Philippines “with a Bible,” also seemed to show what the Lord placed in my heart. Thirty years later, with 4 classes remaining in the Deaconess program at Concordia Theological Seminary, I continue to pursue the dream of working in full time church work. Going to Ethiopia to build relationships and talk about Jesus will really be no different than talking to my African neighbors in Ft. Wayne. I came to the seminary to prepare to work as a missionary. I don’t “have” to go to Ethiopia to do that. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with African immigrants and refugees here in Ft. Wayne. But the Lord put on my heart, the passion of working in the context of another culture. I feel I was born and gifted with this calling. Many years later - I am beginning to do what Jesus placed on my heart as a little girl. During a recent conversation with a relative who is a professor, he seemed puzzled as to why I would want to go to Africa… “Why Africa?” he said, “It’s such a poor country.” I confidently said, “That’s exactly why I want to go there.”

Dan Dienelt

“ Now that God has called you to missions…” Wait a minute! I didn’t hear or feel the touch of the Holy Spirit. Yes, I know that Pastor Kevin works that phrase of his “we are to engage people with Jesus into every Sunday he preaches.. I have been a good Christian for 62 years…very blessed years; God’s gifts to me have been unmeasurable..Yes- I have had troubled waters to walk on or through. Again and again the Lord was been by my side, guiding me continuously. Age has it privilege in that after 62 years of life, I am able to see the hand of the Lord in guiding my life. If it were not for the troubled waters of the fore years, I would not be blessed with my wife Sharon, my grandson, Cody and all my grandchildren. Ask anyone who know me and they will tell you I am stuck like glue glue on my family. Guess what! A song by the Christian singer, Michael W. Smith, “Open The Eyes of My Heart, Lord” tells it like it is for me… My heart has felt the calling…Pastor Kevin’s message to “Engage people with Jesus” The Holy Spirit was touch me so gently, I did not even know He was there. I KNOW IT NOW! I FEEL IT NOW!.
“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless: maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

May God open the eyes of your heart!

Pastor Dave Maki

I am going to Ethiopia because the Lord has opened doors for us to build a partnership with the Christians of Ethiopia that are sharing the Gospel with Muslims. Their experience and passion for outreach will encourage us to make an impact in the growing Muslim community in Fort Wayne. I believe we have a call from God to learn how best to reach out to the Muslim population. God is bringing together many factors that point us to the possibilities for sharing Christ with Muslims. It is becoming clear that we have received a challenge from the Lord to activate God’s people for reaching a changing culture. I am compelled to find ways to make a difference in the Fort Wayne mission field. It is time for us to move outside the walls of our churches and influence our communities with the message of hope. It is my prayer that this trip will give us a clear vision for how we might step up our mission effectiveness. God can use this trip to build a connection to Christians who can inspire us by the huge sacrifices they have made for the mission of Christ.

I am returning to Ethiopia to continue my journey with, to, and for the Lord. It sounds selfish, and while I may have helped just a few people on the last trip, hundreds of people helped me. I feel very blessed that the Lord has given me the heart and will to go again and help others in a far off place.
Julie Kratzman
Why am I returning to Ethiopia?
On the trip two years ago I witnessed for the first time someone (Samuel) who wanted to be saved. Our guide, Solomon, who is with Lutheran Hour Ministries talked with Samuel for several minutes. Samuel was questioning whether or not he was good enough to be a Christian because he had done bad things in his past and was afraid the Lord wouldn’t allow him into heaven. Solomon could see Samuel was truly sorry for his sins as he was crying and assured him the Lord would be with him if he prayed and asked God for forgiveness and guidance. I was there to listen with Samuel, to pray with Samuel and to ask for forgiveness just like Samuel. Later I realized the Lord placed me in that moment for a reason but it was not the same reason I had thought originally. As I walked away I was overcome with emotion seeing someone being saved when all along I was being saved just like Samuel.

Many people have asked if I was ever scared or felt in danger during the last trip and I admit sometimes I would question places we would go or people we would see, but I never felt I was alone or in a place that the Lord wasn’t taking us to. I am going somewhere He wants me to go and it is not my plan, but His plan that I am living.

I am thrilled to be going back and seeing familiar faces, sharing my faith, hugging hundreds of children, and building a lasting relationship between Concordia Lutheran School and a school in Addis Ababa. I want to use this experience again to set an example for my children that will help them grow in their faith and learn to always trust and live with the Lord in their heart.

Jennifer Davis

Have you ever been so consumed with the temporal, routine demands brought on by life that you feel you have little time to meet needs of an eternal significance? That’s where I found myself, and that’s one of the reasons I’m going to Ethiopia.

Four years ago I was actively meeting in a small group, a Bible study, involved with a refugee ministry, and serving at church in several ways. Then I became a mother for the second, third, and fourth time in one year.

I withdrew from church, from small group, from everything. The more I withdrew, the more focused I became on me, my family, and the challenges that came with it. All ministries stopped.

When I heard about Mission Ethiopia something stirred inside me…the Holy Spirit. I believe God is using this mission trip as an invitation to pour myself into serving Him, rather than serving myself. My faith, gifts, and energies are not just for me or my family; they are for reaching the lost.
God gave me the opportunity in the past to minister to the Muslim refugees from Somalia. That experience emboldened me to befriend, love, and minister to those living apart from God. Whether in Ethiopia or in my neighborhood there are people who need the gospel of Jesus Christ and may not hear if I do nothing.

I truly feel called to be part of Mission Ethiopia. I consider it a gift to have this time carved away from all the temporal demands in order to completely surrender myself and focus on the eternal. I have been longing to serve Him again. I feel I need to trust Him and obey His call. So, here I am, send me!

Loretta Sassmannshausen
Why am I returning to Ethiopia?
Why am I going? I certainly don’t have the time. I have three very busy children, and it’s generally my responsibility to be their chauffeur and tutor. I have a husband who is a physician and is very busy taking care of his many patients. I manage his medical practice which is a full-time (and then some) job in itself. We are in the process of constructing a new 19,000 square foot building that will house our new office and second business which we are also in the process of starting. I am on the School Board, Personnel Committee, and Board of Directors at Concordia.

I went to Ethiopia two years ago. I was shocked to feel God leading me to go then and am a bit surprised to feel His calling to go again. This is not something I thought that I would ever have a desire to do once, no less to do it again (in fact, I could see this being a regular journey throughout my life). I don’t think I am any less nervous this time, but I feel a bit better prepared/equipped to be a blessing to our team and to the people of Ethiopia. For me, it is a constant reminder that there are people everywhere that need to know the love, acceptance, forgiveness, and peace that can only be found in a relationship with God. It also helps me to understand and not take for granted the blessings we have here in the United States. However, it’s not just about helping and blessing them. It’s about helping us to be a blessing to people here in Fort Wayne and everywhere we go. We have been instructed in Acts 1:8 to “…be my witnesses in Jerusalem [Fort Wayne], and in all Judea [USA] and Samaria [the world], and to the ends of the earth.” This is my mission. I just cannot imagine NOT being involved in this incredible opportunity.

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Monday, August 25, 2008

> Event Calendar

Saturday, August 23, 2008

> Our purpose for missions

Sunday, August 17, 2008

> Mission Ethiopia 2008 Background

Photo Album

Ethiopia 2008 Team

Blog Archive -- Click a month to choose a topic

Mission Ethiopia 2006

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