Tuesday evening was the last Bible study Ken will be teaching on John's signs - Pauline and I will be teaching next weeks! Yikes! We met on Wednesday to discuss exactly what we will do, and decided that I will teach the first sign (the man born blind) and she will teach the second one (Lazarus coming to life). It should be good - after meeting with her I felt I had a great outline and direction for how to teach it.
Wednesday Ken began teaching on early Jewish Exegesis - sounds Greek to me, but apparently it's not. Haha...He is really excited to be moving on from cannon formation and said that this class was one his best so far!
Thursday morning Ken went out to Lawrence's farm again for the first time in ages! It was good for him to be back as a farm-hand for the morning. It's calving season again, so he enjoyed driving the ute around moving calves around, teaching them how to drink, and the like (coming home smelly and dirty - the true sign of a farm-hand)! That evening was PLT and Directors. I was a bit hurt that they forgot to ask for my report (until I hinted at it) but got over it. Sometimes I don't think they understand what I do at the church, but I guess that's OK. Since we've been pastor-less for the past eight months I've planned all the services and arranged all the little things that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. Hopefully before we leave we'll have a pastor to take over all the planning and preparation I do.
Following the meeting was a presentation by Ken Benn for the children's ministry volunteers to learn more about storytelling. It was quite fascinating to listen to Ken Benn share his stories - he definitely has a way of pulling you into them! I think everyone learned a few new ideas to use for Sunday School, and if nothing else, at least for the readings on Sunday morning. Ken Benn encouraged us to not just read off the Bible, but to read it instead as you read a story, giving life to the characters and bringing the listeners actually into the story.
Ken was excited that this week he was asked to do two things: speak at the Bach Cantata Vespers following Segue in October, and lead a Fair Trade Coffee evening at a local church in Palmy similar to the one he did at St. Luke's. The youth worked from the Salvation Army came to our Fair Trade evening and really liked it, so asked if Ken would be willing to do it again for the youth at Salvation Army!
Other exciting news: I finally heard back from Themba! We still don't know the date we are to begin, but they officially welcomed us. They had their board meeting and everyone is excited to have us there next year. They are also talking to Lutheran World Relief and Human Care to see if we can have an account set up through them for donations for living expenses while serving Themba. Themba will provide us with food and housing, but otherwise, all other expenses getting there, while there, and leaving will be up to us. Please pray that World Relief and Human Care will allow us to have an account through them for people to give funds to us through a non-profit organization.
Sunday was a busy day too - Indonesia Partnership Celebration! We had everyone from Trinity join us at St. Luke's and only had one service at St. Luke's. The place was packed out (not to mention all the boys from boys high came as well) and the energy was high. I planned the service and was so pleased at how everything fit together so beautifully! Jen, Carol and myself sang the hymn O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing in Batak to begin the service, there were prayers for missions and unity where everyone in the congregation held hands with those next to them, the Gospel reading was read in Batak by Ken, and all the songs fit the theme perfectly. It was a great service! It was followed by a lunch with some Indonesian food and then a presentation of the trip by the team. The church decided to partner with Hephatha, a ministry in BLANK that specializes in caring for the disabled. They have a strong desire to learn more about agriculture and hand crafts, things which people in our congregation do for a living! So the partnership should be a great fit. It was a little discouraging to see how negative those who stayed to learn about the partnership seemed. But we trust that no matter what, God's will is done and will keep the church in prayer as they proceed with this mission.
Lois sharing a bit of an overview of the trip
Ken showing some pictures
Ken presenting the Ulos from the Lutheran Church in Indonesia to the church
The Chair of the PLT with the Ulos (a gift extended to those in the family)
We ended the evening with a meal at Butch and Chrissie's with their children (who are close in age to us as well). It was a great time of fellowship and Butch's roast was real yummy, plus the Americans won two gold medals, one in basketball the other in volleyball while we were there! woohoo!
Monday we went to the airport to say goodbye to Pastor Max and Rosemary as they head off to Australia. Our next interim comes on the 31st and will begin preaching on the 7th of September. We will miss Pastor Max and Rosemary a lot though - they were such fun people and full of life and energy for mission! Blessings to them as they go home. Please keep Pastor Max's health in your prayers as well. They will be taking some time off, real retirement as he puts it, to play with the grandkids. :) We enjoyed the afternoon with some sunshine and a walk to the pet store with Pepper to get her some birthday presents - she turns three on wednesday!
Please continue to keep us in your prayers - we thank you for them!
No comments:
Post a Comment