May 9, 2006
Dear friends in Christ,
Greetings in the joy and peace of our risen Lord! We pray you had a blessed
Easter celebration, and continue to rejoice in this Easter season. We also apologize
for not having written for some time—we had hoped to do so about a month
or so ago, but with all the Easter preparations followed by my trip to the Arkansas-Oklahoma
Synod Assembly the week after and other activities at the Seminary and the church,
unfortunately this newsletter got postponed. Our Easter celebration was a very
special one, with wonderful music at church and plenty of food and fellowship.
This is a fairly eventful time for us, particularly because our daughter Elizabeth
will be graduating from Valparaiso University on May 21. Naturally, we will
be attending the ceremony there as a family, with other relatives and friends.
Elizabeth also announced her engagement to another Valpo student who will be
graduating, Matthew Fry; plans are to get married at the Valpo chapel in summer
of 2007. Beginning this fall, Elizabeth will spend a year working with Lutheran
Volunteer Corps as a youth director at an ELCA congregation in Chicago; her
summer plans are to work again at a summer camp in Indiana with Lutheran Outdoor
Ministries.
Daughter Monica Julie will be graduating from Secondary school (equivalent to
9th grade) in June, but won’t be here for the ceremony because she will
be leaving on June 11 to go to Texas to participate in a Global Mission program
with other international youth, and then attend the ELCA Youth Gathering in
San Antonio from July 12 to 16. Monica will then begin Preparatory School at
a new school in August, and is excited about that.
As far as the work at the Seminary, the Theological Community, and the church, in general things are going well. We have a good group of people working together. A lot of times there aren’t spectacular things to report or stories to tell. I was thinking this afternoon that in a lot of ways my work with the students is like cultivating a garden: it involves a lot of “watering” and cultivating, and you usually don’t see immediate results or changes taking place overnight. Over time, however, you see a lot of growth and many things of beauty developing. That is how it continues to be: as I compare most of the students with whom I work to where they were several years ago, there is a tremendous difference: a great deal more maturity, more pastoral ability and leadership skills, and growth in so many areas. They can do more things and do them better and with much greater confidence. A number of our students and graduates are helping out at church as we work together as a pastoral team; I also continue to supervise an intern from Luther Seminary, Leslie Williamson, who is here with her husband Mark (a Luther grad). We received word that we will be getting another intern for the next school year as well, Lara Janssen from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. So as I work with all of these people in helping them prepare for ministry and watch them grow, there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction, as you can imagine.
A couple of other things to mention. First, we ask for your prayers as Mexico prepares for its presidential election in July. It is a very important time for the country and its people. Second, we also want to share how important the immigration reforms being considered in the U.S. are for everyone here, as well as the immigrants who are in the U.S., of course. Because this is a complex issue, it’s difficult to discuss it in a brief newsletter such as this one, but we would hope above all that the voices of those who have immigrated to the U.S. (both legally and illegally) will be listened to, and that greater efforts be made by all in attempting to understand and address the causes that make it necessary for people to leave their homes and immigrate. From the perspective of people here, the question of immigration has to focus more on questions of the global economics that are making it very difficult, if not impossible, for people to continue to live in the places where they have lived for generations; it is often a depressing reality to see the contexts from which people are having to leave in order to emigrate.
We pray that the Lord may continue to bless you in your own mission and ministry, and will try to write again soon!
Yours in Christ,
David, Alicia, Elizabeth, and Monica