With the permission of the Board for Lay Ministry, I’ve been serving as the chairman of the Administrative Committee for Africa (ACA) for the WELS Board for World Missions. When I graduated from the seminary, serving in world missions was the furthest thing from my mind. I was shocked when we got the call to serve in Zambia. But Sue and I soon learned that we loved both living and working for the Lord in Africa. When we finally came back to the USA after 21 years, it was for two reasons: 1. for our children’s education and 2. because I wanted to serve as a pastor. But after 5 years at Immanuel Lutheran on the north side of La Crosse, I was asked to serve on the Administrative Committee for the first time, as the “liaison” for Cameroon. I was happy to volunteer my time. And during the next four years I made two trips to Cameroon, getting to know this west African country that was so different from Zambia and Malawi where we had served in Central Africa. In 2012, the Lord surprised us again, this time with a call to live and work in India. And we pretty much figured that we’d be there until retirement. But unexpectedly the Lord saw fit to remove me from India and to bring me here to La Crescent. I had pretty much kissed world missions goodbye when Pastor Larry Schlomer, the Administrator of the Board for World Missions called in early January and asked me to take on the chairmanship of the “AC” again. In the last year, I’ve realized that a lot has changed. During my time in Central Africa, missionaries served local congregations in Zambia and Malawi. Now, that work is done by national (African) pastors. And the missionaries now work with new and old partners throughout the continent of Africa. The annual meeting for the One Africa Team (OAT) is coming up February 13-15. And since I was going to that meeting, we decided to have Sue come along and that we would spend a little extra time in Africa. Again, there are two reasons for it: 1. We want to experience Africa once again and 2. I want to get the opportunity to sit down with the mission families in their own homes, and to experience a little bit of what day-to-day life is for them in Zambia and Malawi today.    To read the newsletter in its entirety download here.