LWMS President’s corner
The excitement of mission trips
Author: Lynnette Hupman
A presentation at the 2006 LWMS convention sparked the idea for their newest mission project: Nigeria in 2008.
Mission trips are so exciting to me, and yet I have never been outside of this country. As a child I often attended special presentations at my church. A missionary would tell us about Africa, and my sisters and I would watch the movies or slideshows and dream about marrying a missionary. After all, we lived on a farm with no indoor bathrooms, so how much rougher could it be?
Mission trips have changed over the years. Today we read about students traveling to help build houses and share Christian love in Louisiana. Ladies attend Women of WELS spiritual retreats in Canada and Antigua. Retired couples live overseas and teach English as a Second Language classes. Members of Arizona congregations share Jesus in Mexico and start new missions.
In 2004, four women traveled to Malawi to encourage their sisters in the faith. Representing their LWMS sisters, these women met and spoke with more than 2,000 members of the Lutheran Women’s Organization (LUWO). The LUWO sisters in the faith were very excited as were all the attendees at the LWMS convention who heard about the trip two months later.
So what is next for LWMS and mission trips? Flash back to 2006 when there was a joyous reunion of mission-minded people in Tacoma, Wash., at the annual LWMS convention. Antigua sisters visited and brought encouragement from their women’s group, Mission Lights. Pastor Douglas Weiser, along with Ima and Ikpe Udofia, also shared a video of our Nigerian sisters and brothers singing praises to the Lord. The national pastors from Nigeria were unable to obtain visas to attend the convention, but soon we were dancing and praising God in the covention hall as if we were in Nigeria. Before long, another mission trip idea was conceived: Nigeria in April 2008.
That idea is now an LWMS project. It will allow four LWMS women to travel to Nigeria and strengthen their Lutheran sisters in Christ the King Lutheran Church and All Saints Lutheran Church, our two sister synods in Nigeria. One goal of this trip is to encourage the Nigerian Lutheran sisters in their works of service, make them glad to speak of Jesus even more, and empower them within their communities to be a force for Christ. Another goal is that WELS women teach and learn in spiritual matters, gather experiences and information helpful for sisters in the United States, and grow in personal faith by visiting people that are so much alike, yet so different. More information can be found on the LWMS Web site, www.lwms.org
Mission trips are exciting. While some people travel across the world to share God’s news, you and I have mission opportunities every day. Don’t think of your next trip to the grocery store as a step in making supper. Think of it as a mission trip. Look for opportunities to speak with people from your area about Jesus. God wants us to make disciples of all nations and these nations are in our backyard too. Make your next trip a mission trip.
Lynnette Hupman, LWMS president, is a member at Bethlehem, Manassas, Virginia.
Volume Winter 2008, Category: BWM LWMS
Copyrighted by WELS Mission Connection © 2008
Permission is granted for a single personal copy of an article.
Contact Robert Adrian at 414-454-2112 or adrianb@nph.wels.net regarding any other use.
