meyer misson news

MEYER MISSION NEWS
Abounding in the Work of the Lord
September, 2009

Dear Friends:
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you
know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1
Corinthians15:58. With these encouraging words Rev. Claude Houge
greeted the students, instructors and pastors assembled at the
training centers in Ethiopia.

In fact as we traveled with Rev. Claude and Rhoda, we were the ones
encouraged day after day as we witnessed how our Lord is using the
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus to reach the lost. Those
gathered told of difficulties the church and individuals have
overcome to win souls and how many who come to Christ must suffer.
One lady said, "We are inspired to respond to open doors for the
Gospel. In the past people lost their property if they became
Christians."

A Christian man went to market one day. While he was away, others
came who beat, stripped naked and abused his pregnant wife. Even
though she was pregnant, suffering and humiliated, she would not deny
her Lord Jesus. Later she died in her husband's arms. Rev. Abraham
said, "Many Christians died for Jesus; we are inspired to follow Him
wholeheartedly. Stand firm. Some missionaries came who didn't live
long enough to carry out their vision. We live in uncertain times;
we are prepared to sacrifice whatever is required."

One student who is a recent convert said, "I received so many new
insights, how the Gospel reached us, I was weeping as I was
reading." "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power
of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile." Romans 1: 16

Agriculture in East Africa is different in many ways from that in
West Africa. We have not seen such vast numbers of horses, cattle,
sheep, goats, donkeys and camels before in Africa! There were many
men plowing and cultivating the fields with teams of oxen. It was
refreshing to see such use of animal power to aid the farming.
Horses, donkeys and camels are used to carry people and goods.

The rains had been falling for several weeks when we arrived and so
many areas were green and lush looking; yet the pastures and road
ditches looked like a Minnesota home owner's closely mowed yard!
Most animals looked thin and the pastures looked overgrazed.

We appreciated hearing from DVM Fred Van Gorkom of Christian
Veterinary Mission, a 25 year veteran of service in Ethiopia, who
also shared with us that Ethiopia has not had normal rains in the
past years. When the grasslands can not regain their growth, the
result is desertification; when the grasslands degenerate toward
becoming a desert rather than regain their cover of grasses. DVM Van
Gorkom went on to say, "I know that we taught about overgrazing and
deforestation and erosion control and rotating grazing lands... but
this is even harder for pastoralists on common grazing areas."

Dr. Kebede, an agriculturalist working with the South Central
Ethiopian Synod of EECMY, gave us many helpful insights on why areas
of Ethiopia are struggling with decreasing soil fertility. Fields
and pastures are grazed very short year after year, straw and stalks
are used for animal feed, and no crop residue is returned to the
soil. Often even the animal manure is burned for fuel so there is no
replenishment of nutrients to the soil.

As we traveled together, Dr. Kebede pointed out the major crops being
grown; being corn, wheat and teff. Teff grows similar to wheat and
produces small, fine seed used in making injura, a flat bread with a
spongy texture.

A major cash crop is chat or qat - an addictive stimulant. Along the
road 200 miles east of Addis Ababa, we saw bags of the green leafy
plants that would soon be shipped out of the region. In some case
wives work very hard supporting the family because their husbands are
addicted to chat and not motivated or able to work for the support of
the family. A church leader told us he had been addicted to chat
since he was 10 years old. He had tried to quit many times and he
only became free of it when he became a Christian. What a testimony
to the saving power of Jesus Christ! II Cor. 5:17, If any one is in
Christ, he is a new creation."

Being among dedicated and gifted African leaders was a highlight for
us. We could sense their dedication and Christian love for us, for
those they serve and for those not yet reached with the Gospel. The
Central Ethiopia Synod has as its goals: being a missionary church,
united regardless of ethnicity and having a strong economic
capacity. With a focus on prayer and several prayer meetings held
each week, the Tabor congregation is growing in members. Their stated
values are: Thinking outside of the box, excellence in knowledge and
living, and submission to the will of God!

We have just begun to learn about agriculture and Christianity in
Ethiopia. We hope we will have an opportunity to return and do work
with the EECMY in the future, Lord willing.

PRAYER REQUESTS
Thank God for safety, strength and health during our trip to
Ethiopia. Pray for guidance as the Lutheran Church Mission Uganda
considers the possibility of us doing training with them in the future.

Praise God for dynamic growth of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church
Mekane Yesus. May our Lord strengthen and direct their efforts.

Pray for blessings on future teaching in Sierra Leone, Guinea and
Liberia.

FINANCIAL SUPPPORT
Thank you to all who have contributed gifts "for the support of
Delano and Linda Meyer." Address (without our name on envelope) to:
LCMS World Mission, 1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7295.
Inside the envelope designate your gift for us on the check or in a
note.

To contribute to our LCMS World Relief & Human Care project,
"Agricultural Training in West Africa", designate & send checks to
LCMS World Relief and Human Care, 1333 S. Kirkwood Rd, St. Louis, MO
63122-7295.

Your friends in Christ, Delano and Linda Meyer
C/O Travis Torblaa, LCMS World Mission
1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7295










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donnelly news

this post will contain what I have written vs what gets published in the paper
Next edition Oct 2nd Oct 8th

Welcome to another edition of the Donnelly news.

After enjoying several weeks of summer like weather, fall made its appearance over the weekend with some very cool temps. It did get down below freezing on Tue a.m. here but I did not think it hurt the crops too much. Bean harvest is under way and I did see one farmer chopping corn for silage.

STJ/KONG PARISH NEWS: St J Fall festival is Oct 10th from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm. Their beef supper will be held on Nov 10th; the Kong fall festival is scheduled for Nov 22nd.

There will be special congregational meetings on Oct 11th after services at both Kong and St J for the purpose of voting on calling a new pastor for the parish. Please plan to attend



Thanks to the S.S. kids for singing at Kong on Sept 27th, and to the confirmands for sharing their experiences during their visit to the “Churches United for the Homeless” shelter in Morehead on the 26th.

It has been a while since I have mentioned the prayer chain that our parish has. It is open to anyone to use to ask for prayer for themselves, a family member, friend, acquaintance etc., who are sick, in sorrow or a special occasion such as a birth. Guidelines for using it are posted in the narthex of each church or contact the parish office for more info.

There will be an open house baby shower for the baby to be of Josh Erdahl and Kayla Harstad on Oct 3rd at Faith Lutheran Church in Morris from 10:30 -11:30 am

An open gathering for interested ELCA members is being held today (Sat) from 9:00 am to noon at Calvary Lutheran church (302 Olena Ave) in Willmar. The gathering, generated by recent church wide assembly decisions, is sponsored by Word Alone, but is not a Word Alone meeting. For more info call 795-2477. Note this event will replace the regular WCWA meeting scheduled for Oct 3rd. The next chapter meeting will be Nov 7th.





On Wednesday, October 7, from 8:00 - 10:00 a.m., at the Morris Elementary School concert hall there will be a community forum on “Coping with the Cost of Health Care” .The event is co-sponsored by Learning Unlimited and Service Learning (Morris Community Education). A panel presentation by students and local stakeholders will be followed by open discussion. Coffee, juice and donuts will be available.

The Dom Community Club will meet at the town hall on Oct 12th at 7 pm.

Congratulations to Jenna Heinrich and Jim Burough who were married on July 18th .The couple is now living in Owatonna


Congratulations to Sami Searle who won two firsts and a fourth at the state youth 4-h horse show held at the sate fair showground’s recently.



Congratulations to Amanda Henrichs of Donnelly and Josh Anderson who were married in Alex on Sept 19th



Congratulations to Wade Backman who was crowned homecoming king at MAHS; to Jake Long who was crowned at West Central Area on Sept 21st and also to Nicole Gillespie who was crowned homecoming queen at C-A on Sept 14th. Wade’s parents are Steve and Cathy; Jake’s are Sherman and Sherry; Nicole’s are Curt and Judy. Steve, Sherman and Judy are all former Donnelly area residents. Nicole was also named to the all tournament team at the VB tournament at UMM recently.

Margaret Miller of Morris passed away Sept 23rd. Some of the family members that survive her include her daughter, Jeanne (Dan) Koehntop of Donnelly, a brother, William (Gen) Braun of Morris formerly of Donnelly as well as several nieces, nephews and other family members in the Donnelly area. Wally McCollar and I along with many others from the area attended her visitation on Sept 25th at the funeral home. En route to Morris I stopped to visit my aunt Peal A. Anderson.

Deborah Denise Pritchard of Walker passed away on Apr 12th. Her mother is Alice (Devick) Hallman of Morris formerly of Donnelly.

Janet Riley of Morris passed away Sept 29th, her funeral was held on Oct 1st at Assumption church. Her son Eric (Jen) Riley and their family of Barnesville, formerly of Donnelly, are among the family members who survive her.



Melvin Reynolds of Cyrus formerly of Donnelly passed away on Sept 19th. Jim and Lou Eystad were among the family and friends who attended his funeral on Sept 24th at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cyrus.



Emily Lou Oachs was born on Sept 18th to Kelly and Chrissy Oachs of Herman. Grandparents are Ben Delong Jr. of Brainerd; Janet Hoernemann of Herman great grandparents are Pat Hoernemann of Morris and Ben and Yvonne Delong Sr.







Sept 26th a good crowd was on hand for the auction at the 4 Wheel ranch of rural Morris. En route to the sale I stopped by Craig Loge’s moving sale. They are moving to Morris and their son Kevin and his family will be moving onto the farm. They have been good friends and neighbors of our family for many years and I will miss them. In the evening I spent some time at the wedding dance for Carla and Adam Ritter at the Eagles Club in Morris. Carla is a relative of mine.

Jim and Lou Eystad & I were part of an overflow crowd of about 600 people that attended the WA regional meeting at Mt Carmel in Alex on Sept 27th. Pr Jaylan Clark president of WA, Bishops Wohlrabe and Rindy shared their thoughts on the aftermath of the recent ELCA assembly. A video and/or audiotape of the meeting will be available in the future call 795- 2477 for more info. After the meeting it was off to Morris where a good crowd was on hand for the Faith Discovery Series at the MAHS Auditorium.



Jim and Lou Eystad and I attended the community meal at the Morris Sr. Center on Sept 28th.

A good crowd attended the Resource Connections Non-Profit Summit on Sept 30th at the Old # 1 in Morris. Many non- profit org from Stevens County were represented at the meeting. In the eve I took in the MCCL fall tour at St Mary’s school in Morris.

On Sat Sept 19th Jim and Lou Eystad were guests Shawn and Wendy Sansack for Delia’s 12th birthday and Kourtney’s 5th birthday. On Sept 20th they were to the “Sing a Long” at the Eden Reformed Church in Herman.

celbrations

congratulations to lean Deal of Wheaton and Jeromey Stoneburg of Herman on their engagement His parents are John barber and +Wanda Stoneburg, grandmother is Gerri Barber of Donnelly they will be married in Oct in Wayzata

Jeff Hagen of Hoffman and Kelsey Twetten of Alexandria wish to announce their upcoming marriage. Jeff is the son of Lynn and Sheila Schulz of Morris, and grandson of Betty Hagen of Hoffman, Shirley Henrichs of Donnelly, and Dolores Schulz of Parkers Prairie.Kelsey is the daughter of Neal Twetten of Cosmos and Pam and Brian McKenna of Nevis and the granddaughter of Lois Twetten of Gaylord and Orville and Wanda Thun of Alexandria

Parker and Renee Kloos of Donnelly and Roger and Bonnie Koehntop of Morris are pleased to announce the engagement of their children, Mandi Lynn Kloos and Kyle Roger Koehntop.




Congratulations to Wade Backman who was crowned homecoming king at MAHS; to Jake Long who was crowned at West Central Area on Sept 21st and also to Nicole Gillespie who was crowned homecoming queen at C-A on Sept 14th. Wade’s parents are Steve and Cathy; Jake’s are Sherman and Sherry; Nicole’s are Curt and Judy. Steve, Sherman and Judy are all former Donnelly area residents. Nicole was also named to the all tournament team at the VB tournament at UMM recently.

commuinty events 2

LEARNING UNLIMITED READY FOR FALL

Learning Unlimited, Morris Area’s lifelong learning group, starts its fall season on Wednesday, September 9th. Lawrence Owen is first up pleading “Show Me How to Get Out of Here.” A relative newcomer to our area, Lawrence taught school for forty years, over thirty of them at Gustavus Adolphus College. After retiring in 1996, he owned and managed a small golf business in Arkansas. Unable to hit the sweet spot in that business, he retired altogether and just played golf. In 2006, he and Mrs. Owen moved to Morris, where their daughter, Athena Kildegaard, lives with her family.
In his program subtitled “Ways out of the Body,” Professor Owen will read some poems and talk about poems that evoke, embody or present an out-of-body experience. He thinks there are suitable ways to enjoy such an encounter without the use of chemicals! We will meet in the Morris Public Library at 1:00 p.m.

Our annual intergenerational national issues forum will be held in October. The timely and divisive topic of “Coping with the Cost of Health Care: How Do We Pay for What We Need?” is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th at 8:30 a.m. in the Morris Area Elementary School.

On Wednesday, November 11, Julie Peletier and Bert Ahern will address some common misperceptions in their talk, “American Indians and the U.S.: New Perspectives” in the Stevens County History Museum at 1:00 p.m.
We will end the year, as we have for the last few years, tapping Laird Barber’s knowledge of the Bible. He will trace Jesus’ ancestry through the Gospel of Matthew on Wednesday, December 9th, in the Morris Public Library at 1:00 p.m.

Winter and spring 2010 are shaping up with a variety of compelling topics, spanning the arts, history, science, religion and politics. We will continue our annual Heritage Days event in April and wrap up with observance of Flag Day in East Side Park on Monday, June 14th, before breaking for the summer.
Learning Unlimited programs are sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Minnesota Humanities Center, Morris Area Community Education and other local sponsors. They are free and everyone is welcome

Please run the following if you can. We are charging $3.00 at the door, but that's only to pay the talent. It's not otherwise a fundraiser and we don't have any reserves for paid advertising.

Thursday, October 22, 1:30 p.m. Fall Get-Together sponsored by the Stevens County Eldercare Coalition, featuring local jazz musicians followed by pumpkin pie and coffee. Faith Lutheran Church.

pictures

part of Grandpa's toy-land at the Morris fair

Tyler Busse winning demo derby in Morris

last parade for our royalty in Hoffman 8/16

one of 10 racks of bundles we loaded on the 14th.

thoughts

I spent some time at the St Co fair lot of people there and things to see. The fireworks were fabulous as always. One of the must see exhibits is Clay Van Horn's miniature farm. They put an awful lot of time and work into it so I hope many of you will spend some time in it. They said raised about $2000 for the Curtis Van Horn scholarship from sponsors of it. Be sure to check all the 4-h projects esp from the Rendsville 4-hers. "hats off" to the fair board for all their hard work in putting the fair together as usual they did a fantastic job from the fireworks to all the free state shows.

a huge thank you to everyone who helped pitch bundles on Aug 14th we filled up 10 racks so there there will be a lot of threshing going on. Thanks also to Parker Kloos for helping shingle the schoolhouse ,Sandy Dunn for working on the float and to the Rendsville 4-h for all their landscaping work around town and for painting the shirt shack /concession stand.

A huge thank you also to our royalty for doing an outstanding job of representing Donnelly in area parades and other events during the year.

Congratulations to our new threshing bee royalty queen Cammi Aanerud; princes Kristina Johnson; little Miss Donnelly Shannon Kill ;little miss princes Carrie Wilts

thanks to everyone who helped make the first day of our bee a successful one.

deaths

don woodke of Morris passed away Sept 14th His late wife was Bev Anderson from Donnelly and his daughter (Nancy) is an editor with the M S-T and head of the T Bee queen committee.

Marylin Miller of Morris survived by her daughter Jeanne (Dan) Koehntop brother Willard Braun of Morris

Waldo Erickson of Springfield family includes son Mark (Deb) Erickson and family of donnelly

Harland hadler of mlps family includes brother Darell of Donnelly and his family

Deborah Denise Pritchard family includes mother Alice (Devick) Hallaman

Janet Riley of Morris passed away Sept 29th funeral is Oct 1st at 10:30 am at Assumption. Her son Eric(Jen) Riley of Barnesville formerly of Donnelly are among the family members that survive her. Her late husband Myron was also from Donnelly.

Melvin Reynolds of Cyrus formerly of Donnelly