Sent to The Philippines...and Bangladesh

It's been a busy week. On Sunday, I traveled to Eau Claire to attend Board of Missions meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Today (Wednesday...4/19) I was up bright and early to catch a 6:00 am shuttle from Eau Claire to Minneapolis for a flight to Chicago. Now, I'm sitting at the airport in Chicago waiting to check in for my flight to The Philippines. I'm traveling with Pastor Rob Sauers, a member of the CLC Board of Missions. He'll accompany me on the visit to the Philippines and then we will part ways as he heads back to Florida and I continue on to Bangladesh. 

Pastor Sauers and I will spend about a week visiting Pastor Jordan Palangyos in a mountainous region of the Philippines, about eight hours north of Manilla. We'll fly from Chicago to Tokyo to Manilla. If all goes as planned, we'll arrive in Manilla around 1:30 pm on Friday. We'll then take a 7-8 hour bus ride to the city of Baguio where we will meet Pastor Palangyos. We'll spend the next several days visiting the two congregations and a few preaching stations that Pastor Palangyos serves up in the mountains. Pastor Palangyos was introduced to the CLC through a Facebook contact a few years ago. I have had the privilege of extensive correspondence with him since 2019. We've studied through several Online Theological Studies together. I am excited to finally meet him face-to-face. If all goes well, Pastor Sauers and I will make a recommendation to the CLC Board of Missions and CLC President Wilke to begin the formal colloquy process. Please pray for the Lord's blessings on this visit and for fruitful discussions and study of God's saving word as work toward a God-pleasing unity of faith and teaching.

On the 27th, Pastor Sauers and I will part ways. I'll fly from Manilla to Bangkok to Dhaka, Bangladesh, where I'll spend the next few weeks working with Pastor Monotosh Banarjee of the Bangladesh Lutheran Church Mission. We'll visit several congregations, schools, and preaching stations and conduct a five-day pastor and leader training seminar. Pastor Banarjee has a busy schedule planned. It will be good to work together with these faithful servants of the Lord again. 

Thank you for reading, and please keep praying for God's blessings as we work together to spread the Good News of our Savior Jesus!