Update from the Caribbean

The Lord continues to provide believers and to bless the work being done in the Caribbean. A teaching trip was completed this October to one of the Spanish speaking countries with the objective to teach the Psalms and to do sermon text studies.

Dominican Republic

The Dominican mission field has experienced many great blessings in the first half of this year. The members and workers there are passionate about the gospel and have a great mindset for evangelism. The pastor in Santiago has been considered capable by two LATTE pastors of teaching seminary-level courses to his fellow Dominicans. The Dominican field receives no subsidy at the present.

Haiti

The Haitian outreach has also experienced tremendous blessings this year. The connections with Haitian orphanages have resulted in 62 orphans receiving saving faith through the washing of Holy Baptism. It is the hope that the current partnerships and other orphanage leaders can continue and even expand (with the hope of also reaching out to an additional area) so that more souls may be reached and may hear the gospel in a country where voodoo and other false practices are the norm.

LATTE's work focuses on Spanish-speaking countries plus Haiti. WELS also serves English-speaking countries of the Caribbean -- Antigua, Grenada, and St Lucia.

Work in South America

Bolivia

Contact with concerned Christians in Bolivia started in 2007. Nine LATTE teaching trips have been made to teach main doctrines of the Bible. There has been significant growth in understanding Scripture, including the ability to distinguish between law and gospel. There is still much to be done, however, especially in the area of practice where we have not had a physical presence in Bolivia to help with the follow through. A LATTE professor and his wife on site for three years will be a great blessing to the work of determining whether a confessional Lutheran church can be established in this country.

Brazil

Brazilian Lutheran Church (ILB) has decided to continue its mission efforts in Presidente Prudente in southern Brazil.  Another six baptisms and three adult confirmations in Dourados and Gravatai show God's grace in action. WELS and ILB representatives plan to meet in November to discuss how to support the development of the Brazilian Lutheran Church's gospel ministry and direction for the future.  One semi-retired missionary and two national pastors serve the two congregations. One LATTE Professor continues to serve as Friendly Counselor to Brazil and provide theological training in Portuguese as requested.

Colombia

The membership growth of the church in the Medellin and in the Quibdo and Pereira areas is encouraging. The willingness of the church of Medellin to relocate Pastor Henry and partially support him shows the seriousness with which it considers mission work. In contrast, the growth in Bogota has been very limited in spite of mission opportunities. The need to work with the Bogota congregation is urgent and to that effect a visit by WELS reps has been planned for this year. LATTE continues to provide seminary training with both onsite visits and online classes depending upon the course and availability. 

Bible Passages & Hymns - Spanish

Por tanto, id, y haced discípulos a todas las naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo;

- Mateo 28:19 (Matthew 28:19)

Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna. 

- Juan 3:16 (John 3:16)


Jesus Me Ama 

(Jesus Loves Me)



Cristo me ama, bien lo se
Su palabra me hace ver
Que los ninos son de aquel
Quien es nuestro amigo fiel

Si, Cristo me ama

Si, Cristo me ama

Si, Cristo me ama

La Biblia dice asi

Cristo me ama, me salvo
En la cruz por mi murio;
Mi pecado perdono;
Vida eterna me dono

Si, Cristo me ama

Si, Cristo me ama

Si, Cristo me ama 
La Biblia dice asi

http://lyricstranslate.com

Where would you have me serve, O Lord?

Rona Abraham is our first seminary graduate in the Dominican Republic. (Read more about him at our sister blog "WELS in the DR" by clicking here.) He graduated in July and was so excited about returning to his home country of Haiti to share the life-saving Gospel with so many who are still lost in sin and unbelief. But...

Rona may not be able to carry out his plans. He intended to return to Haiti and start a "tent ministry" -- sharing the Gospel while supporting himself with a secular job. With his seminary diploma giving him the title of "licenciado" (equivalent to a bachelor's degree), he planned to get a job as a teacher. But...

He recently found out that since our seminary is not yet registered as an "institution of higher education" with the Dominican government, his degree is not recognized. Without a degree, he cannot get a job. Without a job, he cannot support himself in Haiti. So...

In the DR, we are looking into the requirements to register our seminary so that we can confer degrees that will be recognized and accepted. In the meantime, we ask for your prayers:

• that the Lord would bless our efforts to register the seminary
• that the Lord would guide Rona to know where and how He wants him to serve
• that the Lord would direct us as we consider other alternatives

James reminds us to say, "If it is the Lord's will" when we make our plans for the future (James 4:15). We know that all things are in His hands -- His good and gracious hands! We, therefore, trust Him to bless Rona's ministry wherever that may be.

LATTE Missionary Wives

When people think about mission work, they usually think about the work the missionaries do to extend the message of salvation to the lost souls of the countries to which they have been sent. Sometimes not enough attention is given to the work that the wives of the missionaries do. The fact is that the wives of the missionaries give a very valuable contribution to the mission efforts. When their children are at home, they give their time to raising them in circumstances that are often very challenging. Often, in addition to taking care of their children, they also help their husbands with different aspects of their work as well. Such a missionary’s wife is Kathy. She has helped to raise five children who all grew up in our Latin American missions. In addition, she has always helped with the translation of many materials that her husband and other missionaries needed for their work as well as doing other secretarial jobs. Now that her husband is on the LATTE team, some of the valuable materials that she has translated from English to Spanish are:
- All three volumes of Our Great Heritage which contain doctrinal articles that are assigned to our seminary students for outside reading for the Dogmatics course and courses on the Lutheran Confessions.
- “Studies in the Augsburg Confessions” – the book used as a text for the Augsburg Confessions course
- Both volumes of “Prepared to Answer” which are used as outside reading assignments for the Evangelism course.
- Many other books, Bible studies and devotional materials
Kathy also helps by making frequent visits to the wives of the seminary students in order to encourage and help them in any way she can.
What a blessing is a missionary wife who loves her Lord and her Lord’s people as Kathy does. The same could be said for all the missionary wives that I know.

(posted by Professor Philip)

Tostones or Patacones?

When someone asks me if I speak Spanish I always say "Yes, but...." or "Sí, pero...." . I have spoken Spanish now for 30+ years and still put the "but" in there, as I know I have a US accent and make grammar mistakes. However, I also have other problems since I started traveling with my husband on his teaching trips. There is a variety of accent and vocabulary differences between areas of countries, but even more so between countries. For instance, what we called "patacones" ( a delicious snack made by frying and smashing and refrying plantains) in Colombia are called "tostones" in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. To top it off, if I can't catch what is said to me I respond with "¿mande?" which is only used in Mexico to ask for clarification. Then I often get a look like "are you sure you speak Spanish?" and I start to wonder myself if I do.

(posted by Marlene)