Southwood Lutheran Church

Honduras Mission Team Update

Currently, 15 volunteers are serving in Hondruas. Please continue to keep them in your prays because knowing that people are praying for them helps strengthen and encourages them. Pray for safe travel, good health, and that there work will continue to strengthen our relationship with our brothers and sisters in La Ceibita.

Here is an update from trip participant, Bob Kacvinsky:

Hi from paradise. The youth are making a lot of friends and everyone has been having a very good trip. Natilee got sick last night so keep her in your prayers. Sunday we went with the church leaders on a boat ride on Lake Yojoa and had dinner with them at the resort. We went to services Sunday night. Andy and Cheryl gave testimonials and Jeremy lead the congregation in singing. Cool experience.

On Monday, we finished trimming one house and will work on the other one Tuesday. Jeremy, Lynn, Kelly, Alec and I worked with two families to build 3 gardens and teach them about vegetables. Cheryl has been teaching two women how to make uniforms and they are doing great.

Andy, Lynn, and Kelly went to town yesterday (Monday) to purchase the food for the meal on Monday night. During the day, we had 100 in the yard playing soccer, kickball, baseball, bubbles, and Frisbee – all at the same time. Looked like a war zone but everyone was having a great time.

This morning (Tuesday), Jeremy gave a testimony and had everyone holding back tears. Today we will finish the second home, continue the sewing projects and gardening project.

Everyone is doing great!

God Bless,
Bob Kacvinsky

Honduras Mission Trip

On March 18th a Mission Team including members from Southwood, First Plymouth of Lincoln, and guests from Pennsylvania and California will be traveling to Honduras for a week. The Team will be focusing on several projects including:

• Serving lunch to 200 children at an Orphanage in San Pedro Sula
• Constructing 2 new Christ Homes in our sister village of La Ceibeta
• Teaching cross stitching to enhance the sewing center micro business
• Conducting a cooking class to improve the dietary needs of the village by incorporating vegetables into their daily meals
• Conduct another gardening class to further production of healthy vegetables while creating a micro business potential via the farmer’s markets. (The photo shows Marcos harvesting the first vegetables from the new gardens planted in 2010.)
• Continue to support the chicken project within our sister village.

Our group will spend each day at our sister village working on projects that focus on improving their village life. Six years ago La Ceibeta was not much more than a curve in the road where poor families huddled in small stick shanties covered with discarded tin sheets. Today, La Ceibeta is a growing village of over 150 families. The church has helped to bring electricity, and in the near future fresh clean water, and a sense of hope in a community where there was very little.

Experiencing the miracles that God has created in La Ceibeta has been a great gift. Developing friendships with people who had nothing except a deep faith in our Lord, has been a humbling process, yet one that will forever change your faith.

In humble service,

Bob Kacvinsky

Sign up to be a prayer partner for a specific person at the Southwood Serves Wall or commit to pray for the entire team before and during their trip.  Knowing that people at home are praying for the volunteers strengthens and encourages them.

Southwood Serves - Orange Shirts

On Saturday, October 9th, 500+ volunteers from Southwood will be heading out into the community to serve at 37 different locations around Lincoln. You will easily be able to spot them all over the city in their bright orange t-shirts.

Ben, who made our t-shirts, made this cool video outlining the t-shirt making process: Watch Video Clip

Watching all of the orange t-shirts piling up in this this video gets me even more excited to see everyone heading out after worship to serve in the community wearing their orange t-shirts.  I still have the picture in my head of last year at the end of worship with everyone wearing their t-shirts, waiving their serving towels, and cheering "Who are we going to serve? JESUS, Who are we going to serve? JESUS" and it gives me goosebumps!

I pray that this year we will be able to make an even larger impact in the city of Lincoln and that all of our volunteers can show the people we serve a reflection of God's Love.  Please join me in praying for the families and individuals we will be serving, for all of Southwood's volunteers, and for good weather to complete all of the projects. 

If you didn’t get a chance to pick-up your t-shirts and serving packets, there is still time! Stop by the office this week Monday – Friday from 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Or if you didn’t sign-up to serve but would like to join in, there is still time! E-mail Nicole Mroczek to get involved and get a t-shirt!

5 Books

Last night at our Summer class, Making Sense of Scripture, we played a little game. 

We had five groups.  Each group was asked to imagine that they were a small house church in a country that is hostile toward Christianity.  They had just been informed that their Bibles were about to be confiscated.  They couldn't hide one away because the secret police knew how many they had.  They also knew that they had just enough time before the police arrived to copy down 5 books of the Bible to keep with them.  Their task was to figure out which 5 they would choose.

Here is what each group decided:
Here's what we found to be so interesting:  The only book that every group chose was the book of Psalms.  Most had Genesis, but not all.  Everyone chose one of the gospels, but not the same one.  In some groups there were some pretty heated debates over which gospel, or which letter to include.  But everyone seemed to put down Psalms as if that was a "no-brainer."

Someone said that this choice of Psalms perhaps this indicates how powerful prayer is for people.  Others mentioned the power of worship and music for people.  The Psalms are full of prayers, worship, and some of the best of our church music.  I guess for our little scenario of a house church in danger of losing its most sacred scripture - everyone knew that these prayers and songs would continue to draw the people together as they have done for 1000's of years.

But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,

and through each night I sing his songs,

praying to God who gives me life.

Psalm 42:8 (NLT)

What 5 books would you choose?

Pastor Sara

Honduras - Dental/Medical Mission Trip

On June 26, 2010, 28 people will depart on a short-term mission trip to Honduras.  Twenty-two people will be leaving from Lincoln, NErepresenting Southwood Lutheran and a few friends.  Six people will be leaving from Pittsburgh, PA.  We have three dentists and one nurse practitioner, and a lot of support people for dental and medical assisting and teaching bible school.

 

The objectives we have for this trip are many:

• Deepen our faith by spending time in The Word and serving God’s people
• Serve our brothers and sisters in Christ by providing medical/dental care in 3 full day and 2 half day clinics in different villages in the area
• Develop a heart for mission work in the 16 people who are experiencing their first global mission trip
• Mentor trip leadership to the church members from Pittsburgh to help equip them to lead their own mission team in 2011
• Share the word of God by teaching bible school at every village
• Share a meal and worship with our sister church family in LaCeibita
• Tour the village of LaCeibita to learn more about the projects they have recently undertaken and to better understand the growth and change in the village over the last five years
• Further develop our relationship with Pastor Oscar and his wife Roxanna by hosting a baby shower for them

 

We feel God has called each of us to be part of this mission team.  We are anxious to see what He has planned for us, and to watch Him use us to touch the lives of others.  We pray for open hearts and minds as we depart on this adventure, knowing that we will never be the same.  We have learned that the fire for mission that God starts in our hearts in Honduras continues to burn for years upon our return.

 

Thank you Southwood for your amazing support of this mission work.

 

Lori & Larry Buchmann

 

**Please keep this team in your prayers as they prepare for their journey and during the duration of their trip.  They depart on June 26 and return on July 2.

 

 

Upcoming Tanzania Mission Trip

On June 19, a group of 6 members of Southwood and 1 from Edensburg Lutheran Church in Malmo, Nebraska, will be traveling to spend 2 weeks with the people at Uswaa, our sister church in Tanzania, Africa. 

Since our July 2009 visioning trip, Nkirawaanga, the church Southwood is helping to build, has gone from a poured foundation to a framework of two stories tall.  We are excited to see the progress that has been made.  During our trip, we will worship with the people of Uswaa and will present a $15,000.00 check for the next phase to construct the cement block walls. 

In addition to building the Nkiirawaanga Church, one of the top needs identified during the visioning process from the 2009 trip, was to provide jobs to improve the local economy. We are planning to meet with the Northern Diocese Bank to discuss micro-loans to finance small businesses for the Uswaa area.

During the Easter Season at Southwood, our congregation raised funds to buy 2,000 chickens to create chicken cooperatives in Honduras and Tanzania.  During our trip, we are planning to meet with the leaders of Uswaa and together develop a plan for a chicken cooperative to benefit the people of the Uswaa Parish.  Information gathering would include a visit to an existing chicken cooperative in the city of Moshi and to meet operators of a successful dairy cooperative run by a group of women in a neighboring Lutheran Parish.

Also, during the trip a team of 5 teachers will also spend 4 days providing teacher training at Uroki Secondary School.  For the past several years, one of our goals has been to help Uroki establish an internet connection.  This will provide an outside source for research and open the door for communication with all parts of the world through the computers that have been donated to their school. With a donation from Southwood of $3,450.00, they are currently constructing a tower for satellite connection.  Much of the teacher training will be focused on internet usage and safety. 

We ask that the members of Southwood keep this group and our mission in their thoughts and prayers.  Thank you for your heart for outreach in our community and around the world. 

 

Scott and Faye Koehn

We Are The Lord's

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  We will gather in worship, confess our sins, acknowledge our own mortality, and be (once again) marked with the cross of Christ forever.  This devotion by Pastor Michael appeared in the bulletin this past Sunday, it is worth reading (or reading again)!

Please remember to join us for worship tomorrow evening at 5:15 or 6:30 pm.

Whether We Like it Or Not – We Are the Lord’s

By Pastor Michael Ryan

In the past two months my family gathered to say goodbye to two important people, my dad and a very good friend of my mother’s. I spend a lot of time walking others through crisis and times of grief—now I am experiencing it personally. We were helpless. We cried together. We prayed for a miracle. We asked God why and received no answer, at least not the one we wanted. And we agreed the whole thing sucks.

This scripture kept coming to mind: “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:8

We often interpret this passage to say that we should be okay with death because we’ll have eternal life. That is not what I’ve learned. Most families in crisis don’t care about salvation for eternity. They want salvation now from the threat of death and the resulting pain of separation. We desperately want our loved one to go on living with us. Belief in eternal life is empty in a moment like this.

In our grief this piece of scripture becomes poignant. The truth is, we don’t live to ourselves. Nothing we have is ours. God loaned us a body, a family and all the things we have. We may have them for an hour or a hundred years. We can’t choose the time of our birth nor can we prevent death from happening. The reality is no matter how long we have or what happens, life is a gift. We are the Lord’s whether we like it or not. We don’t have to like death especially the death of people we love.

We don’t like the ones we love having to experience grief. There is nothing we can say or do to take away the pain. But we can live to the Lord. This means we can be together emotionally, physically and spiritually. We can cry with each other and try to understand each other. We can treat others with respect and humility. We can laugh at the irony. We can find that even in death there is still life to live before eternity. It is enough to be the Lord’s. “…whether we live or whether we die, (whether we like it or not) we are the Lord’s.”

Thanks be to God.

Hands Tied Together

This Sunday is Global Mission Sunday at Southwood.  We will spend the morning celebrating the relationship God has given us with our brothers and sisters in Tanzania and Honduras.  We've been connected with these global family members for years now, but this year we found out that they are connected to each other too. 

Check out this great story!  It comes from Invo Makayo, the Headmaster of Uroki Secondary School in the Uswaa Parish in Tanzania.  He has never met anyone from Honduras, yet he faithfully prays for them as his own brothers and sisters.  To the right is a picture of Invo with Kristi Larson, one of the members of Southwood's Tanzania team.  You can read another story about Invo and Kristi here.

On August 3rd, Invo sent us this email:

After prayers (by Staff and Students of Uroki) for our sisters and brothers in Honduras, I decided to research a bit about this Country. On one website I faced the following alert:

Travel Alert: The security situation in Honduras remains fragile following recent political instability. Travelers should stay away from any demonstrations and monitor the media for any developments.

I was moved by tears. I heard the echo of Pastor Sara's words when preaching at Uswaa. I heard her telling us about our young sister (Honduras). She said we are three sisters (Uswaa, Southwood, and Honduras). I really felt as my own kinsmen are in great anguish. What then could I do to help them ? Nothing, nothing at all, the distance is a limiting factor, BUT even if I could be there who Am I to calm the situation? Nothing.

On the other side of the coin ... We have lots we could do. PRAYERS !!!!!!!!!!! yes by faith we have powers to stop everything that is disturbing our brethren. And this is what I'm calling upon to every body that known to have brothers and Sisters in Honduras Let keep our hands tied together till security is restored

In his service,

Invo

Sometimes I think we can go to Honduras and Tanzania and think we are the big brother or even the parent in this global relationship.  Thinking we have everything to give and teach and nothing to gain.  Oh how wrong that is - we have so much to learn and so much to be taught about faith by these faithful people who care so passionately for ALL of God's children.

Come and join the Global Celebration this Sunday!

Pastor Sara

Pray for BackPacks

This school year, Southwood will be providing 50 backpacks every week for Saratoga Elementary School. This week volunteers from Southwood will be packing, delivering and distributing the first backpacks of the school year. The 1st of the 6 menus includes pancake mix, syrup, 4 packages of ramen noodles, juice, and a voucher to purchase eggs at a local grocery store. The Foodbank estimates that each backpack contains 3-5 meals. This means Southwood will provide 5,100 – 8,500 meals for the students and families at Saratoga this school year!

This picture was taken during last year’s distribution. The look on the little girls face is priceless, filled with hope and wonder. We will never know the impact the backpack will have on her life but the look on her face gives us insight into how much this backpack means to her.

This school year, please pray for the families who will be receiving these backpacks, for the hands that pack and distribute the food, for the safety for the transportation team and a prayer of thanksgiving for the businesses who generously donate the food.

Filling the Air with Prayer

Yesterday, May 7th was National Prayer Day. This special day is recognized by a unique group of people in our nation called PrayerFlight. They are a group of people who have joined forces to pray over our cities, states and nation while in flight. While they are flying they are able to observe God’s awesome creation and are reminded of their duty to pray for their fellow man, cities, and nation.

Three of Southwood’s members, Carl Willert (pilot), Larry Buchmann, and Todd Stark participated in yesterday’s PrayerFlight. After leaving the airport Carl began their hour long flight over Lincoln by starting at the Northeast edge of Lincoln and continuing in a clockwise circle until they could visualize all the different things they would be praying for. From their birdseye view of the city they could see many businesses that have been affected from the economy, hospitals, schools, colleges, churches and the magnificent Capitol. After their initial survey they spent the rest of the hour praying for what is so seemingly clear from the air.

This is so comforting to know that yesterday while many people were at work or living their daily lives that there were individuals flying above us praying.