I sit here reading and being inspired by an email that has just arrived from our current crop of Year 11 students and staff reporting back from their first 3 days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is sparking lots of memories, and a strong feeling of familiarity that comes from repeat visits to a place […]
More than 450 participants gathered in Malaysia for the 38th Synod of the Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS), focusing on the theme ‘Memberkari Sesama Membangun Tubuh Kristus – ‘to bless each other to build the body of Christ’. Three were from the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) – volunteers Ilene and Pastor John Thiel and […]
Thirteen students went on the Cambodia Service Learning experience this year and, although this was their first time in country and everything was new, it was the third year that Tatachilla has been connecting with and forming relationships with Krus Village and a variety of other NGOs that are helping to rebuild a country once […]
Horas! Welcome from Indonesia. We have had the most wonderful opportunity to meet and learn from the people of the HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan) church here, thanks to LCA International Mission. HKBP held its 2018 Youth International Conference from 29 August to 2 September in North Sumatra and we were fortunate to attend as […]
Manawatu Lutheran Parish in New Zealand began a relationship with Rumah Chrestus, a home for orphaned or abused children located in Cheras, Malaysia, in July 2013. The home is run by a Trust Board from Cheras Lutheran congregation of which Rev Eliezer Peter is pastor. Rumah Chrestus is home to up to 15 children, currently […]
‘Marsialus-alusan’ is an expression from the Toba Batak language of Sumatra, Indonesia. It means ‘answering back and forth’ in a way that does not privilege a single response. It describes the space between answers, the dialectic by which responders draw close or keep their distance. A colleague of my daughter is an expert on Toba […]
Immanuel College is a self-help school designed to help grade six drop outs. School dropouts are common in PNG as limited spaces for schooling in later years are competitive and depend upon test results and competence in the English language. Children who fail to gain a place for education beyond year six may feel abandoned […]
Gem and Tui live in northern Thailand, in the village of Ban Huay Pong. Married for 27 years, they are softly spoken and can be found spending their days in their garden and with their neighbours. People believed Tui had a powerful spirit. People living in the village believed that if they planted rice fields, […]
A change of season is taking place in tropical Lae. The wet is about to become wetter. Seasons come and go, unnoticed at first, creeping up on us. A new season in my life has crept up on me recently too. It is the call to ordination and the ministry of word and sacrament. Just […]
Agnes lives in the mountainous countryside of the Chimbu province in Papua New Guinea, in the shadows of the imposing Mount Wilhelm. Here the self-sustaining farmers plant and tend crops on mountain slopes it’s possible to fall off. Since 2006 Agnes has been the Lutheran Women’s Coordinator of the Chimbu District, which has more Lutheran […]