Last summer CLWR began accepting donations for a unique program that would put unused textbooks from Canada into the hands of students at the University of Belize. Since then, just under half the funds required for shipping have been raised.

CLWR is working with the Galiano Institute, a non-profit academic service society in British Columbia on the project. The institute plans to make a shipment early this year, once an additional $1,100 for shipping is raised.

Donations of late edition books on all subjects and in good condition are also being accepted. The University of Belize has a standing relationship with the National Library of Belize and with other school levels. Books will be placed where they will be used most heavily. Most schools in Belize have very limited libraries, including the university.

Cash donations can be made directly to CLWR. Send textbooks to Dr. Larry Wolfe, Faculty of Social Science, Malaspina University College, Building 356 Room 310, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo BC V9R 5S5.

Previous shipments of donated Canadian textbooks have made a great impact on student studies at the University of Belize.

Photo: University of Belize

CLWR is a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. Through ACT, CLWR can respond quickly and effectively when global emergencies arise. How is this possible?

ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies like CLWR. Its mission is to respond to global emergencies. ACT serves to connect members across the world so that emergency response can be targeted at the local level. In other words, when disaster strikes, local ACT members become the channel through which other members can carry out their work. In an emergency, local staff and infrastructure translate into a quick and targeted response for relief efforts. This is what ACT provides.

“Such action was exemplified by the swift response after the tsunami in December 2004,” says ACT director John Nduna. “Within just a few hours after the huge waves struck, local members, supported by the alliance, were on the front lines of the disaster response.”

Photo: ACT photo

What kind of people work in the field when it comes to development work? This story follows the history of one Lutheran World Federation (LWF) field worker who has seen both sides of foreign aid, both as an aid recipient and as a development coordinator.

Wandson Mbiriacon Jassi has lived a life full of narrow misses with death, encounters with caring and committed people, and faith in his own homeland of Mozambique.

Jassi was born in the Zumbo district of Tete province in 1955. As a young boy he looked after his uncle’s cattle and completed school to grade four. His life changed abruptly in 1965 when the war for independence against the Portuguese reached his home, 45 km from the Zambian border.

“At the time, if you were gone for more than two days FRELIMO (the liberation movement) suspected you’d been in Zambia [as an operative] and would kill you,” Jassi says. His father, a suspect, fled with Jassi’s mother, three sisters and three brothers to Zambia. His uncle’s cattle were seized by the Portuguese.

For 10 years the Jassi family lived as refugees in Zambia, in a camp run by the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR). Wandson Jassi continued his schooling through a facility supported by the United Nations. In 1975, Mozambique earned independence and Jassi returned to his home province of Tete, where he learned Portuguese and entered secondary school.

“I passed as the number one student in Tete,” Jassi says, “and was sent to Nampula Military Academy as the first person to go to school in my family.” There, he served as a translator and eventually studied geology. Then civil war broke out. FRELIMO instructed him to enlist as a soldier. “They told me, ‘If you want to work in the Ministry of Geology, first you have to defend it.’”

Jassi fled to Zambia for the second time, narrowly escaping capture (and likely execution) by soldiers in one village during his escape. Once in Zambia, he remained from 1985-88. There he married his wife, Maria. He began volunteering for the UNCHR, distributing food and clothing to other refugees. In 1988, Jassi was introduced to Lutheran World Federation (LWF) when he was sent to the LWF-coordinated Ukwimi Refugee Settlement.

In 1992, as the war neared its end, Jassi helped open a market in Ukwimi, selling agricultural seeds. LWF was providing loans and training in agricultural production instead of food handouts. It was at that point the LWF decided to give Jassi a particularly challenging mission: return to Tete and evaluate the humanitarian need.

“I saw the same problems in every community,” remembers Jassi. “Water wells destroyed or poisoned by the two factions, RENAMO and FRELIMO. No medicine, no clinics, no roads because it had all been destroyed. Land mines were a large threat.”

Jassi returned to Zambia and submitted his report, which LWF accepted and, based upon it, decided to enter Tete for development work. And they wanted Jassi to help. In November 1993, Jassi returned to Tete, this time as an aid worker in his own land.

Work took on a feverish pace, he recalls. Literally hundreds of schools were rebuilt, agricultural equipment like hoes and axes were distributed, as were crop seed, and food distribution carried on. “No one slept in those days,” Jassi says with a straight face.

Food distribution became a logistical juggling act. Jassi would drive at night from one district to another, dropping off warehouse keepers to collect information on how many people required food in the area. That information would be relayed back to the central warehouse from where food would be delivered the following day.

The work wasn’t safe, either. As LWF engineers came in to rebuild schools, land mines became a concern. “The engineers would say, ‘Wandson, there’s a school somewhere over there, go take a look,’ and I would walk to the school and clear the way,” Jassi laughs. “I was lucky enough not to die from land mines.”

Today, over a decade later, Jassi is still working in the field with fellow Mozambicans. He is stationed in Chifunde district centre where he serves the area as an LWF Community Development Officer (CDO). A CDO brings expertise and training to individual villages and serves as the liaison between the field and head office.

Still married, he and his wife own a home and maintain 10 hectares of maize. “When I [was transferred] I decided to open a small field and establish a home for my wife instead of forcing her to move around with me everywhere—Tsangano, Moravia, Angonia, Macanga,” says Jassi. “I told my wife, ‘Let’s stay here, the kids can go to school, and my travel circuit will take me home regularly.’” His family is not kept separate from his work. “The way we talk and live should be a model for the community,” Jassi emphasizes. This mentality of practicing what is preached can be seen at the institutional level as LWF embeds its field staff within the serviced communities to create a deep and trusting two-way relationship.

The atmosphere in Mozambique has changed considerably over the years, and Jassi has seen it first-hand. “The discussion and fear of war is gone, and development is front and centre,” he says. “It is a very positive, hopeful atmosphere.” The struggle now is resource inputs and knowledge of trades, which is something that LWF assists with in the areas of agriculture, education and health.

Through donations, volunteered time and support from its Canadian community, CLWR is able to work with LWF in Mozambique and other countries to improve the lives of thousands, with the help of committed staff like Wandson Jassi. To get involved, call CLWR at 1.800.661.2597.

Photo: Lorne Kletke

CLWR lends its support to projects in Mozambique that fall outside the Lutheran World Federation program. One such project can be found in the community of Kapasseni near the town of Sena. CLWR works with an independent church-based committee in Victoria, BC, on development projects for the village comprised of about 200 families.

From the port city of Beira where buildings still bear the marks of war, it is a 450 km drive inland to the administrative town of Sena, population 30,000. Sena has no health centre, despite a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. Perpetua Alfezema, a former Mozambican refugee to Canada, now operates a home-based health care program here. She and her staff bring comfort and help to families and orphans who have been ravaged by HIV/AIDS.

The stories are heartbreaking and all too common. On the walk from her home to her Spartan clinic she is able to point to house after house that has been touched by HIV/AIDS, many of whom are her clients. She looks at one hut. “The father and mother died, and the extended family abandoned their three children. The oldest is ten. We are working to help them.” And passing another hut, “A mother who is very sick comes to us all the time,” Perpetua says quietly, “and she pleads, ‘Take care of my children when I go.’”

But her work does not end in Sena. Perpetua and her husband Joseph, a Lutheran pastor, are the vital link between Kapasseni and the committee back in Victoria. From their home in Sena, the Alfezemas travel 30 km along a twisting dirt path to reach Kapasseni. Signs of progress and prosperity are readily apparent here in Kapasseni. In contrast to Sena, there is a health centre with regularly-scheduled HIV/AIDS testing, a large school, gardens, wells, a grinding mill and more.

Photo: Lorne Kletke

From 2000 -2003, CLWR supported the Kapasseni Committee in Victoria, BC, to bring several development projects to fruition in Kapasseni, Mozambique. Construction included boreholes (wells), primary school, health post/clinic, plus the planting of an orchard and a school feeding program. Planning for the next phase of development is underway by the Kapasseni Committee.

He is much too polite to ever admit that he’s focused on anything beside his arriving guests, but Joseph Alfezema must be thinking about his three congregations back in Caia district who are going without him as pastor today, a Sunday. But both he and his wife, Perpetua, were committed to making the 450 km trip from Sena to Beira to pick up their guests from Canadian Lutheran World Relief—myself and a colleague. We are about to experience Kapasseni for the first time—a community thriving thanks to the help of some caring Canadians.

After spending the night at the Alfazema’s house in Sena, we begin the 30 km drive along a dirt road—little more than a wide walking path—to Kapasseni. It is Revolution Day in Mozambique, a statutory holiday. We keep passing throngs of young girls headed towards the village, and I ask Joseph, as we sit on the truck box, where they are going. “There is a soccer match in Kapasseni,” he tells me. I tap the roof and the truck stops to give some of the girls a ride. Before I know what’s happening, a surge of bodies clamber onto the back and, as best I can count, over 25 girls are now excitedly hitching a ride with us. Joseph strikes up a song in the local Sena language and a choir of 25 joins him, providing a vibrant soundtrack for our journey into Kapasseni.

We arrive in Kapasseni centre, the two school buildings symbolically located in the heart of the community. Canadian and Mozambican flags flap in the gentle wind as we make our way to the medical centre first. The Centro de Saúde de Kapasseni is an exceptionally clean, well-ventilated health centre that boasts a maternity ward with three postpartum beds. Two midwives and a nurse are on duty and available at all times. In a rural country with great distances between communities and health centres, this is a huge blessing. “We had to fight for HIV/AIDS testing once a week in Sena,” Perpetua notes, as she explains the difficulties in acquiring decent medical care, even in a town like Sena with a population of about 30,000. HIV/AIDS testing is vital to provide timely treatment and to prevent further spread of the disease.

As we tour both water well sites, I can hear from the nearby village centre a cheerful cacophony of children’s laughter mixing in the air with the notes of a large xylophone that some boys enthusiastically beat. It’s clear what having two wells means for the people of this area. The dry, brown scrub is punctuated by a colourful fruit orchard and green gardens brought to life by this water. Pineapple, lemon, cassava, tangerine, coconut, papaya, mango and cashew—all is being grown for food and profit that supports the school.

The milling station, like the medical centre and school that we have already visited, appears clean and well organized. “Before we received this mill, the closest one was 12 km away,” Chief Francisco Semente tells us. “Our school serves children from up to 80 km away,” he adds. From the health centre, to the mill and wells and school, Kapasseni has worked hard to make itself into a productive centre that draws many from the surrounding area.

We are invited to join hundreds of children—many in school uniforms despite there being no school on this holiday—who are gathered together to watch a dramatic play led by the charismatic school director, Chico Manuel Fungulane. The professional skit is tightly woven with themes like staying in school, preventing HIV/AIDS and pregnancy, and countering harmful cultural myths. The messages target different age groups, including parents. As the drama unfolds, the children are clearly engaged. They press in closer and closer to the actors (who include, among others, a young mother) reducing the actors’ circle to an impossibly small area.

Before we leave Kapasseni in the encroaching night, we catch the first half of a soccer match between the Kapasseni men’s team and a neighbouring village. The community has come out to cheer on both teams and, as I watch the players and spectators in the fading light, it becomes clear that on this Revolution Day, these people are celebrating a special kind of revolution—one of spirit and body against disease and despair that only good healthcare, education, food, water and economic prosperity can ensure.

For more on Kapasseni, visit www.kapasseni.org.

Photo: Lorne Kletke

Just over one year ago Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) launched the We Care program. The idea was simple: First, support impoverished workers in India by paying a fair price for custom CLWR bags and labels. Next, let Canadians fill those bags to make a relief kit or sew the label onto a quilt. Then, ship those kits and quilts overseas to those in need. Thanks to you the idea has turned into the We Care program, and it’s a major success! In this edition of Partnership we’ll follow the path your We Care goods take across the globe.

The morning sun is starting to heat up the streets in a village just east of Jaipur, India, as a CLWR work cooperative comes to life. Inside, men unfurl a bolt of bright yellow cloth and begin silkscreening with blue ink. The CLWR logo appears with the words “We Care…” The ink dries, then women and men cut and sew until the familiar CLWR handbags and backpacks take shape. These people are grateful for the opportunity to work for fair wages in a part of the world filled with impoverished workers.

Photo: Silkscreening of the We Care bags is done by the same work cooperative from which CLWR Four Corners purchases its alternative trade Indian rugs. CLWR Photo

The Christmas tree in the sanctuary at Central Lutheran Church, Regina, Saskatchewan, is surrounded by We Care bags. “They’re not exactly Christmas hues, but the blue-and-yellow We Care bags really resonate with our Swedish congregation!” jokes a church member.

Like Central, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Regina is also holding a We Care drive for the Advent season. Younger children take ownership in filling their bags, while older members often contribute the $5 per bag to offset overseas shipping costs. By Christmas Eve the two churches will have 150 to 200 filled bags under their trees.

Churches and individuals can contact CLWR to order We Care bags and to find a free shipping provider in their area.

Photo: Many people make the We Care kits a group activity. Photo: Ian McCausland

In Kelowna, British Columbia, nine-year-old Erin Brucker has just finished her first two quilts. Grandmother, “Nana” Verna Knoernschild, has volunteered her sewing machine and support.

Erin’s quilts are received at the CLWR warehouse in Winnipeg with a handwritten note. “I am making quilts with my nana because I feel sorry for children and babies that don’t have food, shelter or warm blankets,” the letter says.

Meanwhile in London, Ontario, the quilters at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church have reached 99 quilts for the year. The group, started 15 years ago, is about eight in number. When asked what message she would send along with their work, quilter Lorine Ryan contemplates an answer. “I wish for God to look after them.”

Good Shepherd’s pastor, Orland Welke, recognizes the value of the We Care quilts. “It provides a way for our church members to work in service to God,” he says. “One quilter cannot make it to services that often due to her hours of work, but she finds a way to serve through quilting.”

Photo: Erin Brucker (right) and her Nana hold up quilts destined overseas. Submitted photo

Throughout the day trucks drop off boxes at the CLWR headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The warehouse crew unpacks each box, the contents of which are always a surprise: We Care bags with a little holiday tinsel clinging to the fabric, a set of quilts with a handwritten note attached.

Volunteers and staff sort the kits, processing any loose items that were donated along with the quilts and kits, such as new and used bar soap. Medical supplies and new soap are earmarked for hospitals and medical centres. The We Care quilts and kits are grouped and baled using cardboard and burlap. Each bale holds up to 25 quilts or 50 kits and weighs anywhere from 32 kilograms to 45 kilograms (70 lbs to 100 lbs).

From Winnipeg, the bales are loaded into a 20-foot or 40-foot shipping container and transported by ground to the Port of Montreal, Quebec.

Photo: Patrick Stewart prepares a bale for shipping at the CLWR Winnipeg warehouse. Photo: Ian McCausland

One ocean crossing later, 405 We Care bales and 20 boxes of soap arrive in Israel, as the MSC Sabrina pulls into the Port of Ashdod. As with most CLWR shipments, staff from Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is on hand to transport the goods to their final destination.

Some of the quilts and kits find their way to Bethlehem, where the Sisters of Charity care for children at the Holy Family Children’s Home. About 90 Palestinian children live here—abandoned, orphaned or referred through the state social system. A staff of 36 cares for the children, who range from newborns to six-year-olds. The children face a tough life ahead, but for now, with the help of strangers a world away, they are able to receive care, love and an education.

We Care materials also arrive at the LWF-operated Augusta Victoria Hospital, which serves Palestinians who do not otherwise have access to essential medical services like cancer diagnosis and treatment. Soap and medical supplies are gratefully accepted by the international staff. Quilts keep patients warm during their recovery; their unique designs a reminder to the hospital visitor that someone cares, and God has remembered them.

Photo: Children, like this one at Holy Family Children’s Home in Bethlehem, receive material comfort through We Care. Photo: Irma McKenzie

1. Order We Care bag
2. Select one or two kit types
3. Place in bulletin: a. List of kit contents, b.Invitation to bring in items, c. Invitation to donate $5/bag
4. Distribute We Care bags
5. Post a drop-off area in your church
6. Consider Sunday school tie-ins
7. Designate a Sunday to celebrate
8. Arrange shipment to CLWR

Action by Churches Together (ACT) International was created more than10 years ago as a global alliance of churches and related agencies working together to save lives and support communities in emergencies. CLWR has been a member of ACT since its inception.

Today, ACT is a global leader in providing a response to emergencies worldwide, with more than 100 members and the ability to reach into virtually every corner of the world. Last year, ACT provided US$122 million in emergency assistance, as well as offering training and support to its members. Millions of people are touched by support through ACT each day. There is much to be proud of in terms of our engagement with ACT, especially when you consider that the administrative carrying costs of ACT are a modest 1.5% of ACT’s annual disbursements.

In 2007 the ecumenical community is taking action to expand international cooperation amongst churches and related agencies, beyond the present mandate of ACT International. ACT Development is being created, a mechanism through which related agencies and churches may collaborate specifically in areas of international development programming. Steps are being taken to ensure that CLWR, on behalf of Lutheran Church–Canada and together with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), is engaged with this new initiative, which will increase our effectiveness on the ground as we seek to rehabilitate communities and empower them towards sustainability.

The creation of ACT Development is part of an overall process towards the establishment of a new umbrella agency in the future which will also include advocacy within its structure. CLWR and the ELCIC (which has the mandate for advocacy) will both participate in this new entity with the goal of closer collaboration in advocacy and integration with the full cycle of development.

Action by Churches Together…more than just a name. ACT…a visible and growing witness to the world by churches and agencies such as CLWR.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) aims to encourage activities among people in our constituency that increase their understanding of injustice, poverty and world hunger, while exposing them to ways in which CLWR and other church partners are addressing these issues through overseas programming.

Supported projects such as learning tours and servant events give participants, especially young people, formative first-hand exposure to the challenges and joys of development work, as well as a greater appreciation for the significant role CLWR plays in this international context.

“Hearing the stories of people whose lives are being transformed and experiencing the impact CLWR programming is having on developing communities instilled in me a commitment to support this important work unlike any other educational endeavour,” says Daranne Mills, who first participated in a CLWR-supported learning tour when she was a student at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon. Mills is now CLWR’s Communications Director.

Groups are invited to submit project proposals that create opportunities for raising participants’ awareness of development issues. In the past this has often involved travel to CLWR project areas; however, groups are encouraged to consider other means as well, such as arranging for international partners to share their experiences with people in Canada. Priority is given to projects which draw attention to CLWR’s five priority countries—Bolivia, Peru, India, Mozambique and Zambia. Projects that focus on partner churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Lutheran Church–Canada, or member churches of the Lutheran World Federation and International Lutheran Council are also eligible, though secondary in focus.

CLWR accepts LDP project proposals on an annual basis. The application deadline for projects that will take place between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008 is Wednesday, February 28, 2007. Guidelines and application forms can be requested by calling 1.800.661.2597 or emailing .

As the dry season stretches to a close in September, in the Province of Tete, Mozambique, the districts of Chifunde and Tsangano are already beginning to see the first rewards of the hard work they have applied to the resources provided to them by Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR). Through CLWR, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is able to carry out field work in these geographically sprawling districts, providing material resources and professional expertise in agriculture, economic development, health care and other areas.

It is not an easy life here. To reach Chifunde village (administrative centre of Chifunde district) from the main provincial city, LWF staff must travel hours along a combination of highways and paths cut over the rocky terrain, crossing shallow streams in the dry season that are impassable in other months. Thankfully, field staff do not make this trek daily; instead they live among the villages they serve and use dirt bikes or their own two feet to move between the scattered communities.

Chifunde district, sharing a border with Zambia and Malawi, has a population of 63,000. It is difficult to itemize the challenges faced here because they are so numerous and interconnected. Among them, a high illiteracy rate (only one out of every four adults can read), a lack of medical resources (often located in a distant village), a large number of orphans (from parents migrating to bordering countries), soil erosion (due to poor land use and construction practices), inadequate drinking water (from a lack of water retention systems and wells that were destroyed during war), deforestation, poverty stemming from a lack of economic opportunities…the list goes on and seems impossible to tackle.

Yet simple acts and the sharing of basic knowledge go a long way in combating these problems. Some CLWR resources address immediate concerns, such as nutritional biscuits, soap and school supplies for children, including orphans. “Those who are very poor feel very encouraged when they receive this material, as do the disabled,” says Celestino Guidione, the local HIV/AIDS prevention coordinator in Tsakale, a village of 3,000 people. This village alone has more than one orphan for every 15 families.

Ultimately, CLWR is in Chifunde and Tsangano for long-term, sustainable community development. To this end, realistic environmental and economic assessments are first made in each serviced community, and the relationship is outlined. “We do not come to work for you, but rather with you,” Maria Jonasse, LWF provincial coordinator tells villages, reminding them that the goal is to make each community self-sustaining in the end.

Over in Calipale village they have embraced this idea. Calipale is one of 16 communities in Tsangano district, one kilometre from the mountainous border of Malawi. Surrounded by dry, brownish-red scrub and rock rests a rich green garden covering an impressive area. Irrigation channels feed the crops. CLWR entered this particular community earlier than those in Chifunde, back in June 2005. A new irrigation pump will allow Calipale to open yet another field in May 2007, with cabbage, potato, onion and tomato crops planned. A sewing/baking group sells their goods at a fair profit and dreams of one day having a machine to increase production.

Photo: The village of Chiandane uses a treadle pump next to a small stream to irrigate their crops. Photo: Lorne Kletke

Over this past Christmas, the quilters at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Edmonton planted 16 hectares of native food crops in Bolivia. They weren’t alone: CLWR supporters from across Canada planted 234 hectares (578 acres) in Bolivia, an area large enough to cover over half of Stanley Park in Vancouver! They did this by making gift donations through the Gifts from the Heart campaign.

Congregations from across Canada made Gifts from the Heart a part of their Christmas celebrations. For instance, Hosanna, Edmonton, also ran an Advent Generosity Appeal with a special collection held at a Christmas carol potluck.

Thank you to all the congregations, groups, families and individuals who remembered CLWR this Christmas. Your donation to these CLWR projects allows us to access much needed funding from Canadian International Development Agency, which is based on the income raised from our donors.

Over $90,000 has been raised for Gifts from the Heart 2006 as of December 22. Many more donations were received in the following days, which means the final total will be considerably higher!

Chart: Where the gifts were sent. Based on total dollars as of December 22, 2006.

Call it a heart transplant, if you will. Since birth, Mohammed Ali Younesi faced a restricted life as an illegal Afghan refugee in Iran. Now, thanks to CLWR, he has been given a new start in Canada, a place where Younesi feels he can begin to live fully. His love for Canada is captured in a stamp he designed that proclaims “My country is my heart.” Younesi arrived in September with his parents and two siblings, a younger sister and brother.

Younesi, now age 23, was born a refugee, his parents having fled Afghanistan to Iran 26 years ago. Without even knowing his homeland he was ostracized for not being Iranian. He faced restrictions and discrimination, such as being unable to wear a school uniform and attend classes. Rights that others around him enjoyed—such as health care and access to work—were denied to Younesi. If caught by the police in Iran, Younesi would face deportation to Afghanistan, a place he had never seen.

Younesi dreamt of living in a place where his personal dignity would be respected and where he could openly study and work. Through CLWR, Canada has granted him his dream. Younesi and his family now live in New Westminster, BC where he and his father work in a bakery.

CLWR wishes to belatedly acknowledge the donation made by FaithLife Financial towards the Indonesia earthquake emergency relief efforts in May 2006. Thank you.

Ladies of St. Matthew’s, Hanover ON, Brian Anderson, Marie Bahr, Bob Cameron, Katherine Dean, Voldemars (Walter) Dreimanis, Peter Dyck, Edmund Engel, Dallas Faeh, Joanne Flath, Elsie Gniewotta, Edwin Gose, Al Gray, Gabriel Jeffrey Habermann, Edna Hansen, Ethel Haukeness, Harry Hendricksen, Jerry Hendrickson, Sid Henney, Helena Hintz, Irvine Hundeby, Janet Ingibergsson, Karl Kemp, Tanya Kilkenny, Rev. Herbert Kleiner, Adolph & Fred Kletke, Irene Koentopp, Fred Kraushaar, Magda Lewke, Gertrude Long, Jeffery Maldaner, Mart Miller, Rev. Viggo Mollerup, James Nimchuk, Andy Olson, Irene Patzwold, Terry Paulson, Clarence Petersen, Burt Purves, W. Reimann, Libby Ritter, Frank Robinson, Rev. William Roesler, Ralph Rud, Pastor Earle Schartner, Lawrence Schienbein, Marville Skaret, Rev. Oscar Sommerfeld, Frank Stiten, Gladys Strom, Marjorie Tiefenbach, Norman Underschultz, Herbert Webber, Dale Weiseth, Bill Wiesener, Eva Zielke.

Aiden & Ashton

Anniversary: Ken & Evelyn Arndt (50), Eric & Ricky Belke (50), Art & Lynn Bucholtz (55), Doug & Sheila Gowing (40), Vern & Jo Hoff (50), Alex & Margaret Miller (78), Anker & Valerie Olsen (50), Tim & Whilma Studer (50), Rev. & Mrs. G. Thompson, George & Elaine Wicke (50).

Birthday: Rev. Rudolph Busch (85), Frieda Engel (90), Greg Harris, Katharine Hensch (90), Martha Hoppe (90), Ethel Kasaof (90), Alex Miller (100), Margaret Miller (100), Samuel Scherk, Rev. & Mrs. G. Thompson.

Engagement: Corrie Forsman & Ryan Ford.

Reunion: Fingas/Mack.

Freda Brenner, Edith Jensen, Herbert Millar.

Rev. Kwang Soo Kim, Confirmation students.

John Knipfel, Myrtle Hansen, Katherine Stein, Hilda Tunem.

Youth leaders definitely want to check this out! Learn about global hunger and how to be part of the solution. Call 1.800.661.2597 for your free guide or speak with your pastor today.

New for 2007, CLWR presents an interactive Lenten calendar at www.clwr.org. Paper calendars are also available for your Sunday school by calling 1.800.661.2597. Free.

Find late-breaking stories and photos, plus in-depth articles in Partnership Online, the web supplement to this newsletter, at www.clwr.org. Please visit us today!