Letters (May/June 2023)
Piano lessons [Jan/Feb 2023 issue]
This note is late in coming but I would really like to respond with a thank you. Your [Karla Hein’s] article in the Jan/Feb issue entitled “Piano lessons,” was fabulous. I so resonate with you. Your choice of words to describe your feelings and struggles are so well said.
I just really, really appreciated the article. I ripped it out to keep handy and reread. You offer very helpful wisdom.
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to write out your thoughts so others, like myself, could benefit from it. In fact, I have been drawn to your articles since you started submitting, but this one hit a clear chord. Thank you and God bless you for it.
– Name withheld
Lucy made of light [Mar/Apr 2023 issue]
This last Messenger [March/April 2023 issue] I did what I don’t always do. I ended up reading the whole thing front to back, and I thoroughly appreciated what you put together. Perhaps because I know people struggling with mental illness, I really appreciated the slant given in “Lucy made of light.” And there was more—the other articles were great as well.
It saddens me every time I sense anyone in leadership putting more emphasis and honour on the number of degrees earned than on godliness or faithful whole-Bible teaching. Jesus didn’t do that.
Every time I sense your faithfulness I applaud you; I thank God for you and pray He keeps encouraging you to keep strong even midst a society that is growing constantly more liberal. God bless.
– Betty Barkman
Steinbach, Man.
Coverage on Nicaragua [Mar/Apr 2023 issue]
As a couple who have followed the development of the EMC foreign missions program with great interest, we were particularly attracted to the missionary service Fred and Doris Friesen began in Nicaragua in the late 1960s. Other missionaries became involved, and the church grew.
We learned that Nicaragua is considered one of the poorest nations in Latin America, its prosperity hindered by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and famines, as well as political instability, culminating in a civil war in 1978. A high rate of unemployment made life more difficult for families from lower-income communities.
Toward the end of 1978 an agreement was made whereby the Nicaraguan “Fraternity” would take charge of church leadership and growth, while the missionaries would focus on developing pastors and church leaders. The change produced a good outcome. When the last missionaries left in 1991 there were eight churches, 400 members and eleven outreach points. Only ten years later the fraternity had grown to 16 churches, 850 members with ten outreach points.
Our interest in Nicaragua led Elvina and me to join a work-team in 2004 for two weeks where we worked together with Nicaraguans, and visited churches on weekends. Bilingual staff members kindly helped us communicate with our new national friends. We were heartened by their active faith in God and resilient spirit, in spite of their poverty.
So we have always been eager for updates from the church in Nicaragua, our “fellow citizens and members of God’s household” (See Ephesians 2:19-22). You can imagine our delight to learn that a delegation went to Nicaragua earlier this year, giving us hope that closer ties would be established, providing us with timely reports.
– Menno Hamm
Macgregor, Man.
