Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.3 John 5–6

For nearly thirty minutes, we reached no further than the church foyer, exchanging hugs and greetings, introducing new family members, sharing news and all caught up in the excitement of our visit. It had been nearly twelve years since we last visited Trinity Lutheran Church in Great Falls, Montana, the place where Jenn and I had met and married nineteen years ago. We are grateful the congregation organized a special event so we could spend time together.

Over the two months of our home service in September and October, our visits to churches were memorable with warm welcomes, lots of questions, bountiful potluck meals and many stories. We were astounded how relationships had grown over the two years since we departed to serve as LCMS missionaries in Africa.

In several places where two years ago we may only have met with a pastor during our initial networking, now we were able to meet with the whole congregation. It was such a blessing (and sometimes overwhelming) to hear the reactions and questions of people who have been praying for us and following our newsletters.

Over the last couple years in my travels to observe and help with projects across Africa, many fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Burkina Faso, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi have shaken my hands and asked me to pass their greetings to congregations back in the States. It was a blessing to personally carry those greetings and handshakes to our supporting congregations and share with them how the Lord is bringing people to Christ across Africa.

We are truly grateful for the time and meals people offered to share with us, the resources they offered to help with our lodging and travel and the prayers and encouragement of so many. We were blessed to experience how mission work isn’t just done by those in the field, but by the Lord working through the many people and churches praying and supporting to make this possible.

John Wolf is the Africa Region Project Manager for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He and his family, with the support of LCMS churches like Saint John’s, are serving in Kenya. Please keep them in your prayers! We encourage you to follow their family blog, www.hereiamsendmesendme.blogspot.com, which is also where you can sign up to their mailing list and make donations.