Dear friends, join us in thanking the Lord for answering your prayers and ours and bringing us to Sri Lanka. We arrived early Tuesday morning and on Sunday, May 19, Benjamin’s supervisor, Pastor Mahlburg, officially installed him as a vicar. This was our first Sunday in Sri Lanka and we had the pleasure of meeting the brothers and sisters at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Colombo. The Tamil congregation welcomed us to Sri Lanka with flower garlands. Immanuel’s own Pastor Devanesan took part in the installation.

The two LCMS missionary families here have taken good care of us in our first days here. We are staying with the Naumanns and Pastor Mahlburg is orienting us to life in Sri Lanka, setting us up with essential needs and taking us apartment hunting. Praise the Lord!

Vicar Benjamin and Grace Vanderhyde serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) as missionaries in Sri Lanka. In his role as vicar, Benjamin trains up musicians to serve the Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church while assisting the other LCMS missionaries serving in Sri Lanka with their work and learning from them. You can read more about the Vanderhydes at www.lcms.org/vanderhyde.