“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body…”

1 Corinthians 12:12-13a

Training sessions started soon after the Sunday afternoon worship service

Working alongside the International Missions with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran Synod of Mexico (LSM), Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) helped organize a deaconess training, which was hosted by Iglesias Luterana San Lucas and La Santa Biblia in Anapra, Juarez for three days the second week of March.

Pastor Conrad, missionary at Mexico City, taught lessons to deaconesses and pastors alike

Several women flew in from Mexico City and Matamoros, Tamaulipas (a city across the border from Brownsville, Texas), to be joined by a few of the women from San Lucas and La Santa Biblia. Joining them as well were missionary Pastor Daniel Conrad and the LSM President, Rev. Isaac Castillo. Pastor Conrad helped instruct the classes with the use of curriculum from Concordia the Reformer Seminary (CRS), located in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Deaconess from Matamoros learns alongside others from Mexico City and Anapra

“It’s great for us to be doing this,” Pastor Conrad shared during a break between lessons, “It’s important for people to know they don’t need a degree to be able to do ministry.”

The planning for this training session took place a couple of months before, with the help of Daniela Putman, a deaconess professor at the CRS. Curriculum on the purpose and duties of a deaconess was provided and printed by YLM, and with the help of a grant from the International Missions office at the LCMS, the dormitory at San Lucas were renovated and reparations made. It was a great help from the LCMS to financially support this endeavor, and with the help of so many people from San Lucas, La Santa Biblia, and YLM, the training session was a true blessing for all involved.

“This was a wonderful contribution from so many different people,” Rev Dr. Karl Heimer shared after the Sunday worship service at San Lucas, “Everyone pitched in and we’re still working together to further God’s Word in our Border cities.”

It was a wonderful blessing for all involved -before, during, and after -and we’re looking forward to continuing working together to help further God’s kingdom on earth.