OCEAN FOREST—LOVING OUR COMMUNITY

By Karen Crouch

Ocean Forrest Lutheran College hosted afundraiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind onFriday 19th June.Pastor Rodney Witmitz said “When Jesuscame he brought sight to the blind andshowed the presence and favour of God forthe vulnerable. We have the opportunity tomake a difference too.”A sight-impaired local visited with her guidedog to talk about what’s involved in thetraining as well as what it’s like gettingaround in a new town. She also talked abouthow she did the Busselton Jetty swim withoutlosing her way.The students learnt about the types of gamesblind people play by joining in games andcompetitions with a difference.

The College aimed toraise enough for 2years of puppytraining.

WALUTHERANNEWSJune 2015

The seminar held on 26 May gave theparticipants a chance to listen to theexperiences of guest speaker Dean Eaton; it wasenjoyable & the time went by too quickly! Deanhad a way of gently speaking to us, it wasinspiring and great to see.Dean wonderfully explored the idea and practiseof Evangelism. What really grabbed ourattention from the beginning was the 7 minutefilm clip on ‘How Not To Evangelise’. Oursenses were assaulted with some of the worstcase scenarios possible, but it made for hilariousviewing. Different types of Evangelists wereportrayed in very quirky but strangely familiarstereotypes. The stand out types or caricaturesfor me were –1. The rich evangelist – he wore lots of

jewellery, displaying his wealth and riches,and came across as a tele-salesmen, trying tosell Jesus Christ like a car salesman or realestate agent.

2. The hippy evangelist – he seemed like hemay have been high on love or drugs, butcame across as being very airy fairy and newage.

3. The Bible basher/street preacher evangelist/terrorist-extremist even? - He came acrossas the name suggests a Bible basher.

4. The educated man/the lawyer (or legalist?) –A man behind a desk with a book shelf full ofbooks behind him.

All of these though served to demonstrate wellhow not to approach evangelism, which pushespotential sheep away from The Good ShepherdMajor points which Dean raised in hisdiscussion that struck a chord with me were.New Evangelism – the idea thatEvangelism’s quality can be improved. It is nota new concept or practise, but it can surely becontinuously developed in a more positive andeffective way. In the examples used Deanexplained how some newly converted peoplearen’t always necessarily ready or immediatelyopen to joining or attending a church, eventhough they’ve confessed the faith and havebegun to turn their lives around.

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EVANGELISM SEMINAR AT ST JOHNS PERTH

By Exilema Misama

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH – NARROGIN

100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY—TIME TO CELEBRATE

Thanksgiving service16th August 2015 at 10am

All welcome to help us give thanks for 100years of Lutherans worshipping in Narrogin.

Community Lunch to followerPlease RSVP to Jenny Forrest

08-9881 1590pjforrest@westnet.com.au

Continued from page 1...Religion brings out the best and worst inpeople - this point was clear in some of the shortfilm’s examples e.g. Bible bashers. But also inhow complex we make everything at times whentrying to tell others about God.The need to simplify the message - BringEastern Church vs Western Church ideas ofEvangelism in terms of the Trinity. The Easternidea sees the Trinity as being more like a family,a circle of love. The Western way is usuallymore complex, getting caught up in books andcomplex theology which perhaps the commonbeliever even finds difficult to understand (letalone a non-believer!).Romans 12 - Dean’s favourite verse in terms ofit fully encompassing all aspects of evangelism.People coming from different kinds ofbackgrounds before coming to know Jesus, weneed to be open & flexible in our approach, notone size fits all.‘Jesus method’ and peaceful person – Deanspoke to us of how God clearly has a plan andsometimes it can take time to see a harvest fullybeing reaped. In other words someone comingto believe in Christ. But never underestimate thevalue of being a seed planter. In the ‘Jesusmethod’ it can sometimes take ages and manydifferent people sowing seeds along the way,until the actual act of the harvest being reapedand the final person who gets to pray with thenewly converted person that ‘evangelism’emerges. It’s not so much about God coming tous but God inviting us to come to him.Finally the word ‘evangelism’ comes from theGreek word euaggelion . Most literallytranslated in the noun form euaggelion means:“gospel” or “good news.” In the verb formeuaggelizesthai, the meaning of the wordchanges slightly to “announce” or “bring goodnews.”

FAITH FOR THE FUTURE

By Mike Graebner

NewTenants—TheGoodNews!I am pleased to report that we now have serioustenant for the remaining spaces having enteredinto formal proposals with two parties. Bothtenants are essentially office use which is idealas it requires minimal changes. The installationof additional doors on the western façade totenancy 3 has been made possible due to thelegal reclassification of the area between StJohns Court and the CIT building. This meansthat we can now access the western terraced ar-ea directly from the tenancy which has im-proved the value of the rent for that unit. Weexpect to have the tenant for tenancy 2 on thefront corner to be up and running on the 1 Julyand tenancy 3 by possibly 1 August. All goingaccording to plan, this will mean that we start toreceive rental income for these tenancies beforewe budgeted for it.

LoanReduction–TheGoodNews!It remains crucial that we continue to focus onreducing our loans whenever possible. St John’shas been very fortunate in the last 18 months asbeneficiaries of some very generous donationsand bequests, the latest being from the estate ofFreda and Reinhold Kanarski . This has resultedin repaying $700,000 to Bankwest whilst stillretaining sufficient funds to ensure we coverour day to day operating expenses. The formerhome of Freda and Reinhold is being preparedfor sale, this is expected to reduce the loans.

TaxDeductibleDonationsStillAvailable–TheGoodNewsDonate now online or download a form atwww.faithforthefuture .org .auIf you would like us to send you a form, pleasecontact Sharon in the church office on(08) 9227 8072We are very blessed at St John’s as we continueto work towards our visionTo bring the Good news of God’s love in

Jesus Christ to all people” .

Page 2 June 2015

Page 3 June 2015

CONFESSIONS OF A RELUCTANT PILGRIM

By Pastor Brian Schwarz

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not interested”was the way I answered Graeme Lienert whenhe first invited me to join him on the trip toIsrael this past Easter. I like traveling and thereare countries I would still like to visit, butIsrael was not on my radar.But Graeme is not easily discouraged. He keptinviting me. My kids told me it was a greatopportunity and I should go. Several friendswho had been to Israel told me how interestingthey had found it. So eventually my wife, Janet,and I we decided that we would both make thetrip.How glad I am we did! The experience was bet-ter than I hoped for. I enjoyed getting to knowour traveling companions. The trip was hasslefree, with Graeme quickly taking care of a cou-ple of minor hiccups. At no stage did I feel indanger or under threat. Our Jewish guide,Gale, was positive, good-humoured and awealth of information about Israel past andpresent. Our Palestinian bus driver, Feris, gaveus a smooth and stress-free journey around thecountry. The accommodation was first class,the food excellent, and there were no unex-pected costs.And what a privilege it was to visit and be inplaces that I had read about so often in theBible: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, LakeGalilee, Capernaum, Cana, Nazareth; to sail onand swim in Lake Galilee, to be where Jesusgave the Sermon on the Mount, to walk downthe Palm Sunday road, to touch the olive treesin the Garden of Gethsemane, to worship inthe Lutheran Church in Old Jerusalem onGood Friday and join with a large congregationof Christians from all over the world tocelebrate the Lord’s resurrection at theGarden Tomb on Easter morning.We had such a wealth of experiences in the ten-day visit in Israel. I had feared it might be toomuch to take in in such a short space of time.But I didn’t find it that way. It was helpful tohave refreshed my knowledge of Israel’s geog-raphy and history beforehand. Janet and I alsokept diaries of where we had been and what wehad seen. And we were given time to relax anddo our own thing. So we headed for home feel-ing greatly enriched by the experience and bythe new friends we had made on the way. (Andthe day we spent in Dubai was an unexpectedbonus.)

If you have the opportunity to visit Israel but arereluctant like I was, let me encourage you to go.The Scriptures will gain new clarity for you.Your faith will be deepened. Your knowledgeincreased. And you will have a memorable timein good company.Editors NotePastor Brian is from ‘Langmeil”, Tununda SAbut was recently serving as a relief Pastor atSt Johns Perth which is where Graeme met him andwent to work nagging (I mean encouraging) PastorBrian and Janet to make the pilgrimage. J

PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LANDGraeme has planned another Pilgrimage tothe Holy land later this year:

October 6 - 19, 2015Why not join him, Guide Gale and a LutheranPastor on this next Pilgrimage?If your congregation would like a guestspeaker or presentation on a pilgrimage tothe Holy Land, Graeme would be pleased tooblige.For more information or details, pleasecontact Graeme direct on 0419 909 909 oremail: egtravel@icloud.com

Page 4 June 2015

Altar display to match the front cover ofconvention booklet

Lutheran Women of WA Committee for 2015

Graeme Lienert in front of the Taj MahalThe crashed plan with the evacuation slide deployed

Earthquake disaster hits Nepal

LutheranWomenofWAConventionfullstorypage5

GraemeLienertcrashes

throughIndia

fullstorypage6

Nepalincrisis

fullstorypage7

Page 5 June 2015

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

By Angela Ziersch

As the golden sun rose up above the morningmist of 2nd May, a group of faithful womenwere meeting at Concordia Lutheran church,Duncraig WA to begin their 46th annual LWWAConvention. God is indeed steadfast and faithfulin His promises as we gathered safely from allour journeys long or short.Convention opened with heartfelt welcomesfrom Marlene Griffin President of Duncraig la-dies fellowship, Rosemary Davidson LWWAPresident and Bishop Greg Pfeiffer who alsoextended thanksgiving and prayer over our re-tiring Spiritual Advisor; our ever faithful andtireless Pastor Milo Velebir, for his 6 years ofunswerving service to LWWA. Bishop Pfeifferinstalled our new Advisor Pastor Tony Traegerwith prayers for his future service to theLWWA.We acknowledged God’s faithfulness in provid-ing a new gifted and knowledgeable SpiritualAdvisor. Pastor Traeger opened our Conventionwith an interesting and uplifting devotion basedon Acts 7:56 “The cost of Discipleship”. As theyears have gone by it would appear that it isharder at this point in time to profess“Christianity” than it was about 30-40 yearsago. Many worldly enemies are ready to perse-cute Christians. The disciple Stephen is our firstexample of a Christian martyr and a faithfulservant of Christ right to his end. We, now morethan ever, need to hold onto our faith steadfast-ly and with God’s holy protection.Our theme song “Great is thy Faithfulness” wassung with great passion and love in our hearts.Our Civic welcome for the day was given byDeputy Mayor of Joondalup Council, PhilippaTaylor. We learnt many and varied things aboutthe council region we were in including the factthat “Joondalup” meant “lake that glistens”.It was a fascinating insight into the suburbs ofDuncraig and Joondalup.After our endorsements of minutes our dedicat-ed LWA President Tanna McKenzie gave us aspecial greeting from another faithful sister inChrist, Lena Ock from PNG. We are all givenencouragement and strength from our Christiansisters from far and wide. After the fellowshipreports were endorsed the Projects of LWA &LWWA were also ratified and accepted by all,and will be faithfully supported over the comingmonths.Pastor Traeger led us in a study based on Ps89:1-2. “What does it mean to be faithful”?

Answers included words like, committed, devot-ed, trustworthy and showing love. Pastor askedus if these were traits of humans or God. Moreoften these are God’s traits as we humans fallway short. To be faithful we must aspire to thefruits of the Holy Spirit. When we pray “Amen”we are promising to stay true to the commandsof God. When we say Amen we must mean it inour hearts and minds, this is our act of agree-ment with God. Love is a major part of faithful-ness and our Heavenly Father is love.Guest speakers for the day were Hanno Kemenyand Tanna McKenzie and these women trulydemonstrate faithfulness and love for the Lord.Our election results were, President: RosemaryDavidson, Vice-President: Judith Pech, Secre-tary: Roslyn Zadow, Treasurer: Carol Pocock,Assistant Secretary: Monica Bodenstaff, ExtraMembers: Marj Welke and Dianne Adams and(new) State Reporter: Jenny Forrest.A warm expression of thanks went out to retir-ing executive members and especially our retir-ing Lutheran Women Magazine Editor, PamelaHeath.As our service of praise concluded the day wecould not fail to be touched by God’s hand oflove and faithfulness as it is He who gathers usinto His arms filled with mercy, grace and joy.

PLANNING A HOLIDAY IN SA?Looking for somewhere to stay?Why not try the beachside resort town ofVictor Harbor SA (80km south of Adelaide),where the following Holiday Rental propertiesare available. All properties come with fulllinen service (bedding & towels provided).1)1935 (3 Bedroom) Bungalow immaculate

in presentation, carefully and lovinglyrestored to its original beauty (sleeps 6).

2)Beautifully restored 1950's 3 BedroomCottage (sleeps 6)

3)Modern self-contained 2 bedroom Unit(sleeps 4) Refurbished in August 2014.

All properties start from a low $87 per night(based on a 1 week stay during off peakseason May- Sept).All properties are available as minimum 2night stays.Contact DetailsWeb: http://users.tpg.com.au/mrtf/Mark & Rachela CaiapichPh: (08) 8387 0679M: 0413 189 604Email: mrtf@tpg.com.au

Page 6 June 2015

CRASH LANDING—KHAJURAHO AIRPORT, INDIA13 APRIL 2015By Graeme Lienert

“Damaged crashed plane moved fromKhajuraho Runway after 3 days”

- Media report.‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Merrigold Hotel’ aretwo films that might come to mind when onementions a visit to India. Cricket is right upthere too, with Australia outing India in therecently completed World Cup Cricket series.However, it was the historic, religious Indiawith ancient temples, The Taj Mahal and 1.25billion people, a mystique place of interest thatwas my attraction.In April this year I took the opportunity withtwo others, to visit India for ten days, andquickly worked out that to see the key sites,with a short visit to neighboring Nepal, airtransport was the only way to travel. Our travelplans took in Mumbai, India’s most populouscity with 20 million, to northern India, whichincluded its capital New Delhi (only two hoursfrom Kathmandu), Khajuraho - Hindu and JainTemples, Agra - The Taj Mahal and FatehpurSikri, Jaipur - Amer Palace, and Udaipur - alllocations in the golden triangle.India has two major international airlines (AirIndia and Jet Ways) and recently receivedapproval to increase more flight schedules with-in India because of its air safety record.We flew from Mumbai to New Delhi with AirIndia without incident. Our next flight was fromNew Delhi to Khajuraho, with a stopover atVaranasi (on the Ganges), with the aircraftscheduled on a circuitous route to return toNew Delhi the same day.We departed New Delhi on our Boeing 737flight, with about 160 passengers and 8 crew.The packed one-hour flight to Varanasi wasuneventful other than the approach to thelanding, with a degree of wobble on theapproach and a heavy uneven landing on therunway.Most of the passengers alighted at Varanasi,freeing up a lot of space, and passengers onboard were allowed to shift seats for morecomfort. This allowed some to have three seatsto a person. Additional passengers embarked atVaranasi leaving a total of 58 passengers and aflight crew of eight on board.With three seats each, some took theopportunity to lie down for the next leg of theflight to Khajuraho. The flight crew was helpful,

pleasant and relaxed. The flight was relativelysmooth with little turbulence. The day was fineand clear. Before the approach to landingpassengers were told to fasten seat belts, andmake seats upright for the landing approach toKhajuraho airport. As the plane approached therunway to land, the plane’s wings were notlevel.After the less than smooth landing at Varanasi,seat belts were tightened. One observed thatthe plane was not making a feathered approachto the runway and seemed too fast for landing -and then bang - an enormous thud. A crash tothe ground - it seemed the plane hit the runwayearlier than expected, as though there wasabout another meter and a half in height beforetouch down. The plane’s left side was down onan angle, as the plane careered along therunway, and the engines were reversed for asharp pull up. The plane held its line and cameto a sudden stop. There was silence.When we hit the ground, with such a thud, Ithought the plane would break up. I expectedscreams, but there was nothing, but silence -stunned silence. I undid my seat belt, remainedin my seat, ready to evacuate. With the planeon such a lean, I assessed my options on whichexit to head to, with the left front being mypreferred choice.The first words we heard over the announce-ment, presumably from the pilot and in English,came words to the effect ‘crew, to yourpositions’, or similar. Silence continued.Everyone remained seated.Some inhaled or sniffed the air for smoke, incase there was fire. One continually assessedoptions for an emergency evacuation should firebreak out. A positive factor, was that the planehad used more than half of its fuel load, as ithad flown from New Delhi to Varanasi, then toKhajuraho, and had sufficient for its directreturn flight to New Delhi.The next announcement, again in English only,were two words ‘Evacuate - evacuate’. Nothingsaid before, nothing said after.Passengers stood up, some of who impeded theaisle as they jostled for position to get theirpersonal belongings from overhead lockers. Onecalled out “Haven’t you heard? The pilot said,Evacuate - Evacuate “and in a louder voice, said‘Go - Now’.

Continued on page 7….

Page 7 June 2015

Continued from page 6...When I got to the left front exit, the evacuationslides were in place, with cabin crew inattendance. With no sign of fire, one jumpedonto the evacuation slide with feet in the air, onthe slide and slid to the tarmac. At this time,two fire tenders had arrived and the firemenhad rolled out a hose.One watched as others disembarked by theslides, some took photos, then all werebeckoned away from the plane.I had expected to see that a wheel or wheels hadcollapsed but this was not seen. The wheelslooked intact. The left engine was on the run-way, with the lane tilted at about 20 - 30degrees to its left side. Evacuation slides hadbeen deployed at both left front and left rear ofthe plane and right centre wing.Whilst little information was forthcoming fromthe crew or officials, the pilot had thrust theengines into reverse for a quick stop tominimise the risk of fire. The deployment ofevacuation slides was effective. For a time thereafter, I thought the crash was more likely ‘piloterror’ than mechanical. I do not know.We have not had any feedback on whathappened, other than what was reported onnational and international media. ‘Plane madeforced landing’, was one report. There was noindication, nor any mention by the pilot of a‘forced landing’; and later ‘Aircraft’s landinggear broke off on touchdown.’ Touch, I am sureis not the right word. Crash with one enormousthud, that left one, and others, with soft tissueinjury to neck and back, delayed shock and inmy case a sore buttocks.The Khajuraho airport remain closed for thenext three days, as the damaged plane was leftin the middle of the runway and heavy liftingequipment had to be trucked in, and oncrowded India roads that would have been nomean feat.Having survived the crash landing, wecontinued by car through to Agra to see themagnificent Taj Mahal, which looked evenbetter than the many wonderful pictures onehad seen, then to Jaipur and on to Udaipur tosee the white hotel in the man made lake.Notwithstanding these magnificent andhistorical sites, India is a country of contrasts.A tough uncompromising place, with people ofmany differing beliefs (Hindu, Muslim andChristian to name some), cultures andstandards, where there are hundreds of millionsof poor, with a limited middle class. The socialdivide between the rich and the poor, is huge.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

By Graeme Lienert

I had originally planned a short flight fromNew Delhi to Nepal, but a change of planseventuated - and how fortunate, as my origi-nal plans would have left me in Kathmandu atthe very time the devastating earthquake hit.Having returned safely to Australia I soonlearnt of the extent of this massive earth-quake. It destroyed Kathmandu, manyNepalese villages and Everest Base. This wasno ordinary earthquake. It was a catastrophe.More than 8,000 people killed, 17,000wounded, 3 million homeless, and significantspiritual and historical sites of this very poorcountry destroyed. Nepal had been absolutelydevastated. Recovery will take time, theNepalese are at risk of outbreak of disease,and the country was so devastated that inmost cases they will have to start anew.I have unfinished business. After my nextHoly Land Pilgrimage 6 - 19 October 2015,God-willing - I will visit Nepal, at least to givemoral support to these impoverished people.The Nepalese need our prayers and our help.We should pray for them, and if able, assistwith donations through various relief funds.The Australian Lutheran World Service, arecollecting on behalf of the Nepal InternationalEarthquake appeal and donations are taxdeductible.Australian LutheranWorld Service at:PO Box 488, Albury,NSW 2640,or by calling 1300 763 407 -Donations can be made by cheque or CreditCard.If a receipt is required for tax deduction,please ensure you make cheque payable tothe “Australian Lutheran World Service”

DONATIONS

Please email your items to: wanews@wa.lca.org.auCurrent and old WA Lutheran News are available fordownload from the new website and also from:http://www.esbconsult.com/lcawanews/On the website you can also sign up to get an emailinforming you of when there is a new newsletter readyfor download.Karen Crouch. Editor, WA Lutheran News

2015 PUBLICATION SCHEDULEArticle Deadline Publication Date

11 September 30 September

27 November 15 December