“As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me.” Last Sunday, Immanuelsgemeinde (SELK) in Stuttgart (pastored by Texas-born Rev. Scott Morrison) kindly invited me to speak on Mission Sunday. I preached on Mt 28:19-20 and reported on my evangelization work with Iranians and teaching at Riga Luther Academy. Throughout, I remarked on how these projects are funded by millions of generous LCMS members across the United States. After an excellent lunch that offered three kinds of grilled meat, potato salads, veggies, and various desserts, an elderly gentleman came up to me and said: “There’s an old orphanage not far from here called the Sperlingshof. In the late 1940s, it was packed with children who had lost their parents during the War. Around Christmas time 1947, the children assembled in the dining room and sang Christmas carols. A man recorded them and sent the recording to America—to the Missouri Synod. There has always been a close connection between your LCMS and this orphanage. In the 1870s, LCMS pastor Eugen Kraus, who was born near here and emigrated to America, came back to serve at the Lutheran church near the Sperlingshof for several years, before finally returning to America. Anyway, months after that Christmas recording, packages started arriving—with warm socks and mittens, dresses, and pajamas. The orphanage also received boxes and boxes of corned beef and chocolate, rice, honey, apricot preserves, and bacon. Most of the children had never tasted such delicacies before.” His eyes grew moist. “Packages like these kept coming for years. I know this to be true… because I was one of those orphans. Those gifts meant so much to us… From the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank the very good people of the United States and the Missouri Synod—for all you have done in the past and continue to do all around the world—today sending missionaries to tell Iranian immigrants about Jesus and educate future pastors.”
The Tiews in Germany 