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888-THE LCMS • lcms.org • [email protected] - 1
June-July 2017 No. 2017.07.12.17
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SERVING THE LORD IN
MACAU, CHINA MACAU MISSION WORK: DAVID & BARBARA BUSH - NEWS
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” --Ephesians 2:8
Figure 1. This palatial Manor House, a majestic Tudor Revival in style, was built for Robert Leftwich and his wife Lillian Sefton Dodge in 1923 for a little over 2 million dollars. It was called the Sefton Manor. It was purchased by the Lutheran Friends for the Deaf in 1949 for $216,000 where a residential Mill Neck School for the
Deaf was started.
Figure 2. Barbara Bush attended Mill Neck School for the Deaf at the age of three until the age of five. We returned to assist Mill Neck with their Annual Apple Festival. Mill Neck uses this festival to raise funds for the deaf school and for the many other activities they fund. Mill Neck is helping to fund our LCMS mission to the deaf in Macau.
Mill Neck works with the deaf internationally in addition to N.Y and U.S.A.
For more information about the Mill Neck Family of Organizations, you can write to Mill Neck Family of Organizations, 40 Frost Mill Road, Mill Neck, NY 11765 or phone 516-922-4100 or go to www.millneck.org.
What have we been doing while waiting for our visa? In June and July so far we have visited: Grace, Elgin, TX Grace, Smithville, TX St. Michael, Winchester, TX Mt. Calvary, La Grange, TX St. Paul, Serbin, TX St. James & Trinity, Lexington, TX Immanuel, Giddings, TX Zion Evangelical, Wilshire, OH Emmanuel, Van Wert, OH Christ, Sioux Falls, SD Our Redeemer, Sioux Falls, SD Resurrection, Sioux Falls, SD Faith, Sioux Falls, SD Zion, Sioux Falls, SD Immanuel, Santa Fe, NM LWML Convention, Albuquerque, NM Redeemer, Los Alamos, NM Trinity, Denver, CO St. John, Denver, CO Holy Cross, Kearney, NE Zion, Kearney, NE St. Mark, Omaha, NE Pacific Hill, Omaha, NE Mt. Calvary, Omaha, NE St. John’s, Omaha, NE Immanuel-University, Lawrence, KS Redeemer, Lawrence, KS Our Saviour, Kansas City, MO Ascension, Kansas City, MO St. Paul, Independence, MO Messiah, Independence, MO Grace, Lexington, MO Immanuel, Waverly, MO Immanuel, Carrolton, MO St. John’s Brunswick, MO Immanuel, Salisbury, MO Zion, Moberly, MO Immanuel, Hannibal, MO St. Paul’s, Coldwater, MI St. John, Sherwood, OH St. Peter’s, Columbus, IN
Figure 3. Mrs. Ken Schurb & Barbara. The Schurbes took us to eat Chinese food.
Figure 4. The Church Interpreter Training (CITI)* Class of 2017 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Coldwater, MI. St. Paul’s sponsors a deaf ministry. CITI students and others interpreted the Divine Service for the deaf.
WHAT ARE THE CURRENT PLANS
When I move to Macau, I first hope to learn the Chinese sign language. There are a number of people who can help me with this. Two of them are deaf.
Another thing that I hope to do is to gather together former students of our Concordia School for Special Education which used to be a school only for deaf children. We want to train them in Christian leadership skills so that they may be able to bring other deaf people to Christ in addition to providing for them access to the Word and Sacraments.
Another thing we hope to do is to set up a program like CITI but one that is more in depth and will train hearing people to interpret for the deaf in the churches and in other situations where the deaf have need for interpreters.
There may be an opportunity to work at the Lutheran School for the Deaf in Hong Kong preparing the High School age children to be able to attend Gallaudet University in Washington, D. C. The nice thing about this is that the LCMS has my college friend as a chaplain at Gallaudet University that to whom I can hand off my students.
*CITI is part of the Mill Family of Organizations which is head on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary each years.
888-THE LCMS • lcms.org • [email protected] | 2
PLEASE PRAY:
• For the children at Concordia School for Special Education (CSSE) to learn about Jesus and be baptized.
• For God’s blessings upon our fundraising efforts.
• For David and Barbara Bush to love the people in Macau as Christ loves them.
GIVE THANKS:
• For all the Lutheran Schools to help the teachers and students grow in faith and trust Jesus our Savior.
• For the Macau mission team who are working so tirelessly sharing Christ with others as they go. (Matthew 28:19)
• For all the safe travel and good weather for travel we have had so far.
PRAISE GOD:
• For the Concordia School of Special Education in helping the visa process proceed. The visas we hope will only take another 4 to 5 weeks as of July 12.
• For the great support, love, and interest of so many people, groups, schools, organizations, and congregations.
There are many opportunities to serve as short-term or GEO missionaries. Check out the current list and download an application at lcms.org/service. Click on “Service Opportunities.”
To support the LCMS through the work of David and Barbara Bush, you may send a tax-deductible gift to:
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod P.O. Box 66861 St. Louis, MO 63166-6861
Or
Mission Central
40718 Highway E 16
Mapleton, Iowa 51034
Make checks payable to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Mark checks comment line: “Bush-Macau”. Gifts can also be given securely online through the LCMS website, on my online giving page at www.lcms.org/bush
Ministry Update
David & Barbara Bush, Missionaries
We should have our VISAs in early August
More documentation was requested last week by the Macau immigration. We have sent to them what they have requested. This is good news. It shows they are working on my visa. It may be not so good news as they said the last time we submitted the information it would be 8 weeks and we would have the visa. Now, we have less than four weeks to that last period of time they gave us.
Please pray for this visa to be approved. I received a Skype call from one of our deaf people saying that she needs for me to return. She cannot understand the services without an interpreter. She stated that when I move, she knows of others that would attend and still others would like a Bible study for the deaf. They, the folks in Macau, eagerly await my return.
Figure 5. This picture on the right was taken in St. Louis in the hotel across from the LCMS International Center. We had a Macau staff meetings here since we all happened to be in St. Louis at the same time. We are looking forward to having staff meetings in Macau with us all being there very soon now.
While I wait for my visa, we meet in cyberspace using Skype keeping each of us informed about the mission and other issues that face the team weekly.
Pastor Wu continues to assist with the St. Peter-St. Paul Lutheran Church in Macau. Gail Grieser returns to Macau to prepare for new classes in August. +
Celebrates 40 Years of Wedded Life On July 9, 2017, Barbara and I, celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. I had initially chose 7/7/77, but my mother advised not getting married during the week. Forty years ago, I was given time off from my vicarage in Chinatown, NY (lower Manhattan) to travel to my hometown, Tecumseh, Michigan. Barbara had been confirmed in my home church, Emmanuel, Britton, one week prior to the wedding in that same church. My wife was from Long Island, N.Y., but was attending Gallaudet University when I met her. After the wedding and a night at Niagara Falls, (the Canadian side; my wife’s only international trip.) We lived in Chinatown for the last six weeks of my vicarage. I think it is interesting that 40 years later, we are moving back to live with the Chinese people. But this time, in Macau, China, the most densely populated area in the world. Again, we can share Christ with the Chinese.
Figure 6. Attending the LWML Convention in Albuquerque, NM
