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 Rev. James May is called to the Lutheran Heritage Foundation to assist Rev. Dr. Anssi Simojoki in overseeing LHF activities throughout Africa. Centered in Nairobi, Kenya, Rev. May is learning Swahili to help translate and introduce Lutheran books for people in East Africa.
Read past blog entries:
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
March 2009
May 2009
July 2009
September 2009
November 2009
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| REV. JAMES MAY REPORT: OCT. 31, 2008 When I left the church in Tingandogo in Burkina Faso last July, I was not sure what the future would bring. As God’s missionary, I had come from thousands of miles away to proclaim a gospel of life and salvation. I delivered the gifts of God without price, but after two short years, I was being taken away. Many good things had been started during that time, but would they continue? It is difficult to describe the joy and emotions that were shared this past Sunday when I returned to my Christian brothers and sisters in Tingandogo, where the first Lutheran Church in Burkina Faso had been planted. It had been very hard to leave last July, and even though one might say it had only been a few months, that was a long time to be away from your family. We read in Scripture, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). The same question can be asked, “Who is James May?” It was not a human church that was planted, but the church of God. To be honest, there were some who only came because there was a rich foreigner. Many like this left after my departure. But there were many still who remained because they held on to the promises of God. On Sunday morning there were 40 people in church who had believed these promises. They told me they read what the catechism taught. We are sinners as the Ten Commandments show us, but the catechism also teaches in the next chapter that God the Father sent His Son to die for us. This salvation is freely delivered in Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They told me they had been now visiting four other villages south of Tingandogo and weekly teaching God’s promises and salvation with the Small Catechism. I was told there is a six-year-old who has been so changed by the Word of God that he has devoted himself to putting these words to memory and has already memorized large parts of the Small Catechism. The leaders of the church told me they are inspired by this boy because each morning as he walks miles to school he leaves early enough to stop at the church on the way to school and ask for God’s guidance and protection each day. They love the short yet direct Morning and Evening prayers in the catechism that confess our sins and weaknesses and ask for God’s help. They also told me that what they want is others to be able to hear and know these promises. For now, the catechism is only in French, but the main purpose for my visit is to print, for the first time, several copies in the Moore language, which is spoken by more than 7 million people in this country.
 In addition, I was able to meet with Joseph and Espoir, two men from the church in Burkina Faso. They are the first two from the church studying to become pastors, and they couldn’t stop talking about how much they have learned at the seminary. They told me that they understood some things before going to the seminary, but while there, they got to read for the first time many resources that explain the history and context in which the Bible was written. They have learned how to better understand the grammar and see how each word in the Bible is carefully chosen to declare the Good News to us. Their request was, “There are so many books in English and we would like to know more so that we can better teach our people what the Bible means. Could you please ask if someone could translate some of these books from English into French?” These requests I leave to you, our supporters and fellow workers in God’s kingdom.
| Field ReportsClick on the links below to read the reports of LHF staff and associates working in the mission fields.  SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Muellers
 CAMBODIA
Ken Precht 
TURKEY
Laura Davis
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