65th Anniversary - Section ! : People

September 10,2015 marked the 65 anniversary of my commissioning as a "Teaching Minister" in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. So these have been days of reflection and remembering. I realize that recording some of these will be of absolutely no interest to many who may on occasion look at my blogs. I write them because it feels good to me to do so and there may be a few others of you who may even find them of a bit interesting.

I recall first of all some of the people through whom I was blessed during these 65 years. I begin with Lydia Zielske. She was the woman who opened her house for me as I spent the first year as a single male in Tracy California. She cleaned my room, prepared my meals and did my laundry. In a quiet unassuming way she was always there to support and assist. Two other families which offered special support to this single guy: the Paulsons who farmed sections of tomatoes and other crops and made their house always open for a good meal and secondly, James and Mary Elhard who taught me how to drink black coffee.

Hong Kong, then and now, means masses of people and unbridled energy. Even on the day we arrived the place was being overrun by the tens of thousands fleeing Mao Tze Tung and his take-over of China. They came on boats, on foot, by rail, bus, walking, swimming, in the bottoms of sampams, below deck of steamers. They were everywhere, sleeping on the streets, on the hillsides, the roofs, the stairways. I will never forget one of the persons whom I saw in my first week. I had immediately started teaching an education course for Lutheran teachers and was on my way home at ten at night. I saw a young man lying in the arms of his father. He was starving to death. It was the first time I realized that stomachs might bloat under extreme malnutrition. I gave him some money and to this day recall the look of gratitude from his father.

The Chinese people were incredibly wonderful to me. They were patient with my arrogance, forgiving of my mistakes, open to learning, eager to move forward. Students and staff alike were motivated and deeply appreciative of any opportunity to move ahead. They changed my life forever. Mr. Hung Chiu Sing taught me Cantonese and even more importantly taught me Chinese customs and traditions, warned me of social faux pas, gave me the right words to say, the proper place to sit at meals, the appropriate way to address an elder, the place to put my chop sticks, the way to present a diploma.

A most unexpected Godsend in Hong Kong was a Mr. David Kowalke. He was head of Kodak Far East, a massive enterprise in those days. He and his family traveled over an hour each Sunday, taking a car ferry to attend English/Cantonese worship services held in a storefront. I am tempted to say that even more important was that he had some very close connections to top decision makers at the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club. He got me moved up that long waiting list, helped me pass my inspection by the membership committee and for about $250 I became a member. Weekly golf for ten years kept me sane and gave me some British contacts which helped shape the entire building programs of Lutheran church and schools in Hong Kong.

Back in the States I was blessed to have the best possible Team Ministry trio possible with Don Kell and Roland Boehnke in Michigan and a very diverse and competent staff in St. Louis. The principals of the Lutheran Schools in New York were an incredible group of people who simply did what needed to be done, who accepted and affirmed me and held my feet to the fire. In between I moved in an entirely different world of Parent Effectiveness Training where I met and worked with people from all over the world. They were both my students and my teachers and helped continually to blow open my mind to new adventures, insights, problems and opportunities.

People. They have shaped me, angered me, empowered me, given me joy, despair and hope. And in each of them I saw a glimmer of what was impressed upon me as my lifelong duty when 65 years ago the pastor speaking at my commissioning said simply that my job was to respond to One who called "Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs."