Potluck Picnic Celebration

You’re invited to a pot luck picnic to celebrate Dennis and Kari Murnyak’s return to Minnesota.  Kari’s brother, Kristopher Hartwig, will also be with us.  Zion has supported his hospice project in Tanzania and he will give us a short report on the progress of this ministry.

Monday, July 7, 2008

6:15 p.m. at

Dave and Sue Wright’s Garden

near Zion on 12th St. S.

Bring a dish to share.  We’ll provide beverages, paper plates, and picnic utensils.  Please RSVP so they know how many to plan for.  Invite anyone else you know who know the Murnyaks or who are interested in Zion’s mission activities.   Hope to see you there for this mission celebration.

Dave and Sue Wright

Dennis Murnyak Update

Missionary Dennis Murnyak is moving back to USA from Tanzania on July 2 and is in the midst of sorting, packing, moving and saying farewells.

His family will spend the summer in Minnesota as they search for jobs and places to live.

Dennis has a new email address, so please delete old addresses and contact the church office for his new address.

Murnyak Mission News

May 22, 2008

Dear Supporting Congrgations,

Greetings to all of you! While many of you are welcoming spring/early summer we are just marking the end of the rainy season. It was a good stretch of heavy rains and farmers are pleased - but it did a number on our dirt roads (like the one that leads to our house) which are nearly impassable in spots - happy we have four-wheel drive!

Enough Already & Hurry Up And Wait

By Warren Mhyre, Global Missions Committee

‘ENOUGH- ALREADY’ is a phrase used by people who are poised for action and frustrated with delay and anxiety.  I, as I am sure you did, felt that way as the world watched anxiously the human suffering in Myanamar (Burma) in early May.  ENOUGH-ALREADY as that nation’s elite looked at their self-interest vs. the suffering of the people hit by the cyclone, and the willingness of relief organizations to help.

Mission Congratulations

by Dave Wright

After 25 years of digging fish ponds, coddling Tilapia fingerlings with his farmer protégé, and negotiating the African bureaucracy, Dennis Murnyak and family are returning to the United States in July. You can find Dennis’s final report of their ministry here and a letter from Dennis here. It’s been an amazing journey and well worth the read. Our congregation has supported the Murnyaks financially and prayerfully since they began serving as missionaries in Tanzania in 1983.

This is just one of the many ways Zion has made a Christian impact on our international neighbors. We have sent approximately $30,000 to projects around the world from our building fund. Three percent of our contributions to Forward in Faith is ear-marked for missions. Each year Harvest of Hands commits thousands of dollars to alleviate suffering from hunger, and our Forty Days of Purpose has led to a groundswell of financial and social outreach locally. We can be proud of these efforts to act as Christ’s ambassadors.

Murnyak Mission News

April 15, 2008

Dear Supporting Congregations

Greetings from rainy and muddy Tanzania! We are in the middle of the raining season and it is really raining this year. Despite being tired of the muddy roads and paths and gloomy days we are all thankful for good rains that are needed for the crops and to recharge the ground water and springs.

As I have written you earlier we are nearing the time to leave Tanzania. My contract with Heifer is up on June 30^th and we will return to USA on July 3^rd. I am starting to feel in limbo

Gratitude For Our Gifts

Submitted by Bill Deneen

One of my high school mentors was privileged enough to hear Mother Teresa speak in the early 1980’s. She talked of her work with God’s children and what an honor it was to serve. What a humble statement from a person that gave up all she knew, moved to another country and helped those that had absolutely nothing.

A person in the crowd asked how we as American’s could live our lives, comfortable as we are, without feeling guilty.

Where Now for the Global Missions Committee?

For many years Zion has helped sponsor the Murnyak’s Missionary Work in Tanzania. What wonderful devotion Dennis Murnyak and his family have shown in their missionary work. They have helped so many. As you may have heard the Murnyak’s contract expires in June of this year. At that time they will be moving back to the US to start the next chapter in their lives. We wish them all the best and thank them for their years of dedication.

What do we do now?

Lenten Self Denial Folders

Can you save .25 per day? Can your Sunday School child save .25 per day? That is what the Lenten Self Denial Folders are all about—saving for God’s work. The money saved by members and turned in during Holy Week goes to 2 causes:

Dennis Murnyak Returning to USA

Dear Supporting Congregations,

Greetings in this new year of 2008! We hope that each of you had a meaningful and wonderful Christmas celebration and have had a good start in this New Year.

We had a nice Christmas celebrating with Kari’s brother and his family, who live in Arusha, and with friends from our community and Church. It is easier to focus on the real meaning of Christmas in Tanzania because there are not as many distractions that are in the USA. Christmas remains truly a religious and not a secular holiday here.

After Christmas

Something to Ponder from your Global Missions Committee

Webster defines hospice as “a place of shelter for travelers or a home for the sick or poor.” These words, especially the word shelter and the word home, conger up in most of us thoughts and feelings of warmth, comfort, love and security.

For people dealing with catastrophic illness and end of life issues, whether here in our country or abroad,

Dear Friends of Supporting Congregations,

Greetings in the name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Much has happened since I last wrote to you in June of this year. I have gotten married, went on a honeymoon to Zanzibar, visited the USA briefly this summer, returned to Tanzania and have been busy with work.

Congratulations

Dennis & Kari were married in Arusha, Tanzania on June 30th. They are pictured here when they visited Zion in July.

Dear Friends of Supporting Congregations,

JGreetings from Tanzania! As you probably are aware the seasons south of the equator are reversed from those in the north. So here in Tanzania we are entering the cool dry season. The rains have stopped and we probably won’t get rain again until November. I am starting to wear fleeces, sweaters, and had to add a heavy blanket on my bed for the cool nights.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ in my supporting congregations,

Greetings from Tanzania! I wanted to write this letter to give you an update on my work and life.

It has been one year since Meredith died on 3/24/06. On that day Jesse, two of Meredith’s good friends and I went to a hillside near our house which was one of Meredith’s favorite places in Arusha. I read a poem, and Jesse read Psalm 23, and then we told stories filled with memories of Meredith and told how we continue to miss her and feel the loss. We finished by drinking a glass of wine and then returned to my house for lunch. I know Meredith would have approved of the day. I also think Meredith would be happy with the way the boys and I are adjusting and the changes that have occurred in this past year.

Howard’s visit to Tanzania

Out of This World, that was truly my experience in January 2007 as I visited Zion’s missionary, Dennis Murnyak in Tanzania. Dennis partners with Heifer International and World Mission of the ELCA. He has directed fish farming in Tanzania for 24 years. This was to be an inspection tour of one area. I was most privileged to go along as we bumped and lurched over rocks, sloshed through water and slid through greasy clay. Only by a great stretch of the imagination could these be called roads.

Dear Friends

reetings from Tanzania! With joy I want to share with you some good news. I asked Kari Hartwig to marry me on Jan.1 and she agreed. We plan to be married in Arusha on June 30th of this year. Kari teaches public health at Yale. She has many connections to Tanzania, one being that she was born here. Her parents taught at a Lutheran secondary school in Arusha. She also has done some of her research on HIV AIDS in Tanzania. Her Mom, Shoonie Hartwig, was a missionary to TZ and continues to work for the Mwangaza Center of the Lutheran Church. Christopher Hartwig, Kari’s brother, works as a medical doctor in Tanzania coordinating a hospice program for the Lutheran Church.

Dear Friends at Zion,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!

First I want to thank you for all the support, love, and prayers that you have given to our family over the past year. This has made a difficult time easier for us to get through.