El Salvador Delegation

From July 31 to August 7, 11 Ascension members along with five members from Lake Park Lutheran will be traveling to El Salvador to visit the ministries of our companion synod and sister parishes. They will learn about the latest happenings of the churches first-hand, carry messages from Ascension, and work together to strengthen the friendships and understanding between our two faith communities. We will learn how we can better support one another and brothers and sisters in Christ, across borders and in spite of language and cultural differences.

The Delegates

Aparicio – Wehmeier Family: Pastor Edwin and Sarah have been leading trips to El Salvador since 2010. This year, Marta (11) and Luisa (9) will be part of the delegation and assisting with translating. Prior to moving to the US, Edwin welcomed Ascension delegates as the host. After moving to Waukesha in 2013, he began leading from the Ascension side. He began working at Ascension in 2019, becoming a pastor in 2023. Sarah is a music teacher in Waukesha and also works as an administrator and musician at Ascension. She also coordinates our Tanzania partnership. Marta will be in 6th grade at Butler and Luisa will be in 4th grade at Summit View. When not at school, the girls can be found on the soccer field or on the stage dancing, acting or playing piano. They are looking forward to returning to El Salvador now that they are old enough to remember it.

The Paczesny Family: The Paczesny Family have been members at Ascension for 10 years. Sarah currently serves on the Church Council, and both Grace (13) and Madeline (10) sing with the youth choir and are active in youth ministry activities. Grace enjoys playing soccer and babysitting, and Madeline has a lot of fun with her Girl Scout Troop and plays soccer as well. They are both in the production of Newsies Jr this summer. When not busy with the girls at their activities, their family enjoys camping, attending festivals and spending time outside. They look forward to being a part of the delegation to El Salvador!

Jackie Bosanac: I am a lifelong member of Ascension. I have two grown children and five grandchildren. I currently work two days a week at my sister’s daycare. I have gone on several mission trips, as well as traveling last year to Tanzania, and am looking forward to this trip to El Salvador.

Jeremy Poling: Jeremy has been a member of Ascension since 2009 and can be seen many Sunday’s behind the drums in the Praise Band. He is an active supporter of our partner congregations in Tanzania and El Salvador and enjoys learning the many ways our brothers and sisters live out our shared call as followers of Christ. He works as an engineer ensuring that buildings perform optimally for the people who occupy them. Jeremy and his wife Jenny have two children, Aidan (15) and Audrey (8). When not at Ascension or work, Jeremy can be found enjoying watching his kids’ activities, or sharing in the family’s enjoyment of cheering for the Brewers.

Natalie Mustapich: I have been attending church at Ascension for over 33 years, and as a member, have enjoyed serving on several mission trips domestically and one internationally. I enjoy traveling and going on new adventures. This will be my first time in El Salvador and I am looking forward to meeting new friends there.

Dinner & Auction for El Salvador

You are invited to a fun-filled night of food, fellowship, and some fundraising on Saturday, May 18, at 5 p.m. For $12 a person / $40 a family, you will receive a spaghetti dinner, appetizers, dessert, beer or wine, and other beverages. Tickets will be available Sunday mornings in May.

We have a wide variety of fantastic auction items but it’s not too late to donate items! We are also looking for volunteers to donate appetizers and desserts. Following the dinner, we will wrap up the evening with some bingo and trivia. Sign-up online to donate to the auc tion or to volunteer. 

All proceeds will benefit the mission trip to El Salvador taking place at the end of July. We have a twelve-member delegation traveling to visit the ministries of San Jorge and Usulután Lutheran churches.

Welcome!

Welcome home! The first words Amy and Tamie and Pastor Edwin spoke when the bus arrived from O’Hare with our Tanzania mission team. A hug from my wife and a wet nosed welcome from our Golden Retriever Baxter in the church parking lot and almost everything was right with the world once again.

Of course, our original mission team was split into three separate groups – Pastor Tony had flown home earlier from Ethiopia once Bob was out of the hospital; the Wards were beginning to explore Ethiopia as they waited for clearance for Bob to fly; and the seven members who went on to Tanzania after our original layover in Ethiopia arrived back at Ascension. Not exactly what I expected to happen as we loaded the bus for Tanzania on Thursday, June 29th. I should not be surprised; God has a way of allowing our journeys to unfold without us knowing fully the road before us.

Tanzania was everything I expected and more. The incredible heartfelt welcome of our sisters and brothers at the airport, every church, each school – so much joy and wonder and a little healthy skepticism. I wonder about the questions that probably ran through the heads of the members of our partner churches and students at the schools:

Who are these people from America?
What do people at Ascension think or know about us?
What does that white guy keep saying up front during worship?
Why does the whole school stop what it is doing when these people arrive?
What do you do with that frisbee thing?

In my own mind, there were other questions I was asking:

How can every tea offered to us be so much food?
How can we eat lunch after worship when just had tea an hour before?
Will there be Chapati (my favorite Tanzanian food)?
Will Pastor Nathan remember to translate for me at the front of the church?
What does the home life look like for each of these students?
Where does this overwhelming spirit of joy flow from for our friends in Tanzania?

The stories will continue to be told of our mission team visit. The prayers and concern for Bob offered from Pastor Nathan and our sister churches. The joy of being together after five years of being apart. Remembering faces that we met in 2018; renewing friendships, relationships, and making new connections. Hearing the stories of appreciation and gratitude for food for our partner school students and the gift of clean water. Remembering the looks on the faces of students for the presentation of soccer balls. No frisbees next time – just soccer balls…lots more soccer balls. Celebrating stories of success told with pride and joy for students success and their commitment to a well-rounded education including taking care of their needs for care and support. Every time we visit the schools, I want to spend twice as much time not only listening to reports but actually talking to teachers, sitting in on classes, actually playing soccer with the students. Every visit is simply the hook that makes me want to return to spend more time with them. Every church visit is a powerful reminder of the promise of God’s love across language barriers and customs. How the hospitality of a smile and a handshake can change our whole world.

It is always a humbling experience to travel to our sister parishes and be reminded that we are wholly dependent on them for our care and well-being. Always do our sisters and brothers reach far beyond what is expected to take care of us. Pastor Nathan, Eludi (our sister parish committee chair) and the partnership committee are one of the most beautiful gifts of grace I have ever experienced. God’s grace often comes to us in unexpected ways in this life. I am grateful for these glimpses of grace when I least expect them.

May these last days of summer offer you moments of God’s grace through the gifts of family, friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, moments of worship, times of reflection and rest, and the presence of the One who is the way, the truth, and the life…Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Peace be with you and I hope to see you in church. And if not – well – Sunday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. is our Welcome Home Sunday. One service for the whole church. We will look for you then to once again tell you, Welcome Home!

Pastor Chris

Finding God in the Unexpected

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 4:4-7

On the 16-hour flight home from Ethiopia, I found myself spending a considerable amount of time reflecting on and processing the diverse experiences of that unexpected journey. And the more I reflected, the more a recurring theme surfaced – overwhelmed. Almost the entire journey from the get-go was a non-stop and unexpected roller coaster of events, feelings, expectations, and emotions., and certainly not the trip I had been looking forward to nor what the Ward family could have ever imagined in their wildest dreams.

There were profound moments of difficulty – from a beloved member of our community suffering a major medical emergency while traveling abroad, to being stuck in an airport for an uncertain amount of time with no easy to choose or clear-cut solutions. There were moments of deep sadness and guilt at the extreme poverty and hunger that surrounded us and yet simultaneously we were constantly surrounded by people whose welcome, and hospitality, and compassionate care were so selfless and filled with grace that I hardly knew how to receive it all.

And then there were unbelievable moments where the grace and love and mercy of God were so evident that I found myself overcome with emotion that it was impossible to hide or comprehend.

But as I shared in my sermon reflection on July 23, this was not a trip to elicit pity or sadness for the difficulties or things that were hard to see, hear, and experience. Instead, this unexpected journey was an opportunity to have our eyes, hearts, minds, and faith broken open wide in order to see what God deems as important while experiencing the absolutely unbelievable love and grace and wonder of God.

Thank you for the great honor to serve as one of your pastors and walk this journey of life and faith alongside you, and for your ongoing encouragement and support and care and love throughout all that we have and will experience together. My hope and prayer is that in the days to come we will continue to open ourselves to what God desires for us and trust God to follow wherever the Holy Spirit leads. And then my dear friends, together we can be overwhelmed by all that our amazing God has in store for us.

Pastor Tony

El Salvador Mission Trip 2019

Ascension’s seven delegates had an amazing trip visiting our brothers and sisters in El Salvador at the beginning of August. Upon following the Facebook updates on the trip, one of Paw Pa Soe’s friends messaged her and said “It looks like you’re on a field trip!” And so it was.

Together with the community from our sister parish, we traveled to Algeria and Jucuapa to Lutheran World Relief’s cocoa project to learn the latest about sustainable cocoa farming, from seed to pod, to fermenting and drying.

The next day, we all traveled together to Playa El Tamarindo where we learned about the endangered sea turtles that nest on the beach and what steps we can make in our lives to prevent these beautiful animals from going extinct. With this knowledge, we worked together to clean the beach at Espino later in the week. The community from San Jorge took the lead, stopping to speak with other beachgoers about the importance of keeping garbage out of the ocean.

We visited homes in San Jorge to see goats and trees from Ascension. We worshipped together on Sunday and we traveled to San Salvador where we were some of 4000 Lutherans marching through the streets to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church.
As we shared experiences side by side, our bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood where strengthened and tears were shed by both visitors and hosts when it was time for us to say goodbye.

(Reprinted from the Sept. 2019 newsletter.)