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Mar. 26th, 2006
As long as I am feeling under the weather
Mar. 26th, 2006 04:02 pmI figured that this would be a good day to knock off a number of tasks that I have been putting off and which I have been feeling guilty about, and so I e-mailed a couple of convention committees about paneling and put in a phone call to someone who wanted me to look over my book manuscript (she wasn't home, but I will call her tonight). I did several loads of laundry. Now I will try to compile the calendar for the girls for summer camp scheduling. It will feel good to get these tasks done.
Luthern Partners in Global Ministry
Mar. 26th, 2006 09:51 pmToday at church forum (the adult education hour) we had a presentation by Gordon and Betty Olson, who founded Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry.
I realized with a start as they started to tell their story that I knew who they were, because their story made a great impression when I first heard it over a decade ago. I read about it in my St. Olaf College alumni magazine in 1991. Betty and Gordon Olson's son, Tim Olson, a 1989 St. Olaf College graduate, was an aspiring architect. Right after his graduation, he went to Africa to the Central African Republic to supervise an effort to build a Lutheran church in C.A.R.'s capitol city Bangui. His girlfriend came to visit him there in 1991, and they took a short trip to visit a game preserve. On the way back, they were waylaid by bandits, who shot both Tim and his girlfriend. The girlfriend survived, but Tim died of blood loss about thirty minutes later. He was only twenty-five years old.
His family was devastated. The church was completed, and named in honor of their son, St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The family came over to be at the dedication, and what they saw in Africa moved them to start an organization which would further the work for which their son gave his life, connecting individuals and congregations to better people's lives. They build churches and schools, and sponsor very poor children to give them an education.
It was quite an experience, listening to these two thoughtful people, who had emerged from the crucible of such bitter grief with a burning sense of mission to make the world a better place. And they have done so.
Tell me about something good that you know of that has come from a tragedy.
I realized with a start as they started to tell their story that I knew who they were, because their story made a great impression when I first heard it over a decade ago. I read about it in my St. Olaf College alumni magazine in 1991. Betty and Gordon Olson's son, Tim Olson, a 1989 St. Olaf College graduate, was an aspiring architect. Right after his graduation, he went to Africa to the Central African Republic to supervise an effort to build a Lutheran church in C.A.R.'s capitol city Bangui. His girlfriend came to visit him there in 1991, and they took a short trip to visit a game preserve. On the way back, they were waylaid by bandits, who shot both Tim and his girlfriend. The girlfriend survived, but Tim died of blood loss about thirty minutes later. He was only twenty-five years old.
His family was devastated. The church was completed, and named in honor of their son, St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The family came over to be at the dedication, and what they saw in Africa moved them to start an organization which would further the work for which their son gave his life, connecting individuals and congregations to better people's lives. They build churches and schools, and sponsor very poor children to give them an education.
It was quite an experience, listening to these two thoughtful people, who had emerged from the crucible of such bitter grief with a burning sense of mission to make the world a better place. And they have done so.
Tell me about something good that you know of that has come from a tragedy.
