June 14, 2006

Dear Friends,

We have an exciting news to share with you. Last Friday, there was an ordination of a couple, Ditriech and Tatyana Bauer, at Kaliningrad. Archbishop Ratz of ELCROS and Bishop Springer of European Russia for ELCROS were there to ordain this couple.

Ditriech and Tatyana were classmates at Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) and got married in the seminary chapel when they graduated a year and a half ago. Joe taught this couple from their first year, so they’re the first fruit of Joe’s teaching at the seminary.

After their graduation they did an internship at Kaliningrad for a year, and during that time the

Since ELCROS is still in session, only a few representatives could attend the ordination. It was particularly exciting for us to have the first female ordained pastor among our graduates. The ordination of women is allowed by the constitution but has not been practiced by ELCROS. There have been many reservations about women’s ordination by bishops who considered the Russian Orthodox Church’s reaction too seriously. To push this policy a bit more, our seminary had a one-day conference on the issue early this month. We are so glad that Tatyana was ordained, breaking this deadlock.

As we mentioned in our last letter, we are moving to campus housing. We have already moved Joe’s books to his new office. Hannah

is packing kitchen stuff. We will complete our move by the end of this month. Wishing you a wonderful and refreshing summer.

In Christ,

Joe and Hannah

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 188