Karl and Debbie....twisted together
Dear friends, twisted together with us.
Many years ago Debbie sat alone on a rock in the wilderness of Eritrea and pulled apart the threads of a multi-colored cloth and twisted them together to make embroidery floss. It seemed at the moment that most everything was over, including a rather fragile hold of life itself. Karl labored to write appropriate letters in response to ransom demands from unseen captors.
But life did go on. Debbie was released without ransom, and son Joshua was born. Ministry went on and found us not only church planting in Illinois but eventually back in Africa. African experiences made a way for Asian ministry. On our wall today hangs the embroidery done 43 years ago, “Magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together”. We are daily aware of how God, our Lord, has twisted us together with the peoples of the world and like that embroidery, stitched us into the fabric of cultures not our own.
I just received a call from a sister who stayed in our international house for a year. She is visiting again from Pakistan. We presently are walking some of the painful life journeys with another woman from Egypt who we hope will one day be a sister in a fuller sense. We have the joy of having walked with Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Singaporeans, Ghanians, Nigerians, and sent off one resident assistant to Liberia to serve in ministry. Little might we have ever imagined how many parts of the world we would connect with while living in Baltimore. Not until last week did I learn that this part of the country is the most underserved area in the country in reaching out to international students and scholars. We have over 11,000 international scholars and students within a two mile radius. This is where God put us, and gave us a house to invite the stranger in to bless us.
In April Karl had the privilege of handing a PhD diploma to the first PhD graduate of the Peace Studies program in Manilla. It was a long journey. She is academic dean of a seminary in Sri Lanka. Next year we should have several more graduates. My life is weekly twisted together with many from around the world. I met with Rhona on Saturday morning for four hours to go over her work. She is from Uganda but took a position with World Relief in their home office in Baltimore so she could better concentrate on the course requirements. Several are in the process of their field research this “summer”. (“Summer” is very relative depending upon what part of the world you are in!)
Forty-three years ago Debbie ran for her life in the wilderness and witnessed the death of colleague Anna, because her shoes had come off and she could not continue to run. Today Debbie is older than Anna was by 10 years, and now finds that her ankylosing spondylitis arthritis and grinding hip joint make it difficult to even walk, and painful to make it through the day. But she presses on with the opportunities of continuing to write new curriculum for India, Kenya, and the DRC that will help the family be tightly twisted together so that God’s purposes may be fulfilled in and through this most basic of societies’ building blocks. She has been helped a great deal by a new biologic medication and hopes for a hip replacement in the next month or two. Meanwhile others are doing the international travel for her.
In these many years we have been joyfully privileged to be twisted together with each other in God’s calling when we might have expected the journey to have ended. And we have been twisted together with many who have prayed for us and supported us through these years. Time has frayed some of threads of support, but God’s calling is no less certain. We are thankful for each one who He has put into our lives to pray and give so that we may continue on.
-Mano Emmanuel, Dean of Colombo Theological School, wrote her dissertation on the the place of shame and honor in forgiveness in the Sri Lankan culture.
Debbie's last trip to Turkana, Kenya was developing a family based curriculum. She is here with one of the group leaders/trainers. Real woman who are valued there have neck beads!
--We have begun a salary reduction plan that will continue to move to the level that donations support. Give thanks in prayer with us that God does supply all our needs.
https://www.mtw.org/missionaries/details/karl-and-debbie-dortzbach