Family & Friends,

I’m not gifted as an evangelist, but I looked forward to our two day Good News Festival among the 5,000 in Kageyo who were forced into Rwanda two years ago.  The government asked Africa New Life to take care of them.  When they agreed, God showed up.  We saw 800 students in a newly built school that feeds each student a days worth in a big bowl.  We saw the new church building that has 300 each Sunday.  We saw that newly built stage we financed.  The stage was the least impressive, but it did hold weight.  The African leaders expected 1,000 people each night.  I was surprised to learn that I would be the main speaker the first night.  I had no evangelistic message prepared, but the next few early mornings were spent in Luke 15, the Prodigal Son.  I was not sure what was appropriate wear in the African heat, but I feared that it might be a loin cloth and a nose ring.  To my surprise, African culture required that I wear a long-sleeved dress shirt and tie!  If this seems stuffy, try it after 30 minutes of vigorous worship dance.  You heard right.  The old guy with the full hip replacement was trying to praise God in dance, or at least vigorous body movement.  The moment came for the message.  My translator and I stepped up before 1,000 beautiful faces.  God knew them by name and wanted to them to hear good news.  The conclusion will come in the next Friesen Fortnightly.

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Family & Friends,

In Rwanda we were to minister to 100 street kids on three days.  I tried to picture 100 Portland street kids in one room and nothing but chaos streamed across my imagination.  Would they have knives, be on drugs, pick a fight with the old guy?  As I prepared to speak on the Parable of the Soils, my imagination pictured four kids acting out the four seeds/  We found four to help us.  One scared young boy looked like he was on death row as the translator explained his role.  Another tall boy could not wait to be thrown from the farmers seed pouch.  Our team acted out the tromping and birds (1st seed),  the withering sun (2nd seed), and the choking thorns (3rd seed).  To my amazement the  100 street kids were attentive and looked quizzical if not interested in the lesson.   The first seed crouched after he was tossed, then went flat when trampled and then stayed stiff as the birds carried him off.  He was perfect, but did not realize when his part was finished.  He stayed flat on the ground right where the birds dropped him through the whole lesson.  The fourth seed sprang out, ran to his spot and quickly crouched as a seed.  We all laughed, but the street kids figured some seeds are faster than others.  The fourth seed grew tall and produced a great crop.  To our further amazement, a week later the kids remembered the four soils and knew that God wanted them to accept the good seed of the gospel with hearts like good soil.  Some of them did.

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Friends & Family,

Sorry for the hiatus, but the Friesen Fortnightly blog is repaired and back up.

The Brits love to name things and not just the cathedral, but a section of the roof and of course each glass stained window.  They rubbed off on me, so, when I was buying houses, I looked forward to naming it.  The results were “Aslan’s How” and “The Inklings House.”  My past cars have been named.  The Blue Streak got me to college, The White Whale to seminary and the “Narnia-mobile” to Aslan’s How. Recently, Africa New Life gave the students of Multnomah the honor of naming the Kigali library that they had kollected, kataloged and konveyed to Rwanda.  Students submitted 100 names. Some were better than others.  The “Get Behind Me Satan Library” did not make the cut. The Kigali kommittee narrowed the names and the top three were debated.  Compromises sounded like a kommittee kreation — the The Africa Rwanda Light of Hope Multnomah Library or TARLOHML for short.  Finally a winner emerged which was a simple combination of the efforts of two colleges: Multnomah and REST (Rwanda Evangelical School of Theology).  The new library will be named the “Multnomah REST Library”.  In June the Kigali Konvey team joined the dedication of the library and college.  We stood on a piece of land that was just uneven dirt, but will soon have a building, 20,000 books for future African leaders and best of all a name – Multnomah REST Library.

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Family & Friends,

Last Sunday at Imago Dei Church I looked out a large window of Franklin High and it turned into a parable.  I left the auditorium to pray after it was announced that we were trading church buildings with Portland Foursquare. The back stage hallway was messy from the remnants of a play including a large wad of fake money.  Then I looked out a huge window where I saw a bright sun, a soccer goal and two large intertwining trees. In the parable the window slats turned into prison bars.  It was time to leave our rented home of four years.  The large trees were the two churches.  The soccer goal was our goal to be downtown and reach the city.  Our smaller church building (Evangel) is a perfect size for Foursquare.  Their large building can hold us beautifully in the center of the city.  But, we need money to meet our budget, pay for moving costs/upgrades and it can’t be fake money!  God’s blessing like the sun is the only way both churches can grow. I prayed with the sun warming my face and making me confident that God will show up to write another chapter in His story at Imago Dei.

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No more open Aslan How Tours are planned for one year.  I’ll be in Michigan with my parents.

Family & Friends,

Three years ago I told my second mother, Alice, and my father that I was willing to leave Portland to help them.  They assured me that they were fine.  I told them, “I know and that is why I’m telling you now before you need it.”  Three more winters have passed.  Alice’s mind is sharp as ever in year 89, but during the last six months, she has blacked out five times.  So far the heart monitor has not discovered the cause.  Dad’s body is remarkably strong for 89 years, but his short-term memory is fading so fast that he probably would not know what to do if Alice fainted.  They prepared well for retirement, but their blue-chip General Motors stock went south.  I’m the most flexible of the five kids (a euphemism for aging adult offspring).  So after a family pow wow in Montana, it was decided that I would take a one year leave of teaching (starting July 1) to live with my parents in Saginaw, Michigan. (And I thought that I had escaped humuggity, mosquitoes and the miserable Detroit Lions)  I already miss Multnomah, Aslan’s How and Imago Dei, but don’t regret the decision.  Had the situation be reversed, my parents would not have given it a second thought and would be there to help me.  It is now my privilege to partially return the favor of their many years of sacrifice for us kids.

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Next Aslan’s How Tour May 1, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu

Family & Friends,

Dr Dan Sauerwein served at Multnomah Bible College for 38 years.  Once on a Multnomah video he was asked how the year was going.  “Every year gets better and better” he said with a smile.  He was a walking billboard for the fruits of Spirit: love, joy, patience, and especially gentleness. Dr Dan was the “gentle giant.”  Armed with childlike faith he was so filled with love that it was inconceivable to every picture him returning evil for evil.  Treat him poorly and you would be honored on his prayer list.  He loved teaching Bible study methods.  When we had an opening for director of pastoral studies, I informed him that we were moving him from his loved Bible study courses to pastoral.  We had others who could teach Bible Study, but no one on the faculty with a shepherd’s heart like his.  He took the disappointment with grace and by the next morning had a list of great ideas for leading the pastoral department. As of Feb. 28, 2010 every day really does get better and better for the Gentle Giant who is now with the Great Shepherd.

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Next Aslan’s How Tour May 1, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu

Family & Friends,

What could be better than reaching the 15,000 book goal for the Kigali Kollection?  Not much, but the day we moved all 425 boxes from the Multnomah library basement into a 20 foot shipping container was pretty exciting. Just before they were shipped off, the Oregonian newspaper sent over a reporter and a photographer.  After I was interviewed, I came back to Nancy Haught and said, “I can’t help adding that the whole project seems like the feeding of the 5,000.  We felt like the little boy with the five loaves and two fishes.  We did not have much to offer, but Jesus took it and miraculously multiplied it.”  I know sometimes articles get tossed when something else is breaking news.  So I wasn’t surprised when the article did not appear on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  I shocked on Monday when two-thirds of the Oregonian front page was “Students amass library of books for Rwanda.”  It was bigger than “Obama rallies the troops in Kabul”.  God added one last miracle: a front page article that begins by talking about Christ feeding the 5,000.

Here is the link:  http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/post_99.html

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Next Aslan’s How Tour May 1, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu

The Friesen Fortnightly has had problems being sent so you may get more than one update in future mailings.

Family & Friends,

On Thursday we were excited because we were only 131 short of our goal of 15,000 books for the Kigali Kollection for a Rwandan Bible College.  That night after 5pm someone got into our Admin. Building and brought 15 boxes of books.  So we knew that about 10:15am we would hit the goal.  The sparkling apple juice was ready.  We stopped at 14,999 to savor the moment.  I summarized how many people had helped.  Top student workers: Ali Newby, Jeff Harris, Leesa Beadle, Michael Martini; our top volunteer with over 150 hours, Dorie Halsey.  Our Kendra “Miss Kigali” Hanberg, student coordinator and Jill of all trades.  Our staff librarians who created the systems for cataloging, Pam Middleton and Daniel Nordstrom, our seminary student who leads Africa New Life in Rwanda, Fred Katagwa and then …. We prepared our glasses as the staff ladies with the magic fingers entered in book 15,000 (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).  Mary Newman and Debbie Chin both hit the “enter” button at the same moment and at 10:21am on Friday,  March 19, 2010, God gave us book number 15,000.  The library is worth more than a half a million dollars.  The camera was clicking, the video was rolling and we were praising God from whom all blessings flow.  This one just flowed bigger and faster than we asked or thought possible.

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Next Aslan’s How Tour April 3, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu

Family & Friends,

Another man from Aslan’s How is engaged.  This high rate of engagements has only one explanation —  the How water.  Chris Fauerso is engaged to Sara Swenson and again it was the water.  Chris took Sara on a birthday day trip to Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River George.  The day was beautiful for a hike followed by dinner as they watched the river stroll by, the sun go down and the mountains tower above them.  This was followed by a full moon of biblical proportions.  Chris had reserved a room with chair, candles and a water basin.  With a towel wrapped around his waist, he knelt down and read Scriptures from 1 Corinthians 13 (love poem); John 13:1-17 (Jesus washing the disciples feet); John 15:1-17 (love one another); 1 John 4:7-21 (those who love, know God); Ephesians 5 (husband to love his wife like Christ loves the Church).  The scriptures touched him and left him “a slobbering mess”.   Sara didn’t want him crying all alone so she joined in.  When his tear ducts were empty he read the letter he wrote to her for the occasion.  Then he washed her feet symbolizing his desire to serve her as Christ served the church.  After drying her feet, he pulled out a hidden ring and asked, “Sara Ruth Swenson will you marry me?”  She said, “Y-y-y-, sniffle sniffle, Ye-, ye-, sniffle, Yes.”  I contend it was the How water that got Chris moving in the right direction, but I’m sure it was the basin water that closed the wonderful deal.

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Next Aslan’s How Tour April 3, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu

Family and Friends

I just finished 18 hours of Ken Burns’s “Baseball.”  It brought back baseball memories.   The most vivid were going years to watch the fast pitch softball team “The King and His Court” who played with four men against nine-man teams.  I remember how delirious I was after getting my first hit in the 13-15 year city league.  I was so delirious that I forgot everything and the pitcher picked me off first base.  I remember taking my glove as a young boy to the center field bleachers in Tiger stadium hoping to catch a homerun from Mickey Mantle.  He hit two home runs.  One 15 feet to my right and one 15 feet to my left.  My glove was empty but my eyes were big.  I remember going to the ’69 Tiger season opener with Denny McClain (31 wins in 1968) on the mound.   A race riot almost broke out in center field and I forgot about baseball and was cheering for a policeman who was trying to stop a racial fight between two fans in front of me.  I remember finally starting to hit in the city league (4 for 9 to start the season). Then I went to a Christian camp and God got a hold of my heart.  I stayed the whole summer.  I was doing something eternal and had the satisfaction of ending my career batting over 440, something even Ty Cobb and Ted Williams failed to do.

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Next Aslan’s How Tour Marach 6, 2010 (11 am).
Sign up at: gfriesen@multnomah.edu