THE NATIONS ARE HERE!

One Hundred People Attend Hmong Fellowship Dinner!

On Sunday evening, April 25, ninety eight people came out to enjoy the best egg rolls around!

Here are some comments:

1. “Those egg rolls were scrumptious! I think I had six!”
2. “The meal, the entire evening was so much fun.”
3. “What a great program you put on at the Hmong dinner. I enjoyed hearing about Shia's family's history.”
4. “We Hmong people are so grateful for Christ the King’s support of Hmong Central!”
5. Thanks Christ the King and Local Mission Partner Team for making this possible. Thanks Thrivent
6. Financial for Lutherans your matching funds. $1600 will be sent to Hmong Central for their
7. Young Couples’ ministry.

Jennie Lightfoot’s Story (with LMP logo)

What is it like to be a person of color in this American culture and this Lutheran church? That is the question our synod Local MIssion Partner Team asked Pastor Jennie Lightfoot of our One in the Spirit American Indian ministry.

Jennie told us a story of difficulty and struggle for survival that began at her first moments of life. Her mother, because of her lifestyle, was unable to parent. So Jennie was taken from her mother at birth and spent her first four years in foster homes. Some of those foster home experiences were less than ideal. At age five she was reunited with her mother and became aware for the first time she had a one year-old brother. It turned out that her mother was suffering from alcoholism and anger issues. There was physical abuse, brown sugar sandwiches, and waiting in the car, alone with her brother, into the night outside a bar where her mother and step-father had gone to drink. Jennie, from age five on, took care of her brother much of the time – it was the two of them, “yoked together” against the world; they remain today great supporters of each other.

The poor treatment of American Indians by government and individuals was (and in many cases, still is) devastating to the American Indian culture – the consequences include poverty and loss of self respect. These factors likely contributed to the way her mother grew up and to the problems her mother struggled with. In that sense, Jennie was exposed to the effects of racism from the very beginning, but her first recollection of racism directed toward her was experienced in kindergarten. American Indians were not welcomed in her school in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. She was teased and bullied because of her ethnic background. She didn’t want to go to school, and tried to skip whenever possible.

The earliest positive experience Jennie can recall occurred in her early years of elementary school after her family moved to the St. Anthony Park area. It was then that a classmate in school invited her to vacation Bible school at a Lutheran church in the area. That vacation Bible school was a wonderful experience; she felt accepted for the first time, she was embraced and loved, her American Indian heritage was not an issue, and, for the first time, someone told her she had pretty hair! She recalls thinking at the time that she wanted to become a Lutheran. Jennie wanted to spend time with her friends at church, and her mother allowed her to do so “if she was good” – so the arrangement worked for both of them.

The times between her positive experiences with the Lutheran church during those early days were followed by difficult times. She still feels the void of lacking the presence and involvement of a father – her step-father was an alcoholic. Jennie herself began drinking, but has been in recovery for the last 17.5 years. She eventually realized the drinking had to stop. She asked God for help; “God decided to change me – he is working on me all of the time.” Her brother is also in recovery, and so the two of them are still “yoked together” after all of these years.

Later in life Jennie’s mother surrendered her life to the Lord and as a result went into recovery. She joined the Lutheran church, was baptized and received Holy Communion. Both Jennie and her brother Jack celebrate their mother’s life: the person who had abused them confessed her mistakes, made her amends, and became a loving, nurturing mother and grandmother. At last, she was free.

Jennie never fully escapes the pain associated with the past, whether the atrocities suffered by the American Indians or the challenges and struggles of her own life. She still experiences racism from time to time, whether or not it is intentional. She tries to point out how such situations are painful, but has chosen not to dwell on them. She tries to be constructive and forward-looking.

Jennie (an enrolled member of the Lake Superior Band of Ojibway, Keweenaw Bay, MI)

is the Pastor and Mission Developer of One in the Spirit, an inter-tribal, ecumenical word and sacrament ministry with and among American Indian people in the east metropolitan area of the Twin Cities. One in the Spirit is an emerging collaborative ministry including strategic partnerships with the St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA and its Local Mission Partners, Saint Paul Indians in Action, First Lutheran Church of St. Paul, Grace Lutheran Church of Apple Valley, All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission of Minneapolis, Elder’s Lodge of St. Paul, First United Methodist Church Department of Indian Work/St. Paul Area Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church USA/Lakes and Prairies Synod, and others.

For Jennie, being a Lutheran has been a wonderful experience. It is a community that accepts her both as a person and an American Indian, and is a community in which Christian teachings and traditions and native traditions coexist and reinforce each other. Jennie’s earliest memories of feeling good about herself trace back to experiences in a Lutheran Church. She acknowledges the Lutheran church as having a record of standing in support of American Indians for many years. In the Lutheran church she feels accepted as an American Indian and as a part a God’s creation. Jennie displays great commitment to support American Indians as they celebrate their culture and spirituality, and strive toward self- sufficiency.

GUIDED BY THE GOSPEL: GATHERING • GROWING • GIVING