WELS has just released an Apple Mobile app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices that allow congregational members with these Apple devices to access WELS website content. The content includes devotional videos, podcasts and text based content produced by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

The WELS Connection is one such video content element on the WELS Online app.

Our contact, Pastor Neal Schroeder of Divine Peace Lutheran Church in Renton, WA., has given our congregation an update on the Barnabas Project and the gifts Grace Evangelical Lutheran members have given this past year. You can follow the happenings in Ukraine at this website: Ukrainian Lutheran Weekly.

The Barnabas Project funds on hand now total over $3,400, in no small part thanks to the members of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. As Pastor Schroeder says, funds on hand are almost enough to provide airfare and food costs for Vlad Horpytnchuk to attend his first year at Martin Luther College this fall. This past year, Vlad and his sister Katrina, attended and took classes at Luther Prep and Michigan Lutheran Seminary respectively. While the language barrier was a challenge, both Vlad and Katrina did well and their English skills markedly improved while at the schools.

Pastor Schroeder will be attending Watertown, WI. for the 2011 WELS Convention in July and Perry Lund should have the opportunity to meet both Pastor Schroeder and Ukrainian Bishop Slavik to talk with them about the work with the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. Bishop Slavik will give a 45 minute presentation to the delegates and visitors at the convention.

It is indeed a blessing to know that our gifts to the Ukrainian Lutheran Church through the Barnabas Project are helping training young Ukrainians to spread the gospel message there.

Julie, Erik and I took a weekend trip to visit one of our WELS schools in Watertown, WI - Luther Preparatory School (LPS). LPS held one of its Open House events for perspective students, which included a campus tour, a meal in the cafeteria and watching the fall play. Pastor Nate Scharf was our tour guide and we were able to see Marie DeMarce as well. The trip from Oskaloosa to Watertown, WI. is about 300 miles and takes around five and a half hours; most of the road is 4 lane highway.

While we were a bit nervous in considering the thought of sending a child to Luther Prep, the tour provided some eye-opening information that put us at ease. We were able to learn about the curriculum, the typical day of a student, and  how the students are supervised and cared for on-campus. The tour group talked to parents of current and past students and 4 current students to learn about life at Luther Prep which included dormitory life and the processes around student life there.

The layout of the campus, which was established in the 1860s, has the chapel and classroom build on the south side, the dormitories in the center of campus, and the student union, auditorium, cafeteria and gymnasium and sports fields to the north. The school day is based on 10 forty minute periods that include class time, chapel and lunch. The tenth period is for extra help from the professors. Extracurriculars start around 3:45 pm. After supper, students are all expected to be in their rooms from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm for "study hall" Evening chapel starts at 9:30 pm.

Students are given "pers", short for permissions. Pers are basically a permission not to be in study hall. Freshmen get 1, sophomores get 2, juniors get 3 and seniors get 4 pers each month. Additional pers can be obtained for excellent grades and exceptional clean rooms. Students are responsible for accounting for their time on weekends and that information is related to each student's parents. The communication mechanisms are excellent from the experiences of the parents we talked to on the LPS campus tour.

There are about 180 students on campus in the dormitories and another 180 local students who commute to LPS for a total of around 360 students attending school. As a preparatory school, students take foreign language, mathematics, language arts, sciences and music. Freshmen are requires to take Latin and in subsequent years can stay with Latin or take Spanish or German. During the 4 years at LPS, opportunities for mission work via Project Timothy is also available. Overall, student will be well prepared for college and 9 out of 10 students go to college, with half going on to Martin Luther College.

We enjoyed our visit to LPS and finished the trip with worship on Sunday morning at Trinity Lutheran, which is 6 blocks west of the LPS campus. Erik was impressed with the pipe organ, which occupied the entire back balcony of the church with pipe ranks running 40 feet across. We appreciate the synod's school system and were very happy to learn about LPS and what it offers WELS and ELS families in educational opportunities.