Hi everybody, my name is Joel Pakan, I'm your
Director for Rural Ministries, and I think let's
start with our seminarian first. So you are? I am
Juliana Jimenez, second year Mdiv student at Wartburg
Theological Seminary. Excellent. I worked at
camp for five summers and it was in that place
that I heard the call. Excellent. Okay. Yeah.
And camp was Outlaw Ranch? Outlaw Ranch in Custer,
South Dakota. Man, we might get back to that
because there's some really lovely and unique
things that are happening there that enabled
five summers with the pandemic in the middle.
Yes. Right? Yes. Which I think is really formative
for the resilience of this place that we are,
right? Yeah. Okay. All right. So next to you.
I'm John Rasmussen, and I'm from Sisseton, South
Dakota, a member of Grace Lutheran Church. Excellent.
And that's where we are. We're in the chapel
at Grace Lutheran Church, which is a room that
I wasn't in last time I was here. So this is
really lovely. Okay. And? I'm Deb Wolf, and I
live in Sisseton, and I'm this parish secretary.
Excellent. Thanks, Deb. And I'm Jane Rasmussen,
also from Sisseton and a member of Grace Lutheran
Church. Excellent. I'm Josh Knutson. I'm pastor
of Grace Lutheran Church for about four years
now. I'm originally from Rapid City, so South
Dakota is home to me. Wow. Love it here in Sisseton.
Yeah. Cool. All right. I'm Rhonda Burrish from
Sisseton, and my journey began at a Bible camp
many years ago. Is there a name to the Bible
camp? It would be NeSoDak. NeSoDak right around
the corner. All right, very, very cool. So another
one of our Lutheran's Outdoors camps. And for
me, too, I grew up in northern Wisconsin, and
Camp Luther, in the longest chain of freshwater
lakes in North America, Camp Luther sat on one
of those lakes, and so that was where I went
as a kid. growing up in northern Wisconsin so
very cool yeah Bible camps are amazing yeah all
right so the reason why we're all here at Grace
Sisseton is because Juliana just had a rural
immersion experience through Warburg Summary
which is both a class and kind of a just a unique
experience and it's three Sundays so the program
is really loose and kind of get to make it what
You want to make it, right? But it's three consecutive
Sundays putting a student into an experience
in a rural congregation. And that's really what
it is. So I'm kind of curious about how it went
and what everyone's kind of experience of this
was. And I don't know if somebody wants to go
first. And if there's long pauses, I'll just
cut them out and make it sound like everyone
was just eager to go. Pastor Josh, when I put
you on the spot, like how did this, this is the
first time that the congregation has done this.
And so, yeah, how did it go? I think it was at
Synod Assembly where you talked about the possibility
of seminarians coming to rural places in South
Dakota. And you need congregations who are willing
to host them. And I said, sign me up. I'd love
to have a seminarian come to Grace Lutheran and
Sisseton. And you did. You were true to your
word and contacted me months later and said,
hey, Juliana has signed up for this class and
she's coming to Grace and Sisseton. Does that
work? Okay, yeah. Right, yeah. And so originally
this was conceived of as a January term program,
right? And that's true that Juliana is our fourth
student who has done this. Three of them have
been in January. Now, we also have expanded it
to other seasons. And so we've had a student
out. I should just name the other congregations
that have been part of this because they've all
had really great experiences, too. But I haven't
had the opportunity to do this kind of conversation.
So other congregations in South Dakota that have
hosted seminarians in this program are Grand
River out in Buffalo, South Dakota. Our congregation
in Hill City. Yeah, OK. It might be Hill City
Lutheran. No, it's Community Lutheran. Community
Lutheran. There it is. All right. See, this is
where we get to actually edit out. I get to sound
smarter than I am. It's Community Lutheran in
Hill City. They have hosted a student. And our
Savior is Wessington Springs. And now Grace Sisseton.
And part of the reason for doing this conversation
is because we want to have more students kind
of get engaged in this program because I think
it's really good and lovely. But we also want
to have other congregations. get engaged in this.
And so, all right, so I called you up and said,
Juliana's going to come, student at Wartburg
Seminary. And you are a graduate of Wartburg?
I am. I'm a Wartburg graduate. 2016, I graduated
from there. All right. Coming up on 10 years.
All right. Yep. But I got this call that Juliana
was coming, and I knew right away we needed to
find a place for her to stay and a way for her
to get around Sisseton. John and Jane have connections
with the Arts Council in Sisseton. So I was able
to arrange housing right away through the Arts
Council here, a place for her to live. And I
had an extra vehicle that she could use while
she was here. And then we started brainstorming.
And I put word out to the council and to the
congregation and said, Juliana's coming to be
with us for a few weeks. What could she do? What
do you need to see in a rural place? What does
a rural pastor need to know? How could she get
some experiences out in our community, not just
here at the church, but get to know this part
of the state, this context for ministry? What
does that look like? And so together we started
brainstorming. And when Juliana first got here,
we made a big long list. I think there was 12
or 15 things. Yeah, we made a list. This is what
is going on in the next two weeks. Let's pick
the priorities. What do you really want to do?
Oh, that's great. That's a really great way to
go. Then you get buy -in from everybody. There
was no way we were going to get everything that
we thought of done. In a two -week period, you
just can't learn everything there is to know
or see everything there is to see. We picked
some priorities and we got all our priorities
and extras on top of that. We had wonderful experiences
talking with people. Juliana told me right away
she wanted to... talk to people and say, how
does your faith impact your life? What does it
mean to live out your faith in this place? Yeah,
right on. Okay. All right. So, well, then I think
I need to naturally go over here. Okay, so Juliana,
so what, could you, if you were to think about
those conversations, is there one that sticks
out? just like that you could share right sometimes
those faith conversations are intimate and personal
and they're not for this venue but is there one
that you think you could share in this kind of
I'm going to collect because I heard the same
thing great this is a synopsis of sharing love
and sharing God's Jesus message in your daily
and like my question It was about, like, how
is your faith guiding you in your everyday, every
moment of life? It was kind of like, how do you
see it as? And it was like the answers were toward
that of, I just love and care for my neighbor.
And I see everybody as God's children. And their
daily jobs are not just jobs. They are a way
to care and show that love. And you have like
that, yes. Ethic and moral doing your job, but
also you have like this God call and God guidance
of I'm doing this because I love it because I
really want to make a good impact on people and
I really want people to see how God is acting
in their lives, even if they don't believe it.
So that was like to not reveal the personal conversation
we had with what I saw and what I heard and I
found that beautiful. like one of the biggest
characteristics that we share in the car of like
the members of the church have a strong identity.
They know who they are. They know who, like who
are they worshiping and what is the message and
they live it. And that, that's just like hearing
this, having those conversations in different
scenarios. It was just kind of like, yeah, cool. This is wonderful.
Thank you. Thanks for, thanks for sharing. Okay.
All right. So, um, I'm, a little curious now
of the rest of you to ask you what were your
experiences? And I'm putting you on the spot
a little bit in front of Juliana, right? But
also just your experiences maybe of, because
the way that you and I relate is going to be
different in the context of a new person like
Juliana, right? that it helps us understand the
thing, oh, this is something I really value because
I'm meeting someone from a different community,
right? So if you could just reflect over the
last three weeks, because Juliana's last Sunday
was yesterday, right? What were some things that
kind of came out for you in your experience?
Maybe of Juliana and she as your seminarian who
is doing this rural immersion, but maybe also
for just you as you reflect upon what are the
values that, oh, yeah, this is something that's
really lovely about this place or how I interact
with Grace Lutheran Church of Sisseton. Is there
something that comes to mind? I think I'll say
that. December or whenever Pastor Josh mentioned
that Juliana was going to come. It was really
exciting to hear because this was something we
hadn't done before. Sometimes after the holidays
are over, things kind of flatten out. And it's
like, oh, we really have something to look forward
to in January. So that was exciting. And I also
sensed the first Sunday that we met Juliana,
just this really genuine curiosity that you have
in you. And that was really, that was refreshing.
And it did help us, you know, right away to realize
that she was here to share in what we do and
how do we open up to her. But you made it so
easy. And then thinking both about our church
and community, you know, what things can we do?
What can we do together during that time? And
then I just want to comment on that question
that you asked. I think about, you know, sometimes
in life, you might be approached with that question,
you know, how does your faith inspire you? Again,
I guess I just have to use that word genuine.
You listen so well, and when you asked that question,
it was really inviting. Like, I want to answer
that. I don't feel like I'm being put on the
spot and expected to give some, you know, some
appropriate answer. I think I can just say, I
mean, I'm really thinking about what you're asking
now, and I want to be able to. to tell you that
so i think that you you brought uh you brought
a a real a really refreshing life to this cold
thank you jane yeah okay good good um so um we
should probably mention right that um Juliana,
you come from a place that doesn't typically
see below zero temperatures. Right. And you were
here during a particularly cold spell. Like it's
one of the coldest, long cold spells that South
Dakota has seen in quite a few winters. Congratulations.
Yeah, right. And I made it. You made it. You
weathered it, right? All the fingers and toes
are still attached, right? Ears still attached.
Right, so for someone who was maybe like, I don't
know if I want to go to rural South Dakota in
January, right? I mean, it's unique. It is, you
know, the cold was nothing. Okay. There was a
night that it was really cold and my apartment
was cold. And I knew that I can share it. Just
like, this happened, can you help me? And then
right away. Jane called, hey this apartment is
really cold can you come and check and they went
so it was I wasn't worried about it yeah good
good it was just it's part of life right well
and I lived it and now I know how it is I experienced
it and I've been saying I want to come and serve
in South Dakota I've God calls me here right
so I know I prefer ish prepare to how winter
in South Dakota is going to be in a very north
part. And just knowing that there is people,
like I'm not going to be alone, you're not going
to be alone. I mean, that's part of the mutual
support of a congregation and their clergy, right?
Whether it's pastor or deacon or seminarian.
intern or vicar, whatever these different roles
that we have, minister, Synod -authorized minister.
There is a mutual support for our ministers,
whatever those ministers' titles are, and the
congregation. And you've lived into that, right?
And that's an important thing to mention. And
maybe the other important thing to mention is
that you are a candidate in the South Dakota
Synod. Right. So in the beginning we talked
about, right, that you came in, you were familiar
with the Lutheran Church in your home country.
You came into South Dakota via our camps and
you were a counselor for five summers with the
pandemic in the middle and you came back. And
I do want to mention that that's a resiliency
that our camps are. embracing or they're fostering
this resiliency, right? Because I don't think
that's been all of our camp ministries across
the country had that same experience that you
experienced at Outlaw. Because it wasn't just
you and international staff, but it was South
Dakotans and people who grew up going to the
camps and were becoming counselors at that age.
And so there were multiple people, right, who
were staffed both before and after the pandemic.
And so you had this cohort of people, and it
was really, I mean, that speaks to the resiliency
of this place, but also the community that you
formed together as a cohort, right? And in some
ways, right, you experienced kind of the best
of what congregational life is like at camp.
In my kind of window into it, right, as I saw
you over those five songs. Yeah, like you have
people at camp who are really passionate in carrying
it. Doesn't matter how, we have this plan, we
have this idea, we're going to, we don't have
the resources, but we're going to find them,
we're going to do it, let's just trust. And that,
what you're describing at camp is what I saw
here, and I said it in my sermon yesterday. It's
just like, you call it, not a budget, but it's...
Mission plan. Mission plan. And it's like, this
is our mission plan. This is what we want to
do. God will provide. And the assembly was like
fast because Jesus came. You know what is going
to happen. You're trusting. Like they're trusting.
And they're just like, let's do it. So, okay.
We know our mission. Let's do it. I got to ask
you this question, right? So when we put this
together, it didn't occur to me, right, that
we would be bringing in a seminarian who maybe
hadn't experienced a congregational annual meeting.
Was this your first annual meeting of a congregation
that you had experienced? A U.S. congregation, Yes. Yeah, right. Okay,
see? And so that's one of the benefits of coming
in January, because most of our congregations
have an annual meeting in January. And so you
got to sit through that experience and say, it's
not a budget. It's a mission plan. And you get
to hear all the concerns and all the preparation
that comes before that. How important it is to
trust and rely on your leaders of the church.
And how important it is to support and care and
talk and see how they're doing. Because you as
a pastor cannot do it alone. You need the leaders
of the congregation. You need those voices. You
need the assistance. Of someone who keeps telling
you, like, please have this by this day. Did
I see you kind of gesture towards Deb here? No,
not a judgement at all. No, no, this is good, right?
We need each other to keep each other on, right?
And every person here knows that I will send
them an email and say, I needed this yesterday.
Yeah, good, good. All right, so, all right. What's
been your experience of these last couple weeks,
Deb? It's just fun having Juliana around. She
asks questions, and she listens to the answers,
and she's very concerned about what's going on.
She was busy doing a lot of visiting, so she
didn't have a lot of time that we actually spent
talking. But 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there,
and she just has done a really good job, and
you can tell that she's very, very interested
in what she's learning. Jane, when you were sharing,
and I'm reminded of it now as you shared that
curiosity is contagious, right? And that sometimes
maybe it's even a function of our winter seasons,
right, that we become a little bit sheltered
and put on all the layers. And there's a physicality,
right, of winter that says we've got to protect
ourselves. But there's something about curiosity
when we encounter it in one another. That opens
us up and helps us unbutton a little bit. And,
right, just share, be different. And sometimes
winter, yeah, I like being warm. I was outside
a lot over these last couple days. And so, yeah,
I had layers and layers and layers on. So, yeah,
yeah. I, like Jane, thought it was really refreshing
to have the questions that she asked. Because
I think that as the winter months come, we can
be really complacent in our faith. And to have
someone say to you, why do you believe? Why do
you, what is your faith about? And I, we had
the background of snowshoes in Sitchihalo in,
what was it, 40 degree weather? It was wonderful.
You went snowshoeing? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.
She came Sunday. I looked at the weather, and
I thought, if we're going to go, this is it.
I mean, it was spur of the moment. And borrowed
a set of snowshoes from John and Jane, and she
was game. I had a pair of snow boots that fit
her, and away we went. That's great. And so it
was. I appreciated it and came back thinking,
you know, after we parted, Do I live this? Do
people see my faith? Because you do get kind
of complacent in your life, and it was just challenging
to me. So you gave to me. Hopefully I gave back
to you something other than snowshoes and cold.
And amazing women. And she is very, very comfortable
asking you. about things she's very easy to talk
to. So I appreciate that she was here. I enjoyed
the time. Well, now we haven't heard from John
yet. And John's the guy I think I know maybe
the best in this group because John and I work
together on the small town and rural task force
for the Synod. And so we're on that task force
together. And this work that I'm doing and the
work that financially supports supports the rural
ministry immersion is through the Journeying
Together in Christ initiative. And so we have
funding for students to have these experiences
right now through the end of 2027. So the Lilly
Foundation has its support with us through December
of 2027. And we really want more students to
have these experiences. And so that's one of
the reasons we're talking about this. But I also,
John, just wanted to ask you about kind of your
experiences, both because you're on this task
force that we're on together. Right. And, you
know, rural congregations here in the Synod.
Right. I'm glad for you just to share your experiences,
but also kind of maybe a word of encouragement
for others who might want to have a student come
and experience their community. Yeah, I think
too many times people in seminary think that,
well, I'd go to South Dakota and serve in a rural
community like Sioux Falls, you know. And they
discount these wonderful small communities, smaller
communities, that are faith communities. And
that's been... Like Juliana said to me, like,
I want to know your stories, you know. But those
small faith communities in rural areas have been
the story of the Lutheran Church in South Dakota.
And, you know, coming onto the prairie and establishing
a home site and establishing a congregation,
you know, we live by faith. And it's just like
a mission plan in a church at an annual meeting.
And we're so happy you got to be at the annual
meeting. It's kind of like the Super Bowl of
the Lutheran Church. So if you don't live by
faith, you just wither and you become insular
and you think about yourself. But to think about
others, you know, your arms are spread out and
you reach out. And that was the thing that I
loved about Juliana when she came here. She said,
I want to know your stories, you know. And the
story here in our area, northeastern South Dakota,
is a beautiful one of many cultures that have
merged together and form a community together.
And we tried to get you down to, like, tribal
headquarters so that you could learn the stories
of the Dakota people. We tried to get you around
to different areas that you could understand
that we are a people that live together with
this common bond. trying to serve each other
and help each other. And I think that this is
something that rural communities have just in
their DNA. Because if you don't work together
in a small community and help each other, boy,
there are some times, you know, when you look
back in history and people needed to help each
other, they still need to help each other. I
think to your point about COVID, sometimes there
was this break during that period where everybody
was, you know, afraid. And now we've broken out
of that. And I think that this experience, Juliana
became the light in the bleak midwinter for us.
And so, you know, it helped us plan for something
and get excited about this person coming. Who
is she and where is she from? And then all of
a sudden she's here. And it's like... You hold
this candle in the darkness and then you can
be excited about that, you know. And you can
learn from each other, you know. And that's what
the Christian faith is too, you know. Exactly right. Sharing.
Working together and learning from each other,
you know. I was thinking about on the drive up
here about how our diversity is such a strength
that we sometimes lose track of. And we lost
track of that a bit in the pandemic, right? I
was recently listening to a pastor who leads
one of our Spanish language congregations in
a neighboring synod. And they're in the historic
building of a Swedish Lutheran church. And the
congregation has been in that neighborhood for,
I don't know, I think he said something like
180 years. But he said we've always been a multilingual
congregation. We just happened to be, in our
inception, a Swedish and English church, and
now we're a Spanish and English church. And so
our diversity has this really, yeah, there's
a strength there, especially when we give time
for the curiosity to be contagious. But Christ
said, love your neighbor as yourself. Yes. And
who's my neighbor? Yes. And we're all neighbors.
Exactly right. Exactly right. Yeah. Man, this
is so fun. Right? We should get together and
do this more often. So I do want to say to the
congregations in South Dakota Synod who may be
listening to this, to say this. You maybe don't
know how important you are to the formation of
the next generation. of our leaders, whether
that leader be a pastor or a deacon or a Synod
authorized minister, that you have something
unique to share, just like Grace here in Sisseton
has something unique to share that you do too.
And so one of the reasons why I want to lift
up these posts from the road, these stories,
is to say that we all have these stories of growth.
that are happening in the midst of some really
challenging times, right? But that growth is
happening. And so maybe to close out, I want
to ask, because this was new to me, and I've
only been in the Synod five years, and so I didn't
know this chapel existed. And when we came in,
Deb was sharing that this comes from one of your
predecessors of congregations. Is that right?
One of the ones that merged together to become,
as they closed down. then this is where the majority
of their people came. Okay. So, again, knowing
that we're a diversity here, but also our heritage.
So what is the heritage? Then is it all Norwegian?
Well, I'm an import, so I'm German. But also
the rest of them are more on that Norwegian side.
I'm half German, too. So that's why they put
us together on one bench. Yeah, right. Okay.
So the congregations, there was more than one
congregation that formed Grace Sisseton? Yes.
There were two congregations originally. It was
Trinity Lutheran Church and Goodwill Lutheran
Church. And after World War II, these young guys
came home, and the population grew. Jane, there
were, I mean, Sunday school was just, the basements
of both churches were full, right? They had two
sessions of Sunday school, and they would ring
a bell from my office. Well, eventually, they
would ring a bell from my office. To separate
the two so that the next group could come in
and one group could come out. So what they decided
to do, they were both in the same synod. They
decided to merge and become one church. And that
has been a beautiful experience. And then as
rural population and consolidation of agriculture
occurred, then rural populations became smaller.
And rural churches, some of them had to then
find a new church home. And we've been blessed
with rural church. members coming in here and
being strong members of Grace Lutheran Church,
you see. All in part of this one body, even though
they came from different places, you see. Okay,
so then the chapel that we're in right now, and
if you're watching the video, then you'll see
this lovely backdrop of this. Well, in my German...
congregation growing up. We jokingly called it
a Walter because it was an altar on the wall,
right? But where is this from? Which congregation
is this from? From Concordia. This is from Concordia.
So one of those congregations that kind of came
in after the initial two. And Concordia, was
that a Norwegian or is that a German? Because
I'm used to that word kind of more. That would
be Norwegian. That was Norwegian also. Okay,
good. All right. All right. Yeah, of course,
Concordia College now is a university up in Moorhead.
That's a Norwegian institution. One of the wonderful
colleges of the church that we're blessed with.
Yeah, exactly. Because the people that were of
faith, the Lutheran faith, they wanted to have
a place where their kids could go to school.
Good. Okay. And so we've got some photos of different
things around here. And I'm going to take the
camera up and kind of highlight a few of these
on the video. So if you want to see the chapel
here at Grace Sisseton, you'll have to watch the
video, everybody. So tell me about this stained
glass window over here. Is that from one of the
predecessor congregations? They were just donated.
Both stained glass windows were just donated
by a gentleman. had the windows in his possession.
Oh, wow. Okay. They were donated by former Chief
Justice David Gilbertson. Okay. Former Chief
Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court. Whose
father was a pastor here for nearly 20 years.
Oh, that's lovely. David grew up here in his
early years. Okay. All right. Lovely. Wow. This
is such a great room. And good to know a little
bit of your history. And I think other South
Dakota congregations will. we'll be glad to hear
a little bit of your history. We've all got a
story. We've all got a story. Yeah. Well, um,
thanks for listening, everybody. Uh, this is
officially episode two of my posts from the road
and, look forward to, uh, catching you on the
next episode. If you have a story you want to
share in your congregation, uh, or in your community,
please to reach out to me. All right. God bless.
Thank you. Thank you. And scene. Hey, thank you
so much, everybody. This was great. Oh, you make
that easy. Oh, man. Well, you made it easy, too.
You know, the only thing we were missing was
a campfire. I know, right?