Rise & Shine International – has ROOTS

Sorting through my Mother’s Bibles, I go slowly. They are full of precious comments from she whose DNA merged to form my own.  Her love for God and His Redeemer, Jesus, had always been  evident.  But in her private writings, a passionate fire for the nations also emerges. Her heart prayers circled the globe from a chair.  Katy (Kathryn Ella Lundeen Leavenworth) was not one to leave her post often.  She never had a driver’s license, nor did she like TV.  She was an avid reader and always had time to pray for, or listen to, friend or family – or one who had come from afar.  In one Bible, I found a letter she received in 1945, from a minister of the gospel in Nazi Germany.  She had mailed him some books that were hard to procure in his situation.  I remember seeing her iron a paper bag to make wrapping for that parcel.

Literacy – the gateway to all things interesting and noble.

In her widowhood, Mom took up teaching English to nearby Vietnamese “war brides” and Seikh Indian immigrant women and girls.  She used the Frank Laubach Method – named after a long-time “missionary” to the Philippines, in the early 1900s.  Mr. Laubach developed a method of giving reading skills to people who had none at all.

My Mother, daughter of Josephine Johanneson Lundeen (immigrant from Norway who was, herself, a fiery proponent of education and the joys of reading), was touched by the limits a person faces without access to the written word.  She passed her passion on to her children.  One became a trail-blazing English teacher, the others avid readers and teachers in their fields.

It is from this rich heritage that I embraced the plight of peoples everywhere that, no matter how bright, lack the ability to connect using the English language.  The embarrassing reality is that, while much of the world has familiarity with speaking/hearing English (especially compared with the reciprocal lack in the US), the levels commonly achieved do little good in the marketplace.  But the advantage that full English literacy gives in employment and business is unmistakable.

For any area with desperately high unemployment, the gift of English agility is like teaching a bird to fly!  It opens opportunities to the learner that could only be dreamed of, otherwise.

From Josephine, who learned English to make her way in the new land, to Katy, who prayed, supported, and then taught English to other immigrants, to Mary, who now goes to nations to carry this gift – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all.

These women shared a generational, ever-widening, vision and love for people, Jesus, and the freedom that English literacy brings.

Hope and freedom through English literacy, education and basic job/business skills — that is the fruit of these lives, and their prayers for all peoples.  That is now the core of Rise & Shine International – actively inviting you all to jump into its joy!