This past weekend I made a quick trip up to Kennewick and Walla Walla. The trip was centered on the retirement of Deacon Heidi Cryer, who has served at Lord of Life, Kennewick for 21 years. The congregation hosted a huge party for her Saturday afternoon and her last Sunday was the following day. As Heidi has been a big part of shepherding our companion synod relationship with the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese in Tanzania, I wore the cope and miter gifted to the synod on the trip five of us (including Heidi and husband Dan) took last year.

One of our goals as synod staff is to gather retired leaders together in 2024. We had a much smaller group at First Lutheran in Kennewick (following Heidi’s party) than we did in October in Spokane, but it was still a wonderful conversation, so wonderful that I lost track of time and was late for my next appointment. We missed seeing retired pastor Joel and deacon Margaret but I got to stay at their home and it was lovely to catch up.

Pastor Joel Ley retired from Christ Lutheran, Walla Walla in late spring 2023. The first interim had to step down for family reasons but Pastor Phil recruited Pastor Deanna from the West Side (Seattle area) and I was able to meet her at Truth Teller Winery in Walla Walla.

The worship service Sunday back at Lord of Life was wonderful. It became clear over the two days how intentional the staff and leadership have been around doing Heidi’s goodbye well.