Between 1999 and 2002, through a Kingdom Workers grant, Beth Cordes Thompson gave workshops and seminars on Intercultural Communications and English Language Teaching at 40 churches and schools in the U.S., Canada, and Antigua. In 2003, she founded the WELS Model English Language Outreach Program at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Milwaukee and was its executive director until 2012. In Hong Kong, she developed English for Theological Purposes programs for Asia Lutheran Seminary. Since the Thompsons’ return from Hong Kong to the U.S. in 2020, they have been residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

My first visit to the East Fork mission on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona was in 1994. My husband, Dr. Glen Thompson, then a professor at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, had been charged with creating a long-distance Latin language program for WELS high schools, two of which were Arizona Lutheran Academy and East Fork Lutheran High School. We were in Arizona so he could meet his students in person.

Open Bible Church in Whiteriver

We had a joyful reunion in East Fork with Pastor Eric and Delora Hartzell. We had last seen them when we served together as missionaries in Zambia. Now they were living in the beautiful, well-built house where Eric grew up when his father was a missionary in East Fork.

We moved to New Ulm, Minnesota, in 1997, where Glen began to develop what is now the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. During that time, Glen helped Missionary Kirby Spevacek create a curriculum for a new Apache leadership training program, which became the Apache Christian Training School (ACTS).

In 1999, I became friends with Carlita Lewis, a young Apache woman from East Fork who was studying at Martin Luther College (MLC). I interviewed her for a project for an Intercultural Communications course towards my Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESL). We discussed the Apache language and culture, and I learned a great deal about her life and family on the reservation.

Second visit—the student becomes the teacher

My second visit to East Fork was in January 2000, when Glen met with Pastor Spevacek and students in the ACTS program. While there, we toured East Fork Lutheran School and wished Carlita the Lord’s blessings as she began her call as an emergency teacher for a year.

First Lutheran Church in lower Cibecue

Third visit—friends reunited in our Savior

This past January, 26 years later, we returned to the reservation specifically to see Carlita and her son Leandro. Over four days, we visited the Kinishba Ruins and Fort Apache, went hiking, and had acorn stew. Glen also taught Bible classes at Open Bible Lutheran Church in Whiteriver, Arizona, where we became re-acquainted with Pastor Gary Lupe, and at Immanuel in Lakeside, Arizona, where Carlita is a member. Pastor Gary Juergens and Carlita became friends when they were students together at MLC, so we had an MLC reunion as well.

When we said good-bye to Carlita and Leandro, we prayed that it would not be years before we saw them again.

It was God’s planning that we would be reunited three months later! A few weeks after we returned to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the mission board contacted Glen and asked if he would consider helping Pastor Gary Lupe and Missionary John Holtz for a few months. After prayers and planning, we decided to return.

Fourth visit—God’s abundant blessings

In April 2026, we returned to the East Fork Mission. Now we have the privilege of worshiping with Apache Christians in the historic congregations and schools of the WELS Native American mission that began in 1893. During the upcoming months, we plan to attend services at all the Lutheran churches on the reservation.

Gethsemane Lutheran Church in upper Cibecue

Our first Sunday worship was at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Cibecue, Arizona. During our first visit to the reservation, every time we passed the turnoff to Cibecue from Highway 60, I would say, “You can see the end of the world from here,” because the road looks like it drops off the horizon. Now, we finally had our chance to turn on that road again, and it was only twelve beautiful scenic miles to the church!

On the way, we passed the first Lutheran church in “lower” Cibecue, built by Missionary Otto Schoenberg in 1912. In the 1970s, the mission complex was moved to “upper” Cibecue, which is where we worshiped. Lay preacher Greg Henry preached in both Apache and English, and the women members sang a hymn.

The second Sunday, we worshiped at Shepherd of the Mountain, Cedar Creek, Arizona. The tiny church is perched on a small mountain, visible from Highway 73. PSI student Marcus Massey gave the sermon.

Shepherd on the Mountain Lutheran Church in Cedar Creek

I saw Open Bible Lutheran Church for the first time back in January 2026. Founded in 1912, the picturesque wood-frame white church building was dedicated in 1922. Glen has given one presentation and conducted two Bible classes in the sanctuary so far. During the class, the attendees ask probing questions about faith and salvation. ACTS also has evening classes during the week, where faithful members from the reservation take time out of their busy lives to study God’s word.

During this trip, we saw Pastor Eric and Delora Hartzell for the first time in decades. We learned that Pastor Hartzell had written Inashood: The Story of the Arizona Apache Lutheran Missions and Their Pastors (available from Northwestern Publishing House). Glen and I read it before our April return.

Learning the history illuminated the honor of living for a few months at the very location where the mission acquired property from a government school and founded East Fork Lutheran Mission in 1921.

The East Fork Nursery was established in 1921 to save abandoned babies’ lives but later closed in 1990. This building became what is now the ACTS building.

We thank God for the journeys since 1994 that led to this opportunity to experience life on the site of the first WELS world mission. We cherish our times of worship with the faithful Apache Christians who are living and strengthening their faith through the Word...

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