Subject: Richard Reusch, Racecars, and Determining Greatness
Hello All!
Welcome to Lipke Letter #3.
The first one to be sent out by email instead of just being uploaded to my website.
What I’ve Been Up To:
Lenore Boyd, founder of Alfajiri, was at Saint John’s this week.
Alfajiri is a non-profit that is trying to help street children living in Nairobi, Kenya.
They are truly doing God’s work.
Saint John’s has been a supporter of Alfajiri since it’s inception, helping both monetarily and through their Benedictine Volunteers.
I spent a ton of time working with Alfajiri during my year in Kenya, so it was great to see Lenore again.
Even better, Matt Anderson (fellow volunteer) will be coming up tomorrow morning for a Sunday brunch with the whole group.
3 Things From Me
A (Very Short) Biography:
Richard Reusch might be the most interesting person I’ve ever read about.
He grew up in Russia, where he went through officer training and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor.
As a young man, he swore allegiance to the Tsar and fought the Bolsheviks.
After the Bolsheviks had won and Reusch had fled to Germany, he was accepted to a missionary post in Tanganyika (Tanzania).
He spent over 30 years serving in the Mt. Kilimanjaro region; helping to build schools, hospitals, churches, and dispensaries.
Killing man-eating lions and building relationships with the surrounding tribes.
He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro over 50 times and the large crater near the summit is named after him.
Reusch especially liked the Masai tribe, who respected him enough to make him an honorary Masai warrior.
He translated school books and the Bible into Kiswahili, even authoring a book on the history of East Africa.
During a break from missionary work, Reusch journeyed throughout the Middle East.
He was searching for the Hidden Imam, an extremely important and mysterious figure in Islam.
During his search he was almost killed, saved by the kindness of a stranger and his ability to recite a couple of key verses from the Qur’an from memory.
After retiring from missionary work, Reusch ended up as a theology professor at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Throughout his tenure as professor, he spoke at churches on the weekends and raised thousands for the Masai.
Most important and impressive of his achievements, he was able to bench press 225 pounds well into his eighties.
An example to us all.
A Quote:
“Race cars are neither beautiful nor ugly. They become beautiful when they win.”
– Enzo Ferrari
A ‘Cool Topics’ Database:
I’ve been studying for the GRE.
Last week I stumbled across a list of analytical writing prompts to practice with.
The prompts are designed to have tons of evidence on both sides of the argument, with no clear answer one way or the other.
One of the more fun ones I wrote about this week:
The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries.
I’ll be trying out boxing with James Siems for the first time this Monday… wish us luck!
Peace,
Jacob Lipke
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