OUR STAFF
Pastor Helga Jansons was born and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. She was part of a Latvian speaking Lutheran congregation. While working as a Social Worker in psychiatric hospitals, she felt an irresistible call to be a Pastor. The Lutheran Church of Australia does not allow women to be pastors.
She left her homeland in 1989 to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. Together with six other Lutherans she was ordained in a Roman Catholic cathedral in New Jersey in 1992 as a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Ironic!
While she misses her family and friends, her country, the beach, the smell of eucalyptus and various Australian foods, she has been grateful for the gift and honor of being able to serve God as a Pastor. She has been Pastor to inner city, suburban and ethnic churches. First Lutheran Church Pasco is her tenth congregation.
She has been trained as a Mission Developer, and in 2009 she became the Director for Evangelical Mission for the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, as deployed churchwide staff of the ELCA. For eight years, she encouraged congregations in their missional work, worked with new ministry starts and provided stewardship education and resources to help congregations to (re)discover the joy of generosity. Other than ministry her greatest joys are tennis and singing in a band.
She lives in Kennewick, WA with her son Lukas. Her oldest son Erik lives in Australia.
She left her homeland in 1989 to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. Together with six other Lutherans she was ordained in a Roman Catholic cathedral in New Jersey in 1992 as a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Ironic!
While she misses her family and friends, her country, the beach, the smell of eucalyptus and various Australian foods, she has been grateful for the gift and honor of being able to serve God as a Pastor. She has been Pastor to inner city, suburban and ethnic churches. First Lutheran Church Pasco is her tenth congregation.
She has been trained as a Mission Developer, and in 2009 she became the Director for Evangelical Mission for the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, as deployed churchwide staff of the ELCA. For eight years, she encouraged congregations in their missional work, worked with new ministry starts and provided stewardship education and resources to help congregations to (re)discover the joy of generosity. Other than ministry her greatest joys are tennis and singing in a band.
She lives in Kennewick, WA with her son Lukas. Her oldest son Erik lives in Australia.
Desiree O'Neill is our Office Secretary. She lives in Kennewick with her husband and they have two daughters.
Linda Parkin is our pianist. She and her husband Paul are long-time members of First Lutheran, Pasco. They live in Pasco. They have a son, Christopher who lives in Spokane with his wife Krina, and Linda and Paul's grandson, James.
Linda Parkin is our pianist. She and her husband Paul are long-time members of First Lutheran, Pasco. They live in Pasco. They have a son, Christopher who lives in Spokane with his wife Krina, and Linda and Paul's grandson, James.
