A WORD OF THANKS

by Doug Roland

    Cheri and I wish thank you for the spiritual and financial support that enables us to continue in our work with joyful hearts.  God’s love is indeed real in our lives.  

    The lengthy separation from our biological family, our church family and our family of friends is a daily challenge.  For solice, we regularly look at recent photos of our granddaughter playing with the little Zulu drum we sent for her 1st birthday.  And, once in a while, we come across that stunning photo that Bruce Johnson took from the choir loft on Christmas Eve.  These images are powerful reminders of the tenacious nature of the people and places we left.  

    Yet, by God’s grace, we are buoyed by our work in the field education area, creating ways for seminarians to experience Jesus through the “least of these”. Starting last August we sought out and established partnerships with several agencies that agreed to lead seminarians to rich and transformative experiences.  These agencies serve HIV/AIDS families, hospice patients, several abused and disabled children, orphans without families, the elderly, teenagers, prison inmates and the mentally ill.  To capture what happens each week the seminarians to to their agency, we developed a workbook that requires a spiritual reflection and an experience reflection. In effect, it becomes a journal.  What we have read so far suggests that many seminarians are seeing others and themselves differently.  Some have taken initiative to go beyond the scope of the assignment and are spending some of their own time serving these people.  Others may be undergoing a possible redirection in how they perceive ministry.  Our job is to be their guides, encouraging them to describe what they see and do, and how it affects them and their ministries. At some later time we will detail how all this works and share with you some excerpts of the writings. It has been a large but gratifying undertaking.  

    Ever present in the background is fact that our time here requires resources – money.  It’s been more financially challenging that we anticipated.  We based our budget on 2008 prices only to learn that they had increased substantially while the dollar has fallen in value.  

    I’ve written previously that the trust you have placed in us to carry out our call to South Africa is both humbling and challenging.  Humbling because we are unaccustomed to asking for things. Challenging because the task is enormous. The denominational church in South Africa is at a tipping point.  It will only survive through a disciplined, trained and transforming ministry.  We are here to add what gifts we have to the effort.

    Thank you again on behalf of Cheri and me, and also of this wonderful village we call the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary.

 

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”   Eph. 2:1-10 

 

Comments

[Jim Harnish]

Just a reminder that you can share in financial support for Doug and Cheri's ministry by making a check payable to Hyde Park United Methodist designated for Roland South Africa mission.