Hyde Park Speaks

Dresses for Misses in South Africa

by Cheri Roland

Doug and I want to share with you the joy we experienced when distributing the darling pillow case dresses that you dedicated HPUMC members created and sent with the mission team last August. It wasn’t until now that the timing was right to pass on these gifts. We felt we should present the dresses to a very special saint in person. Sister Gail Trollip is the founder of Tabitha Ministries; you can see her standing beneath the TABITHA banner holding the dresses. In 1998 she opened her garage to care for forgotten HIV /AIDS children. Since then, her mission has grown exponentially, now utilizing the old city bus station, providing housing, schooling, and loving care for 35 infected little ones. She just returned to “active duty” after a six month’s recovery from extensive back surgery. Gail and her team have been an integral agency for the seminary’s Field Education and Ministry course since 2011. Our seminarians are learning so much about serving the Lord through their experiences here.

 The little girls in the photos were THRILLED with the dresses (yet to be given the correct sizes) with their bright colors and unusual designs.  They have never had a new dress, have never had a dress of their very own, or ever worn any piece of clothing that was not a hand-me-down.  And now they are going to be hugged by the love of God through the gifts from Hyde Park who sewed the dresses, as well as you who gave up room in your luggage to carry this love from Tampa to Pietermaritzburg.  Standing behind those happy girls are seminarians Xabiso Socatsha, Getty Zatu, Siyabonga Ntombela, Mazwenkosi Nomxego, Andile Sikhakhana, and Nokhuthula Ngidi (to my left).

So, Doug and I just wanted to THANK YOU for giving us the opportunity to Make God’s Love Real once again through the care, generosity, love and dedication of you, our church family.  We are so blessed to be here in SA on your behalf. 

 

PLAY ALONG

by Doug Roland   

As part of our job at the Methodist seminary, we design probing questions about the field experiences our seminarians have each week volunteering in non-profit organizations.  They work with disadvantaged and marginalized people.  This term, we are focusing on some core values.  It's part of working on the heart of the seminarian rather than his/her academic capability.  This blogpost may help you see how and why we do this.  It may well help us do our jobs better.  And it may surprise you if you "play along."

I've created an exercise that invites you to use your imagination and see how you would respond to a scripture applied to a prescribed situation just like one our seminarians. It's simple. I'm giving you an example you are familiar with. It's not the location of serving, it's what it means to you.

The Exercise

If you haven't volunteered at Open Arms, I want you to imagine that you have volunteered to serve for a month of Sundays. Conjure up the images and visualize what that might be like - what you do, with whom, how it might make you feel. If you have actually served there, you are also asked to play along. If you don't know anything about Open Arms, then volunteer as soon as possible!  

I want you to write about your experience, real or imagined.

The hypothetical scenario is this:  On the afternoon after you volunteered, you have an assignment to write about the morning's experience.  

The scripture for the day is Genesis 2:15:  "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

There are  two questions:
1.   Reflecting on your experience at Open Arms,  what does Genesis 2:15 mean to you?  
2.   How does this passage apply to Open Arms?

Please post your reflections or other responses to these questions on this blog. I think there is a place for comments. Later, I will post a copy of a reflection written by a seminarian so you can compare. That reflection can possibly demonstrate our challenges (read opportunities) better than trying to explain it.   Plus, it will be good for you. It will be very interesting to see how you answer and how an African seminarian answers.

If this works out, we'll do it again from time to time.  We have plenty of questions designed to direct you to the spiritual meaning of your service.  

Thanks.

 

P.S.  The photo has nothing to do with the exercise.  It's Cheri celebrating Heritage Day with Jane, seminarian from Swaziland.

A FOUR DAY FEAST

by Doug Roland

We planned for months and months to receive 8 members of our church (Hyde Park United Methodist, Tampa) and one exceptional friend of the church for a four day experience with us at the seminary.  The verdict is out on who benefitted most.

It was on just this kind of trip that tilled the soil of South Africa that we might later plant ourselves here.  But like any plants, we need to  be nourished to bear fruit.  That has been well supplied by the seminary, its staff and its seminarians.  We have grown immensely.

Still there is nothing like mom and her apple pie. Though we have been lifetime members of churches in Indiana, Ohio, it is our training in discipleship at Hyde Park that has given us the the courage to take a three year plunge.  Not that our childhood Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, and role models were insignificant.  Rather, they supplied the bedrock of faith, a faith to be shaped and put to action.

And so we have enjoyed a huge, freshly baked feast of friendship with our friends of many years who have come here for many reasons.  By their mere presence, we have been refueled, reminded with clarity of the congregation that sends us here and supports us.  

Our prayer is that through this experience, God will direct them in ways they might not otherwise consider. May they too be refueled to take on the though commands of the Gospel and enter into the next level of their servanthood.  

Doug Roland

A Foretaste by Doug Roland

    

Easter weekend we were treated to four nights in a lovely little cottage located on a very large family farm just outside Pietermaritzburg.  The farm animals were fenced.  The wild ones were not.  There was an old school on the grounds from apartheid days when farmers provided some education to the families who worked there.  Today it is used as a conference center. There is also a family chapel dating from the late 1800's.

    Our friends from Tampa and faithful Hyde Park members, Rocky and Lisa, shared the cottage with us two nights before leaving for Cape Town.  We said our goodbyes and drove back to the cottage. th remainder of our stay was unscheduled space and time, time to be surrounded by God's creation with no itinerary.

    We think that, for the first time in our lives, we did not go to church on Easter Sunday.  We had planned to but didn't.  We were exhausted.  When I awoke and my brain re-booted, I sensed that it was Easter and stopped moving. I stood there, staring aimlessly at the kitchen, while being firmly gripped by the magnitude of what happened that same morning long ago.   For those few moments, I simply let the spirit work, fixed in my place. It was like no other day. As a small child in Indiana, I had a part in the community Easter sunrise pageant. Over the years  I have been caught up in multiple church services, family dinners, Easter egg hunts, lilies and photos at a flowered cross on Easter Sunday.  This day was different. I was taken up in the meaning and not by the trappings of the day.

    I left my reverie and walked to the window. The sun, now low on the horizon, cast golden beams, leaving long shadows across well tended grounds, touching the top of distant hills and the nearby bush. I moved out to sit on the patio and watched a large family of nyalas (small antelopes)  appear slowly from the bush for a morning stretch and small snack.  A few monkeys joined them, then went about their own business.  Other members of the peaceable kingdom ambled by as the morning continued. The only sounds came from unseen birds up in the the ancient trees.  

    There, in rural Africa, thousands of miles from home and all that entails, I tried to comprehend the intersection of this visual and spiritual feast.  I sat there until dusk, feeling as much a part of the creation as the living things around me.  

    We have a way of literally squeezing the life out of our days with our busy-ness and determination to cease the day, as if we owned it.  This absorbs all our attention and causes us to miss transcendent moments, moments of profound peace, of communion, of the things that are not "in" the world.  (cf Rom. 12:2)  Praise God for his extravagant grace.

 

Live! From HPUMC!!

What a gift to be able to share in your worship from 9000 miles away via streaming video. It was kind of surreal. We seemed to hover from somewhere in the balcony and perched high on a wall. We shared your prayers, the lessons learned from Hannah and the joyous news from Sherlyn; and, of course, the elegant and peaceful music from our dear friends in the robes.

We were troubled only by the odd bearded man in the back row of the choir.

All our best from South Africa,


Cheri and Doug

THEMBE

by Doug Roland

                                     Introduction

It has been difficult explaining in a few words what our work is at the seminary.  In re-reading some of our attempts, it sounds as interesting as watching grass grow.  The truth is, we have the best job in the seminary - a window into the hearts of 90 seminarians, ministers in training.  We get to journey with them as they learn sometimes uncomfortable truths about their communities, admit their incomplete understanding of ministry, discover what it means to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and find him in places few deign to go.  How we got to this point is a primer on how God takes what we offer and melds it into a new thing, as if we were the last piece of a puzzle that He had long ago solved.  At its most basic, it was a matter of hearing a faint, then semi-serious, then shocking call in the form of an e-mail.  It remained only for us to say, “Yes; here we are. We will go.”

                                     The Invitation

We arrived last year bearing no small amount of anxiety.  Leaving our family, friends, the comfort of Davis Islands, our well-worn habits, customs, celebrations and familiar rhythms of life left us vulnerable and uncertain.  Our minds were flush with the words of the seminary president in his e-mail invitation.

“As part of their formation studies, the seminarians are required to be engaged in ministry and field work within the community; present involvement includes work at schools, hospitals, prison, poverty alleviation projects, HIV/AIDS clinics, a school for children with disabilities, a children’s orphanage, and some others.  This is is a vital aspect of seminary life, and one which we would dearly love to develop.  As the number of seminarians increases (next year we will have 82), the need to develop new opportunities, administer the program, evaluate effectiveness, deepen relationships, assess impact, forge partnerships, supervise seminarians – all of this will certainly require full-time attention.  . . . . .

The opportunity I envisage could engage both of you in “hands-on” ministry, as the bridge between the struggles of the local communities and the human resources inherent in the seminary. I would expect you to forge partnerships, develop the vision, design systems, yet with freedom to invest yourselves according to your ministry, passion and gifts. . . .

This gave a whole new meaning to “e-vite.”  It sounded way too much like real work, but we had, after all, asked for it three years earlier, not thinking someone would say “yes”.

  

                                     The Rebuilding

We found the field work program at the seminary in a state of near collapse and quickly realized a unique opportunity to give life to a laudable program.  The problem was that nurses and lawyers know from nothing how to do that, other than to dive in blissfully ignorant.  Trusting God, we did just that.

To develop contacts and build relationships, we made cold calls on people we didn’t know, with our quaint American accents and customs. Surprisingly, we were well received. (I think it was mostly curiosity.  U.S. citizens living in PMB are rare.). We played our best cards:  two Americans - come to Africa to volunteer, no contacts, eager to learn, lots of vision, “you’re gonna love it” routine. I felt like an encyclopedia salesman throwing in a Fuller brush on the side. (Some of you will relate.)  Local Methodist ministers and others  gave us leads.  We went down all the alleys and discovered a well-developed network of non-profits (NGO’s) serving the marginalized and disadvantaged from severely disabled children to those dying of AIDS.  So, how does one convince these veterans that they might need untrained seminarians with minimum language skills and even less experience to volunteer for them?  Prayer!

Between mid-August and mid-November, we built a network of 8-10  NGO’s who agreed to partner with us in the formation of new ministers.  We needed to have programs in place to accommodate about 75 seminarians (now up to 90) for carrying out their course requirement.   Frankly, I think that the wise leaders of these partners understood the traditional importance and power of ministers in the culture.  This was an opportunity for them to do a little educating themselves.

                                     The Workbook

Our seminarians would be sent out to one of the programs for 3 hours each week.  But the question remained - how do you make it meaningful when you can’t be at all these places at the same time to provide direction and support?  We were confident that working in these projects held great promise, but we did not know how to evaluate the seminarians, keep them interested or keep them accountable.  The solution came via a seminarian who had done some field work at another school. The answer was to create a workbook which would require seminarians weekly to write reflections on a prescribed scripture and their experiences.  These would be turned in to us the day after and we would read them and comment. We started working on it and soon realized that this was the key to unlock the almost unlimited possibilities that may flow from a seminarian’s pen after close up interaction with the poor, the sick, the naked, the prisoner, the homeless, the hungry.  We gave it a new name - Field Education and Ministry Course.  Perhaps our only oversight was that we would we have 90 reflections each weekend to read, comment and mark.  But then the movies at the mall are dreadful and the TV programs are in Xhosa or Zulu or Afrikaans, or are re-runs from 2003 American programs.

The workbook outlines goals, rules, expectations and all that.  But its value in ministerial training and that of the entire  program lies, in my opinion, in the two reflections.  It became evident early this year when we began to read the first ones.  The questions were designed to coax seminarians to face and engage new realities about the populations they were working with, about themselves and their view of ministry.
 
The weekly questions given each week that prompt and guide the writings are divided into the scriptural and the experiential.

Scriptural

How does this passage relate to my agency?

What relevance does this passage have for my ministry?

How does this passage define serving for Christ?

Experience 

What I did today

What did I learn about myself?

What did I learn about God?

What did I learn about my ministry?

                                     The Outcome

The results are best appreciated through the writings themselves.  Thembe (not her real name) is a first year seminarian in the Diploma program.  A mother of five, she left her job as an inspector of schools in the land-locked country of Swaziland and traveled the six hours to Pietermaritzburg.  For her field education, she was assigned to a government mental hospital, Town Hill.  The ward where she served is populated by older men, many of whom stare and say nothing.  With Thembe’s permission, I have selected several sentences and partial sentences from her workbook that I believe reflect the first fruits of the new program.  Whatever editing I have done to her writing is to give a little clarity where needed.

ORIENTATION 

    “The nurses and caregivers need to be supported in prayer and love . . .   Ministry of presence is important to visit them, talk and share with them [the staff]”

WEEK TWO

Relevance for my ministry

    “When we work for God  we are not to expect rewards . . . “

    “To go to the hospital in ordinary old clothes contributes to the ministry as the stigma of clergy is removed.”

    “Jesus was at the level of the people.”

What I did

    “Made beds; assisted the blind man (Shawn) . . .  talked with him for two hours

About myself

    “Though I am shy, somehow I am able to reach people, even ones I am not familiar with”

    “I am still not sure about changing nappies, etc. skill to get the hang of it.”

 My ministry

    “My ministry is not limited to preaching but it is most effective in the one on one situations.”

 

WEEK THREE

Relevance to my ministry 

    “Talking to people about Jesus makes us alive in him.  Sharing this truth is important so that people do not feel condemned and abandoned . . . .  . Serving Christ is all about showing the love of God.  Doing much more than talking about it.  Going to the places where people have lost hope.”

What I did

    “I read to the patients from a bible story book.  One patient asked for the story of Joseph and we discussed how his brothers sold him due to the jealously of his coat.  We talked about the importance of forgiveness.  I was amazed at the depth of knowledge shown by Shawn.  He talked about the effect of unforgiveness, the anger, resentment.”

About myself 

    “Still queasy about changing nappies.”

    “ I want to get involved, not just pay lip service.”

About ministry 

“Ministry is not limited to things we know and understand.  God wants to use our hands, feet, eyes and everything . . .  Sometimes ministry is not easy.”

WEEK FOUR

About ministry 

    “Jesus did not neglect one part of the community for another.  Even though according to his culture, touching the dead, the lepers, the mentally disturbed made him to be unclean, he touched them anyway.  When service moves from the lips to the heart and hands, feet, then we are truly serving God.”

What I did 

    “I brought a deck of playing cards and Snakes and Ladders.  Dennis just sits there and not talk much.  I asked if I could play with him.  He agreed.  What a game we had!  He can even count  . . . . . .   Grand Pa Aoupa recognized me, and we also played a game. . . When we prayed the Lord’s Prayer, they could sing and we danced and sang.  When we left we could hear the singing continuing for some time.”

About my ministry 

    “It is possible to enjoy outreach if you plan and give yourself to God. . . . .   I also caught a glimpse of the female ward.  There is also a need there.  Patients need people to talk to.”

WEEK FIVE

WEEK SIX

About myself  

    “This encounter [with the man whose family does not visit] confirms my calling to the people in need.  My belief is that ministry may involve action otherwise how will the people see, learn and experience the love of God?  For me the ministry of presence is essential.”

WEEK SEVEN

About myself

    “I am not good with farewells.  I got an affirmation of my skills for encouraging and bringing hope.  She said when I shared Christ, he became real to her.  Two of the nurses asked for prayers.”

My ministry

    “ . . . is still unfolding.  I had a question why God will call me to leave my job.  I am discovering that I enjoy what I am doing.  My prayer is for God to reveal his purpose for my calling.”

                                                         

        ********************

As part of their training, every seminarian is placed with a local church for the year.  There they help with services and such other pastoral tasks requested by their supervisor.  Thembe was placed at Town Hill Hospital.  

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 

 

Helps To Stay Healthy

by Cheri Roland

"Somebody’s going to die here!” A new student had leapt to his feet, shouting and stabbing his finger accusingly at me. The lecture hall air was electric. For a moment nobody breathed. Inwardly I sighed. I had hoped to get through my power point presentation during the seminary orientation without great confrontation. In hindsight, that was quite a naive expectation; I had just dropped a bomb shell. Per seminary policy, seminarians would not be able to see a doctor until they had been referred by me, the school nurse.

About 100 folks were packed into the lecture hall, 90 of them our seminarians in training to become "transforming leaders for church and nation". They were required to attend my lecture, "Helps to Stay Healthy". Many of our students come from rural settings where education is imparted orally. Books, paper, computers and libraries are scarce. There are no courses in health and science from first grade on up; maybe somewhere along the way they have been lucky enough to have heard a professional teach about HIV/AIDS. As a result, there is wide spread ignorance and misconceptions about how their bodies work, let alone causes or prevention of disease.

In jail vernacular, I had “dissed” my accuser and his fellow seminarians. What right did this white, old, American woman have to trash their health care traditions? Later – much later – I put myself in their shoes. How I would feel if suddenly informed that my wellbeing now rested in the hands of a witch doctor?

Traditional healers, or sangomas, mirror the wide range of practitioners we have in the states, providing reputable to disreputable to downright dangerous treatment. Here healers work with a wide broad variety of techniques, from using highly effective herbal remedies to using witch craft, with all of its far reaching ramifications. But that is another story.

Recently Western medicine has become available to outlying rural areas; for many, the manner in which a doctor is consulted has become wrapped up in its own set of customs. (Please understand I’m relaying a compilation of hearsay relayed to me after my presentation, and in no way meant to diminish the wonderful medical care provided for marginalized patients all over Africa and beyond.) These common cultural practices surrounding medical care put a new face on seeing the doctor.

One such practice revolves around visiting the clinic. Due to the scarcity of doctors, villages must rotate specific days for the medical team to treat patients. Because of 80%+ unemployment in townships and beyond, folks often have little to keep them occupied, so clinic visits become an anticipated social event. This has nothing to do with being ill. Bathed, wearing their church clothes and armed with food for the day, they gather together to kibitz for the 12 hours it may take before they are seen by the doctor. And they are rewarded for their patience; they always are given a tablet with the assurance of “curing” their common complaints of “a mouse running around inside my tummy” or “bugs eating me from the inside”. If they are actually feeling sick, their expectation, at the very least, is to be given an antibiotic; but an “injection” is even better…

No wonder many of my patients have been furious after their visit with the school nurse! In their experience, medical care = tablets promising a cure. But at SMMS they usually leave my office with patient education and (maybe) medicine to relieve their symptoms. The fact that antibiotics are ineffective against viruses is still too great a leap for them to swallow. Imagine their feelings of fear, frustration and loss of control over their health when I announce that a) they don’t need to see the doctor and b)there are no antibiotics that will fix their complaint! Hence my current reputation among the seminarians is, “All she does is tell you to exercise and drink more water.”

So where does this leave me as school nurse? Obviously my clever power point presentation did not do the trick. It seems I forgot the number one principal of Missionary Training 101: I must shed my “western medicine has all the answers” attitude and appreciate the positive healing practices of the seminarians’ cultures before I can hope to affect any real change in cultural attitudes. In other words, it is I who must be transformed in order to help transform and empower them. How will I tackle this challenge?

Early this morning God floated me His promise from 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will heal their land.” If I have been called by God, as I claim I have, I must humble myself, pray for forgiveness, and journey, not out ahead of, but along with these folks . He will do the rest. Guess I’d better get started.

Opening Day

by Doug Roland

2010 at the seminary did not end well, except for the collective relief that a difficult year was over. In the final 2-3 weeks there was an accumulation of matters from the complete failure of a some seminarians to clean their apartments to a coordinated effort to subvert a presentation on issues surrounding aging, simply because the seminarians were upset at its timing. The seminary closed with a worship service though many had already left. Yet, it was a year of learning, especially for the staff, and hopefully for seminarians. Some things would have to change.

After a long semester break, the staff trickled in to prepare for year 3 of the seminary's existence. The full time staff reported along two new members. One is a highly competent academic assistant who would shoulder the load of handling schedules of all sorts, attendance records, room assignments, keys to the new lecterns, and other things. Her Germanic background will serve her well in keeping it all straight. The other is a lecturer from Cape Town and is well-acquainted with many of the people here. He brings a highly developed sense of humor, dedication to the church, and deep sense of grace. It was quickly apparent that his presence would make a significant difference at all levels of the seminary. So, two were added to our number of 8 full time staff. It was inevitable that the character of the group would not be the same.

The seminarians came later, all 90 of them. That's up from 77 at the end of 2010. They included about 50 returnees, and a combination of 40 new faces made up of Methodist probationers, students from other denominations and private students. Like the full time staff, a drastic change was poised to launch. In a major way, the seminary had taken a sharp turn in a different direction before the first hymn was sung. How this would play out as we reconvened was unknown.

The seminary officially re-opened Sunday, Jan. 23 the way it closed, with a worship service. As the seminarians arrived, we received smiles, handshakes and hugs from many. My first clue that something was different could not have been predicted from the demographics described above. Last semester, there was a seminarian that never looked directly at me, much less said anything to me. A day or two before the opening, she was on campus and, as we were about to pass each other, she stopped, held out her hand and said "Hello, Doug." Now, three weeks into the year, she always speaks to me. But back to opening day.

In one of the large outdoor common areas, six to eight of the returning seminarians stood in a shady spot and began to sing a little. The informal chorus grew as as more arrived. This went on for nearly thirty minutes until they finally filled the open space, voices reverberating off the surrounding seminary buildings. Then, without a command, they sort of "lined up" into a loose formation and walked to the chapel in a slow, celebratory cadence, bringing with them the joy of their songs. It brought to mind the psalmist directing us to " . . . come into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. . ." It wasn't planned. It just happened.

The service itself was electric from the entry to the exit. It was a day of joyful anticipation.

Since that day, seminarians have come up to me to say that it's a different feeling from last year, a new spirit. And it is starting to show up in other ways. In Cheri's last blog she alluded to the workbook we developed, not as a constant assignment but to direct seminarians to take seriously their field experiences and reflect on how they affect their lives and ministries. The first week of field eduction is complete and the first reflections turned in. Let's describe the result this way: we suddenly had around 80 reflections/reports to read before Tuesday. So, we peeked at a few, then could not put them down until we had finished reading and marking all of them. They met, and in many cases, exceeded all our hopes and expectations.

It's early yet, but there is tangible hope that these experiences in the field will become a part of seminarian transformation as people and as ministers. Still there are no laurels to be worn. This, like many successes, is temporal. It only opens the door to more possibilities. Yet we continue to be confounded and surprised at the amazing grace that blesses each of our days. May it be so for all of you.

Life As A Staff Member

by Cheri Roland

“Ach, shame!” is the Afrikaners' response when we relay the events of the past two weeks to our walking club pals. “Whew!” is probably the equivalent American exclamation. Who knew how complex and time consuming registering and orienting 99 students would be? After this adventure, our hats go off to teachers and administrators at all levels of the educational spectrum. It is just short of a real life miracle.

As I was emailing friends a thumbnail sketch of our activities the first six months as staff members of the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary (SMMS), it occurred to me that we haven’t really explained what has kept us occupied from 7:30-4:30 Monday through Friday since August 2010. Since neither of us has ever been on staff (pronounced staaahf) of an institution of higher learning before, we had no clue what we would actually be doing when we bid goodbye to the familiar last July. Additionally, our son suggested that perhaps several of our blog readers might be puzzled by how we became staff members of a seminary in South Africa.

“Why are you here?” is the frequently asked question. Our pat answer is, “Because the Lord told us to come.” That sounds rather presumptuous or sanctimonious or preposterous, and perhaps all three. But the fact is for several years we had been focused on our desire to give back, to step out in faith, to be used for something bigger, all those warm and fuzzy phrases that make you want to retch. There was a lot of discernment during this process that didn’t make sense until His timing and plan came together, and BLAM - there we were, and our prayers to be used by Him actually caught up with us! As it came to pass, Doug’s background of 4 ½ years teaching plus 35 years in transactional law and mediation translated into a skills set perfect for our current task. My job nursing for 22 years with Tampa’s jail population provided me with great stories and a wide range of experiences teaching, assessing and managing diseases, people and processes. Through an amazing journey guided by other Christians’ encouragement and faith, we finally landed in this small university town charged with helping to birth an infant ministerial training center for all of southern Africa.

Before leaving,one of our biggest concerns in coming here was that we would be bored. Ach, shame! But not to worry! God heard that prayer, too. We, in typical American fashion, hit the ground running in August and haven’t looked back. Now we run out of hours in a day. You should see my desk, or not…