June 5, 2014

It has been a while since we updated the blog, I know.  Part of the reason is because we took a little break to spend time with family.  We were blessed with the presence of Jacinda’s parents the last several weeks.  They came over in the middle of May and stayed until June 2.  It was very nice to be able to spend time with them and allow them to spend some good quality time with Stella.  I think at the very beginning she was a little hesitant, but she warmed up very quickly.  She even started really walking while they were here.  I say “really” because she had been taking five or six steps at a time for about a month now, but over their visit she would just let go of our hands and take off walking for 20-30 steps!  It is amazing to think that she could not even sit up well by herself when we first came over.  Now Stella’s favorite thing to do is say, “Hi!” and wave to everyone she meets.  She will even give kisses when you ask her which was very nice because she gave Nana and Papa Rodino lots of kisses when saying goodbye at the airport.

Stella and Nana at Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Hope Christian Church continues to move forward.  Numbers are fairly solid, not growing but not retracting either.  Every week is so different.  Part of the challenge so far has been to simply sit back and learn.  One of the biggest things I have learned is that the people who work on the farms in this area do not see this as their “home.”  Home for them is wherever they grew up.  Therefore, “home” could be a half hour, an hour or several more away from the farms where they live during the week.  Many of the people here even leave their children back “home” with other family members to go to school.  This means that every weekend many of the farm workers in this area travel “home” on the weekend to be with their families and also to worship at their “home” church.  This means that on any given Sunday there may be 30-50 people worshiping here at Hope Christian Church in the farm area.  But this is just the beginning stages of planting the church.  

One project that I am excited about is beginning a new Bible study soon.  When my in-laws came to visit they brought with some Bible study materials that Wendi Cihacek and Candice Vander Tuig of Lutheran Church of the Cross in Altoona, IA had sent to them.  (BMI does this type of thing often.  By sending and receiving donations in the U.S. BMI can have people traveling to South Africa bring those donations over when they fly reducing the cost of international shipping tremendously since these people are coming over anyway.)  The materials they sent are by Crown Financial Ministries.  It is a video based series that focuses on God’s sovereignty even over the possessions and wealth that we earn and think we own.  It is called “God Provides.”  The hope is to be able to teach this material to several people at Hope Christian Church so that they can in term learn to teach it themselves.  The rationale is that even though people might have less financial wealth here in rural South Africa we all need to know how to handle what God has blessed us with in a good way to honor him and better use those to provide for our families.  Money management, credit and debt are big issues here, too, just like in the States.  

Another issue concerning church attendance is that many people actually must work on Sundays.  It is a reality because of the type of work in the area.  Several of the “farms” are game farms that host guests on the weekends since that is when people from the big cities of Polokwane, Pretoria and Johannesburg are able to get away.  By offering some Bible study opportunities we hope to give people an alternative to Sunday morning so they can stay connected to a faith community. 

In late March we welcomed onto the Hope Church team a seminary student named Romeo Naciyaya.  He is from Malawi and is a PK (pastor’s kid) just like me.  He has been mainly playing the keyboard for worship, but has also been taking on some small roles like doing short children’s messages.  He has been such a great team member so far and will be a wonderful pastor of his own church someday.

We continue to show movies every Saturday evening.  There is very little entertainment in the surrounding area.  Even in town, a half hour drive away, there is no movie theater.  Some people do have satellite television, but not all.  The movie night is a nice entertainment “getaway.”  We have been showing “The Bible” miniseries that came out in the U.S. on the History Channel early last year, but that is over now and last week we showed “The Lion King” for something fun, especially for the kids.

Playing in a stream on top of a waterfall!  At the Blyde River Canyon.

Personally, Jacinda, Stella and I are all doing well.  Jacinda recently bought access to online lettering courses and has been spending time on her artwork.  Many of you already know how talented she is and have even purchased some of her drawings so it is great to see her continue to grow in that area.  She has also been teaching art once a week at the school where we hold our services on Sunday.    

They have a good teacher!

Stella as I mentioned is talking and walking more and more.  She has also made good friends with the toddler next door, Privilege.  “Privi,” as she is most commonly referred to, was very excited to see her the other day and even came over to play at our house for a while on Tuesday.  The funny thing is when she sees me she gets very nervous and watches me very closely until I leave again!  It is funny to watch, but she is getting more and more used to me and will even smile once and a while. 

Stella and Privi

I recently found out that I will be graduating from Luther Seminary earlier than I had expected.  There was some miscommunication on the Luther website about the number of credits I had left to earn, but the registrar informed me that I only needed one more .5 credit class instead of the 2 credits I thought I had left.  So I graduated “in absentia” a few weeks ago with the Luther Seminary class of 2014!  But I will officially finish in August.  I have a tremendous amount of gratitude and thanks for all those who helped me through seminary, but most of all I am extremely grateful to American Lutheran Church in Rantoul, IL for their scholarship support throughout the last four years.  Without them it would not be possible and God has richly blessed me and my family through this congregation.

Some people have been asking for more pics of the area around where we live... well here is one of our campus companions checking out the garbage.

I think this is a good place to stop for now.  There is more I could say but that means I will have more for another blog later, which I need to do more often.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  The Shields family misses you all and we are so very thankful for how you have blessed us and given us the opportunity to work here in South Africa as part of Blessman Ministries.  May God continue to bless you and lead you each day.

Yours In Christ,

Matt Shields