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Monday, April 14, 2014

Travel Report: 2014 Loma Linda & Lesotho


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March 2014

Travel Report:  Loma Linda, CA &  Maseru, Lesotho (southern Africa)

With this report we are using the blog format with embedded slideshows in order to share the pictures.  Hopefully this will be easier for you to access and easier for me to distribute to those on the email list..

This report has four parts:  two events in Loma Linda and two in Lesotho.  What was planned as two separate trips ended resulted in one long extended trip due to weather and flight cancellations.

Loma Linda, California

From a personal perspective this trip was especially nice in that Carolyn (my wife) was able to travel with me and we were invited to stay with friends, Hal and Judy Thomsen, who recently moved to suburb of Loma Linda called Apple Valley.  Special indeed!

#1  Interview with Dr. Richard Hart, President of Loma Linda University.

A primary reason for the trip to Loma Linda was to interview Dr. Hart for a coming issue of the Dynamic Steward.  You may read this insightful interview as part of the second quarter’s issue coming out in a few weeks.  The theme for this issue is: “Stewards of Influence.”  Dr. Hart was chosen both for his personal influence but also because of the global influence of Loma Linda University.  As president he presides over three core corporations—the university with eight professional schools, president of the medical center as well as the hospital system which includes 850 doctors in the faculty medical group.  Despite his heavy administrative load he continues to keep his medical practice active.  For personal therapy he splits four or five cords which supplies the heat for his home. His passion for and promotion of global medical mission work is renown. Perhaps I will share one quote from the interview that I believe reflects a driving principle throughout his career:  “I’ve said many times, people look at us and say what wonderful things you do for the world church.  I would argue just the other way around.  What wonderful things, opportunities, the world church gives us!  If we did not have those service opportunities, it would fundamentally change the character of Loma Linda.”  Indeed, a steward who uses his influence to meet the needs of others.

#2  Meeting a Friend for the First Time

A few months ago while conducting a stewardship seminar in Mexico I was asked if I would contact an American living in Mexico and share with him some literature on how to stop smoking.  We eventually made connection.  I learned that he was a private investigator working out of Mexico but with an office in southern California.  We connected him with someone else who wanted to stop smoking and for over three weeks we did a three-way conference call nearly every evening.  It was an extremely meaningful time for me.  Every once in a while we need to apply our theology to meet real human needs—human successes and times when success comes only after some slips and falls.  I never met Steve in person but I knew him.  We talked, we prayed, we laughed and we cried.  Then it happened just when things were going so well.  He had to leave for a one or two week trip to go to his California office but promised he would call as this was necessary for his continued success with the stop smoking plan.  He never called.  Over a week went by but no call until he did call.  He called from a hospital bed and recognizing his incoherency at times handed the phone over to his sister Sue.  Providentially, I knew a young pastor in the Redlands area by the name of Kyle Allen.  He served on my President’s Youth Cabinet when I was in Georgia-Cumberland Conference.  He and his “special friend” visited Steve and Sue and what a blessing they were!   I believe it was two weeks (maybe more) that Sue and I spoke intermittently about Steve, about suffering, about life but mostly about our trust in God.  Steve would say to me, “Larry, I want to be a man of God” and by that he was declaring he wanted to part with his former lifestyle.  Unfortunately his organs shut down and Steve died of Legionnaires Disease.  Prior to his death,  his fiancée, a Seventh-day Adventist from Mexico, was with him as was Sue.  Together they sang and prayed with and for Steve.  Sue has a Roman Catholic background.  We had much in common – the kind of things that build strong Christian friendships.  While I Loma Linda, Carolyn and I met Sue.  What a delightful person.  Some day I will meet Steve too.

Maseru, Lesotho (southern Africa)

#3.  Conference-wide Stewardship Emphasis

Pastor Paul Shongwe, Stewardship Director for the Southern Africa Union Conference, invited me to conduct stewardship seminars for pastors and teachers and to participate in a conference-wide stewardship advisory for the members of the conference.  Prior to his present position, Dr. Shongwe was the president of Helderberg College.  His daughter was tragically murdered leading to a change work.  He is a delightful, compassionate scholar with whom to work!  Such is one of the cherished privileges I have!!  Lesotho (pronounced li-soo-too) is a small landlocked country completely surrounded by South Africa.  About 40% of the population lives below the international poverty line of the U.S. $1.25 a day. The government is a constitutional monarchy and while the country does have a king it is largely ceremonial in function and is actually prohibited from actively participating in political initiatives.  The Prime Minister has the executive authority. In the Lesotho Conference we have 38 churches and a membership of just over 7200.  There are only 7 pastors.  The elementary school that I visited had nearly 700 students.  Adventist education is highly valued in the country – including among those outside our church.  When speaking with the police at the border they informed us that our hospital is their too!!  It is about two hours away!!  The Adventist hospital with its nursing school is highly valued throughout this country.

#4.  Visit to the Vocational School for the Disabled.

It is my practice when planning my stewardship trips to ask to visit the Deaf so I can assure them that they have not been forgotten and that we value them as members. I discovered that we have no group of Deaf in Lesotho so my hosts arranged for me to visit a vocational school for the disabled.  This is not a religious institution.  Right now this facility has 32 students ranging from about 18 years old to much older.  The desire is to teach them some kind of vocation so they can start a business of their own and provide for themselves.

What I did not know until after I left was that there was some hesitancy in granting permission for my visit.  Previous religious groups had come believing that such disabilities happen because the person is filled with demons.  The purpose of their visit was to cast demons out of the disabled in order to make them whole.  That, of course, was not my purpose for coming.  All 32 had been told I was coming and so they gathered in a meeting hall.  I was not expecting this and I had no intention of “preaching” to them.  I came to learn and to show my support and concerns for them.  That’s all.  However, when I was placed in front of them they expected me to say something.  I explained who I was and why I have such an interest in them.  Then I explained that I was a Christian and that I believe we are all made in the image of God regardless of whether we can see, hear, speak or walk without being in a wheelchair.  All of which were seated before me.

At this point a young deaf man probably in his early 20’s stood and with sign language explained that he had gone to church on a Sunday to learn what he could.  There was no one there to interpret for him.  I wasn’t clear if he said he decided on his own to leave or if he was encouraged to leave, but regardless, he left very disappointed and I believe discouraged.

I sensed this had resonated with others in the group so I asked, “How many here would like to know more about Jesus?”  More than half of the hands enthusiastically were raised.  I was shocked.  Here was a group who wanted to know more about Jesus. I had just come from a part of the world where many resist church, resist Bible study and resist being associated with Jesus – not all, of course, but more than I wish.

Then a young lady about the same age stood.  She could speak.  With earnestness she began by expressing her appreciation for our coming.  She was saying how much she appreciated that someone came who showed an interest in them but she never finished her sentence.  She never said any more.  What she did next said more than words could express.  She buried her face into her arms, sat down and began to cry uncontrollably. Someone had come and saw them a real people, with real needs, and real hearts.  I walked back to console her, placed my hand on her back as she rested her head on her arms and on the desk in which she was sitting.  She never raised her head.  The tears were real.  The feelings of isolation were apparent.  The directors of the school explained that soon she would be leaving and would go out into the African world to try to make enough money to support herself.  Unfortunately she has no start-up money but now added to that was the realization that she felt isolated in a world that saw her as not whole and even those who were Christian saw her as having demons. 

I cannot not erase from my thoughts either the Deaf boy who found no one to tell him about Jesus nor the young girl who felt rejected and now thrust into a world while feeling that those who do see her see her as less than whole if not worse.  Such are the reasons why I have asked to take on this work for the Deaf despite my regular work as Associate Director and editor for the GC Stewardship Ministries Department.

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