Our May newsletter has two main topics: 1. Great family news (like Paul and Stacy’s engagement) and 2. Challenging “budget in the red issues.” We are in a critical time in which our donor base must increase in the coming months to ensure our long-term work in Africa. We plan for Deborah to make a fund-raising trip to the U.S. in June-July to connect with new donors. You are invited to download and read the newsletter available at http://www.rockrohr.net/about-us/newsletter/  Carl

Our eldest son, Paul, and Stacy Menzer became engaged to be married over Easter break. We are so excited for them! They have been dating for some time now and we got to know Stacy pretty well before we moved to South Africa. We are happy to have her join our family. The wedding is planned for December 16th, 2012. Paul is a first year seminary student at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne IN. Stacy is in the 2nd year of the four year Doctor of Pharmacy program at Concordia University Wisconsin. They will have to be apart for several months after their wedding during Spring 2013, but they plan to be together permanently starting with Paul’s vicarage and Stacy’s internship Summer/Fall 2013.

Of course we plan to be at the wedding in December! Deb, Ted and I will fly in for about a two week vacation at that time. We have been able to Skype with Paul and Stacy and the other children several times. Communication here in South Africa is a world apart from when we were missionaries 15 years ago in rural Ghana, when letters took 6 weeks, and we had no access to telephones – and of course no internet!  Carl

Please read the latest LTS Newsletter to get a better idea of the thriving ministry we are a part of in South Africa, click here.

Part of Carl’s responsibility at the seminary is to help with seminary communications, specifically the Lutheran Theological Seminary website (www.lts.org.za) , as well as the LTS Newsletter. A lot of wonderful things are happening at LTS including:

• Ordination of three LTS students as Lutheran Pastors
• Two LTS students graduate with post-graduate degrees from the University of Pretoria
• Deaconess Grace Rao (LCMS World Relief and Human Care) and Prof. John Pless (Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft Wayne) visit and teach at LTS
• Prof. Rev. Dr. Werner Klän plans to serve at both LTS and the University of Pretoria (Professor of systematics at Lutherische Theologische Hochschule, Oberursel, Germany)
• Study Group Started on “History of Apartheid and Impact on Confessional Lutheran Churches Working in South Africa”
• $25,000 Matching Funds Grant Challenge for the Seminary

Carl

May the joy of Christ’s resurrection be with all our readers! April 2012 Issue. Also on our newsletter page. Carl

Greetings friends! Our February 2012 newsletter is now posted. You can go to the newsletter page or click on this link. Carl

Hello from Pretoria, South Africa! We landed on 21 January, so we have been in Africa  for 10 days now. This is just a brief note to say we are doing well. Ted is in his second week of school at Waterkloof House Preparatory School. Making friends, playing Cricket, etc. Deborah has been doing a lot of planning for the new deaconess program, from adjusting some of LTS’s student rules and regs to help accommodate for women deaconess students, to making sure the deaconess dorm is ready, to writing courses. I have been busy with church and seminary meetings and other activities learning about the seminary and the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA). Also some training sessions for working with University of Pretoria courses. Our seminary courses begin next week.

Deb and I attended a funeral of young Lutheran pastor with Bishop Weber and many pastors and leaders of the LCSA on Saturday. Very meaningful to be with fellow Christians in a very different place… yet also similar event. The pastor left behind a young wife with three children.

I will put up more photos soon. In many ways our transition has been very smooth and blessed. Thank you for your prayers. Pray for our continued adjustments, making new friends, understanding the work, and good health. Thank you to many back in the U.S. who are helping us with things there! Carl

Thanks to our colleagues at the LCMS International Center in St. Louis for the front page article of our near departure… www.lcms.org

Also thanks for the nice blog post from Rev. Gregory Williamson, the new Chief Mission Officer of the LCMS.

Our departure is very soon. (Maybe January 20th?) We are moving and packing the last things, while also making support-raising visits in Indiana (Deborah) and Florida (Carl at LHM ROC) this weekend. So our schedule has been very busy.

Prayer Requests

• That South Africa Visa processing and support-raising continue in their positive direction.
• For good transitions for each of us:

• Ted will be entering his new school in South Africa into 7th grade. We pray he will learn the new school environment and make new friends!
• Deborah wants to be a good support and instructor as she directs the 1st cohort of full-time, residential deaconess students at Lutheran Theological Seminary. (The residential deaconess training is a brand new endeavor for the Lutherans in South Africa and for LCMS missionary work!) Some of the students will be from other African countries, so we want them also to feel welcome as strangers in a new country.
• Carl has several courses to prepare and teach right away and needs the Lord’s wisdom and guidance so that the courses are a blessing to the students. He also will be assisting Bishop Weber as needed with activities in the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa. Pray for a good start of Carl’s work.

Financial Support

We continue to need to raise support in the coming weeks and months. Many gifts and pledges have enabled us to move to South Africa, but our long-term stay depends on building a strong  base of donors. It is never too late to give financial support!

• Online giving at this link or see our page at www.lcms.org/rockrohr
• You can call  in a gift or pledge at 1-800-433-3954  or 1-888-930-4438 (ext 2)
• Or send a check or money order made out to LCMS World Mission, indicating “for the Rockrohrs” on the memo line of the check.     LCMS World Mission  P.O. Box 790089   St. Louis, MO 63179-0089

The menu on this website leads to a number of resources to learn about and to support our work in South Africa. Keep checking back at www.rockrohr.net, we will keep you posted with new events!

Thanks for all your support! Carl 

Our January 2012 Rockrohr News and Notes is now posted. It is four pages long this month, with two major themes. 1) The growth of Christianity in Africa with the need for solid theological education. 2) LCMS missionary funding information. In other words, how Deborah and I are funded.

This newsletter may be considered a primer in these two areas which are often misunderstood or not known at all: that Christianity is very vibrant and growing in Africa, and that LCMS missionaries are responsible to raise and maintain our own funding. I try to address some basic facts in this issue.

Here is a fact I share in the newsletter that I don’t think many people realize:

There are now more Lutherans per capita in the continent of Africa than in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico)

Lutherans in Africa = 1.89% of the population

Lutherans in North America = 1.66%

Here is the math:  19,408,688 Lutherans in Africa ÷ 1,022,234,000 total population in Africa * = .0189 = 1.89%

7,638.087 Lutherans in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) ÷ 459,868,757 total population = .0166 = 1.66%

Actually the percentages of Lutherans in the population are probably even a bit further apart in Africa and North America, the Lutheran membership numbers are from 2010 while the population numbers of the USA and Canada are 2011 estimates.

* Yes, students, Dr. Rockrohr doesn’t encourage Wikipedia as a primary source. But check where the linked footnotes are from.

Enjoy the read! Carl

Dr. Michael Rodewald, LCMS Regional Director for Africa, has written a very nice post outlining the importance of the work of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa.

The number one request from the leaders of emerging Lutheran church bodies is for help in better understanding their Lutheran identity. As these western Lutheran mission/daughter churches grow more mature and expand, they plant additional churches often referred to as Africa-initiated Lutheran churches (AILCs). Many do not have adequate access to local formal theological education programs and currently must depend upon other institutions such as LTS as they develop their own.

The article is at http://blog.lcmsworldmission.org/2011/12/16/south-africa-seminary-graduates-two-pastoral-candidates-for-uganda/

I encourage you to read it! Carl