For your information...an update

At the April 2010 Church Council meeting (Eric Reiss, President), the Child Care Board presented a proposal concerning additional classroom space for Gentle Shepherd Preschool.  With GSCP at full enrollment now and in the forseeable future, and anticipating that the Bernards Township Board of Education would eliminate public school all-day kindergarten beginning Fall 2011, the Child Care Board envisioned adding a full day kindergarten class in order to maintain a continuous Christian Education environment at GSCP and SHLC for children ages 2 ½ - 5 plus.  An alternate plan, should there be no need for full-day kindergarten at GSCP, envisions additional space that would allow expansion of our present programs for children 2 ½ - 4 plus, greatly increasing the enrollment and better utilizing the facility.  Recognizing the value of the Child Care Board's visions, the Church Council directed the Child Care Board and Church Administrator to seek out architectural advice and return with bids for preliminary consideration of the space renovation needed to accomplish their vision.

At the August Church Council meeting, after considering fee information gathered from local architects, the Council approved engaging Jonathon Booth, of Basking Ridge, to assess the Child Care Board plan as it relates to our existing structure, and to prepare preliminary drawings that could be used by SHLC to assess the total costs and, if approved by the congregation, to seek bids.  The Council approved spending of about $5,000 for architectural services.  Mr. Booth was engaged, and after detailed conversations with both SHLC and GSCP staff concerning the present - and potentially future space usage - he is currently at work preparing the drawings.  He is planning a February presentation to the staff, and after that, to the Church Council, which will then vote whether to present the plan to the congregation.

Preliminary conversations with the architect indicated that NO structural changes would be necessary.   The most feasible space changes would involve the church office, the pastor's office, and part of the library area, with only internal walls needing to be moved/renovated.   Additionally, NJ State School codes would require an additional bathroom to be installed.  Other work would involve HVAC, electrical and technology wiring adjustments. 

The SHLC staff also asked the architect to consider - as additional renovation items - some environmental issues pertaining especially to heat loss in the library area and non-school hallways, as well as Sunday morning flow of people from Sanctuary into the library/fellowship hall areas.  

Presently, there is nothing for SHLC membership to decide.   As the Church Council receives specific information, drawings and proposals, it will then bring the entire subject to the congregation for discussion, suggestions, changes, and if appropriate, further action.   Meanwhile, any and all questions or concerns may be directed to Church Administrator Cheryl Delgado. 

February 2011

Dear Friends:

It's Back to School time!  "What!  In February?"

Minimib children on the way to school

you say.  The Haruai, Kobon and Minimib are in the southern hemisphere-just.  They're 4 degrees south of it.  So for them it's Back to School after the long summer break.  Being so close to the equator means they really have no seasons.  And since the sun rises and sets almost the same time each day, the days are pretty much the same length throughout the year.  So there's no need to fall back or spring forward.  This all helps when you don't have a watch or a clock and you need to use the position of the sun in the sky to judge the passage of time and how much daylight you have left to get things done.

It's hard to imagine what it must be like to live without a watch.  Maila and I both had our watch batteries die this past month - a minor inconvenience since we have other clocks to turn to.  But enough to serve as a reminder how much we depend on knowing exactly what time it is to regulate our day.

Instead of Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter the Haruai, Kobon and Minimib have a dry and rainy season.  At the height of the rainy season they have torrential rain for weeks on end.  For example, in the first half of 2010 we had six feet of rain.  At the height of the dry season there is no rain at all for weeks on end.

In some ways it's good that the time of the heaviest rainfall coincides with the "summer break".  Many children have to cross rivers to get to school and people can be swept away when the rivers are swollen.  Our Kobon cattle project came to an abrupt end about 25 years ago when all the cattle were swept away.  There are now a lot of wild cows in the uninhabited areas downriver, part of which belongs to Lukson.  So maybe some of them survived.

Anyway, to get back to Back to School, it's always a

Teacher Evelyn with her class of Minimib children

busy and exciting time.  Some children are returning for 2nd year or 3rd year.  For others it is the first day of school.  They may have mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension at the start of their three years they will learn to read and write their own language and learn about the Lord Jesus Christ and his love for them.  Thank you for your prayers and support which make this possible.

In His Love and Grace,

Pastor John and Maila

Christmas 2010

 Dear Friends and family,

This letter is coming to you from the frozen chosen here in Wisconsin.  After 10 years serving as the research director/operations manager of the Ancient Christian Commentary (ACCS) at Drew University and bring that project to its conclusion, Joel began work at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA working with his colleagues on a new project on Early African Christianity.  The project received a $1 million grant from the foundation that previously supported work on the ACCS that was to be matched by other donors.  No other donors appeared, however, due to the downturn in the economy.  Joel decided to accept a position as an Associate Professor of Theology at Concordia University Wisconsin, while remaining on the African project part time.  He now teaches a full load of classes at Concordia, but still tries to find time for writing and research, since he still has a number of research projects that are ongoing.  He currently shares an office with the other new theology faculty member who also came to the University this Fall.

So, we moved in August from Florham Park, New Jersey to Mequon, Wisconsin with our house having been on the market for six months with only one offer from a couple who - how shall we put it - were looking for a deal similar to what one might find in the markets of Beijing (ie. They were certifiable...).  They made an offer we ultimately couldn't accept.

Although greeted by plagues of mosquitoes when we first moved in to the very nice house provided by the university here in Wisconsin, we were able to get settled in (not all the furniture made it intact, but that's another story - I would not recommend Bekins Moving Co.).  The boys enrolled in Homestead High School.  Luke is a freshman after having graduated from Ridgedale Middle School in Florham Park this Spring.  He was involved in drama there, playing the role of Rolf in the Sound of Music while his mother directed the music for the musical.  Luke has gotten involved in drama and choir at Wisconsin, with a role in the play there as well.  And he is also taking Latin so he and his father can converse at the supper table.  His choir teacher nominated him to try out for the Wisconsin state choir.

Christian is a Junior and is playing trumpet in the marching band.  He marched in the Milwaukee Thanksgiving parade.  He is also in the High School band playing French horn and is also playing trumpet in the jazz band.  We flew Christian back to Jersey to see his friends in the Fall.  They had a very nice send-off for him in Florham Park.  He is still able to stay in touch with his friends via the internet and our unlimited long distance phone service....  Christian and Luke are both adjusting to the way they do things here in Wisconsin, but they are doing well enough academically and socially.

Shortly after arriving, Joy was offered an organist/choir director position at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.  She has a very active choir and the congregation is very appreciative of her talents.  Joel is known there as "Joy's husband," which is fine with him.

Joy has also started teaching piano again with the Milwaukee Conservatory.  Hubert has gotten used to their long walks after she takes the kids to school in the morning.  Christian has gotten his license so his hope is that he can drive himself and Luke to school.  We will probably need to let him do that, I guess.

Christian and Luke have offered their talents musically, with Luke singing and playing the claves, and Christian singing, playing guitar and playing the goat hide drum Joel brought back from South Africa when he was there in October.  Joy and Joel managed a trip to New York City here in December as he had meetings with Evangelicals and Catholics Together on preparing a statement on Religious Freedom.  Other family trips included a summer trip to New Jersey before we moved, spending some time in Ocean City, New Jersey.

In the Fall, the whole family went down to Chicago for Thanksgiving and saw the Shedd Aquarium and Sears Tower - although it's called something else now.  At Christian's request we also had some pizza from Giordano's.  The one who seems to have adjusted to the move most easily has been Hubert.  There are plenty of fields for him to run around in.  Also, the house overlooks the soccer fields of the University and is in close proximity to Lake Michigan.  It provides him with many vantage points to watch all the goings on at the University and going for long walks.

After 7 months and two real estate agents, in a very difficult real estate market, we finally received an offer on our home in Florham Park that we could accept.  Although bittersweet, the house is sold.  So here we are in Wisconsin, staying in a house on the University campus for the time being.  We haven't decided what we want to do about housing here in Wisconsin.  It is almost as expensive as New Jersey and the property taxes are - believe it or not - higher here.  Our address, currently is:  13218 N. Lake Shore Drive, Mequon, WI 53097.  The University address is Concordia University Wisconsin, 12800 N. Lakeshore Drive, Mequon, WI 53097.  Our home phone is 262-643-4864.  The home phone should remain the same.  We're just not sure about the address at this point.

We wish all of you many blessings in the New Year.  We're not quite sure what it holds for us, but we are all in God's hands.  If you are in the area, please come and see us.  We'd love to see you.

We wish all of you a merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

With love,

Joel, Joy, Christian, Luke and Hubert.

The second Thrivent choice Voting Event will be held Jan 24^th to Feb 28^th, featuring seven national nonprofit organizations in the areas of health and human care.  Thrivent Financial will distribute $1 million among the participating charities.  Specific amounts will be based on the percentage of votes each organization receives.

To identify the organizations, Thrivent Financial asked for recommendations from members, and then involved chapter leaders in narrowing the list.  The organizations participating in this winter's Voting Event will be:

·        Bethesda Lutheran Communities

·        Feeding America

·        Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

·        Lutheran Services in America

·        Orphan Grain Train

·        St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

·        Wheat Ridge Ministries

When the Voting Event opens on Jan 24, associate and benefit member (age 16 or older) will be able to vote in one of three ways:

·        Online at Thrivent.com/choicevote.  (In a change from the first Voting Event, members will need to log in to Thrivent.com with their My Thrivent user ID and Password to vote online.  First-time users can easily register on Thrivent.com.)

·        By returning the business reply card in the Winter issue of Thrivent Magazine, which mails this month.  (The business reply card will allow up to eight members in the same household to vote via one card.)

·        By calling 800-THRIVENT (800-847-4836) and saying "Thrivent Choice."

SOMERSET HILLS LUTHERAN CHURCH

Matthew 21:22 tells us "whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive".  Hezekiah was able to "get hold of God".  Can it work for us?  Plan to attend February 8th at 10:00 am to find out!

Fourteen of our confirmation students from SHLC attended the Youth Encounter Youth Quake from January 21 to 23 in Harrisburg, PA with Jason Marks, Faith Martin and parent Adam Springsteel.  We spent the weekend in prayer, worship and learning about what it means to put our HOPE in the Lord (Psalm 33:20).  Students attended treks on topics like:  "What is Hope?"  "Where is the Hope?"  "God's Songbook" "Church Nerds!" and "Meet the Band: Daniel's Window" among many others!  We worshiped to music from the bands Captive Free East Coast and Daniel's Window, participated in the CRAZY dress night and had lots of fun getting to know each other on the bus!  Overall, we had a great time learning about what it means to put our HOPE in Jesus.  We learned that our youth aren't just the church of tomorrow but they are the church of today and they are making a difference!  Be sure to check out the bulletin board at SHLC to see more pictures from our trip and please ask our students what they learned because they would be more than happy to share with you!

Crazy dress up night

FELLOWSHIP OUTING UPDATES 

Dear members of Somerset Hills Lutheran Church,

Thank you for your generous support of PLI Pastoral Leadership Institute.  My husband and I are in our 2nd year, and it has been such a blessing to us.  I've appreciated so much the community of women who have become my support team and my husband has learned so much about missional churches.  Thank you again!

In Christ,

Laura Hartke

St. John's Lutheran Church

Orchard Park, NY 

SHLC Women's Guild had a very successful Christmas Party/Auction in December where we raised over $500 for mission projects.  We thank all the women of SHLC who helped to support this project.  In fact, we're happy to report that with our help and with mites from all over the NJ District, our NJ District LWML was able to pay its first mite project of $3000 to Rev. James Buckman and his Urban and Immigrant Missions project in Newark, NJ.  Our next mite project is for LCMS Campus Ministry to train NJ District Campus Ministry Leaders.  If you would like to contribute to this mite project, please leave a donation in the LWML mite box by the LWML bulletin board by the library area.

Our National LWML Convention is coming up in Peoria, IL on June 23 - 26, 2011.  The theme for this convention is "Being with Jesus: Living on the Edge"... Acts 4:13 & 20.  The NJ District is sponsoring a bus to Peoria which will stop at SHLC on June 21^st at 4pm to pick up anyone interested in going.  For further information, contact Arlene Price or check the convention website at www.lwml.org/convention

Dear Friends,

The Ridge High School P.T.O., in conjunction with the William Annin Middle School, Liberty Corner School and the Bernards Township Municipal Alliance, invites you to attend a special presentation of "It's 21 for a Reason" on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.  This campaign has been developed by the Bernards Township Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse.  Recent research shows that delaying an adolescent's age of first drink has tremendous benefits on that person's life.  Please visit www.bernardsalliance.org/its-21-for-a-reason for more information.

We hope you will join us for what promises to be an informative evening.

Sincerely,

Carol Jean Floegel

V.P. of Programs

Ridge High School P.T.O.

Basking Ridge, NJ