Missionaries
Mark and Rochelle Groombridge
Mark and Rochelle have been in Slovenia since 2005 working as missionaries for the Church Missionary Society (CMS Australia) with the Reformed Evangelical Church (REC). They work under the leadership of interNATIONAL ministry partners, the Novak’s, with Mark involved in preaching, in one-to-one discipleship and training of leaders.
Rochelle was a member of FAC for many years (her parents are Philip & Ann McKerrow), before she headed off to bible college. It was there she met and married Mark. Mark and Rochelle have 3 children, Matej , Philippa and Calvin James.
'Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.'
Matthew 5:16 NIV
Roger and Noriko Dethlefs
After a number of years serving in Afghanistan to train eye surgeons, Roger & Noriko Dethlefs are once again on the ‘mission field’, this time in Fiji. Roger continues to work as an eye surgeon with Noriko teaching English classes for a number of different groups, who are at various levels of ability and who are located in various sites.
Here's the latest update from Roger and Noriko as of Monday 11 July, 2011:
"Dear friends,
Do hope this finds you well…
I am writing this on Day 2 in Suva:
Made it to Suva late Saturday night after a stressful start at Sydney airport when my name did not appear on the passenger list and I was told that the flight was totally full due to school holidays. Thankfully, the after-hours number for the travel agent in Auckland that Fred Hollows uses worked and I got the last seat. It was in front of a child who kept kicking me in the back but I was just so grateful to be on the flight that the entertainment system not working, meals running out, head phones going lost – none of these upset me. Actually, I felt so tired, I slept most of the way to Nadi regardless of children running around and screaming with excitement.
Was met by Roger at Nausori airport at 9pm and we drove 30min to Suva. Our unit is a 15min walk into the city and a 10 min walk to the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral where we went on Sunday morning. A lovely congregation with people from all over the world and a beautiful choir, much too professional for us to join but certainly enhanced the worship. Roger is rather concerned about no individual cups for communion and it is a high church with candles, but no incense. There are female clergy, too. But the most important thing is that God’s word is being preached and I will go to a Ladies Group tomorrow morning. The Bishop’s wife and I found many common interests (she is an ordained priest herself but in a supporting role now). She is from UK and her husband, the Bishop, is originally from Tonga or Samoa and they have 2 grown up sons. Susan and I are getting together on Wednesday. She is also introducing me to a woman who teaches in a prison where I might be able to help out.
There is a lovely feel to the compound and I have met an Australian who is going to take me to the gym and there are 3 lots of Japanese people – 2 with the Embassy and 1 with JAICA. The young Japanese mum, Natsuko, with a 14-month boy, Haruto, is taking me to the shop this afternoon where I can buy some Japanese grocery but tells me the range is very limited.
I have only to walk 4 steps from our front door and I’ll be in the pool but being the coolest time of the year here, the water feels a bit chilly to me. We are, however, going to move to another unit with more light at the end of the month. The woman leaving that unit works with International Red Cross and is a friend of our friend in Dili who heads Red Cross there so what a small world it is. The unit is small but there are 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a TV with 4 channels - a religious one, BBC, Sports, and a local one. No washing machine in the unit but our washing is done for us as part of our rent (not ironing, though).
There are some nice shops – I have checked them all out this morning and found that at Just Jeans you can buy ‘sulu’ (?) – skirts for men, Gloria Jeans is a popular coffee shop and there are 2 Mac Donalds and a KFC, too. The market is great and inexpensive for things like paw-paws, bananas, pineapples, eggplants, and some greens but imported produce are expensive.
Roger is about to go on an outreach eye camp for 3 days, hoping to perform 30 cataract operations each day. It will feel strange to be here on my own but the security seems good. Also, 2 women (a Canadian and Sth African) I met in Dili are here for a couple of weeks on consultancy work for Fred Hollows so they are coming to dinner on Thursday night to keep me company and I am looking forward to catching up with them.
We have an address if you’d like to write to us but no landline. [If you'd like Roger and Noriko's details please contact the office info@figtreeanglican.org.au]
Just wanted to share with you from Suva with much love,
Noriko (and Roger also sends his warmest greetings – he is really enjoying the new challenges at the Pacific Eye Institute)"