So, before I start the story of hut church, I gotta recap our first week of ministry.
1. The Soup kitchen. Jack, Matt and I got to pray for people in a clinic as they waited for treatment and food. Many people came to us for prayer over family struggles and physical pain. It was a good time sharing about Jesus and His heart for these people.
2. The prison. We went to the local prison, and it was actually not as scary as one might imagine. Most of these guys were imprisoned for livestock theft, which is a pretty big deal in the pastoral nation of Lesotho. A number of these prisoners had already come to Christ through the obedience of the local ministries in the area. Max and Ross shared their testimonies boldly, and Jack shared a word. Our host pastor Oliver delivered a Spirit-led gospel speech. I mean really Spirit-led. THIRTEEN PEOPLE ACCEPTED JESUS! AND THAT MEANS THERE WERE 13 PARTIES IN HEAVEN! 13 lost sons found their Father. Booyah.
3. Hospital visits. We shared a devotional with patients and prayed for people who came up to us. We saw a woman’s foot pain leave and another woman’s chronic headache go away. We prayed for about 20 people total. Amazing how healing is a normal thing here.
4. Daily construction. We are helping to build an orphanage. We dug trenches for a foundation as well as painted the inside of a room. It’s fun times.
5. Camping with the dudes + baptisms. We all hiked next to the river on Friday nights to celebrate the week. In the morning we went to a beautiful spot were Nathan and Joey baptized each other. They have grown so much together, and it was so powerful to see these brothers of mine make that outward declaration that they will follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. They are proof that God really does exist.
So, after our first week of really awesome ministry, we ended it off with an unforgettable morning in a hut that served as a local village church. And church it was — arguably more of a church than most fancy western churches. The Christians here are truly family. They call each other brothers and sisters and are more than willing to go out of their way and care for those in the church. It’s very inspiring to me to see the deep bonds of love between the Christians here. Church here is an amazing model for what I hope to build when I get back to the States.
To get there, we drove in this rugged Toyota pickup alongside this yonder dirt mountain road. Along the way, we picked up a couple people walking on the side of the road that are part of the church. We had a blast trying to learn their names that had clicks in them and were like 15 syllables.
We waved to people walking to and from our town a few miles away. We passed posses of horsemen wearing their traditional blanket-cloaks (I don’t often use colorful language, but it’s only appropriate to call those dudes badass).
We drove into this mountain village with about 50 homes which were all brick-and-straw huts. As I looked out into the vast grassy valley, I saw a distant thunderstorm in the mountains and other similar villages dotting the hillsides. It was also pleasing to my OCD to see neat, uniform, and nicely maintained terraces covered in rows of corn.
The pickup we were riding drove into this property with a simple brick home and a brick hut which was… a little worse for wear. About half the grass roof was missing, exposing it’s stick skeleton roof. We set up 15 or so plastic chairs around the circumference of the hut as we waited for the rest of the congregation of the church to arrive. When we started church, I counted 26 souls in all. More than half were children. After talking to the pastor that headed up the church, he spoke with hope and excitement that much of the next generation of this village was growing up in the church.
One of the younger adults led a teaching on who Jesus was, and the head pastor helped provide insight he learned from the pastor who lives the main town of Mokhotlong. We sung heartfelt songs, mostly in Sesotho (the language of Lesotho). And we were undignified.
Later we welcomed a couple new visitors of the church and then they introduced us. I felt the bonds of family with these fellow Christians almost instantaneously, and I shared my testimony with great comfort because there was absolutely no need to perform. Joey shared his testimony after me, and Matt (a natural at preaching) shared his killer message.
It was amazing to experience a true church community. These people really know Jesus, and they love each other deeply because of it. There was no fancy lights. In fact, at the end of the service it started to rain and half us got wet because of the meager roof. But hey, we didn’t care. We were having Jesus and enjoying him with others. I’ll never forget doing church in a hut. It was lit.
Thanks for reading!
Brandon
