Nederlandse versie komt eraan…
After four days of travel from August 8th to the 11th, we finally made it to our month 1 ministry site in Mokhotlong, Lesotho. Arriving with no expectations, I was astonished by the beautiful mountains of Mokhotlong. Every day I get to soak in the sunrises and sunsets with the mountains in view. Lesotho is the highest elevated country in the world, with the entire country laying above 4,593 ft. (1.400 M). The nights are chilly with temperatures around freezing and no heating, but we have hot water and Western bathrooms. And toilet paper… We walk on foot to church, the grocery store, and Internet Café. I’m positive I’m going to have legs of steel after walking these mountains every day.
This month my team and two other teams (21 people) are doing ministry together. We have been involved in hospital ministry, prison ministry, soup kitchen ministry, building an orphanage, and preaching in churches, amongst other things, and we will continue to do these things for the remainder of the month.
Often times, during these ministries we introduce ourselves and give the people a Word of encouragement. Some need to hear the encouragement and hope the Good News brings, but many of them are giving me more courage and hope than I could ever give them. We see the shacks they live in, the donkeys they use for transportation, the holes in their clothes and shoes, their outdoor bathrooms, and we think they’re poor. We think we need to help them. We think we need to give them what we have, when instead, what we have we don’t need. Our worldly perspective assumes we need (nice) cars, homes, clothes, washing machines, electronics, etc. to be rich, but that is skewed view of what richness is. Many of these people are richer than I could ever fathom living in the conditions they do. But richness isn’t found in material things, richness is found in the heart by knowing our God. They’ve heard the Good News. They have the joy Jesus brings. The people smile and say “hello” when we pass. The children here have more joy playing soccer with a ball made out of plastic scraps than the children in the western world do playing Pokemon Go on their expensive electronics. The material things people have don’t matter. What matters is what we have in our heart. Many here have Jesus in their heart. They know the Creator of the universe: the One that created us, the One that came down for us, the Perfect One that laid down His life for all our imperfections so that we may live. They know. They are rich, rich in spirit. They don’t need our help.
“Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” -James 2:5
90% percent of Lesotho’s people are considered Christians. So why am I here?
Still, there are those who haven’t heard the Good News, many who haven’t received the Good News and don’t have a relationship with Jesus, and many who are simply discouraged and need the encouragement and love of the Good News.
Our ministry hosts have told us it’s very encouraging to the people of Mokhotlong just knowing that we’ve come all the way across the world to share the Gospel and encouragement. When we share our testimonies and how God has brought us out of the dark times of our lives many here are able to relate, even those in the prisons. It’s comforting to them knowing they are not alone in their struggles and sharing the depth of God’s love with them. It gives them hope. As a result, we are still seeing many who are turning to Christ. That’s why I’m here. We are here to share the Truth and to serve alongside them in their community. We are not here to help them, not the help we think they need. They aren’t poor. They just need our encouragement from the Truth to press on and press in.
