This past month has been quite the incredible experience. I know that the memories made and the things learned from the little country of Lesotho won’t soon be forgotten. It was such a blessing getting to spend our time with the Mierke family, along with all the other great individuals involved at Africa4Jesus. I’ve loved the quietness and simplicity of life that came with being in the Malealea valley. I’ve loved having the opportunity to reach out in the Lords name to the people in the communities around us. I’ve loved getting to work with my hands and working as a unified team for His kingdom. I’ve loved getting to know such genuine people with hearts for the Lord, that inspire me and my purpose for this world as well. I don’t think words can do justice in describing my experiences from Lesotho, but they say pictures are worth 1,000 words, so it might help to portray things a little better anyhow! I feel so blessed to be able to have lived all these stories out first hand and to be a part of this whole World Race journey. I had a lot of fun capturing the photos in this blog, and I hope you enjoy this look into some of the things we’ve been up to throughout the past month in Lesotho!
Each morning of ministry, we walked to one of the surrounding 15 villages in the valley to make home visits until about noon when we would head back to A4J for lunch. A lot of times the hike to the villages included some terrain and took anywhere from a half hour to an hour. By the end of the month, we figured that we had walked nearly 140 miles!
The villages we visited were very much off the grid type living. Here you can see some traditional African huts with cattle grazing about. There were cattle, sheep and goats all throughout the valley as agriculture is the foundation of sustainability for the people here.
Some 5 star pads huh!? They definitely come with some great views, anyhow.
Of course, we have to say hello to any children along the way!
During the home visits we made, we asked some survey questions about the individuals situations and well being. We mostly tried to survey elderly people who might be in need of help. As many people in the valley speak only the Sesotho language, Tsepo served as our trusty translator.
Kaelyn surveying a sweet 90 year old woman. Our survey answers were put together on a spreadsheet to be posted in the A4J church. Members of the congregation can then see who might need help or encouragement with anything in their community, reaching out to them and actually practice BEING the church to those around them!
Sometimes we felt called to help the people we visited right on the spot. We weeded this woman’s garden for an our upon our visit with her.
The smiles of these sweet elderly women just never get old.
HIV is very prevalent in Lesotho. We came across several situations like this one where children’s parents have passed away, leaving their elderly grandparents to provide for them. Luckily, at age 70 and above, people are given a government check to help provide for themselves and their families.
We were able to share the entire biblical narrative from God’s creation of the world to Jesus on the cross with this young mother of one. She ended up praying a prayer to invite Jesus into her life as her savior and we celebrated with her in excitement!
Lots of smiles were captured throughout the month and most kids were more than willing to strike a pose! They loved seeing themselves on the playback.
I loved that we just never knew what the Lord would have waiting for us on our village visits. Anything could be possible.. even puppies!
The hitch hikers of Lesotho I tell ya..
We returned home from our morning village visits around 1:00 each day for our lunch break. With a little down time before the afternoon work projects started, the hammock made for a great spot to relax. Sitting alone never lasted to long, however! These are Tsepos two nieces and about the cutest little things that ever were.
In the afternoons we split up a few different ways. I worked with a few other teammates on mixing and pouring concrete for a sidewalk in front of the preschool and a walkway leading to the building. Another team worked to create the foundation of a traditional round cob house, and a couple others would get going on preparing dinner for the rest of us when we’d wrap up our work for the day.
Kierin, Teboho, Kaelyn, Myself and Isabel in front of a completed section of sidewalk. All the concrete was hand mixed with shovels and when we run out of sand for the mix, we simply hop in the truck and head to the riverbed to fill up our sand bags!
The kids have trikes to ride around on the schoolyard and they love zooming down the sloped hill. I suggested backfilling the sidewalk edge, but Pieter says it’s his driving school so they can learn to stay on the road!
Happy campers on their trikes before school starts. It was a lot of fun to be able to help bring Pieter’s idea for this sidewalk road to life.
The team that worked on the cob house also stayed busy. They dug a circle in the ground for the foundation. And went to the field with the truck to collect stones to form the foundation with morter that they mixed. The walls on top of the foundation are made of a clay mix that was squished together with our feet.
We all got a chance to mix up some clay and grass hay and it was a fun feeling between the toes. This was the final day of construction before leaving so there’s still some work to be done.
On Sundays, our teams had the opportunity to share the message for the A4J church service. Kaelyn pictured here spoke the first week we were asked, I shared the 2nd and Hannah C brought the word for our last Sunday. It was a very cool opportunity.
Our trusty translator Tsepo did a great job speaking Sesotho for us.
Adventure days in Lesotho were also some of my favorites. Lesotho is home to some beautiful countryside, and even after hiking to villages all week, we’d find ourselves hiking in our free time on the weekends too.
For our first weekend, we made a 10.2 mile hike round trip to a waterfall. It was incredible and totally worth it!
The water was great!
Some of us also signed up for a horseback ride to some bushman cave paintings!
It was a relaxing ride and a nice way to soak in the views.
Madison, Kaelyn, Hannah H, Myself, and Ike
Cuidado! Yes, after 3 months in South America we still find ourselves using Spanish phrases in Africa.
For our last weekend, Teboho led us to some rock pools that make for a great swim! Hannah H, Isabel and Madison are pictured here.
The rock pools even came equipped with an all natural water slide!
We also snuck in a great Saturday hike up the nearby mountains with Jaime and Jon, Pieter and Keilas boys, ages 16 and 17.
These two boys are a surefire fun time and it was great getting to know them. Pictured here is Madison, Jaime, Myself, Jon, Ike and Hannah K
Jaime in his element. Him and Jon seem to love living in Malealea and they certainly make the most of it.
While Jon has gotten himself into mountain biking, building trails, and guiding excursions, Jaime has taken up knife making. He made a couple of custom knives for Ike and I while we were there for the month and his work is incredible!
Jobs are not really existent in the Malealea valley, so we were happy to support Jaimie’s business, Maludi Knives, and take with us one sweet souvenir from Lesotho! The sheath for the knife is made of a springbok hide that Jaime shot.
I’ll miss these Malealea mornings. The calm and quiet made for some great opportunities to read and reflect throughout the month.
I think this photo captures the simplicity of life in the valley quite well. Tillage, seeding and cultivating are all done with cattle. These two guys would be up early in the morning before the heat of the sun came out to make a little headway on their land in front of the A4J base.
Beauty was is over throughout the valley.
We were treated with some vibrant rainbows a few different times.
As well as some pretty crazy storm clouds.
The whole crew together one last time in the morning just before we had to say our goodbyes and take off. There are some genuine faces and we made some great friends with everyone at A4J. It didn’t make leaving any easier! The month spend in Lesotho was incredible and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity of working with Africa4Jesus.
I’m currently writing from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Our whole squad is gathered together here at a hostel for a 4 day squad debrief. We’re taking time to reflect on our experiences and spend some quality time in fellowship together. Some leadership personnel from Adventures in Missions have also flown out to meet with us here and lead us in some sessions together. With this debrief, we’ve also switched up our team make-ups. My first team of 6 people has been switched up a bit and I now have the opportunity to do the next four months of the race with squad mates Stacy and Heaven! I’ll miss Kaelyn and Christy along with the team atmosphere we’ve created over the past 4 months, but I’m also looking forward to the next 4 months, making new memories and learning from new people as well!
For February, our new team, CIA (Christians In Action), will be headed to Heidelburg, South Africa, a smaller town of about 9,000 residents located on the western cape of South Africa. It’s located 3 hours east of the city of Cape Town and about 30 minutes from the southern coast of Africa. We will be working with an organization called the Langeburg Christian Fellowship. At this point, I’m not totally sure of what the month will look like or what God will have in store for us, but I’m looking forward to it! We’ll head out from Port Elizabeth tomorrow morning (Feb 2) and make the 6 hour drive to Heidelburg.
Africa continues to amaze me and I feel so blessed to be a part of our mission here! I’ll be looking forward to updating you from Heidelburg. As always, thank you for all your continued prayers and support! God Bless!
