The past 2 days have been some of the hardest and most rewarding days of my whole race. It all started a few weeks ago when my team decided to use some of our off days to go and explore Lesotho. We don’t get out much, besides going to our 2 local malls for groceries/wifi ect. We found a cute little lodge that we could camp at and have a nice relaxing weekend before we leave for Swaziland in a few days! About the time we started working out details, our host informed us that there was actually a youth retreat that weekend, and we were invited to help serve at it. This put a spin on our relaxing weekend, but we decided to go for it. The night before we were supposed to leave, at 11 pm I might add, she informed us that we were actually in charge of the retreat. -typical world race for ya- So we began putting our ideas together and decided we were going to attempt to pull off the Life-house “Everything” skit. We worked out the details, and with a few scarfs and hats we even managed to pull off all the characters including Jesus and the “boyfriend” (nothing an all girls team can’t handle). We got up bright and early only to find out that taxi was running a few hours late, this is Africa time for ya. We ended up arriving to this cute little village house in the middle of nowhere; basically the Perry, GA of Lesotho. As soon as we got settled we went straight to the church to start the retreat. We soon learned that church here was nothing like church in America. It’s a big empty building, a few lawn chairs set up in the middle, a tin roof with holes for light, no AC, and a few corn sacks sewed together instead of a carpet. As an outsider looking in, I saw an abandoned shack; but to them, as precious members of the body, they see a prized meeting place, the house of the Lord.
Upon entering the church we found that our audience was an average 10 years younger than we expected, so we improvise. Again, this is nothing new on the race :). We ended up having a blast! We sang some songs, spoke, played some games, the skit went well and was followed by an alter call. Seven girls decided to ask Jesus into their hearts that’s day, and to celebrate we had a dance party! I love introducing people to the God of JOY who celebrates when his children accept the invitation to salvation!!
After the retreat ended, we got the grand tour of the property, complete with a sheep, a rooster, kitten, pig sty (with 6 of the cutest piglets EVER (: ), and an out house. We finally felt like we were living the local life and it was a joy. Inside we met the man of the house, who doubles as the Bishop and entertainer. He has devoted the last 63 years of his life to ministry, and loved answering questions and telling stories for hours on end.
It didn’t stop here, that afternoon Lineo took us to the local radio station and we all were given a few time slots to go live on the air, and talk on anything we wanted. It was a great evangelism opportunity I had never considered before, and I am thankful to have been a part of it.
The next morning my team and I headed out to a prison to speak to the people there. We all were able to share our testimonies, perform our drama, and pray for the prisoners. I was amazed how well they responded to everything we had to say, and at the end about 30 men came to accept Christ!! We were all astonished and so thankful to have been apart of such an amazing miracle!
Here in Africa, if you are going to have church, you are going to go all out. For us that meant walking to the police station to pray for everyone there, then about half a mile home where we would be in charge of another church service immediately. We all had the opportunity to share again and we all felt extremely welcome and honored by everyone there.
Something the people here have taught me is the value of relationships. I come from a busy lifestyle where everything is planned to a T, and no one is late, where as Africa might be the total opposite. Church doesn’t have an ending time, because the people all know that it will end when everyone is finished, whether that be for 2 hours or 5. Also hey have such a culture of respect, for everyone. I can’t even begin to count how many times we were recognized as the guests, and treated with upmost respect and honor. We were invited into the house, which is no small sacrifice considering the size of my team, but we never felt like a burden.
Besides the amazing things that happened here, I struggled. Running off of little sleep, I was exhausted most of the time and did not feel like speaking. It would have been way easier to sit back and take a nap, but that is not why I am here. God is faithful and he is my strength; and It took me going to Africa, and being on stage 5 times in a single day to fully understand that. Also the idea of an outhouse sounds exciting in the beginning, but when you come to terms that this is your life, and it is strategically placed right next to the pig pen that smells like your worst nightmare, the fun ends quickly. Sleeping on the floor in the heat for the 160th time DOES actually get old, but God is faithful. He has brought me here and he will bring me through it. That being said, this was one of the most stretching and memorable weekends on the race. Nothing went as planned, (and we never really had a plan) but I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. I could not communicate to anyone in the town on my own, but there are wonderful translators who stand in the gap for language barriers.
God is teaching me more that I could imagine in Lesotho, and it will be a hard goodbye next week. Everything that is different from my way of life, becomes a learning opportunity. All comfort zones are shattered one by one, or all at once, which just gives God more room to shine through all my cracks.
