WE
NEED A PLACE TO STAY!
coming to Lesotho, we were on debrief in Durban, South Africa. Kim (our team
leader) was trying to arrange transportation for us to get to Mt. Moorosi,
Lesotho. However, in order to do this, it required that we take a roundabout
way in our travels. We had to stay in Underberg (near the border). Kim was on
the phone with this lady who wanted to charge us an extreme rate for her hostel
for the following evening. Kim simply declined, but the lady was distracted on
the other end and told her she would call right back. So, a minute later the
phone rang and Kim picked up. It was a lady from Sani Pass hostel in Underberg
calling to confirm the reservation for 9 people the following night. Kim was
shocked because this lady had the wrong number. Kim had never spoke to this
hostel before and had no clue how this lady got her phone number. But in the
midst of the confusion, Kim told the lady that coincidentally we were also a
group of 9 and needed a place to stay the following night as well and asked if
we could stay at the Sani Pass hostel. The lady told Kim yes! Thank you Lord
for providing us with a place to stay (even if it was camping in the rain!)
What a blessing!
ARE
WE EVER GOING TO USE OUR TENTS!?
8
months in and we have only used our tents 3 times. We used them once in Haiti.
We pitched our tents on the concrete parking lot of a hotel. In Mozambique we
set up our tents in the middle of the bush for a night on our way to Zimbabwe.
And on our way to Lesotho, we stayed in Underberg, South Africa for a night and
set up our tents in the rain in a campground. We thought for sure we would have
to use our tents in Lesotho, but once again God provided. We ended up staying
in huts that had beds!
TRANSLATOR
One
of our first days here at the chalets, we decided to head to town to see what
was there. We were in “exploratory” mode. We decided that we needed a
translator this month so we prayed that we would meet someone who we could hire
as a translator for us. On the bus ride home from town, there was this guy that
jumped on the bus at the last minute and I really felt like we needed to talk
to him. Well, low and behold he ironically got off at the chalets with us.
Tonya and I started talking to him and he spoke English. We asked him questions
about Mount Moorosi and which villages we could visit. He told us that he would
love to take us around the villages to talk to different people. So there we
had it – a translator more than willing to help us out this month! Thank you
Lord for sending us Bernard!
NO
ELECTRICITY?! SWEET!
How
sweet it is to live by candlelight and paraffin lanterns every night. It increases
the intimacy of the conversations and time we get to spend together as a body –
our team of 9 this month. We were set on not charging any of our electronics –
ipods, cameras, computers, etc. and to just live a life of simplicity this
month in our huts surrounded by mountains. However, the managers of the Mt.
Moorosi Chalets told us that there are 3 outlets in which we could charge
things if we needed. What a blessing! Tonya and Kim were now able to charge
their phones and computers (for use to reach the other teams and authority back
home to let them know where we were and how we were doing). So they were able
to use outlets here at our home base instead of walking 1 hour (3 miles) up the
mountain to town to pay to charge their electronics. Praise God for providing!
INTERNET
ACCESS
We
were told before arriving to Lesotho that we would probably have no internet
access this month, especially because we knew we were going to have no
electricity. However, Tonya and Kim still needed to try to find some sort of
internet to work on logistics and get in touch with AIM and the other teams for
communication and travel plans. Well, low and behold a few days after arriving
to Mt. Moorosi, a guy shows up at the chalets and offers Tonya to use his
internet at his business in town whenever we are in the area. So Tonya and Kim
were able to have internet access for free! There were also a group of guys
from South Africa who arrived later on and stayed at the chalets as well and
allowed Tonya to use their wireless internet to keep in contact with the rest
of our 52 peeps. Praise God!
LET’S
NOT BE HASTY WITH OUR EGGS!
Let’s
just say that our budget this month has been challenging, especially when it
comes to food. We only have a few dollars to spend each day. Thankfully we can
cook in one of the huts that we live in (the one Renee and I are sharing). We
have been very frugile with what we buy and eat. Tonya loves eggs. However,
they are a specialty for us because we go through them so fast and they are not
really affordable in relation to beans and rice. We live off of oatmeal, beans,
rice and peanut butter sandwiches. Lucky for us though we have had 3 birthdays
to celebrate this month, in which we get special birthday meals throughout the
day (specially requested by the bday girl). And boy have the bday meals been
good!! Both Becca and Kim had eggs for their birthday and there were 11 left
over that we were saving for the following week for my bday. I can’t even count
the number of times that Tonya or Erica tried to eat some of these eggs. Well,
one day we all woke up and gathered for breakfast and Renee was making us
french toast which required 4 eggs. She
said that God told her to make french toast for us so she didn’t question why
and was just being obedient. Well, that afternoon we went up to the village and
met this family and shared the gospel with them in which they all accepted
Christ as their Savior and were hungry for more. The lady then went and grabbed
a bag of eggs and handed them to us. Inside the bag were exactly 4 eggs. Oh how
God rewards us for our obedience to Him!!
HELP
US FIND A CHURCH TO FELLOWSHIP!
A
few days after we met Bernard, he showed up at our huts and asked us if we
would like to join him for church in town. We were so excited because we had
been praying about going to church and having God help lead us to a church in
town. The church we went to (Faith Mission) welcomed us with open arms and were
so excited to have us share our testimonies and our mission trip with them. So
the 2nd Sunday we attended church, we gave our testimonies and
joined in on their service. They ended up giving us the entire offering that day.
They strongly believe in giving and felt compelled to give us what they had
received as a church body that day. It brought me to tears. Their faith is
incredible. They worship every Sunday from 10-3pm. The legalistic scheduled
American person in me got impatient and fought to stay present and awake during
their 4hr services, but my Spirit was overflowing with joy and awe at how
church really looks. It is not about schedules, time or a 45 minute sermon. It
is all Spirit led and when it ends it ends. There is no set timeframe. It’s
amazing!
LET
IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!
Everyone
we talked to before heading to Lesotho warned us how incredibly cold Lesotho
was going to be and how it will probably be snowy and freezing. Well, while
driving through Lesotho heading to Mt. Moorosi, we only saw a little bit of
snow on one mountain. It was really exciting, but we were kind of expecting
more and colder weather. So we kept praying throughout our time at the chalets
that it would just snow once. How funny that it was sunny and cloudless and
pretty warm every single day of being there. EXCEPT for the ONE day that it
snowed!! It was incredible. We woke up to the overcast weather and the clouds
started building up and then it snowed. Then in the afternoon, the group of
guys at the chalets offered to drive us an hour away to this mountain they were
working on because it had snowed a lot up there. However, by the time we got to
the top of the mountain, almost all of the snow was gone. I did find one tiny
patch of snow and made a 3 inch snowman. It was fantastic. Praise God for snow!
PIZZA
IN EVERY COUNTRY
So
far, God has provided us with a special treat – pizza in every country we have
been to (Haiti being the only exception). Since we were in the middle of
nowhere this month we weren’t sure how God was going to provide pizza for us
but we knew he would. Sure enough on our drive back to South Africa, we passed
by this pizza place, Scooter’s Pizza! It was a delicious treat on our 14hr
journey back to South Africa!
GOD
PROVIDES IN SO MANY WAYS! HE IS SO INCREDIBLY FAITHFUL!! HE LOVES HIS CHILDREN
SO MUCH!
