Dancing, Praying, and Marriage Proposals
A big dust storm hit us last night moments before I was about to take my shower. I grabbed a bucket, ran to the tank to fill it up, then booked it back to the shower room as water sloshed out onto the concrete. Rain pelted the metal roof as dust was blowing in through the small window. The air was a bit chilly but not nearly as cold as the water for my shower.
Welcome to Malealea, Lesotho.
I love it here. We are a two hour drive from town. Mountains, fields of crops, and small villages surround us. The only electricity we have is from a solar panel, we fetch water down the hill, take bucket showers, and use outhouses. It’s a simple, yet beautiful life.
Our host this month is a family from Kimberly, South Africa that started an Africa4Jesus base in Lesotho.
This day I’m about to tell you about has been one of my favorites.
After breakfast our team starts the 30 minute walk to the village we will be visiting all month. Once there, we follow our translator, Teboho, as he leads us to a house. On this particular day we started by visiting all the children hanging around the house pictured below. Many of them were siblings. The oldest was 15 and the youngest was maybe 5. We talk to them for a bit then went back and forth singing songs and showing each other dances. We laughed and clapped as we took turned dancing in the middle of a circle. Sometimes, there isn’t much to say and all we have to give is our time. Before we left we took this picture then all held hands as my friends and I prayed over them.
The second house we went to was where one of the girls dancing with us lived.. He father greeted us and welcomed us in. We introduced ourselves then asked him questions to get to know him more. He loves soccer, needs to find a job, and his wife is sick from the water. We begin to encourage him with scripture and stories from our own life to show how God will provide. We pray for him, then a few minutes later he brought his wife in so we could pray for her as well. It was written on her face that she didn’t feel well so we tried to keep it short. After praying for her, the husbands mother comes and brings a wonderful joy. We talk with her and learn that she loves to sing. So of course we ask her to sing for us. She immediately hops up and starts dancing as she sings a gospel tune. My teammate Haley dances with her, and we all clap along trying to figure out the words she is singing. They all thanked us for coming and we left after hugging them goodbye.
We followed Teboho as he lead us further up the mountain. We make our way to 5 men sitting under a tree, escaping the hot sun. They are SUPER excited to see us and immediately greet us. If their friendliness didn’t give their drunkenness away, the red cup they were passing around sure did. Alcoholism is one of the many problems here, especially among the shepherds. Before I know it, one of the older men locks eyes with me and tells me how much he loves me. It’s always hard knowing how to respond, but my teammate gave me the great idea of telling him that Jesus loves him. We all hang out for while then have a long photo taking session because they wanted to take pictures of us. A few of us got some marriage proposals that we politely declined (your welcome dad!) and then were able to pray for the men before leaving.
You never know what the day holds at the village in Malealea.
update: my team and I made it to Manzini, Swaziland a couple days ago and will start ministry on Monday! I am also still in need of a little over 1,000 dollars in order to stay on the race! If you feel led to donate you can give on this blog. Thank you!
