Home again, home again jiggity jig

Hi! Sorry it's been so long since we updated our blog. Hopefully we'll find some kind of a routine in this busy place called America!Most of you know that I (Glenn) was at Hobe Sound, FL for a missions convention at Hobe Sound Bible Church and meetings at HIM the end of November. From there I drove to Ohio to spend a little time with my grandmother and family. Granny passed away Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the funeral was on the 27th. From OH I drove to Ottawa, KS to Steph's parents. Steph and Kaitlyn flew into Kansas City on the 6th. We are SO glad to be back together after 3 1/2 weeks! We'll be driving to Colorado next week to be with my family.

These pictures are a little old, but I thought you might like to see Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday celebration.

Steph made a bunny cake. Micah helped blow out the candles.Kaitlyn and her friends.Our Basotho friends sang a Sesotho version of Happy Birthday.Birthday Girl

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,

Here's a little prayer update.  Thank you so much for your faithfulness! 

Praise:

• Sunday the 4th of Nov. I visited the new congregation at Popenyane.  The service was very encouraging!  There are several new converts!

Prayer:

• This Popenyane congregation is planning to hold a weekend tent revival the last week of November.  Please pray as the church prepares for this evangelistic effort.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the village in a special way between now and then, too!
• Keep praying for Stephanie and her work at Hope Christian Academy.  Pray for all of the teachers and students as they finish up the last few weeks of the school year.  (Here the school year ends on the 30th of November.)
  
• Pray for me as I finish last minute preparations and packing to leave for America next Monday.  Pray especially for Stephanie and Kaitlyn while we are apart!  (She comes on the 5th of December.)
  

God bless!

Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

From Lesotho

Dear Everyone,

Things are going faster and faster here as my departure gets closer.  There have been several mission projects that I've tried to finish up before I leave, so that has put on extra pressure.  Some of the TEE projects won't get done, but others look like they'll be completed.  It doesn't seem like there's that much news in our lives in spite of the business, but let me see if I can think of a few things.

Friday Philip came out to our house for the evening to relax and visit a bit.  His stay was short because he had to attend a funeral in Ladybrand Saturday morning, and I also had to go to meetings.  We really enjoyed having him again.  He used to visit about every other week when we were starting the weekend Bible School together.  I guess there's no use wishing  the clock back, but hopefully there will be a time when were all not so busy and we can see more of him again!

Saturday morning I agreed to pick up a sick man at Ha Teko and bring him to the clinic.  They knew he needed to be transfered to the hospital, but they told me if I could get him to the clinic they could make a plan to get him on to the hospital because I had to go to a meeting.  When I got to his house, to be honest, I was shocked at his condition.  I'm not a squeamish sort of person, and I've seen a fair bit of sickness and gore since I came to Lesotho, but this was right at the limit of what I can stand.  In mercy I will spare you the details, but he had an open wound on his foot that had not been properly cared for.  I decided that meeting or no meeting, he needed special transport to the hospital, so I took him.

As a result I arrived at the meeting late.  I found that they hadn't really started yet, but were waiting for me.  The meeting was with the financial committee and representatives from all the congregations.  We were to discuss projects to benefit orphans.  Originally we asked each congregation to submit plans for a small income generating project that would benefit the orphans that come to their church.  Eventually most of the congregation submitted plans, but they came late, some weren't good at all, etc.  So we decided that it would be better to start one big project and put these plans off until next year to give us more time to revise them.  I think we were all nervous about how the congregations would respond especially because we would have to tell them or show them that some of their plans wouldn't work.  God really helped in the meeting.  We discussed all the projects one by one allowing people to offer advice, ask questions etc.  God providentially arranged that there would be someone with expertise or knowledge about each of the projects.  At the end, all of the "bad" projects were voluntarily withdrawn, every one was encouraged, and we plan to go ahead with implementing them in January. 

The big project that we're already working on is raising pigs.  Over the last 2+ weeks we've built a nice pig pen at Matukeng.  Yesterday we were supposed to pour the floor, but the weather didn't look good for cement work, so we didn't get that done.  We're planning to buy two females and one male pig and raise piglets for sale.  Several of the congregations had already planned
 to raise piglets as their orphan project, so will will probably supply them with piglets in the future.  The only thing left to do now is pour the floor, put a partial roof on, and buy the piglets.  I've already bought some of the food.

Sunday I visited the new congregation at Popenyane.  The Roma church is starting this "daughter" congregation.  They have been given a house in the village, and some of the youth go there every Sunday.  Either the assistant pastor or Nt. Matsaba preaches there most every Sunday, but if they can't make it, a young lady holds a Bible study.  There were several visitors, and some new converts who got saved the week before were there.  Though the congregation is mostly young people, I was very encouraged.  After the service we spent an hour and a half counseling some of the youth.  It is very rewarding to explain the Christian life to brand new converts that are hearing these things for the first time!  After the service one of the ladies asked us to come to her house and haul her tithe down to Roma to the church there.  She tithed approximately 200lbs of corn.  I didn't get home until after 5, and we didn't leave for Ladybrand until about 8.

The week has been fairly normal here in Ladybrand.  Monday I ran a lot of errands.  Tuesday Kaitlyn stayed at the Geises while I went to Lesotho to take care of business there.  Tuesday night Sis. Carol fixed a delicious meal and invited Geises and us!  She is really an amazing cook!  Today I have a few errands to do while Steph is at school, and lots of typing to do on the computer.

Hope you all of a good rest of the week.

Love,
Glenn, Steph, & Kaitlyn

Group Email

 

Hi everyone,
We're in Ladybrand again this week.  Steph's at school.  I've been
running Daddy's Daycare, writing a newsletter, working on a prayer card, etc.  For the moment Kaitlyn is happily playing on the floor, so I'll try to write you a few lines (oops! she just took her diaper off.)  Ok, try again.

Last week Steph only helped at the school Monday and Tuesday because I had a TEE meeting in Lesotho Wednesday morning.  The TEE project is going well, but needs funding.  We have all of the books translated now, five are ready to be published as soon as money is available, and another seven or eight are within a few weeks of being ready to publish.  If you think of it, please pray for God to provide money for this important project!  Our weekend Bible School students are ready for another book!

Wednesday morning before the meeting I helped Nt. Kali's father-in-law start digging the foundation for a pig pen down at the bottom of the property.  We are going to start raising pigs to help orphans in the church.  The plan is to make this a pilot project to learn the twists of the trade and then help each congregation or maybe individual orphans start similar projects.  Thursday we poured the foundation, and Friday started building the low block walls.  We got rained out by lunch time on Friday, but Nt. Kali and his father-in-law worked again on Monday and yesterday while we were here in Ladybrand.  I'll see to night how far they got, but I'm guessing they probably finished the walls.  We need to level and pour the floor and build some gates, and put a roof on that covers the back half of the pen still.  Nt. Pheko has located someone with some nice Landrance piglets for sale.  I think we'll start with these.  We still haven't decided whether to raise them for meat or for breeding.  Eventually we want to get to good quality females and one good male, but raising pigs for breeding takes longer to turn a profit and is probably a more risky investment.

I can't remember which day, but Steph got out the suitcases sometime during the week and started helping me sort and pack a few things. She's also been doing some baking and extra cooking to use up things out of the freezer since we'll be turning it off while we're gone.  She made some awesome brownies with macadamia nuts.

Kaitlyn is finally down for her nap, so I'll try to finish this up.
Friday night was the Bible School.  Me Mapheko led a very interesting discussion about prophecy.  (She is starting to lecture through the O.T. books of prophecy.)  God has given her a lot of wisdom and the ability to work well with youth, and help them learn to think for themselves. As usual we got home late.  Nt. Pheko and Me Mapheko stayed all night for the monthly ladies' prayer meeting.

Saturday I had to go back to Ha Matala to hold a meeting with the Sunday School teachers of all the congregations.  I was the only pastor there. All the others had either gone to funerals or to a wedding of a friend of the church.  The meeting went fairly well.  The purpose was to choose a committee that will promote the interests of child evangelism and children's ministry in the church as a whole.  The committee has been asked to plan a children's conference that will be during the same time as the youth conference over the Christmas holidays.  Saturday night we made a quick trip to Ladybrand.  We had been invited to the choir concert of the Ladybird Music Academy.  I kept Kaitlyn, but Steph went and REALLY enjoyed it.

This past Sunday was the most relaxing Lord's Day we've had in a long time.  Nt. Pheko preached at Matukeng.  He arrived just in time for the service, and left immediately afterwards.  Steph had prepared a meal for him, but he couldn't stay because he had to preach again at Mazenod at 3:00 in the afternoon.  The chief of the village had asked him to preach at a village meeting.  He is very well respected in his village and throughout Lesotho because of his ministry and preaching on the radio. After a quick lunch, we packed up and came to Ladybrand.

Since we've been here in Ladybrand, Steph has been wanting to have some of the other missionaries over for supper, so Monday night Philip, Steve, Gwen, & family, and Sis. Carol Witter came for supper.  Steph made yummy peanut curry.  We really enjoyed the evening visiting.

 

Tuesday morning I planned to leave soon after breakfast to go to Lesotho to try to get Steph's residence permit transfered to her new passport. On the way out of Ladybrand I stopped to put air in one of the car tires.  I noticed that the car was leaking oil, so I checked it out. The oil pressure sending unit had gone bad and was leaking pretty bad. I drove to the nearest parts store and fortunately they had one in stock.  I put it in quickly and headed out of town again.  At the edge of town the oil pressure light came on and a buzzer sounded.  I switched off the engine immediately and coasted into a gas station at the bottom of the hill.  I added a pint of oil, which seemed to solve the problem. I started off again, but almost immediately the buzzer and light came on again.  I coasted off the road and checked the oil again.  The oil was fine, and eventually I determined that the problem was the sending
unit.  I bought the wrong one.  For some reason only a German could explain, VWs have to sending units that work together.  I finally got to Maseru, got the residence permit put in the new passport after a long wait.

Well, that's the news of our lives.  Hope you all have a good week!

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
Once again God has answered prayer, and Satan has been defeated!
Praise:

• The young lady who was demon-possessed seems to have been delivered! Praise God for this victory, but continue praying for her.  Satan won't give up easily!
• I visited Bro. Chele where he is holding a tent meeting last Thursday.  God is at work in these services.  Several people came forward to seek the Lord at the end of the service.
• My weekend in the mountains went well.  Lots of people from the village who don't even attend church turned out to help us with the work.  We not only moved the modular church, but also poured a floor and built a low rock wall around the outside of it to keep water from running in side.  God also really blessed the service on Sunday.  Thanks for praying!

Prayer:

• Please keep praying for the tent meeting.  Bro. Chele wants to continue the services for several more weeks.
• We are starting a pig raising project to help support orphans.  Please pray for God's help and blessing on this project!
• Please pray for us especially.  Our schedule is very busy between the work in the Lesotho and Stephanie helping at the school here in Ladybrand 2-3 days a week.

Thank you so much for supporting us with your prayer!

Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

My Weekend at HaMokhachane

First we set up the modular church. The men are chipping holes into the sandstone so we can cement in steel anchors to hold it down. The ladies in the background are taking a rest after carrying the yellow 5-gallon containers of water up from the dam.

After the church was all set up and tied down, the young men in blue built a low stone wall around it to keep water from running inside. We also poured a floor inside. The church isn't very big, but it was a lot of work! All the sand had to be shoveled out of the river, and we mixed the cement by hand.Grandma Matumo, one of the "founding members" gave this little house to the church for a parsonage. The thick rock walls make in cool in summer, and the thatched roof makes it warm in winter. It's a comfortable place for us to stay when we visit this congregation.

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
Once again we want to tell you how grateful we are for your prayer support!  The spiritual oppression seems very strong right now, but we are encouraged knowing how great our God is and how many people are supporting us in prayer.

• First, an urgent prayer request:  We are interceding for a young lady who is demon possessed.  Since Friday last week she has been suffering terrible pains in her chest.  When we pray for her she goes into demonic seizures.  The Lord is easily able to deliver her if she will only trust Him.  Please join us in fighting this intense spiritual battle through prayer! Pray for her deliverance, and the protection and salvation of her whole family.
• This weekend I'm planning to go to the mountains to the congregation at Mapoteng.  The chief has given us a site for a church there, and we are going to move the temporary modular church to this lot.  Pray for this work.
• The tent meeting at Ha Seeiso was stopped temporarily because of the rain and wind, but this week is dry and hot again, so the meeting is going on.  Pray for Bro. Chele, the young man who is preaching at the tent every night.  I plan to visit him tomorrow evening, and probably preach there.
• Pray for the team of missionaries here and those on deputation in America.

Thank you!
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Helping Mama

I love helping Mama bake cakes!

The Long-Lost Group E-mail

Dear Everyone,
Seems like it's been forever since we've written a group e-mail.  We've tried to write to a few of you in the mean time, but it's probably time for a little update on our lives.

Probably most of you know that Stephanie's Grandma died just over a week ago on Saturday.  She'd been fairly low for a while, and we knew that she didn't have long to live.  Of course we'd hoped that we'd see her again, but we know she's much happier in heaven.

Another item of interest might be that we got tickets to come home.  I leave on the 12th of November from Bloemfontein and arrive in West Palm Beach, FL the following day.  Steph flies on the 5th of December from Bloem to Kansas City arriving the following day also.  The travel agent got us good connections.  I think Steph has the longest layover in Atlanta.  It's a little over 3 hours if I remember right.  We're in the U.S. until the 15th of April.

Last week on Wednesday Nt. Mokoena and I helped Bro. Chele pitch a tent near his home village. Today Nt. Mokoena goes back to move it to another village.  I think Bro. Chele will have services there every night for several weeks.  I'm going to try to go this Thursday.  We trust that the end result will be another church planted.  Please pray a lot for this for!

Thursday last week was a one-day youth conference.  Uncle Gideon from Smithfield preached in the morning.  He spoke very well about the hidden life with Christ Jesus.  In the afternoon the youth committee reported on their work over the last two years, and a new committee was chosen.  I had to come to Ladybrand for an urgent meeting at the school, so I'm not sure who was chosen.

The meetings at the school ran fairly late Thursday night.  We slept at Michelle's place that night, then left for Bloem that next morning.  I returned some parts from Philip's truck, bought a chairs for one of the congregations in Lesotho (they saved up enough money to buy 11 good quality stackable chairs), plus all the usual errands.  We spent the night at Heidi's place and went to the craft fair Saturday.  We had hoped to finds some little gifts to give to pastors that have us for services on deputation, but didn't find anything.  We went to a big wholesale place and found a few things that will have to do.  On the way home I had to stop at Philip's house to write an important letter on behalf of the school board.  (I'm the secretary.)  It was just after 7 when we finally got home.  It was a long weekend, but we really enjoyed the time together as a family!

Sunday I preached at Matukeng.  The attendance has been down for the last several months.  Some of the new converts seemed to have kind of lost out and only attend once in a while.  Please help us pray for them.

Today (Monday) we're in Ladybrand again.  Steph's at school.  Kaitlyn is sweeping the floors with her toy broom.  It's nice when she plays on her own for a while so I can get some things done.  I need to work on TEE, schedule deputation services, type some minutes for a meeting, etc. etc.  Of course it won't all get done, but I better get started.

Cheers (as the Brits say.)
Glenn

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
It seems like there is so much to praise God for--and so much to pray about, too.  Thanks for remembering these requests as you pray!
Praise:

• The rainy season has finally started!  We had a snow storm back in June that helped a little, but we haven't had significant rain since January or February.  Many people have said it was the driest year that they could remember.  As a result, there has been a lot of hunger and malnutrition in Lesotho.  Lots of people had already slaughtered their cows because the rivers were completely dray.  We are SO grateful for the moisture!
• Yesterday I was invited to preach at a graduation party or feast of a young man who got saved in the Ha Hlalele church.  He no longer attends our church, but his pastor and I divided the time.  The Holy Spirit really moved on the people of the village, and many came forward to pray when the other pastor made an invitation.  I had the privilege of praying for the pastor of the local Catholic church and 'Me Remi's husband.  To my knowledge it is the first time he has sought the Lord.  Please pray that these men will really get saved!  They are notorious drunkards, and their salvation would completely change the village!

Prayer:

• Please pray for Stephanie and her family.  Her Grandma Stratton passed away Saturday in New York.  As far as we know, the funeral is Tuesday.
• Please pray for Stephanie as she helps out at Hope Christian Academy.  The last term of the school year started today.  Often this is a difficult term in any school.  Please pray much for all the students, staff, and parents.  At the last board meeting, the teachers gave good reports of how several students have found spiritual help, but Satan is fighting hard.
• Wednesday this week we will be pitching a tent in a new area.  God has called Bro. Chele, a young man who is attending our weekend Bible School, to go back to his home village and start a church.  Please pray a lot for him!
• Thursday is the annual youth conference. 

News:

• We got our tickets to come home for deputation last week.  I will be leaving the 12th of November to attend a mission convention and meetings at Hobe Sound.  Stephanie will come on the 5th of December after the academy closes.  She will fly directly to Kansas.  After the mission convention I plan to do some deputation services as I travel to meet Stephanie and Kaitlyn in Kansas.  If you are interested in having us for a service, or know someone who is, please contact us!  We have to schedule all our own services this time, and it is quite a challenge!

May God bless you all!

Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn
Hope International Missions

Group E-mail

Dear everyone,
Greetings from Ladybrand. Steph hasn't come back from school yet, but I'm sure she'll be home any time now. As for me, I'm running Daddy Daycare plus trying to get a newsletter written. I'm not to good at multi-tasking, so the newsletter's not done yet, and I don't know what Kaitlyn would say about the daycare.

This past weekend I went with Nt. Molise back to his home village to hold a tent meeting. It's a few miles above Roma in a narrow little valley with sand stone cliffs on either side. The name of the place is Mokhokhong. I had wanted to spend the whole weekend with him there, but with being in Ladybrand Monday and Tuesday, I had to do some other stuff Saturday. We pitched the tent Friday afternoon, and then I helped him with a short children's service just after dark. By the end 15 to 18 children had come. Pastor Molise is excellent with children, and the children seemed to enjoy the service. He told about Jesus birth and used the the angel's words to Joseph (You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins) to make application.

Saturday I worked on our vehicles most of the day. The front brakes on the golf were worn out, so I replaced them, plus an oil change, etc. etc. I also spent a few minutes finishing up (I hoped) the waste oil furnace. I plumbed in the oil supply and it works very well except the little valve I have leaks at the handle. I assume an o-ring or something is shot in it. I may be able to repair it, but I'm doubtful. I had hoped to take it to Ha Matala and install it on Wed. this week, but I guess that won't be happening.

On Saturday Nt. Molise preached to the people around dawn from a sand stone "pulpit" above the village. Though the village is VERY strong Roman Catholic, they all seem to respect him. He said lots of people were standing outside listening by the time he ended. By early afternoon he held a children's service, then around 2:30 he preached to the adults and young people.

Sunday I left the house about 8:30 to go back to the tent meeting. I got there shortly before the 10:00 o'clock children's service. I
suppose 20 children showed up to sing, learn scripture verses, and listen to a Bible story. The singing at the 11:00 service was fairly week until Nt. Molise started singing some Catholic hymns that he remembered from his days as an altar boy. The two he sang had excellent words. I felt like it was a good application of Paul's philosophy of ministry: "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."

I preached (I suppose it could hardly be called preaching, more
exhorting) using my personal testimony and contrasting Jesus words, "Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me," and "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, for I will give you rest." I felt like God used the rather scattered ideas to touch some of the people. Quite a few responded to the invitation, but I'm not sure if any really accepted the Lord. Both Nt. Molise and I felt like the week and been spent planting the seed of the Gospel. Help us pray that the harvest will be plentiful! He is planning to go there one Sunday a month to encourage the people since he has a few young men who are beginning to help with the services at Ha Seleso where he is pastor.

Well, I've got lots to do, so I'll send this see if I can make some more progress on the newsletter.

Love to all,
Glenn

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
Here's a little prayer and praise update.  Thanks for remembering us.
Praise:

• The outreach at Mokhokhong that we asked you to pray for last time went well.  The village is strongly Roman Catholic, but it seemed like a number of people were responding to the Lord.  I'm not sure if any new people got saved, but God helped us plant the seed.  Pray that it will bear much fruit!

Prayer:

• Please continue praying for Stephanie as she's helping out at the school in Ladybrand.  Since she has no background with the ACE system, there is lots to learn.
• Back in June a team of young people from South Africa helped us put a ceiling in some rooms at Ha Matala.  There is still some work to finish up this project.  Please pray that this work will go quickly and smoothly.  It seems like our schedule is packed, and it's hard to find a couple days to fit this work in.
• Please pray a lot for the pastors in Lesotho.  Ask God to revive all of us and give us new vision for His work.

Never forget:  God works when we pray!

In His service,
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
I'm sorry that it's been such a long time since we sent you a prayer update.  When I (Glenn) got back from Zimbabwe, we sent an e-mail to quite a few people to let them know that I was home, but for some reason I forgot to write to you.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We (the team that went to Zimbabwe and Stephanie & Kaitlyn who stayed home) really felt them.  If you want to know more about the trip, you can go to our blog http://gaultsinlesotho.blogspot.com and click on the newsletter archive link.  On the right sidebar, there's a link called Zimbabwe and Back that opens a report with pictures.
Praise:

• God really helped us on the trip.  Since there was no way for us to exchange the Zimbabwean Dollars into a usable currency, we left the Bibles for the pastors to sell to help support them and their churches during this extremely difficult time.  (People estimate that inflation is at least 7000% per year.  That means prices more than double every week!)  God also gave a number of spiritual victories during the conference.
• Wednesday night I prayed together with several other Christians for a lady who was demon possessed.  Though it was a tremendous spiritual battle, God delivered the lady.  While we were praying I was so grateful for all of you who pray for us regularly.  It really strengthened my faith knowing that you were praying, too!

Prayer:

• Stephanie will be helping in the academy in Ladybrand as a teacher's assistant/monitor on Mondays and Tuesdays while Michelle Asbell is on deputation.  Please pray a lot for her and the students she works with.  Pray for us as a family, too.  This will put extra pressure on our already busy schedule.  Pray that I will be able to keep up with the work in Lesotho that needs to be done as well us taking care of Kaitlyn.
• The pastors are planning several evangelistic outreaches in Lesotho for the next few months.  Pray especially for a weekend tent meeting in the village of Mekhokhong from the 7th to the 9th of September.  This village is the home place of one of the pastors.  Several of his family and friends have gotten saved and our begging us to help them spiritually.
• Pray that God will give all of us a revival!  We are hungry for more of His presence!

News:

• We don't have definite dates yet, but it looks like we may be home to do deputation sometime around the end of the year.  Please pray that God will show us the right time.  We're looking forward to see you!

Thanks again for praying for us!!  We feel it and appreciate it!
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn
Hope International Missions

The "Group E-mail"

Actually we're in South Africa at Uncle Johan's farm. We came last night in time for supper with them, were at the 6:00am missionary prayer meeting this morning, then I (Glenn) went to Ladybrand for a few errands. Tonight is our Missionary Team Meeting, so we'll be together with the other missionaries. These meetings are always a blessing.

Sorry for sending the wrong address for the Zimbabwe and Back report. This should work: http://gsgault.googlepages.com/zimbabweandback.pdf You can also reach it from the blog http://gaultsinlesotho.blogspot.com then click on the newsletter archive. The link appears in the right side bar once the archive opens. Please let me know again if you can't get it.

I can't think of a whole lot to write today. I guess it's been a boring week or something. Probably the most memorable thing was praying with a demon-possessed lady Wednesday night. We prayed for more than two hours, but it seemed much longer. It was very intense and exhausting. The demons made her so strong that four people couldn't hold her down. It was only through prayer that she could be restrained. Nt. Kali, who is much more used to dealing with these problems was gone until late. When he came his faith in encouraged the rest of us, and God delivered her fairly soon. It was an intense spiritual war, and I was so thankful and encouraged by the thought that so many people pray for us every day. Please know that God is at work when you pray even though you may never know what is going on.

We've been trying to get ready for when Steph starts helping at the academy on Monday next week. We did supporter thank yous, tried to write some extra e-mails, letters, etc. Steph's been busy around the housing cleaning, organizing, etc., and I had a little time to work on some projects I've been wanting to do to.
One of the things I did was build a furnace that burns used motor oil. I want to put it in the class room that we're renovating at Ha Matala for the Bible School. It's a shame that the winter is nearing its end. It sure would have helped on those frigid evenings in June and July. We'll still have some cold weather for another month, too, so hopefully we can enjoy it. I still have to finish up the fuel supply part of it, but I was able to try it with dripping oil in through a funnel. Now I've got to work on collecting used oil, but several people are saving for me already. If it really works well, I'll make another one to heat water for conferences.

Hope you all have a good week. Maybe we'll write more when we're in town Monday or Tuesday next week.

Love to all,
Glenn

Back from Zimbabwe

I'll try to write more details next week, but I just wanted to let ou
all know that we got home safely from Zimbabwe.  Thank you so much for praying.  We saw God answer prayers so many times.  To me the biggest miracle was when we crossed the border.  The last time I went there, it took 6+ hours of elbowing your way to the front of lines.  This time it only took 45 minutes!  I don't think we waited in any line more than 5 minutes!  It was amazing!  Normally there are hundreds of people trying to get huge car, truck, and bus loads of things into the country to sell.  There had been a rumor (it may have been the truth, but it didn't happen) that the Government was going to stop imports from South Africa
on the 1st of August.  Maybe people were afraid of this deadline and were waiting to see what would happen.  Anyway we sure had an easy entrance into the country.  The last step in the process is the vehicle inspection.  Customs agents can almost disassemble your vehicle see if you declared everything and aren't smuggling.  There are two lanes--the green one and the red one.  Since we had lots of food aid to declare, we weren't sure which line to go in.  Before we drove up there, I asked one of the officials which line we should go to.  He said, "If you think you've filled out the papers properly, then you should definitely go to the green line.  We don't want to see you in the red lane."  When I drove the vehicle up he stamped the pass without ever looking up from his newspaper.  All of the government officials we met (police,
soldiers, immigration, etc.) all seemed very unmotivated and
discouraged.  It was very sad.

We had originally planned to sell the 1500 Bibles and use the money to help the church.  We had considered buying cows since Africans typically are very good at caring for them and they appreciate instead of depreciating.  When we saw the economic situation and how difficult life is for the pastors, we felt it was better to leave the Bibles for them to sell so that they can live off the money.  A huge amount of their daily lives is spent just trying to put food on the table.  Most of them are not able to do any ministry because life is so complex and ever-changing at the moment.  Another reason we chose to do this was that if we were selling Bibles it would arouse a lot of suspicion and could end up in problems for us.  The pastors wouldn't let Uncle Piet and I even pass out tracts.  The black men from Ladybrand could be a bit more free, but there were still places they couldn't go.  The final
reason we opted to leave the Bibles for them to sell was because of
inflation.  The Bibles will hold their value.  If we had sold them all,
it would be difficult to get enough cows for sale at a fair price before the money devalued.

The conference went well, but it was a tremendous spiritual battle.  We did a lot of counseling and personal evangelism during the weekend of the conference.  It seemed that there was a steady stream of people coming to our tents or to sit around the fire who were seeking spiritual advice.  Unfortunately, most of the people in the church are unsaved. The man who founded the church was an expert at organizing and motivating people, but he was very shallow spiritually.  His son who is now the leader, seems to be much more interested in really helping people get saved.
One lady was confused and struggling with questions about ancestors, demons, false prophets who had told her that her daughter would not be able to marry because of a curse in the family.  The Lord reminded me of numbers of scriptures that dealt directly with her problem.  As we read and talked her face literally began to shine as she understood Jesus' power to deliver her and her whole family from the power of these demonic things.  I have never seen a person's countenance change so
drastically in such a short time.  It is an awesome privilege to be used by God!

The economic situation in the country is shocking.  Currently the
government admits that inflation is 4700% per year.  That means that prices double approximately every week!  About a week before we went, the government introduced price controls on many products especially food and lowered prices by 50%.  The result is empty shelves in the super markets.  Wednesday night when we were coming home, we wanted to use up the rest of our Zimbabwean dollars.  We went to the best grocery store in a reasonably large city.  There was quite a bit of stuff on the shelves, but nothing worth buying.  For example, you could by tomato sauce, all kinds of wines and beers, powdered soup mixes, and cardboard cookies, but there was no bread, corn meal, rice, Coke, sugar, or salt. I finally went out onto the street and bought 6 large avocados for R12.50 (less than $2).  Uncle Piet "squandered" the rest of his money on a box of cheap ice cream.  It was the first time I've ever experienced having money but having a hard time spending it. Even reasonably well-to-do people in the cities can't buy meat.  I talked to one man who has a successful business who had not eaten meat for 4 weeks.  Many people are leaving the cities and moving back to rural villages where they can buy or raise corn, cabbage, chicken and goats.  In the mornings there is a steady stream of people, wheel barrows, hand carts, and ox carts going out of towns to the country to buy food on the black market.  (The politically correct term for the black market is "private sales."

The business man I mentioned who could not get meat in Harare installs security and alarm systems for big businesses, embassies, etc.  He has two rates of payment.  If the customer can pay in a foreign currency, then the price is less.  If they plan to pay in Zim Dollars, then the price is higher because he has to pay handsome commissions to exchange it for foreign currency.  He said that when he gets paid in Z$, he has to have it all exchanged into a foreign currency (on the black market) within 4 days or he will lose most of the profits from the job.

Well, that gives you a little idea of what happened.  I will try to
write more.  Thanks again so much for your prayers. Both Steph and I really appreciated them!!!

Glenn

Pictures

Here's Kaitlyn with Mama's hat.

The TLC team that visited us for a few days.

Here's our yard in the recent "blizzard."
Ok, we only got 2 inches. :-)

Lesotho Update

Dear Pray-ers,
Praise:

• Thank you so much for praying about the political situation here.  Though the problems have not been solved, things are much more calm again.  The curfew was lifted last week, and there haven't been near as many military check points.  Praise God for this answer to prayer!  Please do continue to pray for these problems.
• Help us praise the Lord for a good sense of unity among the pastors.  For a while it seemed that satan had sowed seeds of disunity that could bring a lot of damage to God's Kingdom.

Prayer:

• A team of young people from a church in South Africa are visiting the Marais' and us to help with outreaches in Lesotho.  Please pray much for these young people.  Ask God to make them a blessing and also pray that this will be a time of spiritual growth for them.  Pray that we missionaries will live so close to Jesus that it will make them hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• Pray for the annual ladies conference this weekend.
• Continue praying for revival in Lesotho. 
• Pray much for the upcoming Bible distribution trip to Zimbabwe.  Our departure date has changed to the 17th of July instead of the 10th.  

News:

• We got snow yesterday!  No, it wasn't very much, but enough to make snowmen.  It hasn't snowed this much here in the lowlands since 1996, so it was quite an event!

The Official Group E-Mail

Hi everyone,
I'm sitting in my warmest coat with my hood up.  It's cold with a nasty wind blowing.  I'm sure the wind chill factor must be down in the single digits F.  I suppose the temp is in the mid 20's still. 

Yesterday something unusual happened.  We go snow in the lowlands.  Somebody told me the last time it happened was in 1996.  The day started out cloudy and cool and got colder all day.  Nt. Mokoena and I were in Maseru around 5:00pm when I noticed a few pellets of sleet.  I went into the grocery store, and when I came out a few minutes later, there was already 2 inches of snow.  I brushed it off the windshield of the car and started around clearing all the windows.  By the time I got back to the front, the windshield was covered again.  I don't know if I ever remember seeing it snow so hard in my life.  Maybe I've forgotten, but the snow was falling in fist sized clumps.  The temp was right at freezing, so most of it melted as it fell.  Nt. Kali was at Ha Motheho and said there was about 6" there.  As usual, Matukeng didn't get as much.  Actually, it's warmer here, so more melted as it fell.  I don't think there was more than about 2 inches here.

This morning I went to Ha Motheho with the 4X4 to get a load of church benches for the conference.  The village was absolutely beautiful with a white blanket over everything including the thatch roof houses.  The rusty red mud plaster contrasted nicely with the white wonderland.  I wished I'd have taken the camera!  In Maseru there were big snow men in the main traffic circle at the center of town.  By afternoon the sun came out and the snow is all gone here in the village, but the top of the mountain is still white.

It's been very busy since we last wrote.  Thursday morning I went to Ladybrand to pick up the TLC team in Ladybrand.  They did some shopping on the way in Maseru and Steph had lunch for us when they got here.  After lunch I took the two boys into town to buy some building materials.  We got back late because there was an army check point on the way home.  Traffic was terrible but fortunately they didn't search us or our vehicle.

Friday they helped with an outreach at Ha Seleso.  They did a children's service, we passed out tracts and then had a short service for adults.  They did a great job.Saturday we climbed the mountain behind our house.  Only three of them (Jeremy Howard, Klaus Hobbs, & Priscilla Lefever) made it to the top.  I stayed with the rest of the girls who made it about 3/4 of the way or a little more.  I think they had fun.  In the afternoon they went down into the donga below our house then we went into Ladybrand for supper.  They took us out to a nice restaurant there.  We had a really nice time while they were with us.

Thanks so much for praying for the political situation here.  I don't think the problems have been solved, but the curfew has been lifted with helped to calm things down again.  It seems as though a small part of the military mutinied or are in rebellion against the current government.  They stole some government vehicles, firearms, etc. and temporarily kidnapped some of the government ministers body guards.  It's all related to politics and needs continued prayer.  So far there doesn't seem to be particularly dangerous for foreigners, but the situation is volatile.

A team of South African young people were supposed to arrive for a 10 day visit at Uncle Piet's on Sunday, but somehow their transportation didn't work out.  (I think they had chartered a taxi, but it broke down.)  Uncle Piet felt sorry for them and sent S.W. with his truck to pick them up on Monday.  They are staying with Marais' but want to help with outreaches, etc. in Lesotho.  Since they arrived a day late, it kind of threw off plans a little, and then this snow storm changed things even more.  Tuesday they helped Nt. Mokoena and I and a few other young men put a ceiling in two rooms at Ha Matala.  Today we had planned to go to a village in the mountains to pass out tracts and hold a service, but we couldn't with the snow.  The Lord willing, they'll be back Friday and Saturday for outreaches in two other villages.  Please pray a lot for them.  Several of them probably aren't saved.  The purpose of their visit is to expose them to mission work and also try to help them spiritually.

Besides hosting teams there is a ladies' conference this weekend.  The special speakers (Bro. and Sis. Merrifield) will be staying with us.  Another thing that keeps us busy is that I'm working on getting ready to go to Zimbabwe.  As of now, I think we'll leave the 17th, so there's still a little time.

Well, I need to write another note or two, so I'll sign off.

Love you all.  Thank for praying!
Glenn, Steph, & Kaitlyn
P.S. I'm going to try to put some pictures on the blog.

Lesotho Update

Dear Friends,
This is going to have to be short.  Just the same, we really appreciate your prayers!

Our urgent prayer request for the moment concerns the political situation in Lesotho.  On Saturday the 16th the Government of Lesotho declared a state of emergency and is imposing a 6pm to 6am curfew.  No travel is allowed on foot or by road during that time without a special permit.  The reason they declared the state of emergency is that several government ministers have been attacked or had property stolen.  I think one or two had cars stolen, and several of their body guards were attacked, kidnapped, etc.  Also I heard that an army base somewhere had a lot of weapons stolen.  Supposedly this curfew will help the situation.  There are also army check points where people are being searched for weapons, etc.

At the moment, the situation is not that dangerous to us.  The violence has been limited to government people and we think that the whole thing may be motivated more by politics than an emergency.  The majority of people who own vehicles and taxis belong to the opposition party.  We suspect that the curfew is kind of aimed at them.  Nevertheless, African politics are by nature unpredictable and can turn violent very easily.  Please pray much for this situation!

Sunday the 10th of June I went with two of the pastors to our congregation near Mapoteng.  God is really at work in the village there, and I was very encouraged at the progress this congregation has made.  Help us praise the Lord for this!

Thanks again for your prayers!

Glenn, Stephanie, and Kaitlyn Gault

Hope International Missions

Lesotho Update

Dear Pray-ers,
Here's a little update to help you pray more effectively.
Praise:

• Thank you for praying for our Whit Sunday service in Ladybrand.  One of the big hurdles for a joint service like this is to get Christians through the border into South Africa.  This can often take 2+ hours on a Sunday afternoon.  I (Glenn) went to the border and talked to the official in charge a few days before the service.  This lady arranged for an immigration officer to help our group in an inside office.  We didn't have to wait in the line at all.  Everyone enjoyed the service!
• This past Sunday a young Christian asked for advice on how to pay tithe.  He found some part-time work and wants to give back a part to God.  This is a real victory!  Most of the people in our churches are still very weak in this area.

Prayer:

• This weekend I will be going with several other pastors to visit the congregation near Mapoteng in the mountains.  We need a lot of wisdom to make wise decisions with them.  We are hoping to find a dedicated Christian there whom we can train as a pastor/leader for the people there.
• Please keep praying for our annual Bible distribution trip which will be to Zimbabwe this year.  There are still many details to be worked out.   We plan to leave around the 10th of July.
• Also keep praying for the special prayer request that we mentioned last time.
• Pray for outreaches in Lesotho.  Two teams will be visiting to help with these.

News:

• We got more than an inch of rain this week!  I never thought I'd be happy to see mud, but after a very dry summer, it actually looks pretty good! :-)

We are always grateful for your faithful prayer support!  May the Lord bless you!
Glenn, Stephanie, and Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Group E-mail

Hope you are all doing well.  Seems like short e-mails from us have become the norm.

I suppose the biggest news item in our lives is rain!  It rained and misted on and off all day Tuesday and most of the night.  Then it rained a little more Wednesday.  Even last night I woke up and heard a little sprinkle.  After a very dry summer, it's nice to see mud again!  And the high mountains are just beautiful with a thick blanket of snow.

It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot that's newsy in our lives.  Let me think...

Sunday night we went to a missionary farewell in Maseru.  Three missionary families are leaving Lesotho in the next few weeks.  The ones we know the best are Baptist missionaries who have contributed a lot of time and money to the translation of the TEE books we are using in the Bible School.  They have been in Lesotho about 17 years, and actually helped Nt. Pheko start the church at Roma.  We will miss them.  They have a very broad vision for God's Kingdom and aren't afraid to help other churches.
Tuesday we had to make a trip to Bloemfontein.  I took my tent to a shop there to have new zippers sewn in it.  They kept calling me to tell me it was done, and I was afraid they were going to sell it or something.  Steph also had some lab work done.  Her cardiologist is trying to determine exactly what caused her stroke since he doesn't think it was a result of a damaged heart valve.  Medical care is normally surprisingly cheap in South Africa, but I have to admit I was a bit shocked when the lady handed me the bill.  I'm glad it was here and not  America!!!  As usual, the highlight of the day for Kaitlyn was the McDonald's playland.

I'm still working on TEE whenever I get a spare minute.  It's coming well.  I'm trying to finish another book before I go to Zimbabwe in July.

Thursday we went to the border to renew our 6-month border passes.  It used to be that I could renew all of them, but anymore everyone has to be there.  They've changed the system, so it doesn't take near as long as it used to.  I think we were done in less than 10 minutes.

This Sunday I'm going to Mapoteng in the mountains.  The church there has lost it's pastor again.  We are hoping to train someone who lives there to do the work.  It's a much more long-term proposition, but I think it will be more successful.
We're in Ladybrand for the day (Friday).  Tonight we have our monthly missionary team meeting.  It's always nice to be together, and hear what everybody else is doing.

Love you all,
Glenn, Steph, and Kaitlyn

A Few Pix

Kaitlyn says, "Look at my pony tails!"

This is Kaitlyn with Limpho, Nt. Kosi' boy.

If any of you have read our most recent newsletter on the web site, here's a follow-up of the funeral.

Hi

Dear Everyone,
As usual these days, this is going to have to be quick.  We are in Ladybrand.  I'm sitting at Spar while Steph gets our groceries.  After a few weeks of a little more relaxed schedule, it seems like the pace is picking up again!  Every weekend in May I had meetings, and it looks like it will be the same until I leave for Zimbabwe in July.  Tomorrow is the annual church board meeting in Lesotho, so there has been lots of things to get ready for that.  This was the first year I have had to give a report to the board, so writing that out in Sesotho took a lot of time.  I think the grammar still has some problems here and there, but Nt. Kali read through it, helped me with a few corrections, and seemed to be able to understand everything.

Steph has been working a little bit everyday this week on bookkeeping.  We got behind on it the first part of the year, so she's really trying to get it all caught up again.  It's a big job because she can only snatch a few minutes here and there between caring for Kaitlyn, etc.

I've been working around our yard a couple days this week in my spare moments trying to get things cleaned up.  Between the building project at our house and the work we did last year and in January at the clinic, there's a lot of stuff laying around.  It's always hard to know what to keep and what to give to people for firewood or just throw away.  Over time I use a lot of scraps of lumber, even small ones, but I don't really have a place to store all the lovely scraps now.

Nt. Kali has been spending Thursday afternoons at Ha Motheho passing out tracts and visiting from door to door with some of the church people there.  They made some good contacts.  Last Saturday he attended a funeral at Matukeng.  The Anglican church was in charge, but they also gave the pastor of another apostate church an opportunity to preach.  They both preached the deceased straight into heaven because she had been faithful to support the Anglican church financially.  Unfortunately, both these pastors are some of the biggest drunks in the village.  Right at the end the Anglican pastor also gave Nt. Kali a few minutes to preach.  He felt lead to use a couple choice texts that state that drunkards cannot go to heaven.  (At funerals virtually everyone is drunk.  It's part of it.  They brew at least one 55 gallon drum.)  It seemed like the Holy Spirit used the few words he said to really convict some of the people.  Both the pastors didn't seem too impressed, though!

Well, I suppose I better get this finished up.  I want to put a couple pictures on the blog, too.  Hopefully everything works out OK.

Love,
Glenn, Steph, & Kaitlyn

Lesotho Update

Dear Pray-ers,
Thank you so much for your prayers.  We have really appreciated them through the last three weeks.  Lots has happened that needed God's intervention.  Though we didn't have a chance to keep you updated, God has been answering your prayers.
Praise:

• Kaitlyn had a nasty round of bronchitis again.  We were really afraid she was going to end up in the hospital, but God touched her.  When we put her to bed this last Sunday night, she was having difficulty breathing.  We asked the other missionaries here to pray, and within a few minutes she was breathing normally and sleeping deeply.  Help us praise the Lord for this clear answer to prayer!
• Praise God for helping with the translation work on TEE (a correspondence Bible course.)  I (Glenn) checked the final proofs from the publisher for two books this week.  There are almost no books in Sesotho to help pastors study the Bible.  Having a whole course of books in their language at an affordable price will greatly benefit God's Kingdom!

Prayer:

• Please pray for the Sunday School teachers in our churches.  We will be holding a seminar or workshop to encourage them this weekend.  Reaching children with the Gospel is vital to the future of Lesotho with 30% of the population HIV positive.
• Our churches will be celebrating Whit Sunday (Pentecost Sunday) at a joint service in Ladybrand, South Africa.  Pray that God's presence will be especially real in this service.  A number of our new converts need the power and purity that comes with being filled with the Holy Spirit.  (Keep praying for this even after Whit Sunday.)
• We have a very special prayer request that we can't share the details of.  Please ask our all-knowing God to intervene in this situation. 
• HIM missionaries will be hosting two teams during the months of June and July.  One is a TLC team from America; the other is from South Africa.  These teams will mostly be in South Africa, but we will be coordinating outreaches with them in Lesotho.  Pray for the teams, us missionaries, and the outreaches.

Once again, we want you to know how important your prayers are to us!  May God bless you for your part in spreading the message of salvation and holiness in Lesotho.

Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Newsletter

If you're interested, you can read our latest newsletter by clicking on the newsletter archive link to the right.

the Group E-mail

Hi everyone,
We had hoped to write more e-mails while we're in town today, but it's going to have to be short. I forgot the adapter so that I can plug our computer into a 220v outlet here in South Africa

I guess we always keep busy, but life hasn't been quite as hectic as it was for a while. Yesterday was Ascension Day, a public holiday in Lesotho. I preached at a short morning service, then in the afternoon, we drove up into the mountains to Mohale Dam. It was lots of fun. We really enjoyed being together, seeing the scenery, etc. I think the highest mountain pass is just under 9,000 feet on the way there. The road is paved all the way, but there are some really steep sections. Some people were still harvesting corn. I think they got a little more rain than we did, but even in our area some people got fair crops. It is supposedly the driest year in South Africa since the 1930's. On the way back we met some other missionaries driving up to Mohale Dam to camp (i think.) They were going to rent a boat to go out to an island in the lake.

There's not a lot been going on in our lives worth writing about. Steph's been trying to catch up on correspondence. We wrote and sent a newsletter. I can't remember if I wrote that I got a pair of rabbits. So I built two cages for them. I'm not sure how old they are, but I suppose the first litter of bunnies will come while I'm in Zimbabwe. I think Steph probably isn't too impressed with the timing!

In the picture Kaitlyn is a few days over 18 months. It was taken near Mohale Dam.

Well, I guess that's all I've got to say.
Love to all,

Kaitlyn and Friends

Maybe you've already seen this picture. Kaitlyn likes sunglasses.

So does Thabiso!

Kaitlyn loves to go visit Thabiso. They both enjoy playing together.

We came to Bloemfontein yesterday and today (Saturday). We stayed at a bed and breakfast last night. Kaitlyn loved playing in the cupboard of the bedside tables. She enjoyed toddling through the mall yesterday, too, but the biggest hit was playing at McDonalds. Steph took her into a store that sells hair accessories. She pointed at the barrettes and said "I like it!" Sounds like she's going to be a little shopper.

Just a Quick Note

The VBS went very well. A big thanks to Debbie and Christy for the great job they did. Thursday 192 children came including two truck loads from Ha Motheho. The most Steph has ever had before was around 90. Some of the reasons for so many more children this year include peace between Matukeng and Ha Teko and the tent meetings we've held in Matukeng and Ha Teko. Also we've never brought so many children from Ha Motheho.

Debbie and Christy went back to South Africa Monday, so our house has been pretty quiet for the last two days. Yesterday was a holiday, so we both worked and relaxed. It was nice to spend some family time in the afternoon and evening.

Yesterday I built a shelf or small attic over the door of the new storage room. It's about 6" above the door and 3 1/2 feet wide. I had a couple pieces of 3/4 inch plywood to make the floor, and I had a piece of 3" diameter steel tubing to make the beam. Between the plywood and the steel tubing, it's strong enough to hold several hundred pounds, but I don't want to put heavy things there. We'll put extra boxes, suitcases, baby things, etc. there. It will free up the space under the work bench for tools, parts, etc.

We are hoping to get away for a night in Bloemfontein this weekend. We're planning to go Friday and come back Saturday afternoon. One of the tires on the Toyota was irreparably damaged by a rock or glass. I want to buy a new one while we're there since there are 1/3 less than I can get them for in Ladybrand. I also need to shop for a new camping tent or have the present one repaired. The tent is still in fair shape, but the zippers are shot, and one of the poles is broken. I think repairing it will cost as much or more as a new one, but the zippers they use are much stronger than the originals. (Zippers have proven to be the weak link in all our tents. They seldom last more than 3 years, but the canvas/plastic is still in good shape.) It's kind of a Catch 22. If I repair the zippers, something else may fall apart. We'll spend Friday night at a bed and breakfast and then go to the craft fair Saturday morning.

Well, we need to leave to go to Ladybrand.
Cheers! (as the British say.)

Lesotho Update

Greetings in Jesus' Name!
Hope all is well for you.  We appreciate your prayers so much!  Here is an update on prayer plus some answers to prayer.
Praise:

• God certainly answered your prayers for the VBS.  Debbie Cawman (independent missionary bound for Mozambique) and Christy Contraras (PVBI intern) did a great job keeping the children's attention and presenting the truth of God's Word in a simple, interesting way!  Attendance past all of our expectations.  On Thursday there were 192 children.  The most we've ever had in the past was around 90.  It is impossible to measure the spiritual results, but many of the children responded to an invitation to pray and confess their sins. 
• Rev. Tsikane Pheko reported exciting results from an evangelistic campaign in villages near his church.  They are still following up contacts that were made, but several have clearly gotten saved!

Prayer:

• Please continue praying for revival!  We see God at work several places and are excited by the way He is pouring out His Spirit, but there are still needs.
• Please pray that someone from the Matukeng church will catch a vision to continue the children's work at the church here.
• Pray for the Bible School and the students.  Attendance has been down for several months.  Two promising young men have not come for the last three sessions.  Because they live in rural places, we haven't been able to contact them to find out what the problem is.
• We are planning to distribute Bibles in Zimbabwe this year instead of Zambia.  Help us pray for wisdom and miracles to make this trip a success.  Logistics are very difficult in a country where fuel is very scarce and often only available on the black market.  (Usually black market diesel has been stolen from big trucks and buses.)  Another challenge is the out-of-control inflation (more than 1000% since the beginning of the year.) We are tentatively planning to be there the month of July.

News:

• Our weather is starting to feel more like winter!  This last weekend we had frost and a COLD wind blew all day Saturday.

It is a wonderful blessing to know you pray for us regularly!  May God bless you!
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Lesotho Update

Dear Pray-ers,
Time flies!  It's been just over a month since you heard from us!  Hopefully you've already seen some of the pictures of the work the Mission Helps team did while they were here.
Praise:

• We are so thankful for the great work the team did.  They helped us remodel a storeroom into a guest room/efficiency apartment.  There is still some work to do, but they got a LOT done in less than two weeks!
• God blessed us with a good Easter conference.
• Thank you for praying for rain!  God has answered.  Help us praise Him!
• Praise God for calm in Lesotho.  Since our last update there was a three-day strike with some violence, but the situation seems much better now.
• We just heard from one of the pastors that God has been helping in a special way in villages surrounding his church.  There were several new converts at the Easter conference, and the pastor is holding a special week of evangelistic services this week.  Pray that the Gospel seed will bear much fruit!

Prayer:

• Please continue to intercede for a revival that will renew missionaries, pastors and lay people.
• Next week Debbie Cawman and Christy Contraras will be helping Stephanie hold a VBS here at Matukeng.  Please pray that children will respond to the Gospel message and be changed for eternity.  Also pray that one of the people from the church will catch a vision to continue holding children's services every week.

Thank you for your faithful prayers during these very busy weeks.  Hopefully we will be able to keep you better updated in the future.

May God bless you!
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Breaking the Silence

Dear Everyone,
You're probably wondering if the chunk of Africa where we live fell off into the ocean since we haven't written for so long. But we're still here, alive and well.
Of course the big news is all the great work the Mission Helps team did. I still can't believe all they got accomplished in less than two weeks. I didn't get near everything done that I had hoped to do before they came, but they just picked up where I ran out of time. They built a 4' by 8' (approx.) room onto the back of the storeroom for a bathroom. Then they helped me finish up the store room that Nt. Mokoena and I laid the blocks for. Then we took the roof off the old storeroom, and they built a new gable roof over it all. The next step was to move all the stuff out of the old storeroom into the new one. (I had to go to a meeting that day. I'm sure they thought I planned that on purpose. It was a nasty job!) They took the ceiling out of the storeroom then, and made a new cathedral ceiling. They also did the rough plumbing in the bathroom, poured the floor there, and finished up the shower. I really didn't think they would get that far, but they worked hard and late every day! I'll try to put a few pictures on the blog.
Besides doing a lot of hard work, we had a lot of fun. Bro. Dave Weaver is an endless source of jokes, and Jon and Jonathan contributed a few, too. One night we quit a little early and had all-you-can-eat ribs at a restaurant in Ladybrand. (Thanks again, Bro. Dave! It was VERY GOOD!) On Sunday last week we went into Ladybrand to the service at Manyatseng. After church we had a quick lunch at the Geises' then all the missionaries went to the farm for chicken curry. On the way back to the airport we went to a game park near Rustenburg called Pilanesberg. It's in the crater of a dead volcano. We saw LOTS of game even though it's not a huge park. A special highlight for me was watching four lions stalking a herd of rhinos. We think maybe they were more playing than serious because lions wouldn't even get close to the rhinos once they pointed their nasty horns at them and charged a little. We also saw elephant, hippos, zebra, giraffe, impala, red hartebeeste, tsesebe (both antelope), etc. It was a very nice day! We left the game park about 5:30pm and drove down to the airport in Johannesburg for them to catch their 11:30pm flight home. After dropping them at the airport, I spent the night at a Baptist mission just a few miles from the airport.
Another big event was our annual Easter conference. Though I only got to two of the services (Saturday night and Sunday morning), it seemed to go very well. Ntate Pheko's church has started a project raising pigs. They gave the first pig for meat at the conference as their tithe.
Every once in a while I hear something in Sesotho that amuses me. I guess it's just the way you say things, but it's funny. Sunday morning one of the pastors was exhorting about how the Jewish priests didn't want Jesus and the thieves still hanging on the cross during the Passover. He said they didn't want any bad smells or ugly sights around the city because it was a holy feast. The part that amused me was when he went on to say they didn't want any "human jerky" hanging around on their holy day!
Monday after Easter is a holiday in Lesotho and South Africa. We slept in a bit, then I went to Ha Matala to get mattresses, benches, and the rest of the stuff from the conference. Then we went to Uncle Johan and Aunt Hessie's fro the night to celebrate Amrie van der Merwe and Issac Geise's birthdays. We slept there. (Actually we tried to sleep, but for some reason Kaitlyn didn't sleep most of the night. Consequently, we're very tired today!)
Well, that's the news from us.
Love to all,
Glenn, Steph, and Kaitlyn

Mission Helps Team

Dear Everyone,

We are privileged to Dave Weaver, Jonathan Lucas, & Jon McVey with us for two weeks. They are here as a Mission Helps team to help us re-roof and remodel our storeroom into a "prophets chamber." They are doing great work and LOTS of it!

We're busy too!

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
Time flies, and I'm sure it's time for another prayer update.  Thank you so much for your faithfulness!
Praise:

• Thank the Lord for encouragement and spiritual food that I (Glenn) got from the Ministers' Conference that we attended just over a week ago.  Also we are praising the Lord for protection on the long journey.  It was nice to be with Rev. John Parker and Dr. Alan Brown.  (Dr. Brown presented a session on the doctrine of holiness.)
• Thank you for praying for the difficult situation with a nurse who was fired at the clinic.  There are still some problems, but God has helped us.

Prayer:

• This is a very busy time for us.  A Mission Helps team is coming to help us put a roof on the back part of our house next week.  There is much work to be done to get ready for their arrival.  Also pray for success, good weather, and protection while they are here.  Pray that God will bless them for leaving their jobs in America for more than two weeks to help us out!
• Continue to pray for revival among the pastors.
• Our annual Easter conference will be from the 5th to the 8th of April.  Pray for a special outpouring of God's Spirit during this time!
• Continue to pray for the political situation in Lesotho.  Today there was a large demonstration that blocked the streets in front of the parliament building.  So far things have been peaceful, but there are "rumblings" that worry us.
• Please help us pray for rain.  This summer has been very hot and draw.  Many farmers have just chopped their corn crop into silage to feed their cows.  We really need rain before winter comes.

The success of our ministry to the Basotho depends on faith-filled intercession.  Your prayers make a difference in the battle for the hearts of the lost!

Sincerely,
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn Gault
Hope International Missions

Group E-mail

Dear Everyone,
Steph started writing this e--mail, but all she did was put the addresses on it. I guess I'll write a little, and then maybe she'll add some more if she has time. This morning I worked at Matukeng until 12:00, then we came to Ladybrand after doing a couple errands in Lesotho on the way. Steph took Michelle out for lunch for her birthday, so I have Kaitlyn for a while.

I've been busy working on the carport shelter at Matukeng. I'm building it out of steel, so the all it needs now is the roof. We started digging the foundation for the storeroom beside it today. I think we will pour it tomorrow. I've still got LOTS I want to get done before the Mission Helps team arrives next Friday! Steph has been busy, too. Tuesday she made pear butter. I think she's also been doing some cooking for when we have visitors.

We're going to have a busy fall and winter. After the building team leaves, it sounds like Christy Contreras and her friend Debbie Cawman will be visiting for a few weeks. Debbie is working with Pilgrim Wesleyan Mission (Merrifields) and we think she's planning to eventually got to Mozambique. We're not sure of all her plans, but she called Steph on Tuesday to ask if she could come here for a while when Christy is here. Then in June and July a TLC team and another team from here in South Africa will be with us. I think they will mostly be staying in Ladybrand and with Uncle Piet and Aunt Hester, but they will want to do outreaches and visit in Lesotho. After they leave, we're planning to go to Zimbabwe with Bibles.

Not a whole lot worth writing about has happened since we e-mailed last Friday. Sunday night was S.W. van der Merwe's "English" 21st birthday party. (There is another celebration on the actually day for the rest of his relatives. This one was for the missionaries.) We had a really nice evening with him and spent the night at their house. Monday morning we left early to go to Bloemfontein for Steph to get a tooth fixed. As usual it was a long day, but we got a lot of errands done while we were there. By evening, Kaitlyn was sick and tired of being in her car seat, so we took her to the Mc Donald's playland for a little while. We got back to the van der Merwe's late, so we spent the night again there and came back to Lesotho first thing on Tuesday. Tonight was supposed to be a school board meeting, but that got postponed. I guess as soon as we get a few groceries, we'll head back to Lesotho.

Well, that's all I can think of. Maybe Steph will add some more.
Love to all,
Glenn, Stephanie, & Kaitlyn

P.S. The pictures are from Kwasizabantu. It is a beautiful mission property. The flowers come from their own nursery and gardens. In the background of the other picture is the auditorium that seats 10,000 people. The first one is self explanitory, I think.