It's a cool rainy day in Lesotho. Though I miss the sunshine, we are so thankful for the rain. We've been having little bits of rain along fairly regularly, but it was never enough to really soak the earth well. The corn was really starting to suffer. Uncle Johan called this year a "green drought." We've had enough moisture to keep the grass green, but not enough to really make things grow. So far this week we've had close to 2" and it's still coming down in a lovely sprinkle.
Last week Thursday we went to Ladybrand to take care of business and shopping. That evening we had a missionary get-together to welcome Lester and Kristen Bump who will be helping at the school for six months. We spent the night at Uncle Johan and Aunt Hessie's house. Aunt Hessie had to leave to help at the school early on Friday morning, so Steph didn't get to visit with her much. I had a nice time talking to Uncle Johan. He gave us a bucket of peaches from their orchard. Yummy!
Saturday Steph canned 8 jars of peaches. I helped her with that for a while, and did a few other things around the house. It was an unusual Saturday because I didn't have to go to any meetings, funerals, or church activities.
Last weekend (the 16th) one of the church families called 'Me Manthabi telling her that they were very sick at their stomachs and a 10-year-old boy had already died. Nt. Kali rushed to the village to take the rest of them to the hospital, and I followed him a few minutes later with a nurse from the clinic to sign their transfer papers from the clinic to the referral hospital. (This sometimes improves service at the hospital.) It sounded like a case of poisoning. It's the time of year when people are spraying corn for bugs, so maybe somehow some of that got on their spinach. But some of the family didn't get sick even though they ate the same food. I think a postmortem was done on the boy who died, so maybe we'll hear more from that.
Sunday I preached at Matukeng, then most of the congregation went to Ha Teko to visit this family and to have a short service at their house. We knew that they were poor, but after seeing the house, I sympathize with them even more. I think at least five people sleep in the one-room house which is about 12 by 15. The roof framing is made from agave poles that have sagged. I'm positive it has to leak. I think several people from the church including us are helping out with the funeral.
Monday while Steph worked on bookkeeping, I went to Maseru to do a few errands including working on getting visas so we can get six month border passes again. (Since we came back last April we have to stand in line at the border every time we go to South Africa. It really fills up our passports fast, plus the lines average 30 minutes waiting time. If we can get the border passes again, we only have to show the pass as we drive by. We used to get them free, but now you have to apply and pay for a visa in order to get the free border passes.) I waited in the line about an hour just to find out that the first time I went they neglected to tell me that I needed a letter
from my employer before they would consider the application. I stopped to say "Hi" to the MAF pilots, and they asked if I wanted to go out to lunch with them. I accepted the offer. We went to a hole-in-the-wall fast food place called "Chicken Dust"! The name borders on repulsive, but the food was tasty and came in generous portions. I had a quarter chicken, rice, and baked beans all for less than $2. After we got the food one of the pilots informed me that the last time he ate there he got sick. I enjoyed the food and suffered no ill effects.Tuesday and today I've worked on the class I'm taking and catching up on some administration stuff. Tuesday Steph wrote some letters and today she baked some chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to work on some stuff outside, but the duck weather has kept me in. I'm trying to work ahead on my class a bit this week because my schedule is going to be a bit more busy next week.
Well, that's the recent news from here. Hope you have a great day! Please keep praying for us a lot. We've been going through some challenging times!
Sincerely,
Glenn, Steph, and Kaitlyn Gault
