Thursday, March 26, 2009

Church Dedication

Hi everyone,

Everything is going well here. It's been one of those busier times, but I think things are getting back to normal again. We are in Ladybrand today taking care of errands and we had to get some more heparin for Steph. Tonight we are going out to the farm for homemade pizza with the other missionaries. We'll enjoy that except both Uncle Johan and Aunt Hessie will be gone. Aunt Hessie went for a week of ACE training so she can help more at the school and Uncle Johan is checking out the possiblilities of teaching agriculture at workshops different places in the Free State of South Africa. Since he can speak three languages fluently a company has been after him for a while to teach for them.

Earlier this month the church at Ha Seleso was dedicated. It was a nice service both because God's presence was there and because it was a time to remember and celebrate all the hard work that went into building the church. Here's a picture.

Hope you all have a great day!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Quotes

I think these quotes are pertinent to our day!

"As a strategic leader, Joseph (in the the Bible) prepared for the lean years and the years of plenty. Few political leaders have followed his example since. Rather, there is a tendency to raise the standard of living in the years of plenty, extend credit during the lean years, and slow the economic recovery of the nation in an attempt to balance the books later." --Elmer Towns

"A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman of the next generation." --J.F. Clarke

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sunday in Lesotho

Today I was thinking about a few of the differences between church in America and church in Lesotho. One difference is how people get to church. Most people in America come to church by car. No one has a car at the church where we normally attend. People walk to church. Some come down the little road that leads to the clinic. Others, especially from the neighboring village of Ha Teko, take a short cut through the villages, across a small creek (during the rainy season) and then emerge from between the rows of the neighbor's corn field.

Another difference is that we only have a morning service. It starts with a prayer meeting from 10:30 to 11:00. From 11:00 to 1:00 (at least) is the worship service. It is not unusual for the whole congregation to stand for the half hour prayer meeting and then for another half hour of singing at the beginning of the worship service. We still aren't sure whether people just like to stand or if it's because the low backless benches aren't comfortable to sit on! :-)

After church is over there is often time for seekers to ask questions or pray with the help of the pastor and a few elders. Around 1:30 or so the choir practices for forty-five minutes. While the choir practices, someone will have a short Sunday School class outside with the little children and teach them a new memory verse which they will say the following Sunday morning during the worship service.

This morning I was struck by how different the testimony time is in Lesotho when compared with America. It's not unusual for people to give victorious testimonies of how God delivered them from a life of demon possession or how God saved them from the oppression of ancestor worship and superstition. Another common theme is God's faithful providence in providing for financial needs in spite of great poverty.

Of course the people are different, too. Mr. Canon, who is blind and has a mental handicap, showed up an hour and a half before church in his knee-high rubber gum boots. (I think they're the only shoes he owns. You can just see his boots on the left edge of the picture.) He sang loudly and quoted a variety of his favorite scriptures as he felt his way from door to door begging for food. (For some reason he didn't come to our house this morning. Maybe he got enough food on the way?!?) Miss Keneiloe is an assistant nurse at the clinic. Before she came to church she made sure all her TB patients took their medicine at the clinic. We were all happy to see Mrs. Hlalele back in church. She got saved last October out of a hopeless life of witchcraft. For several weeks recently the garment factory where she works forced her to work on Sunday. It was good to see she's still doing well spiritually in spite of this challenge. There was a new lady that visited for the first time, too. She came to Pastor Kali during the week for prayer and promised him she would come on Sunday. I was glad she stayed after the service to seek the Lord.

I was still thinking about some of these differences as I began to preach this morning at Matukeng. I looked up from my sermon notes at the end of the introduction to realize that a young girl who has been attending church for several months but who is still unsaved was beginning to have a satanic seizure. The message ended abruptly as she was carried to the front of the church for prayer. Although the power of Satan seemed to be broken at least in part as we prayed for the girl, it didn't seem like a complete victory was won. Please pray much for us as we daily confront the power of demons with the all-sufficient power of Jesus Christ!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Converted Witchdoctor's Funeral

This past weekend the choir from Matukeng went to the new preaching point at Mphatane to help with the funeral of the converted witchdoctor. We were not only able to help and support this new family of believers, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to preach to more than 150 people from the surrounding villages.The Matukeng choir is singing just outside the tent on the left.

This is part of the crowd that gathered for the funeral


Here the village men are back-filling the grave. I took this picture with my cell phone, so it didn't turn out so well.

Lesotho Letters

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