Let the Little Children Come...

Please pray for these children who have been attending Sunday School regularly at Matukeng.  Several of them have been seeking the Lord and responding to His Word.

Lesotho Update

Dear Praying Friends,
Please join us in praising the Lord and praying for these requests! We have a lot of urgent prayer needs, so I will start with those.

Prayer:

•  Probably many of you have already heard, but on Tuesday Pieter Marais (HIM missionary involved in Bible distribution) had a serious heart attack. He had two stints put in, but his heart was damaged significantly. Please pray for a Divine healing touch. If you are interested in contributing to these medical expenses, please go to their page on the FEA Ministries website.
•  Please continue to pray for the clinic renovation at Matukeng. Especially pray for good labor relations! You can read more details here.
•  Please pray for us during a time of ministry transition. We need clear direction from the Lord!
•  The final transfer of money to cover the Bibles we sold in Zambia back in July still has not cleared the bank. Would you please pray about this! Banking in Africa just isn't the same as banking in America. We need God to cut through the red tape, mismanagement, etc. to finish up this transaction. 
•  The step brother of a recent convert at Matukeng is very seriously ill and in the hospital. This young man seems open to the Gospel but has not yet accepted Jesus as the Lord of his life. Pray for both physical and spiritual healing.
•  Please pray for a drug addict who has recently gotten saved. Pray that God will deliver him completely from old habits and addictions. Praise the Lord that his wife gave her heart to the Lord Tuesday night!
•  Several new converts are experiencing persecution and opposition to their new-found faith. Please pray that they will stand firm and that their faith will be strengthened.

Praise:

•  We are all so thankful that Bro. Marais was not somewhere in the African bush far from medical care when this heart attack happened!
•  Praise the Lord for revival! There was a first-time visitor at church on Sunday where I preached. 
• We want to praise the Lord for all the people who support us so faithfully!

 Thank you so much for your faithful prayer support! We know that God is at work and we feel your prayers!

 Sincerely,

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

Your Tax Dollars at Work--Part 2

(Unless you follow our blog closely, you might want to read this post and this post first.)

It has been a long time since were reported on the progress of the clinic renovation at Matukeng.  The original contractor went bankrupt and is being liquidated.  For a while we were unsure whether our clinic would ever be rebuilt, but we praise the Lord that things are progressing again!  A new contractor from South Africa (Ruvacon) has taken over the project, and a lot has been done since they started work at the beginning of August.  We are especially happy that the exterior walls of the actual clinic buildings are almost complete now.  Tile is being laid in the support buildings and staff houses, and plumbers are busy hooking up pipes.  We gather that there are also plans to drill a well for water and to bring electricity to the clinic.  The new clinic will have more than double the floor space of the old one.  Also, some of the services that used to be rendered in the clinic will be moved to other buildings.  It will be a great blessing to not be so cramped on busy days!

There are still some challenges, though.  Would you please make these a matter of prayer?

• Though we have addressed this problem three or four times during the course of the project, there is still no permanent access road for us to get to our house.  We are still using the edge of our neighbor's field.  Even though there is no physical difficulty in making a driveway from the clinic to our house, changing the plans seems to be a MAJOR obstacle.  (Remember, tax dollars at work = red tape!)  Please pray that a suitable arrangement can be made, perhaps with our neighbor to make the track through the edge of his field a permanent road.
• Between a long drought and construction, our water situation is becoming increasingly difficult.  We don't have running water any more, and even the tank where we fetch water is running low.  The end of the dry season is near.  Please join us in praying for rain!  Also, pray that a dependable well will be drilled!
• For many years, the government has been promising the people of Matukeng (the village where we live) that they will bring electricity out this way.  So far these promises have been empty.  In order to completely comply with the standards set by the government for our clinic, electricity is necessary.  Please pray that all will go well with plans to bring electricity the last few miles to the clinic and our village!
• Labor relations seem to be a bit of an ongoing problem for this project.  Early on, corruption created a strong distrust between management and laborers, and the relationship is still suffering even under the new contractor.  Please pray that this project will not experience any more strikes or delays.

The brick building on the left is the size of the old clinic.  The foundation in the foreground is larger than the original building.  I think this may house the maternity and maybe some other services.  The walls of this extension are now almost complete.

If you are interested in knowing more about Millennium Challenge projects in Lesotho, you can check out these websites:

http://www.mca.org.ls/home/
http://www.undp.org.ls/millennium/default.php

Thank you for your prayers!

When God Comes Down

A question that should be close to every evangelical pastor's heart is "What is the most effective method of evangelism?"  There are many answers--friendship evangelism, apologetics, contemporary Christian music, small groups, drama productions--and the list goes on!  While I heartily support active evangelism and effective methods for winning the lost, we dare not forget the priority of prayer and holy living.

Over the past few months, I have had the joy of experiencing this first hand in my life and in lives of Christian brothers and sisters in Lesotho.  We have been focusing on prayer and completely surrendering our lives to the Lord.  Secret sins have been confessed and brought into God's light.  Believers have been sanctified.  We have spent hours in prayer and fasting.  We have also been developing friendships with unsaved people and sharing the Gospel with our neighbors.

But the most important thing is that God has come down!  No earthly method could possibly account for what God has been doing.  People have been coming to church without being invited.  Sick people have been asking us to come and pray with them.  Demon possessed people have found deliverance through confession and belief in Christ.  Two Fridays ago there was an all-night prayer meeting for the young men in one of the churches.  It was not intended to be an "evangelistic event," but seven village shepherd boys showed up uninvited.  God moved on them in a powerful way, and all of them found themselves seeking the Lord before the sun rose the next morning.  At least three of them show signs of true conversion.  God came down!

We must seek effective methods.  We must realize that society is changing faster than any other time in history.  We must adapt.   We must get out of our stained glass sanctuaries and reach the lost.  But most of all, we need God's presence in our lives.  Have we made the mistake of disconnecting Pentecost and church growth?  Do we no longer recognize the relationship between continuing "with one accord in prayer and supplication" and the fullness of the Spirit?

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 [NKJV]

To Zambia and Back--Camping

I apologize that it has taken me so long to get another post on our blog.  I guess there has been a lot going on!  In spite of the risk of posting "stale news" I thought you might like a few pictures of the camping aspect of Zambia.

Uncle Piet loaned us this big tent.  It had ample room for the four of us and our suitcases.  

Food preparation with limited cooking/kitchen facilities is always a challenge.  The ladies did a great job of feeding us delicious food, though! Little folding camp tables are a tremendous blessing!

The big trailer that Uncle Piet uses to transport Bibles has a little "kitchen" built into the back of it.  There are drawers for food and utensils, and a little two-burner stove that slides out.  Here Kaitlyn is making tea for everyone on a Sunday afternoon.

Aunt Hester is a master at cooking over charcoal fires.

My mother made yummy cornbread fritters.

Steph made fried okra one night.

We stayed a variety of places ranging from primitive to very comfortable.  Some places had hot showers.  Some did not.  Where we stayed near Katima Molilu, Namibia, the water for the shower was heated in this wood-fired hot water heater known as a "donkey" in Southern Africa.

We had lots of good fellowship in spite of conditions that are less than convenient.

When we were in the markets selling Bibles, we often just made a quick peanut butter and syrup sandwich for lunch.  For the  brave, however, there are many street vendors happy to satisfy your appetite with all kinds of delicacies.  I certainly wasn't brave enough to try the mouse jerky, but we all enjoyed the french fries topped with raw  cabbage, tomato, and onion from this stand.