Rev. & Mrs. Leferefere

Ramphu Samuel Leferefere was married to Mahlapane Rosina
on the 27th of December, 2014.  Following the culture of
Lesotho, her first name was also changed by the groom's family.  
From now on, she will be Mrs. 'Maamohelang Leferefere.
Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Leferefere!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  We pray that you will know the reality of Jesus who came to save us from (away from) our sins and be Immanuel in our lives!

We are celebrating the holiday with the van der Merwes--dear friends in South Africa.  It's already hot today, and in a few minutes I will take the girls for the traditional South Africa Christmas swim.

Kristell helping to pass out the presents Christmas Eve

Decorating sugar cookies with Thabiso

Newsletter

You can download our most recent newsletter by clicking this link.  We are especially excited about the news on the second page.

Saying Goodbye

One of the difficult things about missionary life is the goodbyes!  God calls people for specific tasks or times.  We work together, pray together, laugh together, and sometimes cry together.  But seasons change, God's plans are fulfilled, and goodbyes must be said.

Jeremy, Delani, and Jameson Howard

Tonight our dear friends Jeremy and Delani Howard will board an airplane in Capetown that will eventually take them back to America.  We will miss them so much!!  I had the special privilege to spend an extra couple days with them last week driving them and some of their belongings to Capetown where Delani's mother lives.  The long drive gave us time to talk and (hopefully) bring some emotional closure to the very special relationship we have shared.

We had a heavy load.  Some things will be shipped to America,
others are to be stored at Delani's mother's house.

With our roots in the arid West of the U.S., Jeremy and I especially enjoyed the mountains and scenery of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.  Here are a few pictures from along the way.

There is a cross on the top of this mountain.  It was planted
there many years ago by the military using a helicopter.
(You can't see it in this picture.  It is quite small.)

Towns are few and far between along the route we took.
A week or so before we traveled, there had been a lot of rain.
The landscape was unusually green and flowers were blooming.

Some places this purple flower grew so thick it seemed a whole
mountainside was purplish-gray.

One of the larger towns we passed through was Graaff Reinet.
Andrew Murray grew up in this lovely Cape Dutch house in that
town.  He was a godly man who wrote many books on prayer and
led a great revival in South Africa in the 1860s.

The Dutch Reformed Church in Graaff Reinet

Even though the land is dry, there are scattered farms along the road.

The main "crop" is sheep and goats.

Some farmers have also been quite successful raising ostrich.

We saw quite a bit of wildlife as we drove.  Springbok, eland,
steinbok, another kind of antelope, and some large tortoises. 

The sunset over False Bay was beautiful and the pizza was some of
the best I've eaten.  Thanks Tannie Melinda!

Dear Jeremy, Delani, and Jameson, we'll miss you!  Travel safe, and may the Lord bless you as you start a new chapter of life in the USA.  Hurry back!  Never forget that your real home is in Africa! :-)

Outreach at Ha Ntsabane

A few years ago Miss Thato's life was dramatically transformed by the Gospel.  When Jesus came into her heart, her despair was changed to hope, and hatred was replaced by love for other lost people.  Since her conversion she has been begging Pastor Kali to come to her home village of Ha Ntsabane and preach the Gospel to her family and neighbors.  We had no idea, but she was also saving money to pay for the expenses of a weekend evangelistic campaign.

Miss Thato (right) with Rev. and Mrs. Kali Nthabi

Last weekend Thato's deep desire to see her family come to know Jesus came true.  With the money she had saved and a little assistance from Hope International Missions, we pitched a tent in her village and preached the Gospel.  Many people came forward to pray when we invited them to surrender their lives to the Lord, and we also had opportunity to pray with a number of people who were suffering from demonic oppression and other problems.  As you look at the pictures, please pray for the dear people of this village some of whom heard the Gospel for the first time.

Miss Thato's home where we pitched the tent

The services were well-attended.  Rev. Tsikane Pheko (far right)
was the special speaker Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

The money Miss Thato saved was enough that everyone
who attended the services could have a nutritious meal after
the services.   Here are some of the older ladies of the village
helping with food preparation.

Pastor Mahlomola preached Saturday morning.

"We are building up the temple!" The children
enjoyed the services that Miss Mastefen held for them.

I made a special friend!

Thato's grandfather and mother were overjoyed by the
change they have seen in her life.  

Please pray for the people of Ha Ntsabane!

The village of Ha Ntsabane is between Teyateyaneng and Mapoteng.  It is not yet recognized on Google Maps, but if you click on this link you can see where I have added it.  If you zoom out a little or move the map around, you will see that there are many villages within walking distance.

Update on the Political Situation in Lesotho

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers during the recent political turmoil in Lesotho.  God has answered!  At least for the short term there is peace and the government seems to be function normally again.  South Africa and other Southern Africa countries have assisted Lesotho with law enforcement and observers who will be in the country at least until elections in February next year.

The people of Lesotho are so grateful for a peaceful resolution!  Thank you for your prayers!  Please continue praying for peace!

Children's Services at Ha Setho

We are blessed to be hosting Angela Thornton from Penn View Bible Institute for her missions internship.  Our main ministry activity this week was a three-day VBS in the village of Ha Setho.

We held the services outside the little
stone church building.  

Angela did a tremendous job of planning and telling
stories.  People from the Ha Setho, Matukeng and
Ha Motheho congregations also helped by leading
the services, doing the music, registration, and
crowd control.

The children enjoyed learning some English songs.

At total of 122 children attended the services.
Many prayed to give their hearts to the Lord.

One of the things Angela and her helpers emphasized was the importance of telling other people the Good News of the Gospel.  They encouraged each child to tell their their parents what they had learned and to bring a friend to the next service.  One little boy (maybe four or five years old) told his father what he learned.  The last day his daddy came with him to the service and asked for spiritual help afterwards.  Pastor Liau and I (Glenn) had a sacred time of prayer with this man as he gave his heart to the Lord after the service.  

Please pray for Rev. Liau as he
leads the Ha Setho congregation.

Replacing My Library

Mr. Grant (director of Hope International Missions) brought a suitcase with some books to begin replacing my library.  Thank you SO MUCH to each person who has given to make this possible, and especially to Robert Booth and Benjamin McDowell who are coordinating this project!  If you would like to get involved, you can learn more by going to this link.

Malachite Sunbird

The last few days there has been a beautiful malachite sunbird hanging around Matukeng.  This is the mating season, and the males are really flashy.

It is drinking nectar from the aloe flowers.

This picture is blurry, but you can see the long, curved bill.

If you click the pictures, they will enlarge.

Update on Lesotho

Thank you so much for your prayers for our protection and peace in Lesotho.  The political situation is still unresolved, and there is a lot of tension.  We thank the Lord that there hasn't been more violence.  Please do continue to pray!

If you are interested, the following articles give two opposing views of the situation.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/SA-police-help-hunt-Lesotho-coup-plotter-20140907

http://lestimes.com/dc-sends-chilling-warning

Instability in Lesotho

Dear Praying Friends,

I am writing to ask for your continued prayers for Lesotho and our family.  In our previous post, we mentioned that there was an attempted coup in the country.  The army shut down radio stations, attacked several police stations, and also the Prime Minister's residence.  Fortunately, the Prime Minister was warned of the attack shortly before it happened and fled to South Africa.  As far as we know he is still in South Africa, and the army appears to be in control of the country.  During the day the situation seems peaceful but tense.   Last night (Monday night) power was shut down throughout the city of Maseru, and gunshots were heard again a place or two.  Perhaps one of the greatest danger is that the police are not on duty.  This leaves criminals at liberty to do what they want.

Please pray for peace in Lesotho.  This political rivalry between the Army and the Police has gone on for many years.  Pray that God will bring it to an end, and that both sides will seek the good of the nation, not personal agendas.  Also please pray for our safety.  Many organizations are evacuating their American/ex patriate staff.  Pray that God will direct us clearly if we also need to leave.

If you would like to read more about the situation, this article is quite informative.

Thanks!

What's Going on in Lesotho????

Perhaps quite a few of you have heard that there was something like an attempted coup in Lesotho in the early morning hours Saturday.  We are fine, and things are quiet on the surface at least.  Please do pray for peace and our safety!  If you want to read more, I think this article in the Sunday Express summarizes things pretty well.

Progress at Our House

Here are a few pictures to update you on the progress we have made at our house:

Here is a "before and after" of the kitchen.  Pastor Kali has helped me 
put two coats of primer on most of the house now.  We are hoping
to start painting the final coat (not primer--the real paint) in the 
kitchen/living room on Monday.

Besides the primer, Stephanie and Mrs.
Manthabi have spent several days scouring
 soot off cupboards, appliances, and dishes.

Between painting, fixing broken pipes from an unusually cold
 winter, and other mission business, I have started
working on the study.  I have taken out the broken wall
and ceiling panels, and have started replacing them.

Mr. Thabang, a licensed electrician from the Ha Mokhachane
 congregation, wired the house for electricity while things
 already had to be painted and repaired.  We still have no idea
 when we'll actually get electric, but it will save a lot of work when it
does come.  We hope they might hook our house up to the pole by the
 clinic before the end of the year (fingers crossed.)

We are living in the unfurnished two-room mission guest house just across the yard from our house.  Since there are no appliances there (and because it is pretty small for a family of four) we are cooking in our house.  Our belongings are a variety of places, so things are still a little chaotic.  God has really been helping us, and I think we are coping pretty well with this rather hectic phase of our lives.  Once again, thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and financial support.  

Back Home in Lesotho

This is just a real short post to let you know we are back home in Lesotho again.  We are living between our house (where there is a working stove and fridge) and the mission guest house here at Matukeng. All our personal belongs were removed from our house during/after the fire and then stashed a variety of places. A lot of them were brought to the guest house. The result is chaos, and neither the guest house nor our house are fully suitable for our family! Now that we are here, Steph is working on bringing things back into order. By tonight we will have two coats of good quality primer that seems to seal in the smoke stain on the front part of our house. We are working on getting that part (the two front bedrooms, the kitchen/livingroom, and the bathroom) back in livable condition as quickly as possible. Our goal is to move back in and continue with the back part (the study where the fire was, another bedroom and a little "prophet's chamber") once we are bit more settled. Pastor Kali (HIM's national leader in Lesotho and our next door neighbor) has been helping me almost everyday. He has also employed a few other people for a day here and there. It has been a tremendous blessing to have reliable Christian friends helping us!

One bit of good news is that we have been able to recover some of our music cds. The cases are badly burned or melted, but we have been able to pry open some of cases and found that the cds inside are still usable.

Thank you so much for your prayers and for each one who has contributed towards renovating our house.  Because of your generosity, we were able to have the house wired for electricity while it is already torn up.  There is an electric pole at the clinic about 200 yards/meters from our house, so we are hoping that we will have electricity in a few more months!

House Fire 3

Before I get to the house, thank you so much for your prayers for our return trip.  Our flights all went very well.  The only hitch was that our luggage got sent to Liberia!  (Delta, how did you manage that???)  Fortunately, they all came home eventually, and none of our suitcases caught Ebola while they were gone. ;-)

Now to the house:  First I would like to thank the Nthabi family (our next door neighbors) and the team of young people from America who did so much of the dirty work before we came home!  They washed most of the walls, carried out burnt furniture and books, and so much more.  If it wasn't for their hard work, getting home would have been a terrible shock!

Hopefully these pictures will give you a little idea of where things stand.

Smoke damage in the kitchen

Even after LOTS of scrubbing, the soot and smoke won't come off the walls and ceiling.  The whole house will need to be repainted.  Please pray that we will be able to find a primer/sealer that will seal the smoke smell and stain into the walls so it doesn't come through the new paint.

The fire was worst in the study.

In the study some of the asbestos panels got so hot they broke and will have to be replaced (using proper protection, of course.)  Also some of the steel pieces that hold the ceiling up got hot enough to bend.  Please pray that we will find the right material to fix this room up.  The company that made these prefab homes 30 years ago is still in business.  Hopefully they still have materials, or better yet, make materials out of something safer than asbestos!

Most of my (Glenn's) books were damaged one way or another.  A few survived, some suffered water damage, but most were burned on the binding.  A lot burned so bad that they were just a pile of loose pages on the floor (after the shelves broke).  Others, like the ones in the picture are still partly intacted, but the bindings are brittle and they are so dirty I doubt if they can be used.  Several people have mentioned they would like to help replace some books.  I REALLY appreciate this and will try to work on a list of "essential" books (and maybe a few "wants").  I plan to replace some on Kindle since they are so much more portable for the missionary life. I will try to let you know soon, but our big priority is getting the house livable again.

Thank you so much for your prayers!  God is so good, and is helping us adjust and cope.  Also, we want to thank each person and church that has given especially to help us repair.  We deeply appreciate it!  May the Lord bless each one of you!

Sunset

Africa has some of the most amazing sunsets!  Too bad my camera couldn't capture the full glory!

Heading Home 2

I thought you might like to see a few pictures from our last days in the USA.  It was a special time for our family.

One major event was Kristell's fifth birthday.  She got to celebrate with her cousins Ryleigh, Grant, and Sabrina.

Kristell is looking forward to starting kindergarten soon.

We really enjoyed our time in New York City with Jeff & Shari Stratton.  Thanks, Jeff, for showing us around!

Central Park
It's hard to believe there can be such a beautiful, peaceful spot in this massive city!

We enjoyed the Staten Island Ferry.  I think that's the Verranzo Narrows bridge in the background. 

The Statue of Liberty from the ferry.

The World Trade Center Memorial

The new Freedom Tower

We traveled by subway and foot.