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