Training and Outreach at Mants'onyane Lesotho

 This past weekend Valera Motovilov and I helped the nondenominational Lesotho Theological Education by Extension Committee facilitate a training seminar and outreach in the village of Ha Thabo near Mants'onyane.  The Theological Education by Extension Committee holds training seminars three or four times a year for students to write exams, receive further training, and have uplifting fellowship.  It was decided that this quarter, we would hold the seminar out in the rural mountains of Lesotho at the church where one of the students pastors.

The red star shows approximately where Mants'onyane is.

The theme of the seminar was "Look Up and See the Fields which Are White Unto Harvest."  The emphasis was the great need to plant evangelical churches in the mountainous parts of Lesotho.  To make this practical for the students, we helped the local church with an outreach campaign Saturday evening.

Since there were still two seats in the chartered taxi,
we went in the taxi rather than take our own vehicle.

Yes, those seats are pretty tight for long-legged
fellows like Valera and me!

Group photo

The road was so bad that we had to walk the last half-mile or so.

The Salt and Light Mission Station at Ha Thabo, Mants'onyane

Ntate Joseph's accordion and singing drew a
crowd for the evangelistic campaign.

Showing the Jesus Film

Walking back to the taxi. The scenery was incredible!

A panoramic view from near Mants'onyane.  (Click to enlarge)

I saw it in Africa...

Every once in a while we see some REALLY strange things in Africa!  I took this "Wide Load" picture along the road to Matukeng last week!  Notice the thin ropes tying all this down.  Good thing it wasn't windy!  They were having quite a challenge figuring out how to get it under the electric lines.

Spring--continued

Here are a few of the wild flowers that are in full bloom in our area.  I don't know the names of most of them.

This pinkish purple bush is usually one of the first
signs that spring is on the way.  It blooms on rocky hillsides.
It doesn't show much, but where the hill starts up
 steep there are lots of orange aloe plants blooming

This flower reminds me of a daffodil a little.
  It is considered a weed, and blooms profusely
in unplowed fields this time of year.

Verbena

Some day we want to go to the Namaqualand when the spring flowers are in full bloom.  This is a semi-desert area on the West Coast of South Africa.  If there are winter rains in this area, it turns into an incredible sea of flowers for a few short weeks.  If you like flower pictures, Google Namaqualand flowers and look at the images!

Spring!

It's spring in Lesotho!  The peach trees are blooming.

A Little Update

This has been a special year for us because we have had lots of visitors!  Here's a few pictures that will let you know a little of what we've been doing.

In June, Glenn's brother's family visited.  We had so much fun together!

We went jackal hunting.  Wesley shot two.

We had a wonderful day in Pilanesberg National Park.
Besides this leopard (a rare thing to see), we saw elephants,
rhino, zebra, giraffe, hippos, kudu, and so much more!

We hosted two interns.

Erika Fenstermaker and Danae Fisher from Penn View Bible Institute
came to Lesotho to do their missions internships.  They helped with
evangelism, children's ministry, Bible studies, and lots of other things.
They were a big blessing!

We had two birthdays in our family recently.

Kristell turned 7! 

Caleb is two now.
He couldn't wait to blow his candles out!
I had to relight them three or four times,
and the picture still didn't turn out very well
because he was so excited about blowing
them out!

School started again for the girls.

We are very excited about what the Lord is doing in the Ha Motheo area the last couple months.  Quite a few people have given their hearts to the Lord, and the congregation is doing a great job of working in teams to organize outreaches.  

The ladies' conference in July was well attended.  (Everyone was
invited to the Sunday morning service.)