Back from Kenya and in 'school' again

Got back from an awesome CMDA conference in Kenya. There were about 310 medical personnel from all over Africa including the teaching staff from the USA. It was a daily 'diet' of a breakfast of spiritual food, followed by a buffet of Continuing Medical Education, followed by some later afternoon exercise, topped off with some fellowship dessert. The morning spiritual food was brought by Dr. Robertson McQuilken, author of many books including 'Life in the Spirit.' I say a buffet of CME as there were 3 concurrent sessions for docs (1 for dentists) in Med/Peds, Surgery, Community Health. The late afternoon exercise was great as we had been sitting for the whole day and the running trails at Brackenhurst are just fantastic - lush semi-tropical yet highlands vegetation that in many places made a canopy for running under. Evenings concluded with singing and then 'reports' from the field sharing what God has been doing all over Africa in the area of Medical Ministry. It was intellectually challenging as well as spiritually stimulating - something both Sally and I needed. A special "THANK YOU" to Baptist Medical Dental Fellowship for paying for our way!

So yeah, we're back in language school again. Day two and my brain is hurting. We spent most of today going through an evangelistic tract I put together that is mostly Scripture passages. Our teacher, Me' Mamela (her name means 'listen'), was helping us get the pronunciation and emphases correctly. We spent over an hour and completed 3 sentences and 4 scripture verses only! Ouch...at one point I was sure that she was wanting us to make a noise like you are clearing your throat immediately followed by a sound only made by somehow blowing air by the sides of your tongue and making a 'l' sound. One of us practically spit on the teacher trying to make the sound, but she was quite patient with us. Me' Mamela has a PhD in theology and so we are 'picking her brain' as it were to understand some of the Basotho cultural innuendoes within religion.

I had made up a list of theological terms (English) and then went looking for them in the Sesotho Bible to see what word they used. Not as easy as I thought. For example, there isn't just one word for 'sin', but about 5 that I have figured out so far. Which one to use is dependent on the context. Wow, we have a long way to go. I want so much to be fluent in Sesotho in medical as well as Biblical language. Well, I need to do my homework...

In Kenya for two weeks

Hey, sorry. I forgot to share that we are in Kenya now. Yep, back in East Africa, but only for two weeks for the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA) Conference. This gives us opportunity to be together with about 250 medical missionaries from around Africa and Middle East. It’s an action packed conference that allows me to get much of the required Continuing Medical Education credits that are essential for maintaining my US medical license. And of course, it allows Sally and I time for fellowship, to share ideas and challenges we are facing, to encourage one another, and to have a break from the daily medical tasks.

Sally and I are particularly grateful to Baptist Medical Dental Fellowship (BMDF) who graciously funds our entire time here. We would not be able to come here without their help. And they really encourage spouses to attend, having a non-medical program for them for spiritual growth and renewal.

If you’ve never heard of CMDA or BMDF check them out at

www.cmda.org and www.bmdf.org

The CMDA Commission does an amazing job of getting a superb group of experts to come and teach us – asking them to do it voluntarily! The CMDA team has dedicated huge amounts of time, personal expenses, love, and prayers for this conference. The result is to provide us with a quality program. We’ve been so blessed. This is our 6^th CMDA conference since we came to Africa.

Tonight as we met together as a big group to sing a bit and then get through some of the announcements, they asked how many were first timers to the conference. About 1/3 were new! Sally and I noticed how many young people are here. It is really encouraging to know that God is still in the business of calling out people with medical skills to use them for His glory and for advancing the kingdom of God through medical missions with a variety of mission organizations.

Please remember us this week and next as we spend time here getting medically and spiritually renewed. Pray for me as I do a small presentation as part of a Medicine and Spirituality Symposium (Weds 10^th). on “Avoiding the sin of doing medicine apart from ministry” Pray for the faculty too. Their desire is to do all of this with excellence for the glory of Jesus Christ.

And if you feel led, visit the CMDA and BMDF web sites and consider supporting their ministries.

Daily by His grace…

Matsaile and Matekane Ministry

Let see...approximately 300 people saw the Jesus film for the firsttime...about 92 repented and turned to Christ in faith after hearing the gospel clearly presented... Brad and Sefiri/Sechaba trained 60 village health workers and AIDS support groupmembers in basic HIV care and prevention using the AIDS cube...Sally and Angie, serving as pharmacy techs dispensed medications to over 200 patients...3 out of 6 of us had diarrhea...we slept extra nights in the villages because of weather that prevented the MAF pilots from landing...we are so thankful for beds with mattresses... and hot showers... a lot of older people can now read as Brad and Sefiri helped people get fitted for reading glasses thanks to the generous giving of people at Community Bible Church in San Diego (Brad and Angie's church).

God is so amazing. To be able to minister together with Brad and Angie Stoner as well as Pastor Sefiri and Sechaba was such a joy for Sally and I. We laughed together, we prayed together, we slept in tight quarters on the ground on camp mattresses, ate together, got sick together, and saw

God do amazing things in the lives of Basotho and in our lives.

We now have a group of people at Matsaile that were practically begging us to come back and teach

them the Bible. We know that we have a big challenge to get back there and begin that process. There is follow up also for the AIDS cube training to be sure that people are actually using them to teach others. Right now we are reviewing all that happened over the past two weeks, what didn't get accomplished, and to see what is next. We really wanted to go to Mokhotlong to minister with our missionary colleagues, the Floras, but the rains were so much that the road was not drivable... maybe in March... Thanks Brad and Angie for being willing to risk it all and come and minister with us. Thanks Sefiri and Sechaba for joyfully putting up with Americans as you ministered with us in sharing the Gospel. Thanks for praying for us. Thanks for giving so we can remain here in Lesotho serving God as we see the Kingdom expand... all for His glory!

Update on the Ministry Marathon

I'm sitting at home in Maseru with a really nice cup of coffee reflecting on the past 5 days of ministry with our team. We should be in Mokhotlong District (far East side of Lesotho) getting ready for ministry there but the heavy rains have prevented us from going there. The place that we were to meet up with the Flora family has roads that are too treacherous to go even with our 4WD when it has rained this much, and there is no airstrip there yet. So, we are resting a bit while we prepare for Monday-Tuesday in another village.

Our first ministry area was Ha Rapase where we went to hold a pitso (village gathering), mobile medical clinic and evangelism. This is another of those areas in the Maloti ('ma-loo-tee') mountains that is far from health care and where we have identified a place for an airstrip. Monday morning we left Maseru at 6:30 by two MAF planes to Qacha's Nek to meet up with guys from the district health team. Ntate Molisana is the focal person for health and is the key for promoting a health post and airstrip

in this area. We went by van 30 minutes to a place where we could cross the Senqu river by boat. There is no bridge there so

the government pays a man to row people across. We began walking to the village. The path was not bad at all, only crossing through a donga (river ravine) once. It was 85-90 degrees and full sun. We arrived at the village and they began calling people for the pitso. We waited a couple of hours as people came from some of the surrounding villages. Might seem like we keep doing the same thing over and over and you're right. This is the third area where we are doing this as the Ministry of Health has tasked LFDS with assisting the mountain district health management teams with opening new areas that they have identified as most critical. It's something I really like because we get to help begin the process of bringing what I call 'total health' to an area - addressing the social, medical, physical, and spiritual needs of a

community.

People were very receptive to the idea and had already carried a lot of large stones up to where the airstrip would be, as well as collecting sand for building. We emphasized the need for each village to contribute so the airstrip and health post would belong to all the communities and they agreed. The woman standing in the photo shared stories of sick people walking 3-4 hours

(or being carried on a stretcher) to the nearest clinic, and of people getting robbed or raped on the way back. They really want

an airstrip and health post. She is a village health worker and gladly allowed us to use her home for our mobile clinic. Sally did the medication dispensing while Brad and Sefiri shared the gospel using the EvangeCube. Angie was helping the children learn some new games along with a couple of young Dutch girls who have come to work with Youth for Christ. Meanwhile, Christiaan Haak

(MAF Pilot) was surveying the airstrip location. That night we were given the nicest rondoval (round 'hut') to sleep in. They are thatch roofed with a divided Dutch door that we ended up

opening in the middle of the night as we were too warm. The next morning it was time to pack up a couple of donkeys, hop on two horses (which we shared) and walk back to the river crossing.

This time the trail took us through some beautiful areas along a river. We were met there by the van to take us back to the airport in Qacha for our flight back to Maseru. A great plan but the clouds were so low that we had to stop in Semonkong to wait out a storm. After a couple of hours we were able to get airborne and back to Maseru. A good hot shower and a real bed made for a good night's rest, ready to head to Matsaile the next day...more in the next post.

Urgent Prayer Request

We believe that God hears and answers prayer. Please pray for our daughter Megan as she found out Sunday that her friend from Hope College was killed in a plane crash. Also remember the families of the two who died in this crash. Over 1100 students and faculty attended the memorial service. We want so much to be with Megan as she grieves and processes all of this but that is not God's plan right now. We do know that he is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1).

The other urgent prayer request is for good weather. We are working these 10 days with Brad and Angie Stoner and Pastor Safiri to go to 4 different areas. Tomorrow we would like to be able to fly to Matsaile and tomorrow night (Wednesday) to show the Jesus film. That means we are asking God, who controls all things, to grant us good weather to show the film. We have to show it outdoors. This village has NEVER had a film shown there before. The first one we hope that they will experience will be the Jesus film. The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain and more rain. We need good weather to get to this remote mountain village (no roads there) and good weather for the film. Please join us in praying.

Ministry Marathon...

We are so excited to be picking up Brad and Angie Stoner at the Johannesburg airport on Friday. They come from Community Bible Church, San Diego and will be our ministry partners for the next two weeks. We had the opportunity to do ministry with Brad while we were in Uganda. A year ago January 2009 we were blessed to go to San Diego and meet Brad and Angie and the Community Bible Church family and staff. What a cool church. God is doing an amazing work through the faithful servants there. (if you want to know an amazing story of God totally transforming lives check out Pastor Barry Minkow's story http://sandiegocbc.org/about-us/pastor-barry/ )

Back to the ministry marathon...We are going to be in 4 different mountain areas in 10 days.

First to Ha Rapase to a brand new area where we are checking it out for an airstrip and health post. It will be Sally and I, Brad and Angie, Christiaan Haak (MAF Pilot), Pastor Safiri, and three from the District Health Management Team. We will hold a pitso (gathering) to discuss it with the chiefs and community as well as hold a mobile medical clinic. Healing the body and soul will be our goal, as well as seeing if the land will be good enough for a future airstrip.

Next we will be flying to Matsaile Village Health Post where we will do our usual medical clinic, but this time we will have the opportunity to minister to people waiting to be seen by the doctor team. In addition to medicines, this time we will have reading glasses as Brad is coming with 27 dozen pairs!!! Obviously we won't use all of them in that village. That evening we will show the Jesus Film. It is the first time any film has been shown in this village. When I told people this last week, they were so excited about it. The next morning we will be doing training of Village Health Workers in how to use the HIV/AIDS Cube to teach about HIV prevention (see the Facebook video http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=101856129831097).

Next we will be driving to Mokhotlong District to meet up with the Flora family at the land that the chief has given them to build on. We will do a mobile medical clinic there as well show the Jesus film and do village health worker training. We will drive back to Maseru on Sunday.

Then Monday and Tuesday we will be at another of our health posts (Matekane) to do a similar program (clinic, Jesus film, training). There is a small group there that meets as a church (about 8 adults) and we will be there to encourage them as well.

Finally, Wednesday (27th) we will drive the Stoners back to Johannesburg so they can get their flight back to the USA. Sally and I will return to Maseru on the 28th.

Please pray with us for good weather in order to get in/out of the mountains; for the eyes of people to be open to the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ; for safety as we travel many miles by truck and small plane; for good health as we eat and sleep in the mountains; for joy in serving others for the sake of the gospel. We'll be sure to post things as we can to share with you the great and mighty things that God is going to do.

All for His glory...

Christmas Blessings

Sally and I are truly blessed in so many ways. We have a wonderful family, three great kids of whom we are missing something fierce this week. They are all together in the midWest for the next couple of weeks. Megan finished her second semester abroad in Dakar Senegal and then flew back to the states right into the huge snowstorm on the East Coast. She spent two nights in NYC until she finally got a flight to Detroit on Monday. She and Adam and Kelly will spend time between the Pepper family and the Jessups traveling between Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Sally and I will be celebrating Christmas with our mission family friends. The Flora family who have been living in the mountains will come down on the 24th (you can see their blog at http://jflora.wordpress.com/). The Dials will come over on the 25th along with Justin and Amanda and Bryan. It will be a feast of food for the 14 of us. It is hot here (in the high 80s this week) so we will be trying to find some cool shade to eat under. Varieties of food are good here so we will be having ham and a turduken along with other amazing foods.

What we are excited about is spending time with friends in remembering and celebrating the incarnation of the Son of God - Emmanual - God with us! There is no other religion in the world where by God intervenes in human history to actually enter into the human race to provide a way of forgiveness, an example of the way he intends us to live, and the means to empower us to live changed lives. If there is anything that the Basotho people need today it is a restored relationship with God and empowerment to live changed lives. Jesus Christ offers that, the real gift.

We pray that each of you will experience the love and joy of Christmas this week. I would encourage you each day to remember - Emmanual - God with us! It is so amazing!

We are so grateful for the thousands of members of Southern Baptist Churches that sacrificially give this time of year through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 100% of that offering goes to the field to support us and others. Please give generously as your gifts are what enables us and 5,600 other missionaries to continue sharing the good news of Jesus. We are also grateful for all our other friends and supporters who have been encouraging us, providing for us, praying for us, as we have gone through this year of transition from Uganda to USA to Lesotho.

Daily by His Grace...