"Stay in Low Gear"

So how do you get to the villages up in the Maluti Mountains? You either fly, or 'stay in low gear.' In about a week we will begin working in the mountain clinics and our normal mode of travel will be a single engine plane, but for this trip we drove. We left Maseru on Saturday and headed up the mountains to spend some time with our missionary colleagues, Alan and Babs Dial and their boys, Mahau and Daniel. To reach their village of Katseyou must drive 4.5 hours. The first hour is in the low lands, then you turn toward the mountains and begin climbing. We went up and over three passes, the highest being ~9,500 ft. The road is paved, but often very steep, hence the 'stay in low gear' signs. Most of the time we were only going 25-30 mph. We drove through rain most of the way, but then it cleared as we reached Katse Village. Katse is where a huge dam was built to make a reservoir for fresh water. All of the water is piped down to Johannesburg, South Africa. The reservoir is huge, and beautiful. When the dam was being built, housing was built for the engineers and other supervisors. After construction of the dam, the housing was turned over to the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. The Dials live in one of the LHDA houses. The Katse area of the mountains is one of the most densely populated.

On Sunday we attended the Khloha ntsa Baptist Church. It is pastored by Maruti Phoka. Maruti means teacher and is the word used for pastor as well. He and his wife live about 100 yards from the church. He farms about 8 plots of land, has a couple of cows, and some sheep. He is extremely hard working in his family (they have 4 kids), and in his church. The church service was 2 hours and consisted of a lot of singing, of testimonies of what God has been doing in their lives, and a sermon. Alan has been working with 5 pastors in the area doing pastoral training and mentoring them in evangelism and church planting. Babs has been doing Chronological Bible Stories as a way to teach the bible to a largely illiterate people.
We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the Dials, seeing what God has been doing in their lives and in the lives of the Mountain Basotho. There is lots of work to do there in spreading the good news of Jesus, and then teaching them to follow him (see Matthew 28:18-20). Pray that God will give wisdom and strength to the Dials.

On Monday morning we 'toured' the health clinic at Katse Village. It is a well equipped clinic that served as the clinic during the construction of the dam. Unfortunately it has not had a doctor for several years. Even though it is at the end of the paved road, no doctors want to be posted there. We won't be flying there as part of LFDS as the program does not service clinics that are close to a good road. Pray that God will provide a dedicated compassionate doctor to work with the nurses at the very well equipped clinic. Thousands of needy Basotho could be served by the clinic.

After the clinic 'tour' we headed back over the three passes and down to the lowlands of Maseru. Along the way we passed several large and small water falls. The beauty of it all reminded me of how God is both creator and provider, that from Jesus flow streams of living water.

It was exciting to know that our friends are there sharing Christ in the Katse area and surrounding villages. Next time we see Katse, it will likely be looking out the window of the MAF plane. Enough for now. Next blog we'll share some fun from language beginnings. And don't forget to "Pray for the Mountain Basotho" using the daily video clips.

Welcome to the capital…

We are ‘learning’ to live in Maseru, the capital city. We have had an amazing welcome by our IMB mission family and by our new mission family, the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) team. They are all helping us to get settled in. We are currently in a 2BR apartment until we can find a house. Housing is very difficult to come by so pray with us about that. We have learned that there are a lot more ‘things’ available here compared to Uganda. We are grateful for the additional choices in foods, and supplies.

This week Mike Shutts (MAF) took me to be introduced to the Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to discuss my working in Lesotho. There are a few details to take care of, but none seem too difficult. I have paperwork to get through the system to make me legally registered with the medical council. In addition, next week I get to sit before a medical committee to be examined to determine if I am really who my documents say I am. The DG has suggested that I work together for one month with the doctor currently assigned as director for the Lesotho Flying Doctors Service in order to ‘learn the system’ before taking over. At that time, the other doctor will be reassigned to another area of Lesotho.

In case you were wondering what has been happening regarding HIV/AIDS. In 2007 (most recent statistics) there were over 18,000 deaths due to HIV/AIDS. That’s 2 people dying per hour! Now consider that our best estimates for the Maluti Mountain Basotho show that <2% are saved Christians. You can do the math, but that is more than 17,640 that died in 2007 without receiving the forgiveness and grace that Jesus Christ offers them. There is a definite urgency for the work in the mountains, both medical and spiritual. You can not separate them. So, by God’s grace we continue on in this calling from God to bring complete ‘healing’ to the Mountain Basotho through medical and spiritual care.

As you can imagine, in order to do the work here we need to know the language and culture of the Basotho. So, Sally and I have begun the arduous, but extremely important process of listening, observing, learning about the Basotho and their language, Sesotho. Although it too, is a Bantu language like the one we spoke in Uganda, there are essentially no shared words. It’s going to take daily study and practice, and immersion to learn. So, here we go! So far we know how to say a basic greeting and thank you. It’s a start…

Pray for us as we begin language learning
Pray for us to daily depend on God for strength, not on our own self

This weekend we are heading up the mountains to Alan and Babs Dials place. (You can find it on Google Earth as "Katse Village"). We want to see firsthand just what great things God is doing in the mountains among the Basotho. The Dials have been serving there for 5 years. Pictures about the Dials family and the mountains to come next blog.

Don’t forget the check out the “Pray for the Basotho” daily mini-video to show you more about the Maluti Mountain Basotho. (look on the right side of our blog)

We are in Lesotho!

Wanted to let you know we arrived safely in Maseru, Lesotho with all our luggage and in good health. I'll post some pictures later.

Most importantly we wanted to remind you about "PrayfortheBasotho" link that is on the right side of our blog. It is a great way to get to know the Basotho people and their many needs. Each day is just a few minutes of excellent video to view. Go ahead and take a look at it...