"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.