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)