Walking and talking about God…

We recently flew to Matekane health post as a regularly scheduled doctor team visit. I finished a bit earlier than normal that day. One of the patients was still around outside so I spent some time talking with him. He is a local pastor of a village church. He spoke both Sesotho and English. We talked about how amazing the story God's plan for rescuing mankind is. We spent time sharing about the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, about how amazing He is, and how life-changing it is. We prayed together and then he headed back to his home.

I had some time before the MAF plane would be back to pick us up so I decided to take a hike up and over a hill around the airstrip. Two young boys decided to join me in my hike. I greeted them in the best Sesotho I could muster up and they laughed. As we walked, they proceded to teach me some Sesotho, and I taught them English. We reached a spot off to the side of the end of the runway, and sat to eat some nuts and raisins I had packed in my bag. I pulled out my Sesotho Bible and did my best to read them some stories. They enjoyed my reading to them, and even helped a number of times when I wasn’t sure about how to pronounce a particular word. I could see their eager desire to hear more and learn more, but my language skills are still too limited. I encouraged them to find someone in their village to continue to read Bible stories to them.

For those of you that are pilots, I wanted to share with you a picture of one of our landing aids. This particular airstrip is situated at the edge of a 1000+ft cliff. (The picture is looking off the end of the runway!) Some years back a MAF pilot set up this VASI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator) to assist in making the right approach to the landing. For non-pilots, it helps to make sure the plane is descending at the right angle to end up on the runway and not on the side of the cliff. You might be wondering why the holes in it. When it was first put up (without holes) it kept being stolen to use as roofing material. Now, no one wants to take it...

As we walked back to the health post, we saw that the cows had gotten into the area where some ladies were thrashing wheat. I thought 'this is a disaster, we should go help them run off the cows. What's wrong with the shepherd boys...' Boy was I wrong. The ladies had actually asked the support of the shepherd boys in getting the cows there to walk on the wheat, doing the thrashing for them! It works. They use the wheat for making a delicious whole wheat yeast bread (phaphatha). I decided to try my hand at keeping the cows going in circles to walk on the wheat but I found I wasn't very adept at that. Guess I better stick to practicing medicine and sharing the Jesus story...

We headed back to Maseru after a great day of treating patients, and learning more of the beautiful Basotho culture. Beginning July we will be visiting our two health posts three times per month (twice for the doctor team and once for the public health team). Thanks for your prayers, your notes of encouragement, and your support!