Audio Bible and Fresh Graves

I returned to Matsaile Village Health Post on Thursday after almost two months. Had a couple of things I wanted to check on since our last visit. One was our patients, and the other was the state of the audio Bible player I had left behind with a young man.

A few minutes after arriving in the village we were greeted by the area chief, Morena Tsepo

(Morena = Chief). He was quite concerned that we had not been coming, but was very happy to see us. We talked a bit about the concept of expanding the runway to make it possible to land both directions as well as the idea of building a health post structure at the runway in order to better serve the 7 villages. He pledged his support which is crucial as he is the chief-of-chiefs in this area of the mountains.

I was quite concerned about our patients as there are a number of people there with hypertension, diabetes, and mental health issues that need their meds on a daily basis.

Basically there are two options when we can't get there; go with out, the other is to walk about 4 hours crossing a river to get to a health clinic (Matebeng Village). It is quite interesting as this health post probably has the most elderly people that come to the clinic (an old man is called 'Ntate Moholo' and an old woman 'Nkono') and almost all have osteoarthritis (old age arthritis). They love to get what is the equivalent to BenGay cream along with their ibuprofen or panadol. I knew with our not visiting that many would be suffering.

As it turned out, some had left early that morning to walk to Matebeng as they had lost hope in our coming as we had failed to come three times before. But others were there and more came once they heard and saw the plane. As always, the people were very grateful for o

ur coming and providing this service. Our team that day was myself, a nurse, and a pharmacy tech (the one pictured). The nurse and I saw 53 patients that day, and Mabakoena

('ma-ba-kwey-na') dispensed meds to each of the 53. We enquired about those with chronic illness and were told that some went without, and others had made that long journey - basic

ally an all day walk to and fro. We are really thankful to be back flying again. After seeing the patients I had a good talk with the area chief - Morena Tsepo. We talked again about the concept of lengthening the gravel runway and building a clinic structure at the runway to serve the 7 villages.

But hey, what about that audio Bible thing? It is called the Proclaimer.

It's a battery powered MP3 player that can be charged by its solar panel, hand crank, or electricity. I had been bringing it and playing it for those waiting to be seen in the clinic. I had decided the last time to leave it in the hands of Ntate Tsupane,the young man that looks after the empty shell building that we use in Matsaile village. He shared with me that he loved it, was listening twice a day, and others were also listening to it. By the way, it contains the New Testament in Sesotho. Unfortunately, the OT is n

ot available in audio form in Sesotho. His friend (Shadrach) decided he should crank it as I took the picture. As many Basotho in the mountains can't read (or find it difficult to read the rather old Sesotho of the Bible), this tool is really valuable. In case you're wondering where it came from, there is a cool organization called "Faith Comes by Hearing" that gave us 6 of the units. I have shared them with our other colleagues in the mountains and they are now getting them as well. If you'd be interested to learn more or perhaps help them, please visit the web site (www.faithcomesbyhearing.com).

Well, the one thing I was not expecting to see when I got back to Matsaile were the 6 fresh graves, one being a child's. I found out that day that there was another one to be filled on Saturday as a village member had been emergency evacuated from Matsaile the

week before but had died at Queen II hospital in Maseru. His body was to be flown back there on Friday (MAF flies caskets as they can remove seats from the plane to fit it in). The six fresh graves were a stark reminder of the fact that

40-50 Basotho are dying every day just from HIV/TB. I don't have the details on what these six died of but you can be sure that HIV/TB had a part in some of them. The more sobering fact was that some of them may have died with out hearing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a push for me to work harder on language learning so I can clearly share the hope of Christ in their heart language.

As I was finishing with the last patient I heard the plane pass over the village. Melvin was able to land safely and so we began the 20 minute walk to the airstrip. Ntate Tsupane, Ntate Shadrach and 4 village health workers accompanied us as they always do, helping to carry the medical supplies, and as a gesture of kindness. The last photo I took reminded me that there are still 'dark clouds' on the horizon in Lesotho, as the King of Light is not yet shining in all areas of the mountains. That's part of the task that God has given Sally and I, to be light in Lesotho in such a way that people will see the good works and glorify God (Matthew 5:13-16).

Oh yeah, Sally is now out of her half-cast and now is doing exercises to get mobility back in her elbow. We go back to the orthopedic surgeon on the 25th. We continue to thank God that her arm is getting better each day.

Thanks for praying for the Kingdom work in Lesotho. We are so thankful for the support we have to be able to be here, to the thousands of faithful members of SBC churches that give each week to the Cooperative Program and to the annual Lottie Moon offering; and to those of you from other churches that help support us.

Daily by His grace...