"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...

On our way to Lesotho!

We’re on our way to Lesotho!

Seven months have flown by and it is time to say farewell and head to Lesotho. It is one of the hardest things we have to deal with as cross cultural missionaries. Seems like we are always saying farewell. We are thankful that God promises to give us the daily grace to make it through each day of packing, saying farewells, and traveling. It has been so good to be here to be with family, meet some of the newest members of our extended family, welcome new people into the family through marriage, and just enjoy the beauty of Michigan. We’ve been blessed to have a house (Clarksville Bible Church mission house) just 2 blocks from Larry’s parents for the past 7 months.

Our family is about to be spread around the world. Megan is in the middle of her semester studies in Senegal, West Africa. She is loving the West African climate, the people, her new friends, and the studies. We’ll see her next May in Lesotho, then she’s off to Vietnam for a second semester abroad. She loves new languages, new cultures, new people, and life in general…

Adam is half way through his year working at Miriam’s House/AmeriCorp in DC. Last weekend we visited him and got to walk the George Washington University campus where he will do his MPH/Physicians Assistant study program (begins this August). It was exciting to be there, see the facilities (only 5 blocks from the Capital), eat some great food, visit some of the Smithsonian museums, and most of all, just hang out. He has some really exciting times ahead of him. We continue to pray that many people will be impacted by his love and compassion for the hurting and disadvantaged/disenfranchised.

Kelly’s enjoying her time at Taylor University in Indiana with her growing entourage of friends. She hasn’t fully decided on her focus of studies, but is doing a great job getting her basics in. When you grow up in Uganda, you don’t get to start driving like you do here in the US. Our mission doesn’t allow kids to drive our vehicles so her first experience was last July! The great news is that she got her Michigan driving license this Christmas break. Her day for her driving test turned out to be a small Michigan blizzard but she endured it and passed. We’ll leave the car that Adam had with Kelly so she can carry on the Pepper tradition of road trips. Adam is busy convincing her and some friends to plan a trip to DC soon.

It has been good to be here in the US the past months. As we look back we see God’s hand in the timing of this stateside as it has allowed us to be near excellent medical facilities when Sally had retinal tears that needed expert care, and for Larry’s dad in his varied medical issues. Although we had not planned on spending so much time in ERs/hospitals/doctors offices, it was God’s plan and we are grateful to have been here. Mom is doing really well and Dad continues to improve emotionally and physically. We have learned that recovery from depression is a long slow process. They continue to live in their home for now.

As you might expect, we do have a few ‘unknowns’ in our life right now. As of today, we don’t have a house in Maseru, Lesotho. Our team there is looking and we know that God will provide. We have a shipping container of our things that we packed in Uganda, but can’t ship it until we have an address and work permit in Lesotho. The same applies to our crate that we packed here in Michigan. We’re not really sure what the first weeks in Lesotho will entail besides beginning to learn a new culture and new language (Sesotho – a Bantu language). Although we have a number of ‘unknowns’, we are at peace in our hearts because we know that we serve a living God who does know all things, is working out things for our good and his glory. In addition, the amazing blessings we have seen in the past that were based upon his promises, his person, and his graces will be there fresh each morning as we go through the coming weeks.

Thanks for praying for us and for God’s work in Lesotho. We’ll make the next update from Leso

Our kids scattered...

Well, after a quick trip to Arkansas to celebrate Sally's grandma's 100th birthday, we finally got all three of our kids settled in their respective places and states. Kelly-Indiana; Megan-Michigan; Adam-Washington, DC

Kelly has begun her Freshman first semester at Taylor University (www.tayloru.edu) in Upland

 Indiana studying biology.  Sally, Kelly and I attended the parents/student international/MK orientation the week before classes started.  They have an active Mu Kappa chapter that provides a way for missionary kids to get together and share experiences and struggles. We had a great summer picnic of hotdogs, hamburgers, and lots of other foods to get the year going.  We're grateful

 for the Daudts who serve as Mu Kappa chapter advisors for opening their home to all of us.

The Taylor campus is really beautiful and spacious

It is out in the 'country' of Indiana surrounded by some corn and soybean fields.  Upland is a quaint town with some essential things like an ice cream shop.  Not far from campus is Paynes coffee shop where they roast their own coffee and have a true coffee shop atmosphere.

We couldn't resist the pic of Kelly and the bronze of Sammy Morris, 

one of the early students at Taylor that came 

from Africa. You can read more about him at Wikipedia.

Megan has begun her third year at 

Hope College with a double major - International Studies/French.  This year she was an essential part of the international student orientation for Freshman.  She had a great time facilitating small groups talking about the challenges of entering the new culture of the USA.  We are enjoying being an hour away so we get to see her more often.

Adam is now living in Potomac, MD and working downtown Washington, DC.  For the next year he is funded by AmeriCorp working for the National AIDS Fund.  His job entails working in a home for women with HIV/AIDS (Miriam's House).  He's pretty excited about the job and is getting used to the 1+ hour commute every day.  He is currently applying to Physician Assistant programs for next year. Adam is living with 4 other guys in a house in Potomac, including his long time friend from Africa, Matt (he works at 

NIH in malaria research).  We were glad to help Adam move in to his new place and look forward to being back there in October to see where he works.

So, our kids are scattered, but settled in now.  Sally and I are living in the Clar

ksville Bible Church mission house in Larry's home town, just

 two blocks from his parents.  Larry's dad has been going through some really tough physical and emotional times so it has been good to be able to help them.  Remember to pray for Leo and Wanda as they deal with this process of aging.  

Our schedule has us traveling a lot to various states/churches/mission conferences.  We'd love to hear from you and maybe we'll be in your state.  Meanwhile, we trust daily in God's sufficient grace...

Kelly Graduates from Rift Valley Academy

Praise God! Kelly graduated today from Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya. Four years of hard work at boarding school. We are so proud of Kelly. She and her 78 classmates had a great day of celebrating the goodness and faithfulness of God over the years of schooling at RVA. RVA is a African Inland Mission school established in 1909 providing schooling for kids in grades 1-12. Kelly began there in 9th grade after being home schooled by Sally at our home in Uganda. For Kelly it meant being at boarding school 9 months a year and home with Sally and I the other three months.
Kelly had great roommates but has really been blessed to have Daniela the last two years. Daniela’s parents serve as missionaries in rural Malawi. Kelly and Daniela have become great friends over the year sharing their lives at RVA and their cultures as well (American and Dutch).
It was a great day for our family to all be there today. All three of our kids have graduated from RVA so it was a nostalgic time for Adam and Megan as well.
Although it is an emotionally charged day with Kelly leaving her ‘home away from home’, her many friends, leaving Africa, it is also exciting as our family will spend a relaxing week in Ireland before heading to Michigan.
Join us as we praise God for his faithfulness, steadfastness, and grace.

A Party to Celebrate the Goodness of God

The last weekend in Mbarara we had a great two days of celebrating what God has done in and through our lives over the last 12 years. We invited friends, colleagues, clients, mission family, and many others to celebrate Jesus. Denis and Rose Lukaya generously offered us the venue and others helped us decorate. We had fun and games, heard the children's choir sing, two other choirs, sang praises to God, danced, ate, and had a great time recalling what God has accomplished. It was a time to celebrate both what God has done in our family life as well as in ministry.
It was especially fun to see several of our former students and church members come back for the weekend. We recalled the early days of University Baptist Church Mbarara as well as the beginnings of student work. Sally and I praised God as we saw fruit of what God called us to Mbarara to do. Former students now professionals in areas all over Uganda holding firm to the truths of God's Word and Way.
Needless to say there were lots of stories and smiles, and lots of tears as we said farewell to our friends. Saying farewell is something that we have come to know well in missions work.
Saturday evening we had a great time of fellowship with some of our mission family recalling stories of our life in Uganda. We are so thankful that God gave us a loving mission family in addition to our biological family.
Sunday was a great day of worship at UBC Mbarara. Several former church members stayed the weekend to be part of a large praise and worship team. I preached my final sermon to my 'flock' encouraging them to "Contend for the Faith" and keep Jesus the supreme satisfaction in their lives. I have to admit it was very hard to speak those final words to a church family that I have come to love so much. As I preached I handed over the flock to our new full time pastor Enoch. He is a man of God who we are confident will lead and feed the flock now. Remember to pray for him and the flock.
We're now in Kenya at Rift Valley Academy (RVA) preparing for Kelly to graduate (July 12th).