Back Flying Again!

We got word today that the government has finally paid the funds to MAF! Now we begin working out the schedule of getting patients and staff back to the mountains, and staff that are long over due for leave out of the mountains.

We have 7 nurses that are due back to 4 different health centers, as well as 21 patients that have been at the National Referral Hospital (Queen II) that are discharged and very ready to go home.

I can only say that the staff is so excited to know that they can now get back to doing what they are supposed to do. I am particularly excited about the second week of November when we head back to the two Health Posts (Matekane and Matsaile). The only health care available to those areas is when we come for the day, so I know we will be very busy. Thanks for praying for us.

Healing Arm, Hail Storms, and Heavenly Work

Got back from the ortho yesterday and he said Sally is healing well. She has two more weeks of the half cast and then can begin exercising it. I think she has completely given up on my skills in using a curling iron or a straightener on her hair. The other day as I started to curl part of it she placed one of those silicon hot pads next to her cheek and ear - not engendering much confidence on my part. Hey, I have never burnt anyone with a heated hair device, but I do think that those straighteners could cook a small toasted cheese sandwich...Meanwhile, she is getting better, less pain, and her hair looked really good yesterday (with no help on my part).

I don't know if there is an international hail database but Maseru must be high on the list of places with hail. We have had 5 hail storms since March of this year. Last night's was quite the storm. I saw that it was getting dark and went outside to look to the West. I heard what I would have called the sound of a tornado had we been in the midwest. In about 3 minutes we had incredible winds and hail that ranged from pea size to marble with a few shooter marbles thrown in there. Couple of the MAF houses had windows broken out. Our friends about an hour from here had golf ball size hail last week. (I kid you not. They had some in their freezer they showed us). Although it is interesting, it is not good for the

crops as you can imagine. It is mid Spring here so many young plants are damaged including the young fruits (peaches and apricots). Unlike other areas of Africa, we have had good rains and we hope that there will be a good harvest this year. Remember, most Basotho are subsistence farmers and depend on each and every harvest to survive.

OK, so what's the "Heavenly Work" part of today's title? As you know, I am still not flying as the government has yet to pay the flying bill. So as I sit in my office at the hanger, I do still do medical work. In addition to the administrative aspects of LFDS I also see patients. Many are family members of staff or those that have come down from the mountains for other things.

Today I saw an older lady (65) for her hypertension and arthritis. She had not been taught about the need for daily medicine and so had been off her hypertension meds for 5 months! Needless to say her pressure was a bit high. Fortunately she had not had a heart attack or a stroke (secondary complications from uncontrolled hypertension is the second leading cause of death in women here). I treated her two problems, did some health education and then as always, asked about her spiritual life.

She lives in the mountains at a village called Lebekeng. There is a health center that our LFDS and PIH staff run. She shared with me that 'a long time ago in 1974 I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.' As we talked about that and what she is doing now she shared that she is the pastor of her church called Rhema Living Church and that she has a project where she teaches and feeds orphans (and other vulnerable children). She was so passionate about her relationship with Jesus Christ and the work she is doing for the Kingdom. She shared with me about how there is no work for the people in that part of the mountains (except to farm) and that many kids go hungry as the families have no money for food. Then there are the kids that are orphaned. There is a good HIV/AIDS program at the Lebekeng government clinic in that village so once someone gets tested, they can be evaluated for the need for ARVs. After we talked some more, we prayed together, asking God to give her strength, healing, perseverance in her work.

I found it interesting that she named the church Rhema Living Church. I know there is some controversy between Evangelicals and Pentacostals over what the Greek word 'rhema' means, but in this case, I think she is getting it. The Word of God is clear on what we ought to do for orphans. How God conveyed that to her doesn't matter to me. What does is that she has a passion for orphans. God does call us to care for orphans and widows, as well as those that are weak, poor, and suffering injustice. I thank God for Me' Masemphe and her love for kids. It is just so interesting to me that for the past two weeks Sally and I are involved in a Bible study on 'Loving Justice.' It is so good to see what God sees as priority being done as ministry by Me' Masemphe.

I look forward to getting back to Lebekeng Village next month (provided we get flying again) to go and see the Rhema Living Church Centre for Orphans. May God bless His children...

Dislocation Fracture of Sally's left arm

Sally and I were in Bloemfontein today (about 2 hours from Maseru) to do some shopping and Sally slipped and fell and ended up getting a dislocation fracture of her Left elbow. We went to the ER and were attended to. The good thing was that in the process of doing the X-ray the dislocation went back in place and so no need for surgery. SHe was evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon. She has to have her arm immobilized for the next 4 weeks with a half cast and sling. Pain is not bad when she is not moving around but more when she moves around. There'll be no driving for the next 4 weeks as we have a standard transmission truck.

Appreciate your prayers for Sally, for quick healing, and for patience while she is in the cast/sling during the next 4 weeks. We go back to the orthopedic surgeon OCtober 28th.

Certainly not what we planned for the day. We are so thankful that we were able to get good treatment in a timely manner. It was kind of ironic that we went through several hours riding horses through the mountains last month with no problems and then had this happen. Well, our Lord says to give thanks in all things, so we are doing that.

LFDS still grounded...

Well, it's now two weeks without flying. The government hasn't paid the LFDS flying bill to MAF so we continue to sit. It's getting bad as the patients that need to come to the referral hospital here in Maseru can't come and the places where we would be going to provide care and treatment are being left out. I continue to remind the appropriate authorities that this is serious.

I'm getting a lot of language learning done and office work. Making plans for the next 6 weeks to get back to Ha Thaba Bosiu for follow up airstrip evaluation. We have two other areas in the SouthEastern part of Lesotho where we are doing a similar thing of looking to build an airstrip and health post. We will go with a MAF pilot to those two places the end of October and mid November.

Really wish I had more exciting things to report, but this is the reality. Pray that the bill will be paid so we can get back to the mountains with medical care and treatment and the hope of the Gospel.

Praise God We're Back Flying Again (at least some are)

Monday was a full day of flights for the MAF team. Praise God! Although the accident investigation by MAF-USA is not completed, it was determined that it was safe to resume flight operations.

Unfortunately as LFDS, we are not flying. Why, you ask? This came about as there is a 3 month back log of flight bill payments that are overdue to MAF. MAF provides the flight operations to the Lesotho Government for LFDS and other agencies. We are hoping that the payments will be processed this week so we can resume our flights to and from the mountain clinics. As a note, MAF is still providing the emergency Code-1 flights for those life threatening emergencies.

Meanwhile I am catching up on administrative duties and working on plans for exploring two other areas where we might be placing an airstrip and health post. It is exciting to work on these plans as I know it is going to give us opportunity to provide better health care and share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the afternoons, Sally and I are continuing our language studies. We have a great language teacher that makes the process fun (even though it is mentally painful). We are making progress, but like a lot of things, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know that much. But we are thankful that Basotho are gracious towards us as we use our language skills and they are very happy that we are trying.

Hey, thanks for praying for the MAF team and for Sally and I.

Pray for our LFDS/MAF Team

On Wednesday afternoon there was a MAF airplane accident at one of the mountain airstrips called Methalaneng. We praise God that no one was injured (Pilot and 4 passengers). I was not on the airplane. It was NOT pilot error and is was NOT an airplane malfunction. It was a sudden burst of air from the side just at the point of landing. The MAF pilot did an outstanding job of preventing a potentially disastrous outcome.

An official MAF USA accident investigation team will be arriving on Monday morning. They will go to the airstrip via helicopter on Tuesday. We will not be flying until the investigation team gives the go-ahead to resume flights. For life threatening emergencies (what we call 'Code-1') the Lesotho military will use their helicopters to cover for us.

Please pray for the team as we all deal with this accident, with people's fears, with trusting God every moment. We are so grateful that He is in control of all things. We know that God is in control of all things and we are trusting that His name will be glorified in all of this.

As I sat with our LFDS staff today and talked through this, I shared with them Psalm 23. I asked them to listen to it anew as they reflected on what had happened. What was so cool was that their primary concern was how was the pilot and the passengers, and what were we going to do about the emergencies. They were not thinking of themselves but of others, just as the Lord instructs us to do. We closed our meeting with a prayer by one of the staff. Although I could not understand all that she prayed (remember we are still learning Sesotho) I did pick up enough of it to hear her passion regarding how good God is, how much we need His help, and how thankful she was.

Thanks for joining us in prayer...

31 Villages Desperately in Need of Health Care

On Sunday we (Sally, Danny Hulls - MAF Chief Pilot, and myself) drove about an hour from home to the mountain area of Mohale Dam. We

met up with the three men from Berea District who were instrumental

in identifying the area we were planning to visit. We mapped out our plan and set off on Monday morning further into the mountains.

It was paved road for about 20 minutes then gravel that deteriorated to 4WD only. After one hour we reached the village of Sekolopata where we left our trucks and hired Basotho Mountain Ponies.

We headed off up the Senqunyane River Valley towards the village of Ha Thaba Bosiu. It was up and down, four times having to cross small streams and the larger river. We passed by several villages and met a few people along the way. As it is Spring here, we passed by fields that were being plowed by oxen teams (4 oxen, one man guiding the plough, and one man driving the oxen).

At one point we had to dismount our ponies and lead them across a rocky stream as they refused to cross with us on them. Turns out they are pretty smart as we found it very slippery. I also found out that getting back on a horse while wearing a back pack was not easy. The horse decided it was time to take off and I found myself looking up at the sky, flat on my back (actually, flat on my back

pack) with the horse happily walking away. I'm sure it had a smirk on its face... A second attempt found me on the horse, trying to get my foot in the stirrup while I held on tight to his neck. Sally found it quite amusing, and I guess I'm learning about riding. (We really should have taken riding lessons while we were in the US last year.)

After nearly two and a half hours of riding we reached the area we had identified as a potential spot for an airstrip and the village of Ha Thaba Bosiu. As you can see it looks pretty flat, but remember we would like about 2,000 feet of runway.

We were about an hour behind schedule and so we decided to split up our team. MAF Pilot Danny and Sally stayed at the airstrip area and the four of us headed on to the village (it was down a rather steep path towards where two rivers meet). Danny began to assess the area for the airstrip. It involved walking up and down the area to find the optimal angles for approach and takeoff, most favorable winds, and the most level area. He took a bunch of GPS locations and used an inclinometer to measure the rise of the terrain. Meanwhile, Sally was spending time walking and praying for this area while watching over their two ponies. She met a young woman with

a child on her back and talked a bit. The lady told Sally that she was on her way walking to the closest clinic which was where we had come from that morning. Recall we had driven 1 hour by truck and 2.5 hours on pony and she was walking! Come to find out, people would even walk the whole day to reach the closest health center. Sally spent more time praying for the people of this area and praying that God would give us wisdom on how to minister to their physical and spiritual needs.

The three men from Berea and I got to the village and were fortunate to find Chief Majara there. As there really is no easy way to get a message there (no cell phone coverage), the chief and those in the village were surprised by our visit. We sat at his homestead with two other men as well as the chief's wife and friend and explained who we were and why we were there. We enquired as to how many villages were in the area and if he

thought they would benefit from a health post and airstrip. After some discussion, they came up with a list of 31 villages that would directly benefit. They agreed to get us the names of all the villages and a census of those living there.

I also shared with them that I was both a doctor and a preacher of the gospel. They were curious as to what church I belonged to and if I planned on making them change their religion. I explained that I was not interested in that but in teaching them about Jesus Christ and following His ways. They were interested and like the idea that we could provide both medical care and Biblical teaching.

After an hour we headed back up the hill to find Sally and Danny to find out if the area looked promising for building an airstrip. We were happy to hear that the preliminary assessment looked good, although it would involve leveling one area and moving dirt to another part to make the airstrip. There's much more to building an airstrip (MAF has clear guidelines on it) but at least it looks like a favorable area that would give us access to the villages. We all got back on our ponies and began the long trek back to Sekolopata. I don't know horses well but I sure sensed that they were glad to be heading to their home and we were ready to go back. It was a beautiful ride back. We reached Sekolopata where we had left the trucks and then drove back to Mohale. It was just getting dark as we arrived there. We had supper together and talked about the survey trip. We were all pretty excited about the possibility of opening the area not only to health care but to the gospel as well. It was back to Maseru the next morning for Danny, Sally and I, and on to Teyateyaneng (Berea District) for the other three.

We are so thankful for what God allowed us to do and to see. We continue to pray for wisdom on how to proceed. I want to start building next week but I know that we have to go through the proper government channels for approval and for funds. It may be possible to ride into the area once a month to do a mobile medical clinic and evangelism while we work on building up the airstrip. I know we need patience, but I also know the desperate needs (both physical and spiritual) of the Basotho living in the 31 villages in the Ha Thaba Bosiu area. Please join us in praying for the people of that area, and for what we will do next.

All for His glory...