Christmas Blessings

Sally and I are truly blessed in so many ways. We have a wonderful family, three great kids of whom we are missing something fierce this week. They are all together in the midWest for the next couple of weeks. Megan finished her second semester abroad in Dakar Senegal and then flew back to the states right into the huge snowstorm on the East Coast. She spent two nights in NYC until she finally got a flight to Detroit on Monday. She and Adam and Kelly will spend time between the Pepper family and the Jessups traveling between Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Sally and I will be celebrating Christmas with our mission family friends. The Flora family who have been living in the mountains will come down on the 24th (you can see their blog at http://jflora.wordpress.com/). The Dials will come over on the 25th along with Justin and Amanda and Bryan. It will be a feast of food for the 14 of us. It is hot here (in the high 80s this week) so we will be trying to find some cool shade to eat under. Varieties of food are good here so we will be having ham and a turduken along with other amazing foods.

What we are excited about is spending time with friends in remembering and celebrating the incarnation of the Son of God - Emmanual - God with us! There is no other religion in the world where by God intervenes in human history to actually enter into the human race to provide a way of forgiveness, an example of the way he intends us to live, and the means to empower us to live changed lives. If there is anything that the Basotho people need today it is a restored relationship with God and empowerment to live changed lives. Jesus Christ offers that, the real gift.

We pray that each of you will experience the love and joy of Christmas this week. I would encourage you each day to remember - Emmanual - God with us! It is so amazing!

We are so grateful for the thousands of members of Southern Baptist Churches that sacrificially give this time of year through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 100% of that offering goes to the field to support us and others. Please give generously as your gifts are what enables us and 5,600 other missionaries to continue sharing the good news of Jesus. We are also grateful for all our other friends and supporters who have been encouraging us, providing for us, praying for us, as we have gone through this year of transition from Uganda to USA to Lesotho.

Daily by His Grace...

Qabane Valley

Tuesday and Wednesday this week I went with a team to the Qabane Valley to do an assessment for a new airfield and health post. Qabane Valley is located in the Southern part of Lesotho up in the mountains. We went there as the District Health Management Team had identified this area as a priority #1 area as they have VERY difficult access to health care services. As you can see, this time we didn't ride horses but used one of the military helicopters. Although I am learning to really enjoy riding horses, I was told that even the experienced horse riders were having difficulty with the eroded terrain of this area. So, the five of us packed our gear and went via military chopper. For this trip it was myself, MAF Pilot Justin Honaker and his wife Amanda, and two from Mohale's Hoek District. We left Tuesday morning amidst dark clouds and wind, but the LDF pilot got us there safely. We actually landed right in the middle of the fields that Justin and Amanda would assess for the airstrip.

We carried our gear (backpacks, tent, medical supplies, etc)

around a donga (eroded valley that usually contains a stream) to the nearby village - 30 minutes away. We were met there by the

chief who naturally wondered who we were and why we were there. We talked for a while and he was quite pleased to allow us to pitch our tent there, to use his house for the mobile medical

clinic, and to have the pitso (gathering of villagers) at his village.

Within a couple of hours people had gathered and were ready to hear what we had to say. We were

joined by a member of the Qabane Community Council who has been lobbying for better health care in the valley. We held the pitso at an area of the village that was like a peninsula that overlooked the Qabane River. As our team was walking toward that area, Ntate

Mojakhomo told Amanda and Me' Tumeliso that they had to walk down on a lower path, not the one we were on. He then proceeded to explain to me that as we were walking next to the cattle kraal, the women could not walk next to it as there is the belief that they might somehow badly influence the fertility of the cattle. Once we got to the pitso area, we followed the usual customs of beginning with an introduction by the chief of the village, then introductions by each group, then a prayer, and then we began the discussions.

People were very interested in the fact that we wanted to help them with better health care. They had the usual questions about compensation of their land that would be used by the airstrip and health post. It was interesting to hear the chief that was in charge of that land tell the people that they shouldn't allow this land to stop them from getting important services like health care. Then people began to share stories of how difficult it is to get health care. They basically have two choices - go down the valley to Ha Sekake (gov't clinic) or across a big mountain to Tebellong Hospital (mission hospital). They shared how when they go to the gov't one, that they often find it out of drugs and there is no doctor there. Then they told us horrific stories of going the other way where they have had several women raped, others beaten and robbed, and others having their medications stolen. They pointed to one side of the mountain

that was 'the way of the rapers' and the other way as the 'way of the thieves.' They practically begged us to hurry up and get the airstrip and health post built. They were heart wrenching stories. On a really good point, the people were very interested and willing to do their part as far as the land and construction, but still had concerns about government compensation. The pitso ended with a verbal 'vote' that was an overwhelming "Eh, Ntate" (yes sir!).

So, now it was time to begin the mobile clinic and for Justin and Amanda to begin their work of airstrip eval.

They walked across/through the donga and began the tedious work of measuring

distances, slopes, angles, etc. Several guys

accompanied them and helped to put rock

'markers' at various places to denote possible boundaries of the airstrip.

Nurse Tumeliso and I began seeing the people that had gathered for the medical services. As I've shared before, we are still learning Sesotho, so Idid my best at offering a prayer before we began medical care. While we saw patients

(83 that afternoon), Ntate Mojokhomo was doing some health education and gathering information on the number of villages in the valley that would benefit (52).

We ended the clinic around 6PM and then set up our tent. Part of us stayed in the tent and others in the house. While cooking supper we

took time to 'debrief' the day and plan for the next. We had opportunity to

enjoy a beautiful sunset and give thanks to the Lord for the things of the day.

It's gets light around 4:30AM here so I was up and working on getting some coffee. We had our breakfast and then began a second day of mobile clinic by 6:00AM. We had seen about 80 patients that morning when a husband brought in his wife. She was crying and short of breath. She was saying that she was so sick and was going to die. Turned out she was so severely

anemic that she was in pending heart failure. She needed urgently to get to Maseru to the hospital for blood transfusion. We were very fortunate that the helicopter arrived about and hour later and we packed up our gear and took the lady with us back to Maseru. Unfortunately we had to leave behind about 60 people who had not been seen for medical care. We were back in Maseru in 35 minutes and the lady was transported via ambulance to the hospital. (The lady is doing better now having had blood.)

Now we have the task of getting reports written and finding funding to do the work. Pray with us that the government will be able to find the funding. I will be meeting the high level Ministry of Health officials early next year to present this area and about 4 others like it.

Thanks for praying! All for His glory...

Return to Ha Thaba Bosiu

Monday we set off from Maseru towards the mountains.After climbing through two passes we reached the Mohale Dam and Reservoir area. We picked up the public health nurse (Ntate Khachane) from the Mohale Clinic and drove for an hour along the Mohale reservoir and up the Senquenyane River valley. The last 10 minutes was all up hill in 4WD as we reached the end of the road at Sekolopata. We were met there by our ‘transportation’ team of donkeys and horses. People from Ha Thaba Bosiu and surrounding villages had agreed that their part of our coming would be transportation, and they had kept their part of the deal. Supplies for the mobile medical clinic as well as our bags and food were expertly placed in gunny sacks and tied on the backs of the donkeys. Then it was our turn to get on horses and head out. Sally has decided that the old Steven Curtis Chapman song “Saddle up your horses…” should be our theme song. We were the ‘veterans’ of horse riding now as the nurse that came with us had only ridden once before. Hit the trail…This time we had gotten word that there was a way to get there without having to cross the Senquenyane three times, but only once. We were all for that as the last time we had near disasters with horses slipping on slimy rocks and Sally’s horse just not wanting to cross at all.

The path was good most of the way with one major river crossing and three smaller streams. Just about a mile from the village we encountered a rock slide that had reduced the comfortably wide path to a narrow 12 inches with about a 100 foot drop off. We chose to get off the horses at that point and walk/crawl across. Although we rode horses, Melvin (MAF pilot) rode his dirt bike. It was quite a challenge as the trail is not the best and crossing a river became quite the challenge. But by God’s grace we made it.

After 2.5 hours of riding we reached Ha Thaba Bosiu. They had expected us to be there in the morning in order to hold a ‘pitso’, a meeting of the villagers and chiefs to discuss the airstrip and health post concept. As we got there around 3PM (later than they expected), many had left and agreed to come back the next morning. After a brief meeting with the chief we were taken to the primary school where we set up shop. The headmaster of the school had graciously agreed to allow us to use two of the classrooms – one for the medical clinic, and one for sleeping in. We unpacked medicines and began seeing patients. As some had traveled by foot for several hours to get there, we saw them first so they could be on their way back. We worked up till dusk seeing 67 patients.

Then it was time to unpack our personal things before it got too dark. We had foam mats and sleeping bags for on the floor. Melvin (MAF Pilot) had brought two single burner cookers so we proceeded to make up some supper and coffee (I usually travel with my home roasted coffee and coffee press).Good food and good conversation. Good night of sleep (well as you can on a cement floor at age 50).

It was light by 4:30AM and we had patients lined up by 5:00AM. We got our breakfast andbegan clinic by 6:00AM. Around 9:00 AM people had gathered for the pitso near the chief’s house. We were a bit disappointed that only 8 of the 50+ villages has

sent representatives but it was still very informative. Lots of questions about who would pay for it, who will build it, how often will the ‘doctor team’ come, and what their responsibilities would be. We (the district representatives, the local council rep, MAF and LFDS as well as the chief) explained the idea of community participation being essential for success. We need them to ‘buy into’ the idea and provide voluntary labor and some supplies for it to work. Several of the ladies said they were ready to start building the next day if necessary. I really believe that they know the benefit that the health services will provide and want that for their families. In the discussions I shared that I was both a doctor and a teacher of God’s Word and one of them suggested that Sally and should just move there and stay with them as they needed a ‘priest and doctor.’ The more we asked we were able to find out that there was one Catholic group up the valley and one Protestant group in Ha Thaba Bosiu but no churches. It is truly a needy place both medically and spiritually.Before concluding the pitso, the chief insisted that all go up to the area where the proposed airstrip would be built. About 60 of us walked theone kilometer to the area and Melvin helped to show where the boundaries would be, and who’s field’s might be affected. Several questions ensued including concerns about whether or not the ‘wind’ from the airplane might damage their crops. They have experience with helicopters coming to deliver the money for old age pension payments in the village. Again the issue of who would compensate for the fields came up and we deferred that to the chief and local council to work out.After the airstrip pitso we were back to the school for the medical clinic work. Melvin headed out on his motorcycle as he needed to get back for flying.

Sally did the dispensing of medications along with occasional language assistance from the public health nurse from Mohale. She did a great job getting the right drugs with instructions to each and every patient. Ntate Khachane was also busy doing HIV testing and counseling. Ntate Mike was working with me (he was a nurse before becoming an information specialist) seeing patients. That day we saw 149 patients. While we were seeing patients, we also gave out gospel materials in Sesotho. In addition, I had gotten some Basotho Christian music and some shepherd stories that I put on our Saber MP3 player. People enjoyed listening to the music and the stories that shared the gospel. We ended the clinic that day just before dark at 7PM. Needless to say we were all exhausted, but happy to have served a lot of people. We had arranged to head back onWednesday morning but there was still the demand to see more patients. We began again at 6AM and worked up till 11AM. All in all we took care of 265 patients including one who was home bound and we ended up doing and IV and injections of antibiotics as he was so sick (TB/AIDS/Diarrhea). Just as we were about to prepare to pack the medications and supplies on thedonkeys, a lady came riding up on an horse with her 7 month old baby boy. He was sick with pneumonia and she had heard there was clinic. He was really sick and so

I gave antibiotic injection, liquid Tylenol, oral rehydration mix, and oral antibiotics to continue. I prayed for him and his mother, entreating God to show his mercy and his power by healing this baby boy. He really needed to be in a hospital on oxygen and IV fluids but with no airstrip there, it would be a 3-4 hour horse ride just to get to a clinic, not even a hospital. He was in no condition to endure such a ride. (I don’t know if he survived or not but will enquire the next time we are in Ha Thaba Bosiu).

We headed out on our horse and donkey caravan at noon. Three Basotho men accompanied us on foot to drive the donkeys along. We survived the land slide area and the river crossing and made it back to Sekolopata where the truck was parked. As we were about to leave we were met by the local chief who proceeded to tell me how she had not slept for two nights as she was concerned about the safety of our truck. I expected her to ask for some form of payment for this ‘trouble’ and she did indeed ask. She very politely asked if I had a couple of candies I could give her, which I gladly shared with her. She is a sweet old lady. From there it was back to Mohale and then to Maseru.

It was a successful journey as far as the pitsos we held, the clinics, and sharing the hope of Christ. We had several ask when we would be back and we are not sure. We may be back in January with a volunteer couple from the USA. Sally and I would really like to take the Jesus film there and do another clinic and health training. We are waiting to hear if the Lesotho government will fund the airstrip and health post so that we can begin that process.

Thanksgiving

We had a great afternoon of fellowship and food with friends on Friday as we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had around 40 missionary friends and family over. We put up a tent for shade as we don't have any big trees and it gave us a place to all sit together.

Everyone brought their favorite dish, something that makes Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving for them. It was a quite a feast as you can see the table(s) were full. We had turkeys, yes turkeys. We could only get ones around 6-7 lbs (from Brazil) so we had 5 of them, along with all the other Thanksgiving trappings.

After a wonderful meal, we took time to share

as a group what we were thankful for. Sally had taken time to print 'thanks' verses as part of the table decorations. Reading God's word and sharing personal thanks was a great way to recognize a small part of what God has so greatly blessed us with.

The kids had a great time of hanging out together, talking, playing games, just being kids. A bit of sidewalk chalk added some fun and opportunity for artistic expression.

I enjoyed sharing some of my home roasted coffee as I prepared some lattes, cuppacinos, and espressos to go with the variety of amazing desserts.

Well, we didn't have a football game to watch after eating, but we did have some great time talking, laughing, and just relaxing and enjoying friendships. We did miss being with the Pepper and Jessup families, but we are thankful for our missionary family that God has provided.

As a prayer request, this Mon-Wed Sally and I are heading back to the mountain village of Ha Thaba Bosiu along with MAF pilot Melvin to meet with villages affected to hold a 'pitso' to discuss the impact of the proposed airstrip and health post. Once again we will be traveling via 4WD then horses to get there. Monday will be a 'pitso', with Tue/Wed a mobile medical clinic. Pray that the people will see and hear the love of Christ in all that we do. I'll post after we get back.

Cherry Festival MTB Race and Christmas Carols

Saturday we got up at 5AM to head over to Ficksburg, South Africa (about an hour from Maseru) for the annual Cherry Festival Mountain Bike Race. We went with friends and colleagues Justin and Amanda Honaker and Bryan Eygabroad (MAF Missionaries).

I've been biking back and forth to work and doing some weekend rides for fitness and in an attempt to train. Justin and Bryan convinced me it was time to join them in the race.

We'd had three straight days of rains which made the race one of mud, mud, and more slippery mud mixed with an assortment of things from the fields and farms. I was hoping I didn't slip, slide, and fall off as one part of the race trail but us through the middle of a farm complete with various cow related obstacles.

I did the 20km race (my first MTB race) and the other two guys did the 40km. All in all there were close to 200 racers. Sally and Amanda saw us off on the race and then went into town to enjoy some cherry related delights and some coffee to warm up. The three of us completed our races. I think I actually gained weight on it from the rain and the amount of mud caked on my bike.

It was a great group of people to ride with and the scenery was beautiful. After the race and some photos, we ended up taking our bikes and our selves right into the lake (dam reservoir) to attempt to get the majority of the mud and other debris off ourselves and bikes. We followed that with hot off the grill boerwors and cokes and then headed back towards Lesotho. We stopped at Constatias to get some fresh cherries, some cherry jam, and a sheet of home made peach fruit roll up. It was just plain fun.

After cleaning up and a short rest, Sally and I went back across the border with Mike and Sharol Shutts (MAF Missionaries) to the Ladybrand Dutch Reformed Church for the annual Christmas Festival of Carols program.

It may seem a bit early for this, but we've been told that in Southern Africa the whole area shuts down for about a month surrounding Christmas/New Years holidays.

The program was a combination of Christmas music performed by the Free State Symphony along with three choirs. The music was great, with the audience joining in for

three of the songs. We especially enjoyed the last two songs - Silent Night and Oh Come All Ye Faithful - as we sang parts of the songs in English, Afrikaans, and Sesotho. It was a fine way to end the day.

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...

Inside Out Safety

Sally and I just finished two days of training with the MAF Lesotho team. The seminar taught by Mr. Kent from MAF-USA was entitled "Inside Out Safety" and had the purpose of helping us as a team to identify factors that affect safety in our individual lives and in our aviation operations. The title was catchy as it reflected the content of the materials that were focusing on internal issues as well as external factors that affect safety.

We did some fun exercises in small groups to teach us better ways to listen as well as communicate. You know how you can have someone talking to you and before they even finish you have ten questions or 2 solutions to what they are talking about going through your mind, and you miss the point of what they were really saying. Easy to do, but a hard habit to break...

I especially enjoyed the seminar as it took a completely reverse way of looking at safety as compared to the usual aviation safety seminars that begin with rules and regulations and standard operating procedures. This seminar started by looking at our inner self, how even our spiritual life has a definite affect on safety. How the ways that we treat (or mistreat) others affect safety. He then built from the inner self to the team dynamics, to the aircraft and its systems, to procedures and operations manuals to the overall system. I found it refreshing and challenging as I could see how important little things like really listening is. In aviation we all listen and repeat back critical information (like when the tower gives clearance for take off), but we need to use those same skills in how we interact with others outside of the airplane.

It was so cool to see the value that MAF places on family units in overall team and operational safety as all the spouses were required to participate in this seminar. It is a first to see that at aviation safety training, but so right. I think we all benefited from the training and we certainly enjoyed the fellowship time together.

The apostle James was right when he penned the words

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20 ESV

Be safe!