On the Mountain Top (Week 7 and 8 )

HEY GUYS!

So, these past couple of weeks we traveled to Lesotho, a small landlocked country in South Africa. To be completely honest, before coming to Africa, I had never heard of Lesotho. Maybe it’s because it’s usually mis-pronounced (the proper pronunciation is Les-oo-too), but most likely because I’m not very good at geography.

Let’s start with some quick facts about Lesotho: -It is a kingdom! One of the few still surviving in Africa. -It’s lowest point is the highest lowest point of a country in the world. (Meaning there is lots of mountains and not a lot of low ground) -It has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. About 25% of the population is HIV positive. And that is only the people who have been tested. It is estimated that more than half the population is positive. -The people of Lesotho are called the Basotho people. They speak the Sesotho language.

We left for our journey bright and early Wednesday morning and got to Lesotho late Thursday night. We drove through Botswana (and saw some cool wild life) and South Africa on our way there. I was amazed at the beautiful mountains driving into Lesotho. Everywhere we looked, the skyline was bordered with little peakes in the distance.

Also, Lesotho is COLD this time of year. We are in the midst of their winter, so our mornings and nights were spent wrapping ourselves in as many blankets as we could find. Thank the Lord for the sun.

We had the amazing opportunity to work with Godfree, Elizabeth, Limpho, and Schlony, the leaders of LXP Lesotho. They work in their village, called Nkoeng, in the town of Butha-Buthe. This village was beautifully surrounded by mountains, people, and sheep. Man, the wool blankets they have there are incredible though. LXP is a program they initiated in the community to grow up leaders in Christ. They have several programs they run, including a computer skills program, a Saturday kid’s program, a youth worship team, and bible study. The unique thing about their ministry is that it’s in the village they live. They don’t just come to these people from away. They do life with them everyday. These are their neighbours, their family, their friends.

We got to pour into all the weekly ministries they run, but also spent some time serving the community in other ways. We spent our mornings fixing a road in the village that would have been nearly impossible to drive on. It was fun to do some manual labour by digging for rocks, breaking them up to fill in holes and evening it out with dirt. It was incredible to see the community come together to help with this project too. There are some strong grandmothers in Lesotho!

After lunch everyday, we visited different homes in the village. We got to know so many people, hear their stories, share the good news, and pray with them. The Basotho people are so welcoming! We never once passed someone on the road in the village without greeting them and striking up a conversation. We also organized evening services in the village at Godfree and Elizabeth’s house. I got to play saxophone with the worship team and Jabulani and Oliver from our team brought. the. Word.

Our week was filled with prayer for this town and village in Lesotho. It was amazing to witness the Lord answering our prayers during our time there! There is still a lot of darkness that surrounds this village, but being able to be used to shine Christ’s light there is something I’ll never forget.

We had some more lessons on The Spiritual Disciplines these past weeks, including Service, Simplicity and Solitude. The Lord has taught me so much through these disciplines!

A theme of what I’ve been learning a lot about personally has been surrender. It’s cool because one of my first blog posts was about surrendering the in the preparation process. Man, has God brought me on a journey with this one. I am learning everyday the depth of surrender. That so much of it is trusting and humbling yourself before the Lord. It has challenged me to let go of material things, as well some other things I find my comfort in emotionally. I have learned more about myself this week (my strengths and weaknesses), more about trust, more about God’s Grace, and more about the victory that is secure in Christ.

It’s hard to put all that I’m learning and experiencing in a blog post, so I’ll leave it there. I can’t wait to talk to so many of you about this journey in person when I get back.

OH YEAH, BY THE WAY, all the stolen LXP passports I asked for you to pray for in my last blog post? THEY WERE DROPPED OFF ON THE DOORSTEP! God. Is. Good. He hears our prayers! We also had such a smooth travel on the way to Lesotho, through every border and checkpoint along the way! So thank you for your prayers. They seriously mean so much!

Love you all!

-Emily