Finally A New Update!

Hello Bloggers! I am sorry it has been so long since I updated you all. It has been extremely busy here! I LOVE it here! I have been so amazed and awed but God’s creation, power and peace. I don’t know if I have ever seen anything as beautiful as the mountains here. The air is so clear and the mountains extremely crisp against the beautiful blue skies. The storms come and go. Many are harder storms than most I have been in while in the States but the next day it is as if the storm had never come. One of the only ways to tell is in the cooler air. The weather is wonderful! Most days are clear and the perfect temperature. I am usually comfortable in jeans and short sleeves. God is just such an incredible God. Things have been rough here. Cultural shock hit me pretty bad. I was sick for a few days and our supervisors have been going through some tough times and so had to leave Emily, me and the two oldest girls here alone for a few days. So that was different than I thought things were going to be. Emily fell and hurt her ankle pretty soon after we got here and so had to be off of her feet for a few days and then was better. However, she reinjured it and was homebound for another week and a half and so I had to continue the ministry by myself for that time and that was hard. Nevertheless, God used these challenges to really grow me. He has been teaching me about completely relying on him no matter the circumstances. While I am extremely happy Emily is now able to participate in the ministries, but while she was down God taught me that I could do anything with His help. Having a partners is helpful and is definitely what I want rather than no partner but He showed me I could teach by myself if I needed to. Teaching at the school has been so amazing. Teaching was the thing I was really nervous and not sure about in coming to Lesotho. I truly thought that I would not like it and would be horrible at it. God has completely proved me wrong. I LOVE teaching at the school! The kids are so precious and I have gotten the chance to make some great relationships with a few of the teachers. While I by all means do not feel like I am a teacher, it is definitely not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. One of the most exciting things that have happened since you have heard from me is that we received the opportunity to start a new ministry. For the past three weeks I have gone to the closest village and done a kids club! It has been sooooo much fun! Emily was not able to go with me the first two weeks and so the Journey guy Justin went with me. However, Emily was able to go with me this week.  It is so incredible to play with kids and then tell them a bible story and then a craft over the story. The kids at school are awesome but they are probably around the ages of 10-16. At the kids club, there are little children. Each week there has been a few preschoolers and they are so much fun to play with. The internet here is very slow and not very reliable and so I will try to post some more pictures soon but don’t know if I will be able to. I so very much want to share with you the beautiful faces of some of these precious children! Hopefully soon! Thank you all for all of your prayers and I will try to update you more often in the future. Here are a few prayer requests.

·         Pray for me to be continually focused on what God wants for me and to be fully reliant on Him.

·         Pray for Emily and me to continue to grow as partners and friends.

·         Pray for the Flora Family as they go through a rough season in life.

·         Pray for the students and teachers at Bethesda Primary School that God will be revealed to them.

·         Pray for the Basotho, There is so much darkness in these mountains and the people are so lost.

Thank you everyone,

Laura

P.S.: Oh by the way super excited to tell everyone that my new Nephew was born!!! Benaiah Samuel born March 1 and weighed 9lbs 6oz. Both baby and mom are healthy and I got to see and talk to them both on skype! Can’t wait to hold the little one in June!!!

Lift your Eyes to the Mountains

We are heading up the mountains! Today is the day we go to the area we are going to be serving! Emily and I are so excited!!! Please continue to pray for us that we will be willing and flexible to do what God has called us to do. Pray for the people we are going to serve that God will open their hearts and ears to hear the Word of God. Please pray for Emily and I as we have many different ministries we will be involved in that we will be able to manage time and that we can put our whole hearts into each ministry. That relationships will begin and develop into great opportunities to share the love of God. Please pray that Emily and I, as well as the other HandsOn students across Africa, will continue to keep the HandsOn Values in the forefront of our minds. (God-Centered, Team-Player, Servant-Hearted, Flexible, Integrity, Loyal, Initiative, Trusting, Humble)

PS: This picture is a picture of part of the capital city so it is nothing like where we will be but I just wanted to let you guys see a little of Lesotho.

The last week and a half... Orientation

Orientation. Wow what can I say about this last week? It has been such a wonderful time. There are 14 HandsOn students that will be serving in Sub Sahara Africa. Most of us met in the Washington Dulles airport when our plane to South Africa was delayed over 3 hours. We spent the first two days on mainly team building activities to help us realize and see how important our partners and fellow HandsOn students are to us. We went to a local supermarket and were given just a little bit of pula, the Botswana money, and had to as partners buy our lunch. We rode the public transport, called Kombis which are basically 15 passenger vans, to different places in Gaborone such as an outdoor market.  The majority of this week, especially the first few days, were about bringing home the HandsOn values of being God-centered, Trusting, having a servant heart, being a team player, loyal, and humble, having integrity, and initiative. These values are so good to be in the front of anyone’s mind and heart but here in the field it has been so essential. This weekend we really had an interesting experience. We spent two nights at a national’s house. Emily and I stayed with the parents of a young man the missionary here is helping grow in Christ. The family is not Christians. They are a part of the Zion Christian Church. The home stay was really great. They taught us to make papa, the staple food, fat cakes which are basically fried bread, kind of like mdazies, sour sorghum porridge, and cooked vegetables. We helped clean the house, outside kitchen, and wash dishes without running water. They took us to their lands were we helped plant a few seeds. There was a lot of time spent just sitting under the shade of trees. Staying with the family was great. They were so welcoming. They called us their daughters and even gave us Setswana names. Mine was Lorato which means love and Emily was Mpho which means gift. The hardest part that I really felt your prayers and really needed them was they took us to their church with them. There was a lot of craziness going on. There were “prophets” getting up and taking people out to the back of the church structure in a circle of stone wall all during the service. Then one of the “prophets” wanted to talk to Emily and me. I had been uncomfortable the entire time but that was when it really got bad. People became more and more crying out, jerking and passing out. At this point Emily and I both felt like we didn’t know what to do and had been praying constantly but we ended up getting up a going out of the church. Thank you so very much for your prayers. We are now back in Gaborone at a nicer lodge that has air conditioning and internet! We are taking time to debrief and spend time in spiritual retreat and time together to get ready for our projects. That’s all I have for now so until next time!

Final Days

Well. It is my last full day at home. Second to last day in the great U S of A. The question everyone seems to want to know is... am I ready.... Well, is anyone ever completely ready? Yes, my bags are packed. Yes, I have a ticket. Yes, I will be leaving on Saturday, but ready? I don't know... I am ready to see what God has planned. I am ready to meet everyone that I have been contacting through email. I am ready to meet my partner Emily. It is just in these final days as I realize that it is time to leave for 5 months have I really started to wonder if I am ready. If I really know what I have gotten into. But I know that God has great plans for me. I know he will always be with me and will never let me have more than I can handle. I know with his help I can be ready.

Preparation

Well, Dabnee you will be happy to see that I started a blog. :) This is a place I hope to share some of my thoughts and things that happen while I am overseas. I got home last night and got right to work today getting clothes washed so I can go through them to decide what I need to pack. Some very crazy couple of weeks coming up. Going to see family for a week and then only a week and a half when I get back to finish all the errands and packing. My plan is to try and write something as often as I can and then upload them all at once every couple of weeks or so. Sorry, not going to be able to update all the time but thats African internet for ya. LOL! :) Ok, well thats my first blog. hahaha