Oops... It's been a long time since we've spoken. But there was so much going on in the last few months! ...or is it because of that?
Anyone following us on Instagram or on our blog under "Instagram"can see news about us at least twice a week.
The Corona Situation
Due to the worldwide tense situation we had to send back all short-term volunteers and foreign visitors, as it is not clear how it will develop with the virus. We are now as a family only with the Basotho in our team here in Lesotho. We had to stop the ministry work, the church services and the weekly team meetings.
Even though until today (22nd of March) officially no COVID-19 infection has been detected in Lesotho, the situation is particularly tense at the border to South Africa, which we have to cross regularly. We expect every day that all border crossings to Lesotho will be closed. For this purpose we have built up sufficient food supplies and have already switched a lot, e.g. vegetables, to self-sufficiency. The schools in South Africa are closed since one week and we have brought Emilia from the boarding school here in LEsotho to have her with us should the borders be closed.
But we as a family are still doing very well in this confusing situation. We feel God's protection and care very strongly.
Our work on site
In the last weeks and months we had some national and international outreach teams with us. The Christmas outreach was certainly one of the highlights...
Celebrate God's birthday in a completely different way
Making a difference at Christmas. It was on our minds.
When we moved here last year and had our little Christmas party with the team and community friends at the river, we saw many children walking up and down the mountain, some of them even running. We wondered what was going on and then our Basotho told us that the children here always get money at Christmas and then take it straight to the pub in the mountain and buy lots of alcohol. Also glue for sniffing belonged to the usual drugs. That shocked us so much to see this live. Also the consequences of alcohol consumption could be seen often 9 months later. It was and is shocking. Above all we asked ourselves why the parents support it so much. Questions over questions. But we didn't want to accept this and so we planned a big Christmas party where all children could come and celebrate, but without alcohol but with Jesus.
So two weeks before Christmas, volunteers from all over the world came to help us make a difference for the children here. The team consisted of two Germans, two Swiss, one Dutch woman, three Basotho and two South Africans. All of them were enthusiastic followers of Jesus. And we could see that in their love for the children.
We used the two weeks before Christmas to go from village to village and then to draw the children's attention to the two days of Christmas with fun, games and biblical stories (i.e. to invite them). Also on two evenings we had the possibility to show the Jesus film on Sesotho, to invite them and also to tell the parents about what we had planned.
When the two days of Christmas came and we wanted to start the first day, the whole festival started with a big thunderstorm that destroyed two of our pavilions. There were also only a handful of children to be seen. But we didn't let that stop us and so we came together as a team and prayed.
And then the overcast sky above us opened up and the remaining black clouds passed us by. With the first rays of the sun the children came too. And they came in great numbers. At the end of the first day we had hundreds of children and on the second day even more. We had our hands full to pass on the love of Jesus to the children. Besides the biggest attraction, the two bouncy castles, we had many play stations. Throwing rings, playing football, a handicraft station and a raffle with lots of great donated things like notebooks, hats, pens, toys and flashlights. This should encourage the children to stay at our place, because we gave presents every hour, but only to the kids who were there. So they didn't get the idea to leave the party in between to make their way to the pub.
We had made a big impression on the children, but also on their parents. They came to us at the turn of the year with the question whether we could not do such an action again to keep the children off the street. But we had to refuse. However, we gave them the prospect of the next Christmas and the prospect that they, as parents, could also gladly get involved there. Some of them were very open and willing to do so. We will see...
In any case, we are very grateful to God for this exciting and blessed time. Also for all the helpers on these exciting days. Thank you, you are a gift from God.
So we thank all our helpers:
Simon(DE), Carina(DE), Patricia(NL), Regina and Luciano(CH), Bärbel(DE), Siggi and Esther(DE & RSA), Mme Malereko & Ntate Hlaha (LSO), and the whole OM Lesotho Team.
