News from Lesotho

Dear friends,
Here is the latest news from Lesotho.

Solar system "have finished "*

And then everything happened so quickly! Only a short time after we announced our electricity problems and asked for help, so many donations were collected that we were able to order a system in South Africa immediately. The solar cells, the inverter and the batteries were installed by electricians from the GoVenture" training project" of our congregation, the Hatfield Christian Church in South Africa. It was really great how the congregation there supported us.

A friend from the same community carried out the entire import process for us, without whom we would not have been able to do it alone. He has a company in South Africa and a company in Lesotho and is very familiar with the process. Nevertheless, it took him and the clearing agent four weeks to fill out all the paperwork correctly and obtain all the necessary permits. But even with all the necessary paperwork, the GoVenture truck didn't get through straight away. The two electricians even had to spend a night at the border.

It's really sad how complicated it is to get goods across the border. Normal locals hardly have a chance of coping. Especially in a country that produces nothing itself and has to import everything. This makes it difficult for small self-employed people to set up their own business or even just to obtain goods, equipment or machinery from South Africa for themselves. Such high barriers actually encourage corruption and bribery at the border. We still need to pray a lot for Lesotho and its government.

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We would like to thank all our supporters and donors for their generous help and support! It really is unbelievable how quickly everything went. THANK YOU!

The system has now been running for two weeks and is supplying us with sufficient electricity so that we are now independent of the power grid. We haven't noticed any more power cuts since then.

*) FC Bayern coach Giovanni Trapattoni quote: "I'm done"

Are you ready?

On March 24, we received extremely sad news: our good friend Andrew, a missionary from YWAM, died in a tragic car accident in Tanzania and died at the age of 50. A field leader for a YWAM team in the Middle East, he is survived by his wife and 10-year-old son.

The accident occurred during a YWAM leadership meeting in Tanzania, when the leaders were traveling to an outreach in minibuses. Two of these minibuses were completely run over on the side of the road by a large truck whose brakes failed. As a result, 11 leaders were killed instantly, 5 others were critically injured and 3 people suffered moderate injuries. This is an incredible loss for the missionary work and all workers in the Kingdom of God.

Last Wednesday we attended Andrew's funeral in Pretoria, where many people came together to honor and pay tribute to his life. We were able to spend some time with his wife and son. Where words were lacking, just "being there" for them was crucial.

Why am I writing all this? A very legitimate question!
I realized how fragile life is and how quickly it can be over.
Our friend had been working in a country affected by war for 30 years. His organization had taken appropriate precautions and prepared evacuation plans. But then he traveled to East Africa for a leadership meeting and lost his life. What an irony.

It made me realize once again what is really important in life. No matter how long we have been in the ministry, how much we have achieved or what trials we have endured, ultimately only our relationship with our Creator counts!
Am I ready to come before God today? Are you ready? Are your heart and your relationships in order so that you could come before Jesus and he would say: "Well done, you are a faithful and reliable servant [...]. Come, rejoice with me!"Have all conflicts been resolved from your side? With colleagues, parents, children, neighbors or partners?

Do I live as if I could stand before my judge, Jesus, at any moment?
This question preoccupied me a lot in view of my friend's death and prompted me to finally clear up some "old matters". Perhaps this story from our lives will also help you to finally tackle this one "thing". Believe me, it's not as difficult as it always seems.

I pray for courage and determination for you to take this step.

*Matthew 25:23

Latest statistics on the unreached

As of today, over 2 billion people in the world have never heard the good news of Jesus presented to them in an understandable way. And every day another 66,000 people are added to these unreached.

OM teams are actively engaged in establishing vibrant communities of Jesus followers among these least-reached communities.

Would you like to work with OM to reach the unreached? There are numerous possibilities: Go | OM.org

Samuel and Silas' kindergarten in Pretoria

When we were in Pretoria last week, we happened to pass the former kindergarten of Samuel and Silas. Without further ado, we stopped and entered the kindergarten to visit the teachers. The unexpected reunion after more than 7 years caused great joy - it was really nice! Marianne and Jen, the two ladies who run the kindergarten, were genuinely delighted with our visit.
And Samuel simply remarked: "They must have moved. Everything here used to be much bigger."

Work has begun on the Hillside Campus

As we are still waiting for the necessary permits for the training center, we have started to fence off part of the land to keep animals out and prepare it for various agricultural projects. Skelemane, who has a university degree in agricultural sciences, will carry out various test series there to find out which fruits thrive best under which conditions and with which irrigation. We will also divide up small gardens measuring 6m x 6m and enable selected locals to grow vegetables under supervision, either for their own consumption or for sale.

Here is a short video of the preparatory work:

Kind regards from Lesotho,
the Schmidt family.