May 27th- June 6th 2005
It was great for Cat and I to get more involved with River Church as a whole and what a way to do it by visiting Lesotho., such a joyful, exciting and friendly country. I learnt many lessons on the trip but God really taught me a lot about his family we belong to whether old or young, male or female, African or British; we are all one in him. We learnt so much from the people we met out there as much, if not more than they learnt from us! There were great times of fellowship had in the home groups of Fill the Gap Church we attended on the Monday and Thursday night. Many of us shared our testimonies including Lewis (aged eight) which was inspiring to see and hear. Members of the cell shared their testimonies also, united by all that God has done for us. We got a real feel for Lesotho at these home groups especially when we were split into groups on the Thursday. The rocky roads, sour porridge, homemade gifts, singing and praying together… how I miss it.
Ollie, Alison and I went to a cell not far from the scripture union place, where we were staying. Six people gave their lives to Jesus that night, two ladies were healed and a lady we prayed for to get a job had someone waiting with work for her sitting on her door step when she returned home! Praise God! After the home group we spent a few hours in Mabatho’s house (the home group leader), we felt really close to her and her youngest daughter. We sat in her two roomed house, ate porridge drank tea and chatted by lamp light. The next day we returned with gifts and Cat, Georgia, Katie and Louise came too. We ended up going around praying for many of the sick people in the village, what a Christ like experience.
Staying in the mountains was wonderful, we were 9000ft above sea level and the views were spectacular! The Fill the Gap church in Mantsoenyane was full of life and hope for the future. We sang and prayed with them and Matt one of the young boys preached for the first time about being a missionary in your own village. Whilst up in the mountains we also visited a school, where we did the hokey-cokey-cokey with them…. they thought we were crazy at first but then got into it! Julian and Lewis performed an amazing rendition of David and Goliath which captured everyone’s attention.
When we got back to Maseru there was another performance to think about. Julian was speaking about freedom at church on our final Sunday and so Louise and I got devising and the whole team got working together on a physical drama. The piece asked the church about what they were going to do with their freedom they have in Jesus, return to sin or run and jump for him. The whole team did really well the church loved it!
Visiting the Beautiful Gate aids orphanage was an emotional time in our visit. We held babies that had been abandoned by their mothers, but with the right treatment they can be cured of the HIV after a few months. There is hope for these children and the orphanage is currently building a school, houses and offices to create a village like environment for them to grow in.
The people were wonderful on the trip those in the team and all those we met. Thanks go to Julian and Myles for being great leaders. There is such a close bond between River Church and Fill the Gap Church in Lesotho and even after one visit I feel the people I met are my brothers and sisters and I can’t wait to go back and see them! |