March 31-08 Dial

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:2,11)

March 31, 2009

Dear Prayer Partners,

The Basotho have a song they sing to God: “Ho tsoana le Uena!” “There is no one like You. There truly is no God like our God, the Father of Glory. First, we want to say we hope your Easter was a blessed celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. Seems it is always accompanied (at least in Florida) with blooming azaleas and dogwood blossoms. A beautiful reason and a beautiful season. Seems even the flowers and blooms proclaim God’s glory and the blessing of the resurrection of our Savior.

The Bible says that to everything there is a time and a purpose under heaven. We know our time to return is rapidly approaching. We have concluded our itinerary and those things we have worked to accomplish. We have logged over 16,000 miles on our vehicles during these past 6 months and visited with many of you in your churches. God gave us many new prayer partners to stand in the gap for the Basotho and for our family. We believe God is moving in Lesotho and is going to do great things in the next few years and we know that your prayers have played a huge role. The Bible says that God delights in the prayers of His people. So may He bless you as you delight Him and of course to God be all the glory and praise. We look to the future with excitement and wait with anticipation at the expectation of His hands at work in Lesotho. We are eternally gratefully for you all for your many prayers and for standing with us on behalf of the Basotho.

In two weeks (April 15) we will board the flight to return to our home in Africa. While we have enjoyed and treasured our time in America, we also realize it is time to go to our home in the mountains and to the people God has called us to. It is with very mixed emotions that we return. I say mixed because leaving brings having to say good bye to children and grandchildren and to our families who have all been so supportive and patient with us. Part of our heart will remain behind with them but the other part of our heart longs to be back in Lesotho among the people we have come to also love and have a passion. We wonder if it is normal that we feel torn between the two. I guess the important thing is that we don’t look back but keep our hands to the plow until the plowing is finished or God calls “time out.” What we do know is that there is great peace and joy in being in the center of God’s will and until God says stay, we know we must go. Daniel and Mohau are looking forward to seeing their little hairy Scottish Terrier named Angus. I am looking forward to seeing Bonnie’s (our horse) new foal, we have all missed our friends that we left behind, and our hearts remind us daily of the work that still remains to be done in the Maluti Mountains. We have been told they have all missed us but regardless we have missed them. We have also missed our work in the villages and the beauty that surrounds us each day in the high desert of our mountains. We left just at the end of winter there, got here just in time to meet it on this end and we will return just in time to greet it again there. That is a lot of winter! But praise God we were able to have a little taste of the Florida summer before we had to return. I had forgotten how vicious the mosquitoes are here! Ouch! One blessing of living where we do is the lack of those little pests. I guess the altitude kills them off but whatever the reason…we don’t have them and it is a pleasant thing.

The past month has been one of family illness for us. Seems that the closer we get to our departure, the more we encounter obstacles but they are only temporary set-backs. Could be in our head but we are thinking maybe the other side does not want us to return and that makes us even more determined. Even Daniel and Mohau dealt with ear infections and illness. Both seem to be fine now but Daniel will require further follow up once we are settled back in Africa.

For months prior to our leaving Lesotho we asked you to pray for some of our needs. We want to share with you how God has answered your prayers. It is not all of them, just a few to show you how God has answered your prayers.

· · We asked you to pray for our visas for Daniel and Mohau while still in Lesotho

o o God granted favor and we had them within a couple of weeks

· · We asked you to pray for their citizenship and passports

o o We have now received not only Social Security Numbers but we also their American Passports in hand

· · We asked you to pray for our safety as we traveled across the country to speak and share in the churches

o o God gave us safety through snow, ice and rain as we traveled over 16,000 miles during these past months.

· · We asked you to pray for our daughter Jackie who was pregnant with our granddaughter Gianna, due Mid March

o o Gianna was born on Valentine’s Day, a little early. She began life with some breathing difficulties but God blessed and her breathing concerns were resolved. Gianna is now over 9 lbs. and is healthy and beautiful. (Oh, did I tell you that she looks just like me? J ) I have just returned from a short visit with them and am very thankful for the week God allowed me to get to know and shower her with kisses, and spend a little more time with the rest of our Colorado family.

Now I don’t want you to think I am like most doting grandparents…always showing photos and such …

Oops, how did that slip in there? J

Well, since it is here, look! Isn’t she just the prettiest and sweetest thing you have ever seen?!

Her disposition is as sweet as her face. We praise God for His blessing and care of Gianna.

There are many prayer requests not mentioned above, too many to list actually, but we just wanted you to see how faithful and gracious God is. God answered and continues to answer the prayers of His children. We want you to know how grateful we are for your prayers.

Here is how you can help us pray this week:

· · For our families and friends as we begin saying farewell

· · That packing for our return will be smooth and our travel back to Lesotho uneventful

· · For the national pastors and churches that they will continue to push forward reaching out to their own people with the gospel of Christ

· · For our team that we will be drawn closer together and have unity

· · That God will build our team adding more missionaries to minister to the Basotho

· · For teams planning and making arrangements to come to work with us in Lesotho

· · For Jeff, Marty, Jeanne – battling cancer

· · We praise God for how He is working in the lives of our children and grandchildren

· · Pray for our son in law Joel who is serving overseas.

· · For our children and grandchildren that they will grow in a deeper faith walk with Christ

Please take the time to visit our team’s website if you haven’t already. It will update you and hopefully perk your interest in coming to work with us in Lesotho. It will also allow you to meet the rest of our team.

To each of you who have loved us and prayed for us, supported us, stood beside us, and loved us when we were not so loveable…may God bless and keep you and reward your faithfulness. Thank you for loving us and allowing us to love you. May God grant you favor and give you a wonderful week and may the Lord be your strength, song and salvation as our verse above proclaims! Blessings.

In His Name,

Alan, Babs, Daniel and Mohau

The Dials of Lesotho, Southern Africa