Auntie Duty & a Carol

Hi family & friends,

I'm writing this from the Westom house because I have been staying here with their 3 lovely girls - gotta love being an Auntie. Brad and Kristian Westom have gone along with Kevin Borror to the AMC - Africa Manager's Conference. This year the conference is being held in Istanbul, Turkey and they have invited the MAF International Teams, The MAF Eurasia Teams and some staff from HQ - a big group!

So my roommates for the next week are:

Karisa - 13 Elisa - 11 Brianna - 8

The Westom girls are home-schooled so I get to be a babysitter, a teacher and a cooking instructor. This evening we had hamburgers and chips (french fries) for dinner - Elisa said I should start a cooking class :) It is a nice change to cook dinner and have someone there to appreciate it! For the next 3 nights the girls will take turns making dinner with some supervision :) It is fun to play games, read stories, have play dates, etc. I have a ton of respect for Moms - it is a full time job and then some! Luckily for me, the girls are incredibly helpful, they are very obedient and a ton of fun to be around. They are enjoying having me here too - but I know they already are missing Mom and Dad, and that is as it should be. Tonight after I finish this post we are going to play "Danger Uno" - which is like regular Uno except for one important detail. The winner of each round gets to make up a new rule for the game. For instance... everytime a 5 is played everyone has to get up, leave their cards behind and move to the seat to the right where you get all new cards. It makes the game interesting to say the least. These girls are really creative so who knows the crazy things we'll do this time!

As for the Carol

Yes, I know it is a bit early to be thinking about Christmas music... but in this case I do hope you'll oblige me.

Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams... I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams...

This year my dream will be a reality - Yes, Virginia... I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

I will be traveling back to the USA in mid December and spend a week in Nampa, Idaho at MAFHQ. I'll go through some re-entry counseling and I'll also be interviewing with the Candidate Committee as I have been asked to become a career staff with MAF. I have really enjoyed my time here and I believe God has affirmed His call for me to serve Him here in Africa. I would appreciate your prayers as I enter into this next phase of missionary service. After this it is on to the OC to be reunited with family and friends... I can hardly wait! So my friends the countdown begins and in eight short months I'll be seeing you face to face - yippee! I'll get you more details about my furlough schedule in future communications; but I would love to connect with as many of you as possible!

Thanks as always for your ongoing prayer support. If you would join me in praying over this time of transition I would be so grateful! It is crazy to be thinking about Christmas when Easter is just a little over a week away. In fact next week will mark my first anniversary living in Lesotho and will also be my first African Easter. I'll be going on a holiday to Cape Town to see amongst other things, penguins! I'll make a posting about that in a couple of weeks but for now...


He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Love from Lesotho,
Kimberly

I'm a very poor blogger

Hello friends and family!

So half a year has elapsed since my last posting - I was really hoping I'd be better about blogging. Please forgive my silence and bear with me as I make an effort to improve!

So since July much has happened and too much to blog about but here are some highlights:

AUGUST: Family Conference in South Africa with MAF South Africa and Mozambique
SEPTEMBER: Language classes in Maphutseng (Place of the Big Pumpkin) Living in a village no electricity or running water for 3 weeks - loved it!
OCTOBER: MAF Half Day of Prayer, Tamara & Danger's Wedding (My first Basotho wedding) Jen Prickett comes for a week long visit, Women Missionaries in Lesotho Retreat
NOVEMBER: Deb Schuermann comes for a 2 week visit, Pilanesberg Game Park Safari, Sani Pass Trip, Accident with Refuoe, Thanksgiving celebration with all American missionaries living in Lesotho
DECEMBER: First ever MAF All Girls Sleepover/Chrstmas Party, Christmas with crocodiles, hippos and turtles (oh my) in St Lucia, MAF Team New Year's Eve Party, Caring for Refuoe and her family in the hospital
JANUARY: Refuoe flies home to Mokhotlong on an MAF plane completely healed, Leading worship on a praise band@Maseru United Church
FEBRUARY: Watching the Superbowl @ 3am, Clarens trip for a Mountain Bike Race with Bryan & Teresa, Begin my M-F gym routine, Seeing U2 Live in Joburg... so cool!
MARCH: MIS Orphanage - a visit with HIV/AIDS orphans with Shelley, An incredibly HUGE full moon, My second Basotho wedding but this time the King and government officials were in attendance, The gym continues... My first MAF flight!!!!


You can see it has been a full half a year with safaris, trips, ministry opportunities, etc. I imagine most of you get my newsletter and if so you have been able to read the story about Refuoe in detail. If you don't, please let me know and I'll add you to the email list and send you a PDF copy of the latest newsletter which shares the story in detail. March brings the Autumn with it and the temp at night is cooling down. I'm hoping this means the mosquito population will soon die off. As it is... my legs resemble something of a dot to dot - - I itch everywhere!

Life here continues to be amazing, difficult, joy-filled and honestly there isn't anything I would rather be doing than being a missionary in Africa. I'll post a few pics for you to see some images of the past 6 months. Hope you enjoy them!

Love from Lesotho,
Kimberly