How to encourage a missionary...

Yesterday I wrote a letter to Mrs. Steiger's third-grade class at Friends Christian School. It was in response to their letter, specifically to their questions about me, my life and ministry here. What I didn't include were the comments and encouraging words they included with their questions... here's some of what they said:

• The land (Lesotho) seems really pretty.
• We like the way you preach God.
• We really like what you are doing.
• We encourage you to tell more people about God.
• We pray you will be safe on your journey.
• May God be with you and bless you.

These students are studying Paul and how he was a tent maker and missionary. Knowing that their study of Paul is what was motivating their questions to me, it's honoring and very humbling. They know I'm a missionary who does accounting so they were comparing how my life might be like Paul's - woah!

I believe God placed a call to missions on my heart when I was 8... the same age as many of these children. It happened when I heard a missionary kid speak about her life in The Philippines. It is my prayer that perhaps knowing about my life would resonate and ignite a calling in the lives of these children - who knows but maybe one of them will also become a missionary!

If you are a teacher - I'd love to be a pen pal with your students! Whether it is about culture, social studies, and history to a public school or about missions with a Christian school, I'd love to share a glimpse of Africa with your class. Shoot me an email kimberlybaker@maf.org anytime - I usually can respond within a week, though you can ask Karen Steiger, I usually respond much faster ;)

Another letter to a third grade class

Hello friends in Mrs. Steiger’s Class!

Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and to write again, what a blessing it was to receive your email. Today in Lesotho it is very chilly but we have crystal clear skies – I can see all the way to the mountains. Maybe someday you’ll get to come visit me here, it is a beautiful country. All of the grass that was green is now turning brown and all the leaves are changing colors and dropping to the ground. One of the craziest things about living in Lesotho is the seasons. We are in the southern hemisphere which means that while you are having warm weather in the spring, we are getting colder each day because it is autumn. Usually it’s no big deal, but I still have a hard time having a really hot Christmas and a freezing 4^th of July – even after 5 years it still feels weird J Can you imagine having snow on the 4^th of July?

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and answers to your questions… looks like you have some more questions, so why don’t we get to them now? I’m going to answer the table groups as they wrote to me:

Table 1:

When was the last time you had pizza? I had pizza about a week ago, we have a chain here called Roman’s Pizza and it is pretty yummy… one of the flavors here is called Fiji, it is bacon and banana. At first I thought, “Who would put banana on a pizza??!!” but you know what, now I really like it!

How old were you when you started preaching about God? I think I have been sharing my faith since I was about your age, but preaching? I guess I preached officially when I was 41 years old. Here’s a picture from that day, I was preaching at Maseru United Church:

When was the last time you went to a fast food restaurant? We have a KFC here and I got chicken for lunch while I was running errands last Thursday, April 30^th.

Table 2:

What type of house do you live in? I live in a town home, here they call it a flat. It has 3 small bedrooms, one bathroom, and a toilet room upstairs and a small kitchen and family room downstairs with a one car garage. Here you don’t often put the toilet in the same room with your shower/bathtub. The toilet is in a very small room like a closet. I also have a small garden in the back. I live there with Em & Henry my cats.

Are you enjoying Africa? I really am, I love living here but by far the hardest part is being so far away from family and friends.

Table 3:

Are there crickets in Africa? Yes, though they are quiet now because it is cold outside. We also have grasshoppers – and they are HUGE!

Do they play football/soccer? Soccer is by far the most popular sport followed by rugby and cricket. No American football here but at the gym they have basketball courts and tennis courts and squash court too.

What kind of clothes do they wear? Most Basotho dress just like we do with one very large exception. Here, especially in winter, most people wear a Basotho blanket or even a regular blanket like we would wear a coat or jacket. The Basotho blanket is made of wool, it is very heavy and keeps you very warm. I have a Basotho blanket and I’ll wear it in winter over my clothes since we do not have a heater in the hangar and sometimes the temperature in my office is in the low 40’s – brrrrrr!

Table 4:

Do you eat modern food we eat here? Yes, almost everything there can be made here. The biggest difference is you have to make it, you can’t just go and by something already made. I really miss good Mexican food though. We have to make our own tortillas and then we can make tacos, or chips or enchiladas or whatever from them. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving, I made pumpkin pie:

Did you bring any food from the U.S.? I did. I brought tarragon which is one of my favorite spices but one I haven’t found here. I brought chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and toffee chips for baking, ranch dressing packets, canned pumpkin, Reece’s peanut butter cups and candy canes as these are all things you cannot find here. Reece’s are my favorite candy and many of my missionary friends like them too, so I shared them.

Table 5:

Do you have kids? I don’t… yet. I am in the process of adopting an orphan here, I’ve asked for a girl between the ages of 3-4. So hopefully one day soon I will have a daughter.

Do you play any sports there? I love to swim, but for enjoyment not competitively. Sometimes we’ll play soccer or volleyball or Frisbee for fun, volleyball is my favorite.

What is the weather like there? Right now it is getting chilly here. The autumn and winter are our dry seasons usually. There will be snow in the mountains and sometimes we’ll even get snow in Maseru but it will only last a day or two. Houses here do not have central heat or air conditioning, nor do they have insulation as most homes are made of sandstone or bricks with tin roofs. This means it can get as hot and cold inside as it is outside. Right now the temperature in the morning is in the 40s and it will reach the 70s during the day. My bedroom was 50* this morning when I jumped out of bed. I have never enjoyed hot running water as much as I do here in Lesotho. If it is too cold the pipes will freeze and I’ll not have water until they thaw. Sometimes the water or power will be off which will also keep me from a warm shower in the morning.

Thank you all again for taking the time to write, if you have any more questions I’d be only too happy to answer them! Maybe if we can arrange it, I could make a skype call to your classroom and we could talk face to face, well sort of.

I pray God is blessing you and that you finish your school year well!

Blessings,

Kimberly ‘Mamosa Baker

Tea with the Queen

Over the weekend was the, "DO NOT MISS EVENT" to quote Queen 'Me 'MaSenate...

The 4th Annual Queen's Garden Party. This event is held to raise funds for a Charity Trust the Queen established 30 years ago to assist at risk children, specifically to fund their education. I have attended the tea before, but this year I stepped in to host a table for a friend who was away on holiday. What a hoot! As hostess I was able to invite some ladies from my Bible study and some MAF friends and their daughters.

For my women friends who attend Rose Drive Friends, this is like the Christmas Desserts... only with royalty.

The highlight for me was having a brief moment with the Queen before the guests arrived. We were getting the tables organized and 'Me 'MaSenate had walked up behind me.  When I turned around I recognized her and was able to greet her in Sesotho and thank her for the opportunity to share the day with her... she replied in English,

"Your Sesotho is very, very good, 'Me... I'm glad you are here as a friend to Lesotho."

I certainly don't speak as much Sesotho as I would like, but (according to the Queen) I do speak it well. I'm told I have hardly any American accent at all.

It's always worth celebrating the little victories! Here are some pictures from the event... enjoy!

Barb & V

I'd love to know what Barb said to elicit the Queen's reaction!

Proteas & Peacock Feathers - exercising my flower arranging skills

Elizabeth, Sara's daughter.

Emma, Joselyn's daughter

Evelyn, a dear friend - isn't she stunning at 92?

The flower arrangement

Annie was a finalist in the running for the best hat

Joselyn, Emma, Annie & Melisa - MAF teammates

Mmmmmmmmmmm Makoenya - so yummy!

Mamie, another friend in her 80's... love her smile

Melisa won a prize in the drawing

Our moment with the Queen... such a gracious hostess!

Sara

The Queen and her Aunt, who has become a good friend of mine.

The Belles of the Ball... all of them in their 70's or older

The Queen's Speech

Our Table

Blessed to be a Blessing...

Hi Family & Friends!

The last posts I wrote were as a result of a conversation I had with Merrill ('Me Palesa) a missionary friend living in the remote village of Manamaneng. She shared that she had been sharing Christ with her neighbor, who also happens to be the son of her landlord, Ntate Lehlohonolo. I encourage you if you haven't already read them to go and do so before continuing with this post.

You can read part one here and the second part here.

All caught up??? Great! Let's continue the story...

This afternoon I had a chance to speak with Ntate Sefiri, our MAF Chaplain, about his visit to Manamaneng over the weekend. I'm going to give you a recap of what he shared with me, settle in because it's about to get good:

Sefiri flew up in one of our MAF Cessna 206 planes to Manamaneng on Friday morning and immediately began the 45 minute walk to the village. He spent many hours with Lehlohonolo sharing about the demands of the Christian life, being truthful about the difficulties he may face with his family and friends should he decide to be baptized as a believer. Sefiri wanted to make certain that Lehlohonolo knew the weight of the decision he was making. He made sure Lehlohonolo understood about Lordship, obedience, persecution and living life as a new creation. Sefiri said Lehlohonolo had many, many questions but was resolved that he would be baptized. In Lehlohonolo's words,

"I know it will be difficult with my family, and with the village, but I am ready for it."

On Saturday morning, Ntate Sefiri and Ntate Khotalo were able to baptize TWO men: Ntate Lehlohonolo and another man from Manamaneng who Khotalo has been sharing with since 2012. (Unfortunately Sefiri couldn't remember the other man's name)

Didja catch that?? 

Not one but TWO men were immersed as Believers on Saturday. Not only did God answer our prayer for Lehlohonolo's faith, but now he has a believing companion in his village - PTL! God has done exceedingly, abundantly more than what we were praying for less than a week ago!

I've shared in an earlier post the word Lehlohonolo means blessing, could he have a more appropriate name? I believe that God will use him to be a blessing to his entire village; as they witness his changed life, they will want to know the ONE who was able to make the changes possible.

Ntate Lehlohonolo sharing his horse - what a great smile! Picture by Honaker

While there is incredible joy, there is sure to be hardship ahead for these two new brothers in the Lord. Can I ask you, right now, to please stop for a moment and to pray for these men?

Thank you in advance for your prayers, if you would like to share your prayers or encouragement for Ntate Lehlohonolo you can email them to me at kimberlybaker@maf.org and I'll make sure he knows there are brothers and sisters all over the world who are praying for him.

A Moment with Merrill - Part 2

Hi Family and Friends,

This is the second part to a post I began yesterday...

The Basotho have had the Bible in their language and have known the name Jesus for over 100 years and claim to worship Him. They will leave church and then pray to the ancestors and they see no problem with both of these things being true. To be Basotho is to worship ancestors, it is defining for them. Jesus made it clear, He is the ONLY one worthy of our worship. One God in three persons - a tough concept to get across without a language and cultural barrier.

The fact that the Zionists have begun meeting in the village of Manamaneng will make it confusing for the Basotho who are hearing about following Jesus in two very different and conflicting ways. If you can become a Christian and continue worshiping the ancestors, why wouldn't you do so? It muddies the water for Merrill, Khotalo and Sefiri who are trying to give a Biblical world view to the Basotho in the village. More concerning still, the Chief's sister has espoused the teachings of the Zionists and has been attending their fellowship. She, aside from being the Chief's sister, is also training to become a Sangoma. A witch-doctor.

Truly, Satan has pulled out every stop in this village... he has no desire to see Lehlohonolo baptised this week and through illness, syncretism and occultism he is waging war for the souls in this village.

PTL the war was won on the cross for the souls of all people who would receive Christ as savior, but daily there are battles being fought for individuals who must decide personally who will be their Lord. The space between the physical and spiritual here is like a sheer curtain... it cannot be dismissed. You don't meet atheists in Lesotho because it is so very clear that the spiritual world exists.

Will you please stop right now and pray with me:

1. Sefiri's son Tsepo (Hope) will be just fine and that Sefiri can travel to the mountains as planned.
2. Lehlohonolo will have the courage and conviction to publicly claim Christ as Lord and be baptized.
3. Pray for Merrill as she feels she must speak with the leader of the Zionists, with the Chief and also with his sister about the false doctrine they are promoting... she is taking a HUGE risk doing this and she will need as many prayers on her behalf for boldness, the right words and spiritual protection. 
4. Pray the Chief, his sister and the Zionist leader will hear Merrill, will understand and will be moved by God to reconsider their beliefs and will allow her to continue her ministry in their village.
5. Pray that God will redeem the entire village of Manamaneng and send Believers from their village into neighboring villages - continuing to spread the Gospel.

Thank you in advance for your prayers, This is why we go, to make disciples where there are none, to give the light, the truth and the hope of the Gospel - to know God and to make Him known!

A moment with Merrill

Hi Family & Friends,

This morning I had a chance to speak with one of the missionaries we fly who is also a friend, Merrill. She serves with African Inland Mission (AIM) in the village of Manamaneng, deep in the mountains of Lesotho. She moved there 4 years ago after learning there were no Christians in the village. She has been in Lesotho more than 20 years and left her previous village after establishing a Bible study group that continues to this day.

Merrill, like me, is a single woman... but unlike me she lives just like the mountain Basotho, no electricity other than a solar charger for her computer and HF radio. No water either, she has to walk to the nearest river to draw water daily. She speaks Sesotho so well and has been accepted into her new community though she is the only lekhoa (white skinned person) for miles and miles. She's a friend and in many ways a hero and inspiration to me too.

She has a neighbor, Lehlohonolo (Blessing) who she believes has accepted Jesus and wants to follow Him, but to make that public, to be baptized, to cease worshiping ancestors... these things could make his life very challenging. However, as a respected man in the community, it would then allow other men and women to also consider becoming Christians. This is HUGE! While many women are often drawn to Christ real change in communities and villages can't happen until a man steps forward and publicly demonstrates his changed life. This is the breakthrough in Manamaneng we have been praying for, the first Mosotho Believer in the village.

This is also a stronghold that Satan fights against. There are plans for Sefiri, our MAF Chaplain and Khotalo, another Christian man from Molumong to go and baptize Lehlohonolo this weekend. Both these men are Basotho themselves, both came to Christ because of missionaries, and both have been building a relationship and sharing Christ with Lehlohonolo. But this morning, Sefiri who was going to fly with Merrill, had to rush his 10 month old son to the hospital.

Merrill shared another concern, namely that there is a growing number of Zionists in the area. Zionists claim to follow Jesus, they sing traditional Basotho songs rather than "white man's songs" that have been translated. The danger is, they believe that the Holy Spirit is made manifest in the ancestors. In other words, the cultural practice that the Basotho have of worshiping their ancestors is just fine and even encouraged as a part of the Christian lifestyle they promote. YIKES! This is the single biggest issue and impediment to the Gospel in Lesotho.

More of this story tomorrow...

An answer to a letter from a third-grade class @ FCS

Dear Mrs. Steiger’s Class,

Hello from sunny Lesotho, Africa. As I’m writing this letter to you I’m sitting in my office at the International Airport in Maseru, which is the capital city of Lesotho. It is also the city in which I live. I can see the mountains out my window and there isn’t a single cloud in the sky – it’s a gorgeous day here! I travel to the airport in a carpool with my teammates, it takes about 45 minutes for us to pick-up everyone and get to work. Here is a picture of the MAF Lesotho team:

In California you are preparing for spring, but here we are ending our summer and moving into fall. Some of the trees are just beginning to change colors, yellows so far but the leaves will turn oranges and reds after we have had a frost, likely sometime in early April around Easter. I even went swimming in a friend’s pool on Sunday, there won’t be too many swim days left here. I love to swim so I’m going to swim as much as I can in the next few weeks before it is too cold!

I’m honored that you took the time to write to me and I’m delighted to answer your questions. Here we go:

How many days will you be in Africa? I am a career missionary with Mission Aviation Fellowship so really, Lesotho is my home and I go and visit my family and friends in the United States. On April 21, 2015 I will have lived here for 5 years! I expect I’ll be home for another visit in early 2016 but I do not have a date set, so honestly, I’m not really sure exactly how many days it will be. I don’t have any plans to leave Lesotho, so for the foreseeable future, Lesotho will be my home until God again says “go.”

Do you like Africa? I do! I love it here and I believe God has given me gifts that are helpful here. I firmly believe that I am living in Lesotho because God planned for me to serve Him here, at this time. While I do miss my family, my friends, In-N-Out, living by the ocean and being able to worship in English, I wouldn’t trade my life here for anything. It is a marvelous thing to know you are living in the center of God’s will for your life, I have that assurance. While life here can be challenging, I am so excited that this is the life God chose with me in mind! No matter what is happening here I have peace knowing I am exactly where God has called me to be.

What foods do you eat in Lesotho? This is a tricky question… I’ll answer it in two ways. What I eat is not generally what most Basotho eat. Lesotho is surrounded by the country of South Africa and because of this; we get many wonderful choices of foods at our grocery store. So really, I eat many of the same things you eat, but I have to make most everything from scratch. Some of my favorites are: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, roast chicken, pancakes (sometimes with blueberries, or even chocolate chips but they are from America), taco salad – though it is really hard to find tortilla chips! We usually have chicken, beef, pork and mutton available to us and several fruits and veggies, but not nearly as many as you have in the USA. Usually once a week for lunch I’ll eat what Basotho generally eat. The Basotho like papa, which is a corn meal “porridge” that they make very thick. They use the papa to eat with, picking up a piece and forming it into a scoop using their thumb and fingers. Then they will use the “papa scoop” to pick up some moroho (moh-ROH-ho) which translates as vegetables though generally they are green leafy veggies like spinach, cabbage, kale, and chard with some onion added in for flavor. Most Basotho will eat this as their lunchtime meal once a day, and that is the only thing they will eat for the day. If they are lucky they might also have a piece of meat too, usually chicken or very thin steak, which looks a little like carne asada. When the Basotho eat meat, they eat everything! They sometimes even eat the chicken bones. Nothing goes to waste because for many of them, they will only eat meat one time a month. A common snack at our hangar is called a “smiley” – it is half a sheep’s head that has been boiled and they eat the meat of the cheek, the tongue, the brain and even the eye. I tried it once, it wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t eat the eye. Instead I shared it with my friend who said that was his favorite part. *whew*

How many planes have you ridden in? I have had the opportunity to take 4 flights, and I hope to make more. I love being able to hop on a flight when there is space. Lesotho is a beautiful country but it is especially beautiful from the air.

Is it easy to speak the language? Well, the Basotho find it easy. Learning a new language when you are an adult is a challenge! I am doing my best and I have learned many words and phrases but I only speak Sesotho as well as a pre-school aged child. So, no it isn’t easy, but I believe that it is usually true that the things that are most important to do are often hard, difficult and sometimes even painful. Most Basotho I meet living in the city speak English, in fact they speak English much better than I speak Sesotho! However, when you begin to speak to them about Jesus, about what they believe and why, those things are very important. I would call them “heart topics”. I believe that you cannot speak about heart topics to someone until you can speak their heart language, and here that is Sesotho, not English. To ask someone to change what they believe and to follow Jesus, I must be able to speak Sesotho and so I’m learning “butle-butle” which means little by little. You can pray God will help me to learn it better!

Do you miss America? Sometimes. I miss people more than anything else. Since I am a single missionary, I miss some of the things we have to do like; going to movies, coffee places, frozen yogurt, parks, etc. We don’t really have those sorts of places here and usually it isn’t safe for me to go out alone after dark. Most homes in the city, including mine, have bars on the doors and windows for security, so some days it gets a little lonely and I feel trapped inside, but not all the time.

Have you been to South Africa? I have, many times. As I said above, Lesotho is surrounded by South Africa and Maseru is a border town. In fact, tomorrow is a national holiday in Lesotho, Moshoeshoe (moh-SHWAY-shway) Day, it’s similar to our celebration of Washington’s Birthday. Moshoeshoe was Lesotho’s very first King. I’m hoping to go visit a friend’s home in Ficksburg, RSA which is an hour’s drive away, they raise lions and they’ve just had new cubs born. I never got to play with lions until I moved to Lesotho!

Do you like ostrich? Again a tricky question… do you mean as a pet or as a meal? Ostriches can be really mean! In South Africa, there are places where they race ostriches and you can go and ride one. Pretty cool, huh? I do like ostrich meat and have eaten it several times since living here, I especially enjoy ostrich steaks. As long as we’re speaking about game meat, I have also eaten: kudu, zebra, crocodile, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, warthog… my favorite game meats so far are impala and kudu. I have a few friends who hunt and they often share their meat with me.

Have you ever been to any other country? God has blessed me and I have had the opportunity to travel to several countries both before and since I became a missionary. The countries I have visited are: Mexico, Haiti, The Philippines, Israel, Jordan, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, England, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa and Lesotho.

Is it hard to find where things are in Africa? It can be. I am pretty good at doing research and finding fun new places to go, I enjoy it a lot! In fact most of my missionary friends call me the “Cruise Director” because I’m always on the hunt for new adventures for us to experience in southern Africa. I own a GPS and I have used it many, many times. Road signage isn’t always good here, and most streets in Lesotho don’t have any signs whatsoever. You just have to “know” what they are called. The longer I have lived here, the easier it has been but when I was new, it was very confusing and even frustrating trying to find places when there weren’t any signs to let you know the names of the streets. This is true for Lesotho but may not be true for all of Africa. In South Africa after the end of Apartheid, they changed the names of many streets in the major cities. When I first arrived you would see one name with a line through it and then below another name – very confusing and many times street names are not in English but in Afrikaans. I learned this the hard way. I got lost one time looking for a car repair shop on Church Street. I found Church St. and was driving along until I noticed the signs were reading Kerkstraat and not Church Street. So I turned around until I found Church Street signs and began driving again. I drove in circles for 30 minutes feeling very lost. Kerkstraat in Afrikaans is Church Street, I was on the right road and just didn’t realize it.

Have you saved any lives by telling them about God? Great question, have I saved lives? Well no, only Jesus can save a life and change a heart, but I have had the opportunity to share Jesus with several people. Some of them were hearing about Him for the first time. I have even had a few opportunities to preach in churches here in Lesotho, both in Maseru and even in the mountain villages. I do not know if what I said during those times changed anyone’s heart but I can tell you that I have personally led three people to the Lord since arriving here and I have ongoing relationships with them where I am discipling them. Most places in the world relationships are more important than time, this is very true of Lesotho. I have several friendships where the other friends aren’t yet Christians… this is why language learning is so important to me. While they know I serve Jesus they are not yet ready to let go of their culture, their beliefs and their comfort. It will take time and the more I time I spend with them, the more I hope they see Jesus in me and eventually desire a relationship with Him. This is by far the best part of my job and the reason I came to Lesotho in the first place, to know God and to make Him known.

Well, I wrote a lot! Hope you now understand a little bit more about what I do and more importantly why I do it. I’d love to be a “pen pal” for your class if you come up with more questions, please ask! Thanks again for taking the time to write me!

Love from Lesotho,
Kimberly ‘Mamosa