Thursday, March 5, 2009
Friday March 6th
Good morning from Maseru! Yesterday was one of the most incredible days we’ve had in Lesotho. We visited The Sehlabeng Maseru, Teya-teyaneng, and Kolonyama tribes. All three of the visits went incredibly well. The villagers were extremely excited to receive the radios, but were more appreciative that we were willing to come all the way from America to deliver them!
By the time the day was finished we had traveled over 200 miles and delivered nearly 300 radios. God continues to show off in incredible ways. The 6 cases the radios were packed with some pieces of foam to protect them during transit, but the pieces are also used in soundproofing radio studios and wouldn’t you know, the production room here at Harvest FM wasn’t soundproofed…….hmmm….God Is So Good!!! We are planning more deliveries today before packing up and returning home in the morning. Please continue to pray for everyone here at Harvest FM and for Wally and me on our trip home. We can’t wait to see you all!
Darren
An interesting leg of our journey today….following another training session with more of the Harvest FM, we headed out on foot in search of a birthday cake for Jerry (one of the staff members)…After lunch and Darren’s report to the Morning Show, we headed to the mountains outside of Maseru for our first village delivery of radios…About halfway there, we received word that it was raining at the village and the people had gone home. Although disappointing, it gives opportunity for a big day on Thursday with three village deliveries planned. It will be a big and busy day…please keep us in your prayers.
Thanks!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
“The Radios Have Arrived” – It was a celebration at Harvest FM when the delivery truck showed up with 6 big boxes of radios that had finally been cleared from customs just before the end of business on Tuesday. 4 flights of stairs proved no problem when the race to the parking lot meant carrying a box on your own.
We quickly began working to get the radios into sunlight in order that they might be charged prior to distribution. Needless to say, the Harvest FM staff was elated, knowing that each radio represented a potential changed life through their ministry.
We would have never guessed that the first distribution of radios would be to the prostitutes of Maseru. After dinner, we joined with many of the staff of Harvest FM, board members, a local pastor and friends of the ministry at the corner of the park where these girls frequented. The radio station provided live coverage of the event and a local newspaper showed up to cover it as well. After a brief explanation and a prayer of dedication, we handed out almost 40 radios to these young ladies. No sermons, no speeches, no signatures, no strings attached. It was clear to these girls tonight that the love that they never see can be seen in Jesus. It was an exciting time that allowed God’s love to be experienced first hand, unconditionally.
Prisons and Villages….that’s where we expected to make our distribution…Interesting!
The life-changing message of the Gospel will speak into the lives of these young ladies currently in bondage to the prison of prostitution. While this was not the village setting one might anticipate, these girls knew each other, leaned on each other for support and each encouraged the other to take the radio and to listen. Let’s pray that the village of the redeemed will treat them as well.
It’s hard to walk away knowing that the gateway to the spoken truth held in their hands would soon be darkened by the worst of man’s nature. But that’s the way it is in life, in speaking, in radio…we’re faithful to sow and occasionally water, trusting God to reap the harvest. We don’t know these girls names, but their faces will be eternally etched in our memory. Our prayer is to see each face again in eternity. Would you join us in this? Thank You!
My day today started by waking from a great 7 hours of sleep….and a case of homesick. I thanked God for the sleep, and asked him to help me with the homesickness. The rest of the day was amazing. It started when a few of the staff members at Harvest FM took Wally & me to the governmental site where the people of Lesotho go to get their passport. Let me explain that here in Lesotho, everyone must have a passport, to work, earn a living and basically, survive! Now for those of you who have a passport, you this takes about 15 minutes to fill out the form and you mail in you money and in less than 6 weeks you have it. But that is far from reality here in Lesotho, in fact, most people will wait for over a year and in some cases up to 3 years. Plus, they won’t get it in the mail, they must wait outside the building for their name to be called. Since they have no idea what day it might be, they must stand in the heat Everyday. Most of us think that waiting in line behind 3 people at Walmart is unthinkable! Now there is a way around this to speed up the process…..it’s by paying over twice the normal amount, which these people don’t have. I was blown away at what these people must endure on a day to day basis to survive. After we got back to the station, I was honored to work with the members who conducted the interview and helped them learn to edit it and prepare it to go on the air tomorrow. Now as I look back at the day, I realize that when I take my eyes off of me and my fears, God can show me just how much I have been Blessed with and find a new appreciation of it. As I get ready for bed, I will say a prayer for the hundreds of men and women I saw today and pray that tomorrow will be their day! Won’t you join me?
Darren
