Wow!! Been so busy working hard to get this house finished that I have not been able to write for a couple of days! Let me hit some high points—

First of all—things are looking up concerning the progress we are making. God has been doing miracles! His hand is on this work as we were able to have rock, sand and cement delivered to our house on Sunday afternoon!!! (unheard of since all building stores in Maseru close on Saturday at 2pm and don’t open until Monday). And things are not readily available in general here as they are in the States—(there’s an understatement!). But we had set a goal to get the concrete poured by Sunday night even though we had no supplies on Saturday night. We had decided that I would put out a plea to the church at both morning worship experiences for anyone who could find us 12 bags of cement, 40 bags of rock and 20 bags of sand. Providentially, we found a commercial construction site on the way to church that was open and we stopped to ask them if we could buy these things from them and they delivered the rock and sand 2 hours later. Someone in the church knew of a store that was open until Noon on Sunday and Pastor Lebona went and delivered the cement to our door. But as I am writing you now, on Monday morning early, the cement has been poured to fill the hole that was dug in the floor for the plumbing for the brand new master bathroom, half of the main house has been painted and the electrical is almost finished!!! God is so good!

Secondly, Pastor David and Lizzie Jika were out of town for a couple of days when we first arrived, but when we finally say them, Pastor Lizzie shared with us some amazing news. Unbeknownst to me, Lizzie and CRC’s social worker had been trying to pay a visit to someone in the Lesotho government to find out what Beautiful Dream needed to do to get the government’s approval for opening the shelter for victims of Human Trafficking. They had been referred from office to office and finally after several weeks, the day came for their appointment with the proper person in the office of Home Affairs. When they met with the official and shared our plans with her, she shocked them when she said to them. “You have been sent by God”. She shared how Lesotho had been trying to become eligible for the Millenium Challenge money that was being offered by the government of theUSAif they were to meet certain requirements—one of those being a comprehensive approach to Human Trafficking. The official openly shared that up to that point Lesotho had done nothing to address human trafficking. She shared that Parliament was about to vote a bill into law this January that would make Human Trafficking a crime punishable by life in prison or the death penalty (I’m not positive of the details). She shared that the government had secured a property in which they wanted to start a rescue shelter but had no one to run it. She said that she was so glad that Beautiful Dream would be the first shelter for victims of human trafficking in the country of Maseru. The official gave full approval for Beautiful Dream to operate and said that Beautiful Dream would fulfill the requirement for the Millenium Challenge money and that there would be some of that money that would be available for us to operate and that we might be able to take over the property that the government had secured and use it for our shelter. We have also received this same offer from the Ladybrand police in South Africa.

God’s timing is so perfect!!!!!!! Just when Sonya and Charles and team are moving, the laws are changed, the government is in agreement and the funds are available. This is too exciting!!!!!

I have included some info about the Millenium Challenge here:

Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is an innovative foreign assistance program created by the Government of the United States of America (USA) to reduce poverty by promoting sustainable economic growth. TheMCAprovides incentives for policy reforms by rewarding eligible countries with additional resources so that they achieve their aspirations. Countries are selected on a competitive basis through a set of 16 indicators designed to measure a country’s effectiveness at ruling justly, investing in the people, and having Economic Freedom. The focus of theMCAis to promote economic growth in the recipient countries. The announcement made in 2004 by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – an independent corporation established to administer the account indicated that Lesotho is among the seventeen eligible countries. Eligibility of Mountain Kingdom accorded it an opportunity to submit a proposal which involved a five year investment in Water Sector, Health Sector Infrastructure and Private Sector Development. The total costs for Lesotho’s Compact proposal amounts to US$362.5 million, equivalent to about M2.5 billion.

Lastly, we had a fantastic time at church yesterday atCRCin Maseru! God moved in such a powerful way. I preached at both worship experiences and shared the dream again and Pastor David Jika shared about how he had 4 years ago had an experience with the frustration of not having a place to house 2 young girls who had become prostitutes whom he was trying to rescue and he could not, because he had nowhere to take them. At that point 4 years ago, he decided that with God’s help he would start a crisis care shelter for the girls. He even got to the point where he had visited with a Scottish pastor who brought his lawyer to Lesotho to form an organization to house trafficked victims. A Scottish woman from their organization moved to Lesotho for awhile, but was unable to complete the work and moved back home. Then, 2 years ago, Pastor David hired a full time social worker to help him handle these cases even though he still did not have the resources for a facility and other staff. The social worker has been working mostly with the 35 households of orphans that the church body takes care of. So Pastor David shared that Beautiful Dream was a direct answer to his prayer. It was a beautiful time as Pastor David then prophesied that Lesotho had been barren for generations, but now Lesotho would be entering into a time of fruitfulness and that the time of barrenness was over. The Lesotho population has steadily decreased for the last several years and Lesotho has gotten to the point where they have very few if any exports and even must import all of their food, etc from South Africa. There is no reason for this as the country is beautiful with beautiful and potentially productive natural resources.

Then Pastor David led us all in an old hymn of their country. There was not a dry eye in the house as we all sang the words:

If you believe and I believe
Then God will heal our land
The Holy Spirit must come down
Lesotho will be saved

Let it be, Lord…………