Greetings

Greetings folks. The last month has been a blurr. First I spent some time in South Africa with my niece, and one of our Masotho friends. It was a good trip with lots of adventure to go along with the lots of driving. Then the last weeks have been a flurry of wrapping up loose ends before our trip back to Canada. We fly out of Johannesburg tomorrow evening, July 04.

On our trip to South Africa I was reminded that when driving in a game park, watching where I am going takes precedence over watching for animals. I dropped a wheel into a washout, right beside the lion warning sign.
We were not going anywhere though, and with the memory of a friend and his calm when a tough job needed to be done, we turned my bad driving into one more adventure.

18 inches over and I would have been fine.

Fortunately the lions were elsewhere, we saw a couple up close later in the day.

But before the lion encounter we had an elephant encounter of a close kind. We spent about 20 minutes just sitting with the engine off, going nowhere, with elephants on the road ahead, behind, and coming in from both sides. Again not much we could do but sit patiently and savor the moment.

It was so tempting to just reach out and touch one.

But now it is the final packing and tasks before heading for home. On this point I was recently reminded that maybe I have not done a good job of explaining our plans. Someone asked what about our plans for when be move back to Canada.

Well, the plan is to only visit Canada at this point. We will be home for six weeks and then will be returning to Lesotho. Wendy will be teaching for another two years at Machebang College, and I will be volunteering with a fledgling organization called the ‘Mustard Seed’. It is a small group with a passion and burden for girl orphans and the challenges and needs they face. We have no money, no office, no programs, just a passion and a belief that God is asking us to do something. So, we are planning activities and programming and trusting that God will provide in his way and time.

The Mustard Seed team.

In addition to working with this small organization, I will also be pursuing funds and support for another venture here. We have established a trust here in Lesotho. The aim is to provide concrete supports for needy individuals, again principally girl orphans. Supports will include long term, safe and secure housing. At this point the trust, Hope and a Candle Lesotho, is in the process of purchasing a house that will provide a home for a family of orphans. So the challenges for the trust will be to develop local trustees who will be able to administer it when we eventually return to Canada as the commitments will be long term.

But for the moment we are looking forward to getting home and visiting friends and family. Then, when we return, I will need to roll up my sleeves as there will be lots of work to be done.

One result of not serving with a YWAM affiliated organization, is that any funds that folks will wish to donate can no longer be challenged through the YWAM office in Vancouver. When home, I will be chatting with some friends about the possibility of establishing ties with a charitable organization. The hope is to provide an alternate organization for those who have been supporting our efforts in Lesotho to continue to contribute to needs and lives here in Lesotho.

Hoping to see many of you over the next six weeks.


~ Benno ~