So I have been spending an inordinate amount of time at the National University of Lesotho this past week... but alas, I have not gotten a professorship... yet ;o) My first trip out to the University was last Sunday, where Melissa (one of my great BDS teammates here) and I spoke out against human trafficking to over 70 students at a campus ministry. Those of you who know me know that I am a terrible public speaker- but I survived! And, actually, it was not that bad :o) As a result of this talk, we ended up having 20+ students sign up to volunteer (and a few social work majors who want to intern!) for our advocacy and awareness events, not to mention that we got the word out on what trafficking is and how to avoid/prevent it. It was a successful day!
My subsequent trips out to the University this week are for another very exciting purpose- two of our residents want to go to college! With the help of two local social workers here, I managed to talk the college into granting us late application privileges (apparently the applications for the next term were due April 30th) and we got their applications filled out and turned in within 24 hours. If you have spent any time in Africa, you can recognize what a feat that was! The girls are incredibly excited that they may get the opportunity to go to college, and I could not be happier for them. The next step is to pray hard that we can find a grant or scholarship for them- it costs about $4,000 US dollars per year to attend college here, which by Lesotho standards is an obscene amount of money. Unfortunately at this point, Beautiful Dream Society does not have it within our budget to send them, so we will be working hard to find funding so they can realize their dream of a college education!
In church news, Victory Maseru has been off to a fantastic start- we had so many people at our very first service that we had to switch to a bigger venue by our second week! We are going on our fourth Sunday this weekend and our congregation is growing. The fellowship and teaching is wonderful, and I will now be helping to direct the children's ministry- many more 'somethings' on my to-do list, but exciting all the same!
A few of you have asked how my support is going- when I left for Lesotho I had raised about 60% of my $10,000 goal between one time donations and monthly commitments. Now that I am almost 5 months into my trip, my finances are beginning to dwindle. My funds go to living expenses, meetings with local BDS volunteers (it is the culture here that if you invite someone to coffee, you are paying ;o)) and program supplies for art therapy, etc. If you feel led to contribute anything, please click on my support tab above and you can find the link/address to do that :o) Any donations are appreciated, both by myself and the wonderful residents that we serve! Please be praying for our residents as four of them have their court cases this month and will be testifying, which is very stressful. Also, Lesotho's elections are on this weekend, and the US Embassy has advised us to 'lay low' as sometimes there are riots in the city center that may result in fatalities and destroyed property. Please pray for safety and wisdom for our team during this time of political change and possible unrest.
"Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
~Proverbs 9: 9-10
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