So remember our game of ladders? That day there was one little girl who had stood out to all of us as totally clueless but hilariously so - she would plop herself back down in her place after her turn of running (which never went the right way), turn to the leader next to her and state in Sesotho 'oh I don't understand' with a very melodramatic sigh and then giggle away. This week we were teaching the kids about the great commission and trying to open up the world to them a little bit. The leaders sat around the room, and in groups the kids rotated around us and each of us taught them how to say 'Jesus loves you' in a different language. After the kids had left we all compared notes and guess who had made us laugh the most? Yes it was Katleho again! If you know that Friends episode where Phoebe tries to teach Joey to speak French it was like that. We'd state the phrase to her a little bit at a time and then Katleho would speak it back. She'd get it completely wrong but think she was getting it 100% accurate and grin away at us. Very, very funny. Let's just hope God never sends her to Russia or Poland or India - they won't understand her at all!
On a much sadder note, this week one of our Mapheo families lost a little baby boy. His mum is HIV positive and we're sure he was born HIV positive. He didn't seem to be developing properly and then contracted meningitis a few weeks after he was born. He spent the last few months in the hospital and died on Thursday. Please pray for peace for the family and for them to come to know Christ through this tragedy.
Monday, 31 May 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Mme Masakile's Testimony
Here is the testimony of the lady in our church who was healed of HIV:
Jemina’s (Mme Masakile) Testimony:
She got tested last year in June. She was tested by Dr Jeremy (who was attending Dihlabeng at the time).
Her result was HIV positive. Dr Jeremy send her to the clinic to confirm the results. She also tested positive at the clinic. Then they took her blood to the laboratory. And her cd4 was 750 (consistent with an otherwise healthy person carrying the HIV virus).
How do you feel after hearing that you are HIV +?
•I had a shock, and I was also afraid because I think that I am going to die! But I try not to show people that I just heard this terrible news.
•I could not sleep at night. I had lots of questions in my mind with no answers. I told Topsy (leads People of Hope our HIV/AIDs ministry) about my status and she encouraged me a lot. But when I am alone this thing came to my mind and torment me. I struggled to accept this for a month and I could not sleep well for a month.
•After a month, I said to myself that there is no need for me to be anxious about this thing of HIV. And I said to myself I need to tell God about this because there is nothing that I can do. Every night when I had a sleepless nights, I used to pray to God and telling Him about my sickness.
•After I spend lots of time telling God all this, I felt his peace coming into my heart. I felt Him removing all the stress, shame etc that I had for such a long time. It was even difficult for me to tell my family that I am HIV positive.
•After I received this peace, I decided to come fourth every Sunday to be prayed for. I did this for the whole 8 months. I was saying to God, “please heal me, I give my health to you because you know everything about me and now I present everything to you God”. I felt his peace all over my heart, mind and body and I started to feel bold in me that I am healed. I told the other lady in our church my status, and she encouraged me to share this to my children!! But I find it very difficult.
•This year in February, I felt faith raising up in me. And I felt in my heart that I am healed.
•Sunday the 18th April 2010, we had HIV/Aids Sunday in our church, and then I told myself that I am going to test again.
•I told Topsy, and she agreed with me. Firstly I was tested by Dave Farr (nurse from the UK volunteering in SA/Lesotho) and I tested negative. I asked Dr Liam Selfridge (member of the church, who is a consultant at the regional hospital) to test me again with another test just to confirm. And I tested negative. I felt like jumping, shouting, I didn’t know what to do. I was so happy I couldn’t contain myself. I felt like telling everybody that Jesus healed me!!!!
•I told Dr Liam that I am taking the medication from the clinic (Batrim). The Dr asked me to stop taking that medication because I am healed.
•He sends me back to the clinic with the referral letter, to ask the clinic to do another test. Then on Monday I went to the clinic.
At the clinic
•They first didn’t want to do the test to me. The sister in charge was very rude, she didn’t want even to read the letter from the Doctor. We had these arguments for 15min before they agrees to do the test. They said to me that the test that the doctor wants me to do is very expensive and I don’t have money for that!! But they end up doing it.
•They asked me to come after a week to fetch my result. Before the Lay Counsellor told me my result, she first asked me what I we doing/using at our church (witchcraft). I said to them we pray nothing else. She didn’t believe me, she thought that maybe there is something that we are using. I told her that our weapon is the prayer only. I asked her what are my results, I told her that I believe God healed me. She told me that the results came back negative.
•For all this time, I was asking God to do a miracle for me. I don’t read or write, but I keep on saying to God: “I heard my leaders saying that you do miracles, you heal every diseases, please Lord heal me, I know that you have power to heal every sickness.”
And God came to heal me and I am so grateful to Him.
My encouragement to others
I will like to say to everybody, who is facing difficulties in their lives, God is able to do everything. Please trust Him always and He will give the desire of your hearts.
Jemina’s (Mme Masakile) Testimony:
She got tested last year in June. She was tested by Dr Jeremy (who was attending Dihlabeng at the time).
Her result was HIV positive. Dr Jeremy send her to the clinic to confirm the results. She also tested positive at the clinic. Then they took her blood to the laboratory. And her cd4 was 750 (consistent with an otherwise healthy person carrying the HIV virus).
How do you feel after hearing that you are HIV +?
•I had a shock, and I was also afraid because I think that I am going to die! But I try not to show people that I just heard this terrible news.
•I could not sleep at night. I had lots of questions in my mind with no answers. I told Topsy (leads People of Hope our HIV/AIDs ministry) about my status and she encouraged me a lot. But when I am alone this thing came to my mind and torment me. I struggled to accept this for a month and I could not sleep well for a month.
•After a month, I said to myself that there is no need for me to be anxious about this thing of HIV. And I said to myself I need to tell God about this because there is nothing that I can do. Every night when I had a sleepless nights, I used to pray to God and telling Him about my sickness.
•After I spend lots of time telling God all this, I felt his peace coming into my heart. I felt Him removing all the stress, shame etc that I had for such a long time. It was even difficult for me to tell my family that I am HIV positive.
•After I received this peace, I decided to come fourth every Sunday to be prayed for. I did this for the whole 8 months. I was saying to God, “please heal me, I give my health to you because you know everything about me and now I present everything to you God”. I felt his peace all over my heart, mind and body and I started to feel bold in me that I am healed. I told the other lady in our church my status, and she encouraged me to share this to my children!! But I find it very difficult.
•This year in February, I felt faith raising up in me. And I felt in my heart that I am healed.
•Sunday the 18th April 2010, we had HIV/Aids Sunday in our church, and then I told myself that I am going to test again.
•I told Topsy, and she agreed with me. Firstly I was tested by Dave Farr (nurse from the UK volunteering in SA/Lesotho) and I tested negative. I asked Dr Liam Selfridge (member of the church, who is a consultant at the regional hospital) to test me again with another test just to confirm. And I tested negative. I felt like jumping, shouting, I didn’t know what to do. I was so happy I couldn’t contain myself. I felt like telling everybody that Jesus healed me!!!!
•I told Dr Liam that I am taking the medication from the clinic (Batrim). The Dr asked me to stop taking that medication because I am healed.
•He sends me back to the clinic with the referral letter, to ask the clinic to do another test. Then on Monday I went to the clinic.
At the clinic
•They first didn’t want to do the test to me. The sister in charge was very rude, she didn’t want even to read the letter from the Doctor. We had these arguments for 15min before they agrees to do the test. They said to me that the test that the doctor wants me to do is very expensive and I don’t have money for that!! But they end up doing it.
•They asked me to come after a week to fetch my result. Before the Lay Counsellor told me my result, she first asked me what I we doing/using at our church (witchcraft). I said to them we pray nothing else. She didn’t believe me, she thought that maybe there is something that we are using. I told her that our weapon is the prayer only. I asked her what are my results, I told her that I believe God healed me. She told me that the results came back negative.
•For all this time, I was asking God to do a miracle for me. I don’t read or write, but I keep on saying to God: “I heard my leaders saying that you do miracles, you heal every diseases, please Lord heal me, I know that you have power to heal every sickness.”
And God came to heal me and I am so grateful to Him.
My encouragement to others
I will like to say to everybody, who is facing difficulties in their lives, God is able to do everything. Please trust Him always and He will give the desire of your hearts.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Fun times
This week at Mapheo I was running a good old game of ladders. You'd think seeing as we've played it a few times before and I had leaders demo at the beginning that everything would go to plan....but naturally it didn't and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time! It was totally hilarious watching the kids enthusiastically jump up when their number was called (or anyone elses number for some of them), or when they were shouted at by their team as they'd missed their number, then follow the course any way except the right way, including a little one heading to the toilets. They were all over the place, often running up the ladder and missing their space to sit down so doing it all over again, invariably going in opposite directions to each other, all the while being laughed at by all the leaders. They really didn't mind that they were getting it wrong everytime and being teased by us which was great. A few months ago many of them would have found the whole experience terrifying. I wish I'd taken a video for you all to enjoy the chaos but sadly I wasn't expecting such hilarity on a Thursday afternoon :-)
Another very funny thing happened this week at youth on Saturday night. Laura was speaking and introducing the topic for the evening. We're going through a series on idols and Saturday was about the worship of self. She said 'tonight we're talking about worshipping me'. The translation came throught 'tonight we're talking about worshipping Laura'! Thankfully she was tuned into the interpretation so picked it up straight away, otherwise we'd have had some very confused teenagers :-)
Another very funny thing happened this week at youth on Saturday night. Laura was speaking and introducing the topic for the evening. We're going through a series on idols and Saturday was about the worship of self. She said 'tonight we're talking about worshipping me'. The translation came throught 'tonight we're talking about worshipping Laura'! Thankfully she was tuned into the interpretation so picked it up straight away, otherwise we'd have had some very confused teenagers :-)
Monday, 3 May 2010
A miracle at Dihlabeng
Possibly the most exciting news ever - at Dihlabeng this Sunday we heard our first testimony of a lady being healed of HIV! She tested positive last year, and was sent to the hospital for full blood work as usual so it clearly wasn't a false positive result. Her words were 'I've been asking God ever since I found out to fight this battle for me'. 2 weeks ago at our HIV service she went forward for prayer then felt she should get a test done there and then. She had two independent tests which were both negative. This result has now been confirmed by the hospital. She said 'we think HIV is this mountain in our lives but nothing is impossible for our God'. The whole church just went crazy. What a celebration! May there be many more such miracles in the future.
General news
The major news from the last couple of weeks:
1. Rose has gone back to the UK after getting stranded here for an extra week because of the volcano in Iceland. It was lovely to have her visit for 3 weeks and of course she spoilt me!
2. We have been trying to visit one of my little boys at Mapheo for the last few weeks. Everytime we've been to the house there's been no one home and he hasn't been to Mapheo or church for a few weeks. Then the day before Rose flew home we finally found his mum waiting at the side of the road for a taxi. We stopped and chatted to her to find that he was in hospital in Bethlehem for a 'rash'. She told us he'd been there for a week but she hadn't seen him as she couldn't afford the taxi fare there. I gave her the money she needed and said I would also try and visit him. He's only 6 so the thought of him being in the state hospital (which isn't very nice) with no one visiting was heartbreaking. So on the way up to the airport with Rose the next day I stopped at the hospital. What I found out was even more heartbreaking - he'd actually been there for 2 weeks having been admitted with the measles, but the doctor had discharged him a week previously as he was now well. However the nurses were finding it impossible to get in touch with his mum to come and collect him. When he saw me he came racing down the corridor full of smiles and gave me a big hug. I gave him some food and toys which he promptly took to share with his little friend. The nurses asked me to take him home as the doctor was threatening to put him into a childrens home. It was so traumatic. But I had to leave him there as I was on my way to Jo'burg to drop Rose at the airport and I wasn't sure if his mum would be home and ready to take him. Now he has been picked up by an uncle who lives in a different town so he's still not back in Clarens. This means he's missing school yet again. It's so frustrating dealing with this family as he is a gorgeous little boy but his mum just doesn't seem to want him. She's living with a man who's not his father and has just had a new baby. This has meant that her boyfriend has started being very difficult about the older child being around. Please pray that she would be saved and come to realise her responsibility as a mother, and to understand the gift that this beautiful boy is.
3. I've moved house - I've moved in with a young couple from church to save some money. I moved at the weekend so am still getting used to it, but I think it's going to be fun. The drawback is my loss of internet connection so now I have to use the wifi service at the bakery, which is a bit of a hassle.
1. Rose has gone back to the UK after getting stranded here for an extra week because of the volcano in Iceland. It was lovely to have her visit for 3 weeks and of course she spoilt me!
2. We have been trying to visit one of my little boys at Mapheo for the last few weeks. Everytime we've been to the house there's been no one home and he hasn't been to Mapheo or church for a few weeks. Then the day before Rose flew home we finally found his mum waiting at the side of the road for a taxi. We stopped and chatted to her to find that he was in hospital in Bethlehem for a 'rash'. She told us he'd been there for a week but she hadn't seen him as she couldn't afford the taxi fare there. I gave her the money she needed and said I would also try and visit him. He's only 6 so the thought of him being in the state hospital (which isn't very nice) with no one visiting was heartbreaking. So on the way up to the airport with Rose the next day I stopped at the hospital. What I found out was even more heartbreaking - he'd actually been there for 2 weeks having been admitted with the measles, but the doctor had discharged him a week previously as he was now well. However the nurses were finding it impossible to get in touch with his mum to come and collect him. When he saw me he came racing down the corridor full of smiles and gave me a big hug. I gave him some food and toys which he promptly took to share with his little friend. The nurses asked me to take him home as the doctor was threatening to put him into a childrens home. It was so traumatic. But I had to leave him there as I was on my way to Jo'burg to drop Rose at the airport and I wasn't sure if his mum would be home and ready to take him. Now he has been picked up by an uncle who lives in a different town so he's still not back in Clarens. This means he's missing school yet again. It's so frustrating dealing with this family as he is a gorgeous little boy but his mum just doesn't seem to want him. She's living with a man who's not his father and has just had a new baby. This has meant that her boyfriend has started being very difficult about the older child being around. Please pray that she would be saved and come to realise her responsibility as a mother, and to understand the gift that this beautiful boy is.
3. I've moved house - I've moved in with a young couple from church to save some money. I moved at the weekend so am still getting used to it, but I think it's going to be fun. The drawback is my loss of internet connection so now I have to use the wifi service at the bakery, which is a bit of a hassle.
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