The Wild Wests

First Farming Training - Katse

2010-06-23T22:53:00.001+02:00

We kicked off the new farming season with a serious road trip!
(For those of you who don’t know, we teach a farming method different to conventional agriculture called Farming God’s Way or Foundations For Farming. To find information on our method, Foundations For Farming please click here)

7 of us left Rehobothe on the morning of the 3rd of June to meet up with Johan (a contact from Bloemfontein SA who is working into the Katse region of Lesotho) in a small town in Lesotho called Hlotse.

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Let’s all remember that we are in the middle of winter and that 2 of us had to go in the back of the Land rover. The temperature was well below freezing, but felt much colder with the wind chill. We don’t have any pictures as it was too early and too dark!

View From Mafika Lisiu Pass

Once we met up at Hlotse we jumped into Johan’s vehicle and made our way up the pass to the lovely Bokong Nature Reserve Visitors’ Centre, where we had a break to stretch our legs and warm ourselves up with a very welcome cup of coffee.

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We even had a chance to get in touch with nature!

An hour later, at 10am, we arrive in the outskirts of Katse village at a Baptist Church where we were to do the training.

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The training got under way and the people enjoyed all 5 hours of the training, with loads of questions right the way through. What legends! Don’t know if I could do that!

On the whole the training went really well with over 20 people receiving training and we have built some great relationships for the future.

We eventually got home at 8pm to a wonderful meal that Jo had cooked and were able to look back on a very successful day. We look forward to seeing what God is going to do all the way up there in Katse.

Ha Leboya – Glorious time on a mission together

2010-05-10T23:06:00.001+02:00

A year ago one of our founding members of Maloseng Church, Mme Mamathabella, came to John and I and told us how a daughter of hers lived in a village very far away and how there were no Churches like ours near where she lived. Her plea was for us to go and start something up in the mountains in a little village called Ha Leboya.

On Wednesday the 5th of May we eventually headed off for Ha Leboya which is on towards the Maluti mountains from Maloseng.

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We were amazed at the response of people to ‘GO’ and ended up having to take two vehicles as there were so many people wanting to join us from Rehobothe and Maloseng Churches to take the good news of Jesus to this village.

The journey was great and boy was the mud fun (probably the worst (= most fun) I’ve ever driven through.

It took us about 2 hours to get there and when we arrived the chief declared he had already sent out a message for the people to gather and that we would be allowed to say our bit as part of his meeting. He did a dangerous thing and said that the people were there all day so we could be as long as we wanted, now most of you know how I can talk!!!!

We played net ball while we waited for the villagers to gather, which was great fun for us all.

Once all were gathered we then chatted to the crowd and I shared the gospel. It was wonderful to see the response from 15 people to the gospel and we really feel God has opened a door for us to go back there in the future and see great things come out of this first meeting, God is good!!

What a Celebration

2010-05-03T14:27:00.001+02:00

Rehobothe hosted our Family service again yesterday and what a cracker. We had some great time in God’s presence with a significant prophetic word about people feeling at the end of themselves. Almost as if we were in Winter and everything around us is dry, God is pruning and making ready for fruit and then leading us into a new season. I really felt that this word went so well with the message I was to preach which was on where the church is now and where we are going in the next few months and years.
We heard testimonies from our people in Mokotjela and also from our Makhlako a Pholiso (MAP) team who minister to people in need of medical attention. These built such faith in the group gathered, God is good!!

The Bull is out for the count!

2009-12-15T12:39:00.001+02:00

It is with great sadness that we announce that our trusty Landy is temporarily out of action.

We recently found out that we need to replace our injectors at a cost of R5300 an injector and R1600 rand for labour (5 injectors need to be done - ouch!!!).

The Bull sits waiting while we continue holding onto God for an answer as to what to do with it.

Anyway, as a friend once said to us of the work here “never a dull moment – there is always something happening!!”

Phamong Outreach

2009-09-18T01:23:00.002+02:00

Today has been a long one and has definitely had its ups and downs.

(Please have a look at the Map with the various places highlighted)

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John and I started off in different directions, He went off to Libono with mike and a few guys to do some farming training with government extension staff and I went off, with a full Landrover, in the direction of Clarens to join Dihlabeng Church as they prayed for our wider region as part of their week long prayer and fasting.

We all had a great time and were excited to tell our stories of the day as we regrouped at lunch time in Mokotjela ready for our outreach in the afternoon.

We had heard about a fire that had damaged a lot of property close to Mokotjela in a village called Phamong. One of our members from the congregation in Mokotjela lives in Phamong and so we decided to visit the families affected by the fire seeing where we could help.

When we arrive we realised how devastating the fire had been.
7 families lost everything. 4 people were hospitalised including the lady in the photo who is recovering very well.

It was wonderful being able to pray for the families and see them enjoy the hope we find in Jesus.

This is a picture of just 2 of the houses that were burnt to the ground.

This lady is recovering well from her burns but shared with us a long list of things her family lost because of the fire

John and Mike praying for a lady who lost everything

We were able to take a fair amount of clothes, blankets and food given by our members to the people of Phamong but we are only just scratching the surface of the need.

Emergency funding has been applied for from the government but there has been no response and it has nearly been 3 weeks.

We are feeling it right to step in and help in every way we can so we are taking an inventory of all that has been lost to see if we can help replace any of the property.

Please pray for us as we continue to stand with these desperate people.

Has it almost been a year!!

2009-06-22T16:11:00.009+02:00

Unwelcome Guests

2008-07-01T01:04:00.003+02:00

so sorry to have been silent for so long. Jo Jake and i continue to do well and are loving life and the work God has called us to, here in Thabakholo Lesotho.

One night about two weeks ago, marked the end of a lengthy campaign against some uninvited Guests.
Let me explain -
About a week into our new life here in Lesotho Jo opened the door to the longdrop and found a large mouse (possibly rat - mouse sounds more acceptable, even cuddly) sitting on the loo seat. this would explain why viewing wildlife from the toilet seat is possible. It quickly made an exit, not out the door but through a gap in the tin frame of the toilet down into the pit. Jo quickly made her way back to the house and proceeded to tell of the close encounter. If she were anyone else she would have also refused to use the Long drop till the situation was dealt with, but she did not, all she asked was that we could find a way of getting rid of them before they bit our bottoms.
Due to the fact we have a lively young boy who loves exploring, poison was low on our list of options but in the end was what was used.

A few days later it came as a great surprise when we caught a glimpse of another rodent, this time in the house. We did a fair job of chasing it around until it came to rest behind our new wardrobe. At about 2 in the morning we were awakenned by a horrific racket coming from the new home. In the dark it sounded like mighty mouse was devouring his way through the whole chipboard cupboard. An hour of chewing was enough to get me out of bed and set my "humane mouse trap". The chainsaw finally stopped.
It took a full day and a half for me to findout that we had actually caught the little guy.
Brilliant, we were beginning to celebrate.
Not so fast...
Two friend from Clarens then came over for the weekend and helped us on their first day, to despatch daddy and very pregnant mommy mouse.
This was not the end of the story for our two friends either. Both failed to sleep most of the night as friend number one was watching one of the critters dancing up and down the ladder that was propped up against the wall directly below the unfinished ceiling access point. meanwhile friend number two had one doing laps up and down her on her bed ( amazing to say, both havnt been put off and have been back since)

Jo and i had visions of ourselves never having visitors ever again, we thought even our family might disown us. we decided to take drastic measures and worked on sealing up the ceiling till late one monday evening.
with the ceiling sealed we were confident for a peaceful sleep. The instantly recognisable scratching started up at about 2 30. I turned on the head torch to find the sweetest of vermin looking my way. he was perched on the curtain rail having a good go at the ventilation brick trying to get out. Im convinced that we trapped a whole army of them out, but that was not the problem, the problem was this one was left in. my humane trap failed to catch this little houdini three nights in a row. The thing that made me most mad was he always managed to get away with the bait. There was one thing left to do, resort to the trap with teeth. Teeth so sharp and a bite so strong it left me with a dead arm for a week. Dont worry the cause of this wasnt the trap but the tetanus i needed after being overly zealous in preparing it. Night one with the trap installed saw only the bait go off. Night number two put an end to the seige.

We are now 2 weeks on with no sign of any mice in the house, what a blessing. Its amazing what can be used to test our faith (im not joking) and im glad to say we have come through this even though there were some tears involved. Strange how some things so small can shake us. Thank you Lord for your grace to hold on, and thanks to all who prayed.

(We might be getting a cat)

The Bull

2008-05-14T23:25:00.005+02:00

I'm sorry, i couldn't help it!! While Jo is asleep I thought i could sneekily add this new section to the blog. It is dedicated to our vehicle - a Landrover Defender 130 otherwise known in our circles as "The Bull". It is amazing - i can't believe how good God is. Not only does he organise the perfect wife, sons and job for me, he decided to add in the perfect vehicle too.

This is a picture of the weekly church run.
Our record so far is 37 people - try beat that freestate taxis

Keep an eye on this section as we add pictures and stories of the The Bull

Adjusting to village life

2008-04-25T21:28:00.002+02:00

Hi all! Sorry it has taken so long for us to write again. It has been a busy few weeks with a church conference in Clarens, unpacking and settling in. We have been enjoying making our house here into our home. We have just put some new photos onto our web album- http://picasaweb.google.com/peteandjowest

We are busy adjusting to quite a different way of life. At the moment we have limited electricity supplied by an inverter and battery, which we are charging from the car. We have been able to use this to run a few energy efficient lamps, cell phone chargers and occasionally this laptop for a couple of hours. Neither of us have found that we have missed mains electricity particularly. We haven’t missed TV as we didn’t have one before but Jacob sometimes misses being able to play music on the CD player. We are looking forward to getting a solar panel soon, as this will make it much easier to charge the battery and should give us quite a bit more power so that Jacob’s regular dancing sessions can resume! Our aim is to get our solar system to a point where it can run our fridge and washing machine.

We have definitely found it harder to get used to not having plumbed in, unlimited water especially not having hot water on tap for baths, showers and shaving. On the bright side, our anthracite stove is now working so at least we can wash in a warm house!! Pete has been collecting the water from a tap about 200 metres away and is happy to be getting the exercise. Jacob has come along a few times to “help”. Once he ended up on Pete’s shoulders both ways of the walk adding to the full body work out! Water is generally collected by women here in Lesotho, so people have definitely noticed Pete with his water containers. A few ladies have commented that they would like this to catch on in the village.

We were very blessed and given a heavy duty water filter which seems to be working very well, have a look at this photo which shows a before and after shot of the water we collected one day from one of the not so good pumps in the village http://picasaweb.google.com/peteandjowest/MoveToLesothoEasterWeekendToSat29thMarch2008/photo#5186983774606746146

Another of our challenges has been our toilet, a long drop! Although it would be easy to list the negative aspects of such a toilet, there are also many positives (if you think hard enough!)

It reduces the risk of piles in males as there is no temptation to linger with a car magazine
It is the perfect sized cubicle for those suffering from agoraphobia – nice and compact
Some people may get to like the “farmyard” smell!
There is no fear of getting lost, even though it’s a short walk from the house, as passers by can easily see you when you’re standing up
A variety of “wildlife” can be spotted within this beautiful vantage point
A brisk walk/jog down the garden helps to fight off the sub zero temperatures we are getting at night time here at the moment

Anybody got any others to add to this list?

Surprisingly, despite the many plus points mentioned, we have invested in a small chemical toilet for use inside the house. This has been a bonus on these very cold nights!

Talking about cold, we woke up to a beautiful view of snow on the Maloti mountain tops earlier this week which caused our bedroom temperature to plummet to 8 degrees. The snow still hasn’t completely melted but we are a lot warmer as our stone is now pumping out the heat, hurray!!

Jacob seems to have taken the move in his stride. His favourite past times are riding his rabbit scooter preferably with his little friend Katleho, spotting farm animals wandering past, feeding the neighbours chickens which come into our garden and going for walks with mum and dad (he especially likes to go past the neighbour’s pigs!).

Our New Home

2008-03-27T21:40:00.007+02:00

This week we have been moving to lesotho and we should be completely finished by our deadline of saturday morning.
It has been sad to say goodbye to our home of 4 years (all our married life) but we really feel like Impala View is beginning to feel like home

Please take a look at the photos of the move at http://picasaweb.google.com/peteandjowest/MoveToLesothoEasterWeekendToSat29thMarch2008

Welcome to our new blog

2008-03-16T10:36:00.002+02:00

hi, we will be keeping in touch and letting you know what is going on in our lives here.