Glorifying Steps

It’s been a while since we’ve written our last blog post. Before we moved to Lesotho, I had such high expectations for writing every single week and telling you guys about everything that was happening. I now see how just unrealistic of an expectation that was. Sometimes I feel like just getting through the day is a huge accomplishment!

At the end of January, Ashton Clark came to work with us for the semester. And then at the end of February, Beth Orr also came to work with us. They will both be in Lesotho until the end of May serving in orphan care and job creation. We are so excited to have them here and encouraged by their willingness to help us work towards our big goals. We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do in their lives while they are here and can’t wait to see the impact their love for the Lord will have on the Basotho.

Speaking of our interns, we are asking for prayer for the situation with their vehicle. Over the past week, it has broken down twice. The first time, Tyler and Ntate Phoka were able to fix the issue. But the second time will take a bit more help.

One of the reasons for having the interns here is so that we can divide and conquer. With only one working vehicle, it’s a bit more difficult to divide, but we can still conquer! The four of us have some great ideas to implement this semester to improve the Care Centers, grow the Marketplace, and share God’s love with the Basotho!

This past week, we were able to have some of the women start making an order of 110 journals for Spring! We even gave them two new leather colors to use. Check out the Reclaimed website if you’re interested in buying one. We also purchased new fabric for making my favorite things in the world – elephants! They are going to be so precious! We placed quite a large order of big and small elephants in the new colors. I can’t wait to see how they turn out! And the LovePoppy jewelry women will be able to start working again next week. We love it when all our job creation products are in production and we are able to purchase awesome crafts, journals, and jewelry from incredibly talented and deserving women. Be sure to buy products in the States and host trunk shows so we can keep these women employed!

On another happy note, we got word a few weeks ago that we will have a very special guest with us all Summer (Lesotho’s Winter) and I cannot contain my excitement! More details to come on that. This Summer will be a great one for us. Our home church, Cool Spring, is sending a team to Botswana at the end of May and we are hoping to come and serve with them. Also, in June we get to see two very special families as they serve in both Lesotho and Botswana for a few weeks! We are counting down the days until we get to be with so many friends from home!

Update on the kids and Care Centers, everything there has been going well. It’s been just over a month since the school year began and everyone is getting into the swing of things. Some of the kids were moved from one school to another this year and that’s made scheduling more difficult because they are kept at school longer in the afternoons. Their new school is so nice and is doing a great job teaching them, but we have struggled a bit because the kids are getting to the Care Centers later than usual, giving us less time with them to play and learn. One of the women at the Care Center assures us that the kids are learning a lot and will have good grades as a result. We are praying the time at the Care Centers will be intentional and the kids will learn a lot, even though it is a shorter time.

In just a few days, we will receive the largest team we will probably ever host – the Kappa Sig fraternity from Mississippi State. This group of young men have been some of Reclaimed’s biggest donors (just last week they raised a little over $160,000)! The fraternity will send 35 college guys to help with construction projects. Also joining them will be a team of 10 college girls from Pinelake Church in Starkville, Mississippi. When you count leaders and a few father-son groups, we will have over 50 people working with us next week!

No doubt it will be a busy week, but we are so excited just thinking of all the great things to come and all that will be accomplished in the name of Jesus. The girls will be focused on teaching how to make a new bracelet for Marketplace and orphan care in the afternoons, and the guys will be working on Care Center building expansions at both of the Care Centers. It’s time for some more room at both locations!

So that’s our update for the time being. Things are going well and the work here is keeping us busy. I am reminded daily that there is no such thing as a “normal” day here and that no matter how much I plan something out, the plan will probably need to be changed before the day is done. I am learning flexibility and to rely on God’s plan for everything.

With Love,
Tyler & Rachel