Happy 2014

Hello family and friends

The Bakers at the Golden Gate Nat'l Park

I suppose it’s a little bit late to say “Happy New Year”, maybe I should say happy March instead?? This is our first blog post as a family of three!

It is almost time for us to return to Lesotho after a long break here in Johannesburg. We've loved having the chance to reconnect with church family and good friends. For the majority of our time here, we have been staying with two different families. We feel so incredibly blessed by their hospitality and truly treating us like family.

Getting ready to pass out gifts

On Christmas Day, we had the opportunity to go around to different government hospitals handing out gifts and treats to kids and adults with various ailments. We went with a large group of people from our church here, The Barn, and between all of us were able to pass out hundreds of gifts at hospitals and children’s homes.

Of course the most exciting thing that happened since we’ve been here is the birth of our daughter. Harmony Kgomotso Bakers was born January 20^th, 2014. She is the love of our lives and we are so blessed that God chose us to be her parents. She is such a joy.

Harmony spent her first 5 days in the NICU due to bacterial pneumonia as well as having difficulty breathing. This was such a difficult time for us, but God was and is faithful. We are so thankful for the prayers and well wishes from friends and family while she was in the hospital. She has made a full recovery and is a very healthy and happy little girl. We have recently received

Harmony’s birth certificate and temporary passport. As soon as she has her six week checkup, we will make the journey back to Lesotho to start again in full-time ministry.

Last Friday we said goodbye to my (Leah’s) parents after a very nice three week visit with them. We were able to do a bit of traveling and sight-seeing as well as having plenty of “Granny and Grandpy” time. They were also fortunate enough to witness Harmony's dedication at church.

Back in Lesotho, we have gained two new members of our leadership team.  Both Hlony and Ntosh were students of LXP South Africa last year (the same program that Piet completed in 2009) and have given their time for at least this year to serve with us in LXP Lesotho. On a much sadder note, while we were away we found out that one of our youth from the village passed away. She had been suffering from numerous health issues for quite some time. Around August or September, her health began declining significantly and she had been in and out of the hospital for months. When we left Lesotho at the end of November, she seemed to be getting better. Unfortunately, she never fully recovered and passed away late January.

We will resume ministry as usual and hope to see it grow during the course of this year. I will be staying home with Harmony during the days while Piet will be in the village; however, I hope to still maintain a presence maybe once a week.  I would love to carry on with the preschool ministry as well as helping with “training” the preschool teachers in how to do lesson planning and the like.

Please pray with us as we enter into this new season of our lives with a new addition to our family. We are asking for prayer in the way of our finances. Some of the financial needs we have for this new year are: medical aid (insurance) for Harmony, monthly rent for our new house, and general living expenses (i.e. groceries and diapers).

Meeting Granny (Piet's Mom) for the first time

Truly Loving Africa,

The Bakers