August 2015

Ministry

Though things have started slow, we are beginning to gain some momentum.

The stage in progress

Construction begins

The completed stage + worship team

Piet has been helping with some construction projects at church. He and quite a few church members just completed building a new stage at our AFM church. This was just in time for this month’s conference that was held at the church. Every month the church hosts what they call a “mini-conference” or a series of workshops with a different theme each month. We have just come out of the business conference. A unique feature of this conference was that different

business owners in the church had a chance to display their products and services. Piet often either speaks at the conferences or helps with the sound and media. Last month Piet and I spoke at the family-themed conference about marriage and how to maintain a healthy family spiritually and emotionally (see picture at the bottom).

A lady displaying her goods for sale

The business courses that we will be teaching were supposed to have started already, but we have had to postpone as we are having some conflict in terms of times to run the courses. Everyone is very anxious to start, so we are really hopeful that the kinks will be worked out very shortly!

Visas

An update about my visa: I have recently discovered that I cannot yet apply for my permanent residency. I have been given different information than before that says I can only apply after five years of marriage (though I was under the impression I could apply after five years of being on a temporary visa). So, I will complete the application and interview process in January 2016. Our Lesotho visas expire this month, so it is quite urgent that we get our paperwork filed as soon as possible.

Supporters and Friends

Next week we are happy to have two friends from The Stirring church (one of our sending

AFM Church congregation

churches) in Redding, Ca. They will be with us for the week and will be witnesses to our lives here in Lesotho. We won’t put them to work too much as their main objective is to visit and love on us. What a blessing this will be. We love having visitors as life in Lesotho can get quite lonely at times.

Family

As you know, we are expecting our second child in December! Everything has been looking very good and we are happy to announce that it is a boy! We are also glad to share his name with everyone: Lesedi Zander Bakers. My (Leah’s) parents will be joining us in South Africa and Lesotho for three months. They will be here for the birth of our baby boy and for a while after to help us get settled into being a family of four. Also, an aunt and uncle of mine will be visiting for a few weeks as well. We couldn’t be more excited!

Piet and Leah talking at the family conference (Harmony didn't want to be left out)

Thanks for always keeping up with our goings-on and sending us messages and emails. We love hearing from you. We appreciate your love, support, and prayers. 

Loving Africa,

The Bakers

 

Crossroads

Piet teaching Crossroads