Back at Home!

 Well, I’m back home in Kentucky! I had a rough flight back. I had/have a cold which made the flight a little uncomfortable. As a result of being sick at 30000 feet I can’t hear out of one ear. Hopefully as my cold goes away I will be able to hear again.           

This mission trip was quite an experience! I had a great time in Lesotho, Pretoria, KwaMhlanga, with my family, and with friends!

Here are a few things I learned from the parts of my trip:

Lesotho/ MAF- I learned a lot about what is like to be a missionary pilot. What they do every day and how they run their program. I learned that there are several ways you can serve as a missionary pilot. In Lesotho, the missionaries fly out every day to the mountains to pick up people (doctors, nurses, patients, people who work at the clinic) as well as deliver supplies (food, blankets, etc.) I was also able to visit MAF South Africa. Their mission flying is a lot different than in Lesotho. They do not fly every day, but rather they take longer trips to neighboring countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Chad, Uganda, Namibia, and Botswana. When they plan flights the pilots will often be in these countries for a long period of time flying teams of people into different areas or flying them out if it becomes unsafe. They also deliver supplies when in need (for instance currently in Tanzania where there is a famine).

Oasis- Hospital Learning/ Care Center- Oasis was a great learning experience as well. I learned that as outsiders/ foreigners we need to teach the locals to do things themselves and then let them run the show. We can teach them sewing, cooking, baking, and using things thrown away to make new things. But once they learn these skills we need to step back. The greatest gift is teaching- the teaching of the gospel and of skills that the people can use to support themselves- not money.

MCDC/ Mukhanyo- The community needs the love of Christ and the best thing to do is to start a relationship with them by visiting them, sharing the gospel, and caring for them. This will encourage them to trust in you and to create a bond between the two. The kids also need love. A lot of them are orphans or have tough living conditions and family problems- but all they want is for someone to care for them and to be the strong foundation that they can build their life on (Christ).

Children playing at Mukhanyo Christian Academy (MCA)

This trip has been an amazing journey. I am in the process of organizing my pictures and they will be up shortly on my facebook so that you can follow along visually with what I have been writing.

Thank you all for supporting me on my trip and for reading my blog. Continue to share the gospel and share what God has been doing in your life!

Fly with Christ,

Helen

A Week in KwaMhlanga ("Kwa Ma Shlanga")

Greetings again!
I spent this week in KwaMhlanga (see phonetics above) which is a region about 45 minutes from Pretoria, where my family is involved. I stayed at MCDC (Mukhanyo Community Development Center) with Harry and Joke ("Yo Ke") Lukens. MCDC is also connected to the Mukhanyo Theological school. My parents are involved in MCA- Mukhanyo Christian Academy which is a pre/ primary school for children in preschool, grade 1, and grade 2. Harry and Joke are missionaries from the Netherlands and do a variety of things around the region. Joke is a nurse and often works with the children at the day care centers and checks up on them to see how they are. Harry does a number of things and is on the MCDC board. I had the opportunity of going around to different people's houses with him to check up on them. Most of the people we visit are HIV/AIDS and/ or TB patients and they check to see that they are taking their medicine and how they are improving or declining in health. On Tuesday I helped Joke at one of the daycare centers. There were about 20 or so children that she did not have on file. Joke is working on creating healthcare files for each of the children. She checks their weight and height and she also asks them about their family history. I helped weigh and measure the children and keep two youngsters entertained as they got a hold of my camera!

Luka and Felicia

On Wednesday (20th) I went with two FDP (Family Development Program) workers around the community in Thembalethu. We walked to 10 or so patient's houses to check in on them. Another place we visited was Nakakela. This place is a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients. On Monday night, Harry and I visited a young lady who had AIDS. She was taking some medication but she was weak, skinny, and she couldn't walk much. We told her that if she though that she could survive and that she really tried that she would gain her strength back. A day or so later she was at Nakakela getting good care and she told Harry that she wanted to live! What a gift from God. However, she need something way more important than medicine still. She needs the gospel. She did not know what the Bible was and so I hope that in the future she will be able to receive one or that the nurses will tell her the gospel. Please pray that she regains her strength physically and begins to grow spiritually.

It was very interesting to learn about everything that MCDC as well as other organizations/ community care centers are doing for their community and how they are all coming together to share the love of Christ and to spread the gospel through their relationships.
Fly with Christ,
Helen

Oasis

Hello dear friends!

Wallets made from juice boxes

It is time for an update... These last two weeks have been wonderful! I have gotten to hang out with my cousins and family a lot and enjoy great fellowship together. I have also gotten the great opportunity of working at Oasis. Oasis is a project that is based in one of the hospitals. They are a soup kitchen as well as a educational center. Everyday they give out free tea, soup (some of the ingredients even come from the garden), and bread to patients from the hospital who walk in as well as some other people, including some inmates from the correctional institution. Apart from feeding the people they offer classes for knitting, sewing, baking, and an array of other skills that people can learn and use again. The things that the make (aprons, placemats, tablecloths, pillowcases, pottery, etc.) are sold at a shop in the mall. The profits then go back to Oasis. They also are environmentally aware. I helped make a curtain out of bottle caps and bucket tops as well as small wallets from juice boxes and mats from old plastic bags. They also give out blankets to people who need them and all-terrain wheelchairs (a plastic lawn chair with mountain bike tires- see below). They also try to teach the people as well as children about AIDS since most of them are from the hospital. A lot of the social work students from the university doing their internship with Oasis which gives them an idea of what kind of work they can do. It was an awesome experience getting to work with them and see what their ministry is about. 

All terrain wheelchair

Ps.. more pictures will come later.

Fly with Christ, 

Helen

On the road- a beautiful view of God's creation! 

The village in the mountains that I stayed at- Molumong

One of the MAF fleet that came to pick Sefiri and me up from the mountains.

More pictures will be posted when I get back to the States!

Amazingness!

Lumela! ("Hello"- pronounced Dumela)
Lesotho was amazing! I really wish I didn't have to leave. I spent the last two weeks in Lesotho, mostly in the capital city, Maseru. I got to fly with all of the pilots there and help them with their flights- mainly picking up patients and bringing them back to Maseru to get to the hospital, bringing the patients back to their villages, and transporting cargo and people who work in the clinics to different places around the mountains.
I got to spend three days in the mountains with a missionary who works with AIM (Africa Inland Mission). This was an amazing experience!I went with Sefiri, one of the guys who works at MAF and he taught me the language, to the mountains. On the way there we took the taxis and bus. This was quite a rough trip. In the taxis you are super crammed in and you have all your luggage around your lap and legs. They stop at random spots in the road and let more people in or out. Sometimes at major stops you will wait for an hour or so. There is no real schedule to things there. Halfway through we switched from a taxi to a bus (a bit more space but they keep letting ore people on and they often stand in the aisle). On our last switch over we found a taxi that would take us to Mokhotlong (the city close to where I would be staying)- a 4 hour crammed taxi ride in the mountains- which means super bumpy roads filled with huge potholes! We spent a lot of time traveling by road in the mountains (no airstrips near where we were). On the second day we drove to two villages which were right on the border (South Africa and Lesotho border). We had big bags full of clothes and blankets which we passed out to the children.
This trip was really amazing and I see God leading me towards the mission field as a pilot. The Lesotho MAF team is a great team and hopefully in the future I can return and work with them again!
Ke leboha ha holo!! (Thank you very much).

Fly with Christ!
Helen (Nthabiseng- my Sesotho name)!

ps. I will post pictures soon on this blog and on facebook.