As I drove into the country of Lesotho, I typed into my GPS the address of the Lesotho Conference headquarters and followed the directions into the central part of Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho. With the GPS it should not be too difficult to locate the building, I thought to myself. Then I heard the voice of my GPS saying, “Arriving at destination.” Looking around, I could not see any conference building. This is strange, I thought. Eventually, after driving around looking for the desired building, I decided to ask for directions. To my surprise, people did not know where the Seventh-day Adventist Church headquarters were (although I later found out the conference building was not far from where I’d been). I prayed, got into my vehicle, and decided to continue looking for the building in that area. I saw a sign for an Adventist secondary school, turned off, and asked for directions to the conference office. Fortunately, it was on the same premises.
However, even within the secondary school’s premises there were no signs for the Lesotho Conference. I saw two gentlemen standing next to the road and stopped again to ask for directions. They pointed to a house which the church had turned into the office for the conference. “There are no signs in Maseru that can direct people to the conference office,” I informed them as a last remark before proceeding inside. They gently apologized. Needless to say, I was late for my appointment.
Can you imagine my surprise, though, when one of the two gentlemen whom I asked for directions walked into the building and introduced himself as the conference president? After speaking to him for two hours about the work of Light Bearers Ministry (LBM) in Lesotho and future plans, he promised me that he would work on getting signs so that the Seventh-day Adventist Church headquarters are found more easily.
The everlasting gospel has not been preached as it should have been in Lesotho.
Sadly, this incident reflected the work in Lesotho, and the president admitted to the condition. The everlasting gospel has not been preached as it should have been in Lesotho. The work is growing slowly. But in the past year the president has seen a change and the potential for growth through using the Light Bearers material. The Lesotho Conference has baptized a total of 835 people since they received a container of Bible lessons from LBM in 2015. To them, this is a huge blessing and up till now they have only used one quarter of the material. Their plans are to finish the rest of the literature by the end of 2017. Most of the lessons and books are used in public evangelistic meetings, but also in prisons, schools, and door-to-door outreach.
That same day I met Mafeka Mpapa, a 57-year-old businessman who was sponsoring and preaching a public evangelistic series. I visited the humble meeting and he told me his story just before he preached that night.
When he was 25 years old, a Seventh-day Adventist Church member enrolled him in the Voice of Prophecy (VOP) correspondence school. After he finished all the lessons, he decided to follow his Savior, Jesus Christ, and was baptized. He wanted to work in the mines, but God had another plan for him. A friend, who was a building contractor, gave him work so he could save for his studies in business.
Meanwhile, he enrolled his whole family in the Bible correspondence school. Both his mother and brother were drunkards. But by God’s grace, each family member accepted Jesus and was baptized. These experiences, and his own, inspired him to use literature as an evangelistic tool.
…he enrolled his whole family in the Bible correspondence school.
When the container arrived in 2015, he started conducting evangelistic meetings. If he had no sponsor, he would sponsor the meetings himself. So far he has held eight series and baptized 78 souls. Before and during the meetings, he uses LBM Bible lessons.
Two of these souls were former Sangomas (traditional healers). These healers worship the spirits by slaughtering a goat and drinking its blood. The spirits don’t allow them to wear shoes, and they eat without utensils. They claim to help people with all their problems: spiritual, physical, social, and mental. Their solution for an HIV/AIDS patient is to induce diarrhea. What a miracle that such lives are changed by God’s amazing grace! They forsook all to follow another Master, Jesus Christ. All because a businessman consecrated his resources to save souls. He sees that the Bible lessons make his preaching much more clear to his audience.
Lesotho Conference feels that the Bible lessons are making a difference in Lesotho, a country with only 1.8 million people. With the wise use of the literature, all the people in this small country can soon hear the everlasting gospel.
Meiring Pretorius
Meiring works on the ground where Light Bearers literature is sent and writes regular reports on the progress of the literature work in these areas.
