Email address: jflorafamily@gmail.com

Our  NEW Africa address is:

Jim and Teresa Flora

PO Box 151

Fouriesburg 9725

Republic of South Africa

Please note: If you need more prayer cards, please email Codi Freeman at codifreeman@gmail.com  to request them.  Thanks!

If you would be interested in coming to Lesotho on a volunteer mission trip please contact our Stateside Volunteer Coordinator, TK Kleier at terry.kleier@noble.net

To learn more about our ministry to the shepherds of the Maluti Mountains, email Delinda Marling at delinda86@aol.com

If you would like to receive our monthly updates, please email Debbie Trammell at  prayersintoafrica@gmail.com

 Please scroll down for the posts . . . 

Well, it looks like the picture I allegedly loaded yesterday did not make the trip.  Nothing really new on this end concerning the internet.  Pastor training continues to go well.  Don taught Luke and John today in New Testament Survey, with some very good discussion on Biblical confrontation and the responsibility of a pastor in protecting the teaching in the church.  Tomorrow is the last day for the pastors.  Hopefully, we will get in Acts and Romans.

Steve went to the villages of Ha Khenene and Ha Rapooea to teach.  The crowds were not great, but our schedules are all messed up this week.  Emily and Laura continue to teach at Bokong, and have a request from one of the teachers to teach an additional Bible session in her class.  We will go to our regular Saurday villages of Ha Kanono and Mapeleng on Saturday, join Moruti Kantine for church on Sunday, travel to the village of Lilamong on Monday, and finish up the River Oak Church (ROC) trip with Ha Khenene and Ha Maphike on Tuesday.  We will head them back to Jo’burg on Wednesday, and see a few African animals at Pilanesburg National Park on Thursday, let them shop in an African market, and put them back on their plane to the good ol’ USA on Thursday evening.  What a trip!  They have been a joy to have around this week…we look forward to many more trips with more of the ROC folks!

Until ALL have heard, Jim

Sorry for the lack of updates…Teresa and I have been out of touch for a couple of days.  The guys from River Oak continue to minister faithfully.  A couple of days on ponies to 3 remote villages, and today Don began teaching the  pastors a New Testament Survey course.   Tomorrow they will split up with Steve teaching in 2 villages and Don continuing pastor training.  If everything goes as planned, we will baptize next week at the village of Ha Maphike. The Hands-On girls, Emily and Laura continue to teach Bible and Science at one of the local schools.

I know many of you have joined us in praying for rain…here is a picture of the rain from last week…

After several days of being away from our ministry sites and the computer (we were having medical exams in Johannesburg in preparation for our return to the USA), we have returned to Katse Village.  We received an email this morning with fantastic news!  Our oldest grandaughter, Abby, has committed her life to Christ!  Our son, Jim, had the privilege of explaining the gospel to her and seeing her commit to following Jesus.  I cannot think of any better thing for a father to do than to be the instrument God utilizes to lead his daughter or son to Christ…but, seriously, isn’t that how it is supposed to be…mothers and fathers leading their children to faith in Christ?  What a glorious day!  We love you Abby!  By the way, Abby said she wants to wait to be baptized until Mammie and Poppa can be there.  We are counting the days!

Please be in prayer for the Team from River Oak.  I will head to Johannesburg tomorrow morning to pick them up.  They will arrive here late tomorrow evening (our time), and we will head back to Lesotho on Sunday.  Please pray for safe travel.  They will be involved in ministry in the villages, as well as teaching 3 days of pastor training.  Pray that God uses Don and Steve to make His name great in the mountains of Lesotho.

Heavy rains today.  We had scheduled horses to ride into remote villages, but that is cancelled.  Justin, Emily, and Laura are all working hard to spread the gospel in the mountains.  Please continue to pray for them.

Until ALL have heard, Jim

Thanks for the prayers!  Last night after I blogged, we received a very nice rain that lasted into the morning hours.  Tonight, as I am writing, it is raining again!  The rain did not keep Emily and Laura away from Bokong school today.  They headed out this morning and did some activities to get to know the students.  I tried to catch up on some paperwork today…and help Grace and Anna catch up on their math.  We pony to Fukumela tomorrow.

Here is a picture to help you understand what the Basotho feel like when the enter the water for baptism:

 

'Ntate Rakuoane of the village of Ha Maphike is just a little worried!

Until ALL have heard, Jim

And I mean LOTS of things!  Since Sunday’s first service of Ha Tselabeli Baptist Church, there have been tons of things happening in the mountains!  The real question is: Where do I start?  Let me see if I can do a quick recap, and maybe I’ll get the details right…Monday morning, we had some running around to do, so Justin and I went to Ha Rapoeea to arrange horses for Friday to teach in Fukumela, and tell them we will be there next Monday to teach at Ha Rapoeea.  The Hands-On girls worked on lesson plans for their first day at Bokong school.  Tuesday, we had a couple of queasy Hands-On girls, and Emily missed a step going out of the house and twisted her ankle.  She missed all of Tuesday’s ministries.  Laura made it through the preschool and first village, then we took her home before heading to Ha Maphike.  Justin went with one of our local pastors to a village where Moruti Phoka is trying to plant a church.  At Ha Maphike, we had a young man accept Christ.  He is the son of one of the ladies I baptized a couple of Sundays ago (he also came to pastor training today).  An older lady also became a follower of Jesus. 

The people at Ha Maphike are very excited about a church beginning in their village.  They told us that thye have united with the village across the valley, and those people are going to start joining us for Bible study.  The people of Ha Tsolosa asked if the study was just for the people of Ha Maphike, and the men told them that everyone is welcome!  Teresa asked the ladies if the men were staying true to their commitment to follow Jesus.  The women said that the men are staying very faithful (They actually said, “Haholo!” which means “very much).  They said that anytime there is a problem in the village, the men gather and say, “Let’s see what the Bible says about this.”  I had 7 men from this village for pastor training today, where we completed our survey of the Old Testament.  Several of these men are going with us when we visit the village of Fukumela on Friday. Emily’s ankle is better, but Laura went to the school alone today.  I think Emily will be ready to join her in teaching at the school tomorrow.

As a request for prayer, please pray for rain!  The crops are looking bad, and we have several more people from a couple of villages who have committed thier lives to Christ and are wanting to be baptized, but there is no water in the rivers.  We live near a large reservoir, but there are very few places to get into and out of the water, and most of those are quite a distance from the villages.  Please pray that the Lord sends rain!

Someone asked me once, “You just never know how your day will go when you live as a missionary, do you?”  Today was no exception to that thought…I wasn’t exactly sure what the first day of a church plant should look like, but I am pretty sure it looks kind of like today!  After years of labor, both by us and the previous missionaries here in the Thaba Tseka region of Lesotho (Alan and Babs Dial), but even more importantly, the grace of God, today was the first day the church of Ha Tselabeli met together as a church.  We have taught Bible studies, and trained Moruti (Pastor) Kantine, but today, we turned him loose and handed over leadership to the church.  The day went even better than expected.  There were well over 80 in attendance that were old enough to listen and comprehend the message, and if we counted the ones not old enough to understand, there were well over 100.  There were people in attendance today that have never attended our Bible study, which in itself is pretty exciting, and all of the people were super excited that a church was being started.  We were joined by one of the local pastors (local meaning about 45 minutes away by car, several hours on foot), and several from his congregation came with him to help with the service.  He was overjoyed to be a part of celebrating this new church!  We sang and heard testimonies.  We prayed and encouraged the new believers. We read scripture, and Moruti Kantine brought the Word of God.  He was so nervous that he came to me just before time for him to preach, and told me he had forgotten his scripture passage for the message…he said, I am so afraid!”  I told him,”That is a good thing.  We should be a little afraid when we speak the Word of God to His church!”  He did a great job, and I encouraged him that he would get even better.  One of the ladies that gave a testimony said she had been praying for years for a church in her village where the Word of God would be taught…she said, “And now, God has answered my prayer!”

Moruti Kantine...bringing it!

 Please continue to pray for this brand new church.  Pray that the new believers grow in their faith, and that Moruti Kantine preaches the Word with boldness.  Pray that God uses this church to reach the surrounding villages.

The church meets in front of Moruti Kantine’s house

 In the past week or so, we have received word that people all around the world were praying for the church at Ha Tselabeli.  Isn’t it great that God joins together believers from countries across the globe to pray for one another?  What an ecouragement for this new pastor and his congregation!  Thanks for your prayers…this new church is off to a great start!  We know, however, that the enemy will raise his ugly head, so please continue to intercede on behalf of these new followers of Jesus.

Until ALL have heard, Jim

Just a very quick note to let everybody know that Justin, Emily, and Laura are safe in Katse Village in the mountains of Lesotho tonight.  We start village ministries tomorrow, where they can really get their feet on the ground.  Here a couple of more baptism pictures:

Until ALL have heard, Jim

I wasn’t exactly sure what to call this post…it is kind of several things put together.  Final tally on the team from First Baptist Church of Perryton, Texas: shared the gospel with 1030+, trained 106 to share their faith, encouraged and prayed for 15 pastors/potential pastors, planted countless seeds, watered others, saw several commit their lives to Christ, and encouraged 19 new believers as they witnessed the baptism of those new believers.  Pretty impressive week of work for the Glory of God!  I must admit that baptism here is just a little different…

Baptismal waters…yes, those are frogs and tadpoles!

 Now, don’t get me wrong, I have baptized in rivers and lakes, complete with fish, frogs, tadpoles, and snakes…but the Basotho are really very afraid of all of these, not to mention the water itself.  I had to get in the water a long time before them, so they could see that the frogs are not “poison” and the tadpoles were not going to “eat” me.  I have baptized lots of people in my days, but I have never had to wrestle someone to get them under the water until I came to Lesotho.  Typical baptisms go something like this:  First of all, most of the Basotho cannot swim, so they are afraid of the water.  Most of them have never had their heads under the water, or even anywhere close to water deep enough to get their heads under.  Before I start, I place both of their hands on my right arm…more on that later.  About the time I start saying, “…in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” and my hand moves toward their face, they start to breathe really fast. I mean like hyperventilating fast.  When I am about to clamp off their nose they take a really deep breath.  As I begin to lower them toward the water they begin to let their breath out in little short spurts.  As their shoulders get near the water they begin to breathe back in very fast.  This is when I begin to try to calculate their intake/exhaling of air with their heads’ entrance into the water…go in on the exhale, not the inhale!!  As their head gets near the water, the wrestling starts.  They are determined to be baptized without their face getting wet.  They grab for anything they can reach…which happens to be me.  Remember I said before we started I place both of their hands on my right arm?  As soon as they go under, their hands come off my arm, seaching for anything to grab.  One lady grabbed me around the waist before I put her under the water…that got a big laugh from everybody watching.  I know this is kind of funny, but all this adds up to one thing: when a Mosotho commits to being baptized, it is a real commitment.  They literally fear for their lives.  In their way of thinking, it is really a possiblity to die with Christ in baptism…and I baptized 19 this past Sunday!

This picture was taken just before she let go of my arm.  I hope to post more pictures of the baptism tomorrow.

On another note, I go to pick up our Hands-On Missionaries, Laura and Emily, on Thursday.  They will be with us until the end of May…I am sure I will have many blogs to do on what they are doing and accomplishing for the Kindgom of God in the near future.  “Hands-On” is a missions experience for college students that lasts for one full semester.  Our missionaries have just finished their orientation in Botswana and will be flying into Maseru tomorrow, where they will be greeted and welcomed to Lesotho by the Melvins, who will keep them until I get there on Thursday (pastor training tomorrow).n Pray for Emily and Laura as they experience missions here in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho.

Until ALL have heard, Jim

It is hard to believe, but tomorrow marks the last day for FBC Perryton in the mountains.  On Monday morning they will head to Maseru (the capital city of Lesotho) and work in an orphanage.  In the mean time, tomorrow we will celebrate with Khokhoba Baptist church, baptize some of our new believers, and FBC Perryton will train Khokhoba Baptist in how to share their faith with others.  We are pretty excited to see what the Lord does with this training.  We have several who are talking to people and sharing their faith already, but are still bringing them to us when the person wants to follow Jesus.  It will be exciting to see these new believers learning to lead people to committing their lives to Christ!  For the details of Perryton’s ministries, please visit their missions blog at https://fbcperrytononmission.wordpress.com/ .  At the ladies conference today, 2 more ladies from the village of Ha Mapheke committed their lives to Christ!  I will have to give you the “official” numbers a little later, but the Perryton team has shared the gospel with well over 800 mountain Basotho.

We have had a couple of very nice rains in the past 2 days, and they have not interfered or restricted ministry in any way. In fact, today’s rain was probably the best rain we have had since the spring of last year.  Thanks for your prayers.

Until ALL have heard, Jim

First of all, let me remind you that you can read all about Perryton’s events and ministries here in Lesotho at https://fbcperrytononmission.wordpress.com/ .  So far, a different member of the team is writing each night. If you have not visited their site yet, you have several days of catch-up reading to do!  Today they lead a men’s conference at one location, and a ladies conference at another location.  There were well over 100 for the women’s conference, and 22 for the men’s conference.  Most of the men were the pastors from Monday, but several of them brought lost friends with them to the men’s conference.  We split up tomorrow for 3 different ministries…including a 2 hour ride to a remote village to share the gospel.  I’ll try to get some pictures to post of the pony ride.  The team is doing a great job.

It is really getting dry again.  The combination of wind and topsoil depth really makes it tough on the crops…the soil dries out so fast.  We are in need of a nice rain, so please pray for rain in the mountains of Lesotho.

Until ALL have heard, Jim