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 . . . 

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

Today I am giving you the link to the missions blogsite of FBC Perryton, TX .  Their description of the past couple of days is both accurate and informative…have a look at what God is doing through First Baptist Church of Perryton, TX here in the mountains of Lesotho!

http://fbcperrytononmission.wordpress.com/

Hopefully, I will post more later…the team is pony trekking into Ha Mapheke to teach today.

Until ALL have heard, Jim

We lost internet yesterday shortly after returning home. As a result, we are 1 day late wishing our granddaughter, Ellie Katelyn Flora, a Happy Birthday. We did get in a short SKYPE  before we lost internet, though.  In fact, we lost internet during the SKYPE. 

Happy 6th Birthday, Ellie!

 This picture is not very recent, but she is still beautiful.  Just imagine this same face, minus a few teeth!  We love you Ellie!

Until ALL have heard, Poppa,  Mammie, Grace, Anna, and Bekah

Happy Birthday to our Rebekah Joy Flora! 

January 12, 2012

8 years ago today, Rebekah was born to a woman who did not have the means to care for another child.  She already had 7 children.  Living in the slums with the alcoholic father of her children, her life was full of hard work, little money, and nothing to feed the 8 children she had given birth to.  Anna remembers the day that her “Haiti Mom” took her and Bekah to the orphanage and left them.  God had a plan and the plan included Jim and Teresa Flora as parents to two little girls.  His plan is always perfect and we celebrate His faithfulness to our family by giving us our precious daughters!

Rebekah is truly a Joy!

Praising Him today for the gift we have in our youngest child.

 

Bekah and Abby…Best Friends

 We wished Abby a Happy Birthday on January 8th, but were unable to get the birthday wish to load on our page.  Eight years ago, God blessed us with Abigail Faith Flora as our first grandchild!  What a wonderful joy she has been to her Mammie and Poppa! 

After 2 volunteer teams back-to-back (Claire Dale from Hamlin Memorial in Springfield, MO and the 10 member team from Watson Chapel), my family and I actually took a day off to rest…in fact, we took 2 days.  We were sure ready for it!   They were good days to rest, too.  It has been raining off and on since the team from Watson Chapel left on Saturday morning, and I can hear thunder rumbling off in the distance as I write this tonight.  I heard from Watson Chapel’s transport driver that they had a great day of game viewing at Pilanesburg Game Park on Sunday before they caught their flight back to the U.S.

This has been a common sight the past couple of days...thanks for your prayers!

I did use Sunday to catch up on some emails, and we worshiped at home as a family.  I used today to get ready for the IMB Hands-On  missionaries, Emily Scott and Laura Smith, and journeyman missionary Justin Morgan, that will be joining us for several months later in January…they will need me to haul stuff from the lowlands, so I spent today working on the lights on my trailer.  I am convinced that trailer lights are a result of the fall of man into sin!  This was the third time I have tried to work on them, and thanks to a test light sent to me by a friend from Hamlin Memorial back in Springfield, MO, I am now equipped with turn signals, brake lights, and even tail lights!  A BIG THANKS goes out to John Walters!  That test light saved me lots of time!

If the weather cooperates, I will be off to the village of Mastaile via Mission Aviation Fellowship tomorrow for a couple of days.  If you remember, I was there last month with Basotho team leader Tom Melvin, joining  journeymen Korby Griffith and Justin Morgan for a baptism.  I have not posted this link to a video of the baptism and an interview with Thabang (the man they baptized), but here it is: http://vimeo.com/33821027   Check it out!

Until ALL have heard, Jim