Healing Hearts in Lesotho

Lesotho means “The Kingdom in the Sky”. Being 7280 feet above sea level and mountains surrounding us, God’s artistry has been on full display. Waking up to see breathtaking sunrises, bright blue skies, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, Lesotho was the perfect canvas of God’s masterpiece. Not only has the landscape been absolutely incredible, God’s kingdom reigned all the more in such powerful ways that touched my heart. It has truly been a joy seeing so many hearts in Lesotho healed.

Before going to our main ministry location (Mokhotlong) we stopped at Malealea for 3 days where the men from our squad was going to spend time with. Being here was a God sent.  Our main ministry in Malealea were home visits in a village. The first day, we met an older man sitting in a chair outside his home. He told us that he had a sharp pain in his stomach. I asked what his pain level was. He told me it was at a level 5. After praying for him, he told us that his stomach felt a little better and the pain went down a little. I asked if we could pray again. He told me yes, so I prayed again. This time, after prayer, he shared how the pain kept going down and down! He got super excited that he was experiencing healing! One of my teammates took the lead in explaining what God has done to his stomach is what God wants to do with his heart! The man was very receptive. He ended up accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior! Praise God for healing his stomach and heart! The next day, we walked to a middle-aged man’s house. He invited us into his kitchen. We sat around his table and he immediately started sharing his heart and things he was going through. He shared how he hasn’t been in church for a year because his pastor was messing around with his wife. He told us that he forgave the pastor, but we could tell he still carried some bitterness. Then he shared that he felt spiritually dead and not totally free. I asked if he would like to receive prayer to not feel spiritually dead anymore and be at peace. He said yes! So my teammates and I placed our hands on him and I rebuked the power of the enemy’s lies over his heart and spoke peace and God’s love and truth over him. I prayed that he will become alive again and spoke healing over his mind. After prayer, he told us that he felt free, like a new man and so much better! He expressed his gratefulness over us and shared that we were like angels sent to him. We continued to speak truth and scriptures over him about life and forgiveness. I asked him if he was ready to forgive himself and the people who hurt him and he said yes. I did a repeat after me prayer of forgiveness. Afterwards, he said that he felt so brave like a lion, very happy, and that he wanted to always remember this day because of the freedom he experienced! He expressed how great we are and filled with so much power from the Holy Spirit. I encouraged him that by being a follower of Jesus, he too has the Holy Spirit living inside of him and that God wants to use him powerfully in his sphere of influence. WOW! Such an amazing encounter. It was so awesome to see the Holy Spirit heal this man’s heart!

On our first Sunday in Mokhotlong, I had the honor and privilege to give the message during the Easter service. I spoke on how our freedom can be someone else’s permission to walk in a level of freedom that their heart needs. I tied in the gospel in sharing how God’s freedom through Jesus is our permission to be free. I gave 2 invitations. The 1st one was to receive freedom and Jesus as their Lord and Savior and the 2nd was for anyone who wanted to use their freedom in a particular area to be someone else’s permission. It was great! At least 6 people responded to the 1st invitation and at least 1 responded to the 2nd. The boy who responded to the 2nd told me after the service that he really appreciated what I spoke, has a passion to be a motivational speaker and help the younger generation with discovering their gifts and talents. It was so cool to see the Lord’s pursuit over him and his calling. Also, before I spoke I was able to dance during worship with a couple of young adults (that I met before service started) with worship flags. I was so excited that I was able to dance because in Romania, I was not allowed to worship freely. Experiencing this church service in Lesotho meant so much to me. Jesus’ freedom and healing were released in many hearts throughout the room. 

Every morning, my team had the opportunity to lead hospital devotions. I never done anything like this before. But looking back, this was definitely one of my favorite ministries to be a part of while here in Lesotho. When we arrived to the hospital, we went to an open field on the left hand side of the entrance gate. People would stand in line there waiting to receive a check up. My teammates took turns each day sharing a 10 min message about Jesus to the people waiting in line. I had the privilege to share about the story of Jesus walking on water and how He tells us to not be afraid when storms come because He is here. I related the message to today by sharing a part of my testimony and truth of our identity because of Jesus’ love for us. After giving this message at the hospital on 2 separate days, I felt called by God to give a salvation call. The Holy Spirit healed 7 people’s hearts the 1st day  and 3 people’s hearts the 2nd day as they accepted Jesus. During the first day, one of the ladies who started to translate for me ended up accepting Jesus and she told me that she felt alive after listening to my message. She mentioned that she doesn’t come to the hospital much at all, but it was just that day she needed to go for a checkup! Come on God! You pursued her heart as well as so many other hearts!

Teaching in a Christian school was one of our main ministries here. We taught every morning for 4 hours. Just like with hospital devotions, we led school devotions for 10 min with the entire school before classes began. We shared a Bible story with a skit, asked questions and shared truth/encouragement with the children. I really enjoyed taking part in those devotions. When we entered into the classes to start teaching, it was both a joy and very challenging. 2nd grade was most challenging since the children had very limited English and trying to teach them English grammar and multiplication were difficult at times. But when I taught 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, I truly thrived! It was cool that Talaya and I had the opportunity to teach all these grades together which helped so much. Also, the older grades knew English well enough to have actual conversations. My favorite day teaching was my first day teaching the 6th grade class. I taught phonics-letters, sounds, words and sentences. Then the class asked me a lot of questions about myself. I shared my testimony and they clapped for me. God placed it on my heart that there is no junior Holy Spirit and that He wanted to love on his children. So I went through a lesson on how to hear God’s voice. The students asked God “How do you feel about me?” and “Can you show me how much you love me?” After waiting some time, the kids shared how God gave them specific pictures, words, or song lyrics. It was so sweet how God was in the room and speaking to the children. For the next lesson, I shared about what encouragement means (the students didn’t know), and how important it is to love and encourage people through the words that God gives them. I encouraged a few kids, some encouraged me as well and then they all got into partners twice to practice. After both sessions I gave space for feedback. They told me that they felt so loved, happy, very sweet, and experienced kindness. One girl told me the first time encouraging was hard, but it got easier the next time she encouraged someone. During a 30 min break, I taught the girls a dance routine outside in an open area in front of the school. That was a lot of fun. The kids kept wanting to practice it over and over. Coming back into the classroom, I asked the students what they would like to do. They immediately said worship! So we had a powerful worship session for about 15 min or so. The kids were singing so loud and with so much passion that the class next door heard them and started worshipping along. To end that class session, I taught them some multiplication facts and read a Bible story. It was such a cool experience teaching. The last day, the students and teachers celebrated us for working there for 2 weeks. The kids sang worship songs and a few students shared their gratefulness and how impactful we were to them. The teachers gave each of us a gift. It was a really nice send off. Above is a picture of a letter that one of my 6th graders gave me. I am so blessed to have had the chance to teach and love on the children at the school. 

Since the start of my time in Lesotho, God has placed it on my heart to host a Beauty for Ashes women’s event. Talaya and I had the amazing opportunity to lead one. The event went so well, much better than we expected! We began by doing a quick icebreaker of sharing our names and something we love to do, and then got straight into our messages. I shared first about casting our burdens and worries on the Lord. Talaya and I walked around the tables while the women wrote/drew their burdens like feeling physical pain, being rejected, and other things. Then they each walked to the cross (that I made) and dropped their burdens in a bag at the feet of Jesus symbolizing “letting go and complete surrender”. After that, Talaya talked about our worth in Jesus. It was so cool going around to the tables hearing the women share in words or drawings of how God sees their worth. There were many beautiful depictions of God’s love and value for each person all around the room. Later, I had the women to ask God “What is the truth about the situation that I just let go?” This was a very powerful moment. God spoke to every person, replacing the emptiness in their hearts from the burdens they carried with His truth and love. To close the night, I invited my team to pray for the women. It was such a powerful, and healing night for many. Talaya and I worked together so well! Praise Jesus for your love, freedom and healing. I know many hearts in the room were healed. The following Wednesday, the women celebrated us with a very delicious dinner. Before dinner, my team taught the women common American dances such as the cupid shuffle and then we worshipped together after dinner with dancing and worship flags. We ended the night with praying over each other. That night was truly special! 

On the last Sunday in Lesotho, Talaya, Katie and myself went to a different church in a nearby village. Before we got there, we prepared to share our testimonies and a message. But the Lord had other plans. After singing worship songs and praying together as 1 big church, we were told to divide into 5 groups. In these groups, our goal was to go house to house in the next door community to share the gospel and pray over them. I was split from Katie and Talaya. We each had our own translators and we walked to different homes. I had 3 teenagers-15,16 and 18 years old-in my group. This was all their first time going out into the community and sharing about Jesus. We went to 5 homes. Three out of the five people already had Jesus in their hearts. So we just blessed them and prayed over them. With the other 2 people (a man and lady), I had the opportunity to share the gospel and they both received Jesus! The man told us that he had no clue who Jesus was, but was searching for something to cling to and that he was so grateful to receive Jesus! Praise God! Thank you for your pursuit and healing hearts! It was such a cool experience. The 18 year old told me that she felt so much joy by doing this-knowing now how reaching out into the community was easier than she thought and she loved it every time we would get a new salvation. God was definitely moving and his light definitely shown! Right after outreach, I prayed over and blessed the 3 teenagers who were a part of my group. I really enjoyed doing ministry with them. I know that God has big plans for each of them. They were so kind joyful, and ready to be used by God. I can just see the passion in their eyes for the Lord and to be led by the Holy Spirit. 

My time here in Lesotho was absolutely amazing! God moved so powerfully and healed so many hearts! I can’t believe that I had this wonderful opportunity. God is so good and His LOVE reigned so much here!