Africa

Only God! Only God can direct a woman living in Ethiopia to visit one website in particular, one out of billions of websites on the Internet. Only God can then develop a deep friendship between two women on separate continents as they correspond via email, sharing their common commitments to Christ and their visions for doing God’s work in the world. Only God can prompt a church in a small African country to invite a team of women from the US to come and teach God’s Word and encourage their people. Only God! And when our one and only God provides such extraordinary opportunities, I want to immediately follow!

I have known Angela, now from Lesotho, since 1998 when she first visited the Anchor Your Life website and we began to correspond via email. Over the ensuing years, Angela and I have shared God’s Word and prayed for one another many times. I had the privilege of meeting Angela and her family while they were in Philadelphia a few years ago and then the joy of hosting Angela in Sarasota a year ago.

Angela is a Thought for the Day subscriber and for years has used content from the Anchor Your Life website in Bible studies and small groups in her local church. Consequently, many of the people in her church are familiar with Anchor Your Life . And now, as only God can orchestrate, her church has invited us to come to Lesotho and to teach and minister to the people of the Maseru United Church, an international, interdenominational English-speaking congregation in the capital city of Maseru. God is continuing His incredible work in our lives and in the ministry of Anchor Your Life as I will be leading a small team of women on a trip to Lesotho from February 27 – March 9, 2007!

Lesotho — a country slightly smaller than the state of Maryland and entirely surrounded by the nation of South Africa — is home to some two million people. Sadly, this tiny nation faces some monumental challenges. About 50% of the population lives at poverty level. HIV/AIDS is highly prevalent in Lesotho. The adult HIV/AIDS rate is about 30%. Even more striking, the life expectancy for males is 35.55 years and only 33.21 years for females. Because 10% of Lesotho’s children are orphans, many households are headed by adolescents rather than adults. Lesotho is a country that is desperately hungry for hope…the kind of hope that only God can provide!

We are going to teach and minister to the people of the Maseru United Church. We will spend three days ministering to various ages, from young children to adults, by teaching the Bible, worshipping through music, and encouraging those in Angela’s local church. On Sunday, we will lead her church’s worship service. The following days, we will minister to orphans, street children, and AIDS patients. We not only want to share the hope God offers, but also try to meet some of dire material needs of the orphans.

We need your help! We desperately need your prayers. We believe that when God’s people pray, God hears their prayers and works in incredible ways. Please read the specific prayers requests that are listed at the end of this letter. We ourselves are praying for assistance with the funding of the general expenses of the trip, as well as additional funding for shoes, clothing, and other supplies for the children and people of Lesotho.

We are excited to be able to share our experience with you, so we will be shooting video of the trip and uploading it to the Anchor Your Life website. You will then be able to view firsthand the direct impact of your contribution as you watch a child receive his first pair of shoes or perhaps her first dress. Our prayer is that as you see for yourselves the very faces of the people you invest in, your lives will be enriched, and your faith in God will deepen. Only God can accomplish such marvelous things!

It is our honor and joy to be able to share this exciting adventure with you. Thank you for your support and encouragement along the way. We always look forward to how we can together expand God’s Kingdom. Join us as we seek, praise, and delight in the only God who can do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine!

Joyfully Serving Him!
Marji “Mike” Kruger