Pettenger Happenings

When you look at a map of Africa, it is very obvious that Lesotho is located in Southern Africa and is completely surrounded by South Africa. It is the only country in the world that has that distinction. What is not obvious on the map is that Lesotho is the coldest country in Africa. On a recent trip to visit the village of Semongkong, we failed to get through due to the snow on one of the mountain passes.
While we enjoyed the beauty of the snow and ice on the mountains and on the village huts, our thoughts were also on the people that live in the mountains. Winter is hard for the Basotho people living in the mountains. Their day is spent trying to keep warm. There is no heating system in the huts and houses and there is no wood to burn for fire. These are some of the people that God has called us to reach. Pray for the work in Lesotho and pray for the mountain people during these cold winter months.

Finally, water is flowing from the well at the Mahobong church. This project was to be completed a few weeks after we left for deputation in December, 2007. In the words of Pastor Mafalesi, "There is much water and it is good," meaning that they do not have to boil the water. Many times the wheels or in this case the drilling machines turn very slowly in Africa.
The funds for this well and others comes from the Africa Oasis Project. You can log on to their web site at: www.AfricaOasisProject.org and see what this is all about and how to contribute.
Why Mahobong? There is a well in the village but I learned from the pastor that the flow is not great and the water needs to be boiled. There are long lines as people wait for their turn to fill their buckets. Pastor Mafalesi and his family often got up after midnight and made the long walk to the well to get water for washing and drinking. Now, all they need to do is walk out their back door. They are making the water available to other villagers and using it as an evangelism tool.

JULY PRAYER REQUESTS
1. Pray for the 27 Bible school students who are home for a three month winter break. It is winter because I can see snow on the mountians. They will return the middle of August and they all need to find funds to pay for fees and tuition.

2. One student, Chobisa Chobisa (he has two same names), will be holding a crusade in the village of Mekaling for two weeks. Pray that God will use him greatly.

3. Pray as we make plans to turn the Bible school campus into a ministry center. We need direction and what to build and how to design a place where ministry and Bible training will be able to take place for many different people during the entire year.

After a very long absence from this site, we are back. 2008 was spent in the United States traveling form church to church to rasie funds for our work in Lesotho. During the year, we drove almost 50,000 miles and slept in more hotel rooms than we care to remember. We are happy to be back in Lesotho and and we promise to keep this blog up-to-date with current information and prayer requests.
When we left Lesotho in December of 2007, we left behind the university church in Roma that we helped to start. At that time, we were averaging about 70 students. Upon our return, we disocvered that the church has been going well and running almost 100 students each week.
We have spent the last three Sundays, preaching and ministering to the students there. You can see the picture of the students, I just wish you could hear their singing and their worship.

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR FEBRUARY
1. For the University Church in Roma. We need to find land to build a student center.
2. For Assembly Bible College. The school just opened and students are returning. Many do not
have funds to pay for their tuition. Pray that God will help them.
3. For Assembly Bible College as we once again lead the college as principal. We are praying for a move of God on the campus as we emphasize the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
4. For our daughter, Jenny who is returning from Edinburgh, Scotland where she was working
while assisting in a church palnt in the city center. She is returning to South Africa to find a
job in journalism and media. She has several interviews next month. Pray for God's will.

Last year this time, Assembly Bible College was closed. The administration had closed the college in January in order to update the program. The college was to open in August, 2006. Well, August came and no students arrived. Letters were sent out and the college opened in January, 2007 with 16 students. Five more students came in August to give a total of 22 students. We praise God for what He is doing. We also thank you because through your monthly contributions, we are able to support the college and and give men and women an opportunity to answer the call of God. The college is offering two programs, one in the local language, Sesotho and the other in English. Pat and I both teach at the college along with three local national teachers.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Lesotho is suffering from its worst drought in many years. 600,000 people in the mountains are facing starvation due to the failure of crops. Early rains are needed so that the fields can be planted.
2. Pray that we can find some land for a ministry center that will include a new Bible school.
We have also planted a church in Roma where the National University is located. We need to
find a site by November so that a student center/church can be built.
3. We return to the States in December. Pray for us as we contact pastors and churches in order to book mission services for 2008.
4. Pray for the ongoing work in Lesotho. We are the only missionaries with the Assemblies of God and as we return to the States for deputation, there will be nobody to take our place.
5. Pray for Jenny, our daughter. She graduates from Rhodes University in South Africa and will be going to Scotland as a volunteer to work with a church plant in Edinburgh.

When we first arrived in Lesotho in 1993, we spent several weekends driving around to see the work and churches. I remember going through a town called Roma. As the name suggests,
there is a very strong Catholic presence there. Roma is located about 25 miles from the capitol city of Maseru. Roma is also the home of the National University of Lesotho. I asked if there were any Assembly of God churches in Roma. I was told that no church had been started there due to the strong Catholic presence. I was told that we had many students from our churches.
In 1995, we tried to get a local church in Maseru to start an outreach in Roma. This effort failed because of a lack of interest and vision. After that, every time I drove through Roma (which was many times) I prayed that one day God would open that door.
Let's fast forward to 2005. The leader of our church here and myself were invited to meet with some students at Roma to discuss the possibility of doing some kind of ministry there. We wanted to start a church but the students had other things in mind so once again our efforts failed. Early in 2006, the students came back to us and requested we come to Roma, to the National University and start a campus church.
For the past 14 months, we have been meeting every Sunday morning on campus in a classroom for church. For the first six months we averaged 29 in attendance. This past month we have averaged 50 in attendance. Last Sunday, May 6th, Pat ministered to the students (see the picture above) and we ended with a communion service. It took some time but God finally opened the door for us and we are taking advantage of it.
It is our desire to find land and build a student center/church. We will be returning to the States for 2008 for deputation and to raise funds for the University Church.

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR ROMA. PRAY THAT....
1. We will find land to purchase before we leave in December.
2. We find a person to take over when we leave.
3. The university will continue to allow us the use of the classroom. Rumor has it that they want to deny access to all church organizations.
4. We will find funding for the land and for the building.

We have just completed building our 30th church in Lesotho in a place called Mafeteng. This represents the third church in Mafeteng that has been built with the help of the American church. We are very grateful for the financial support of the Assemblies of God churches in America who help us in building these churches. This church was built in 4 weeks by a local builder with the help of people from the church.

Since we will be returning to the States in December for deputation, this should be the last major building project that we will be involved in this year. However, if there is a church out there that would like to send a building team in about September or October, there is a place called Mazenod, just on the outskirts of the capitol city of Maseru where we could do one more project this year. Please feel free to contact us. The project consists of taking an existing house and turning it into a church by adding a steel structure to it. Got any takers?

We continue to appreciate your prayers for us and our work and your the continued financial support. We recently had peaceful elections in Lesotho but the losing parties continue to voice their complaints and threaten to cause trouble. We had this kind of trouble in 1998. At that time the downtown area of Maseru was burned, looted and destroyed. Please pray that peace will continue in the days and weeks to come.

The church at Ha Ramabanta has been completed 2 weeks after the building team from the Assemblies of God church in Marlton left.
The Marlton team arrived on Saturday, the 27th of January in Maseru. On Sunday the team had services at Roma where we are starting a university church and at Ramabanta where we met under the steel structure.
On Monday, the team of 17, including 3 ladies started at ground level as the foundation had already been poured the week before. By the afternoon of Thursday, the walls were up two courses above the windows. The team, led by Pastor Russ Eggert flew out on Friday morning. The local team of 8 men stayed to finish the walls and to pour the floor.
The building materials used at Ramabanta have already been moved to Mafeteng where another church will be built. The work for this church will start on Monday, February 26th. We will keep you posted on this project. Since there is no team coming from America, this project should take about six weeks.
We appreciate the effort of the Marlton team and we appreciate each member of that team for taking time to come to Lesotho and help build a church. We also appreciate all of our supporting churches and many individuals who give faithfully each month. Your giving allows us to continue to build churches in Lesotho. Thank all and may God bless you!