BG Children

Just wanted to share what I saw through my window this morning........

I see the children parading down the sidewalk. They are heading to the house where they enjoy their structured play time called "playgroup". The preschoolers are already at their own school. The pre-walkers are being carried by volunteers. The marching ones are the children that can walk all the way up to age 3 1/2. They are looking much like little ducklings following their mother to the water.

There are many forms of transportation to playgroup.
There's the normal walk.
The waddle.
There's the gallop.
The drag your feet because you are looking around.
Or the drag your feet because your shoes make a cool sound.

There's the hop.

The scoot.
The skip.
The run.
The bouncy walk.
The inchworm.
The walk with your arms swinging high.
The casual walk with your hands in your pockets.
There is the wandering walk, on and off the path.

It is quite a sight to see and always makes me stop what I'm doing to witness this event and smile.

I see a particular boy (those of you who have been to BG might know which boy I'm referring to!) who cannot stay on the sidewalk and usually has to be corralled whenever it's time to move from one building to another. Transitions are a little tricky for this guy!

Today, instead of following the line up, he ran to the slide, ever watching over his shoulder to see if any adult had observed his wandering. When the Bo Mme shout his name, he keeps running to the slide, looking back with a smile. He hears her but goes up the ladder anyway. He quickly slides down and runs into the playgroup house as if he never had strayed. He's a lovable rascal! :)

Then I see a group of 4 children. They are hanging on to hands so sweetly as they walk to playgroup. But not in a row down the sidewalk. They are in a circle, trying to inch their way bumping into each other and not getting very far. Try to imaging a circle of kids moving all in one direction.

These scenes make me smile. (too bad I missed a photo of this!)

This is such a beautiful place, the children are so happy here. They are why we are here. And no doubt, the heart and joy of this place.

The longer I am here, the more I get to know these precious little ones. The more I know them, the more my heart yearns for things to be right for them. They are happy but.......They need moms and dads. They need brothers and sisters. They need cousins and neighbors. They need aunts and uncles. They need grandparents. They need...

We are grateful and privileged to be here for them... for such a time as this. We trust in our God who loves them more than we do. Please continue to pray with us that they will be placed in loving homes.

Thank you so very much on behalf of all 72 of them!!

Sincerely,
Karen

Time

I would like to share with you how I see God using Ron here at Beautiful Gate.

Ron has made wonderful connections with the staff and children. The way in which he forms those connections and maintains them, is primarily through time. Time spent with people is such a natural way to show care and the love of Christ.

Each morning when we arrive, he stops by the maintenance garage and greets the guys. They spend a few moments talking about how they are doing, about the rocket stove heater or their cars. He also enjoys teaching them a few things every now and then. It's great to see his genuine interest in them.

Then there is an opportunity to participate in a time of devotions with the office staff. Morning devotions has been something the staff has done for years and now Ron and I get to be a part of it. This is always a beautiful time of sharing and growing together. And again, another way to connect and show care for these new friends.

After devotions Ron does his 'morning rounds' as we call it. He starts at one end of the row of baby houses and moves down to the other end. He stops in and visits the housemother's and the children. He greets them and chats for a moment. This is a great opportunity to grow the relationships and to show more care. This is also a time when the housemother's might share a prayer request or an update from past requests. He also enjoys seeing the babies whom he affectionately calls, "his babies".

Ron then settles into his office and begins studying in preparation for Wednesday chapel time and Sunday service.

Ron has been doing an amazing job sharing the truth of God's word during those services. (Even with the challenge of having an interpreter!) The comments we get are positive and the staff have said they are learning so much. They have shared how much they need to be fed, nourished and given the truth. Praise God that their prayers to get a pastor were answered!

Throughout the day the staff will often visit his office for prayer and council. This gives him an opportunity to share the word of God and the council of God. What a privilege and blessing that is!

There is always an opportunity to play with the kids outside everyday and Ron often goes out to play and connect. The children love having men around since it's mostly women on staff.

There is an older boy who Ron connected with last year during our visit. We played a game called "Myself, myself". You stand in front of the group and tell a little of yourself. You also share what you want to be when you grow up. Last year this boy said when he grows up, he wants to be like Ntate Ron. This year, he is saying he wants to be a pastor. He lays out his clothes the night before and wants to wear his 'pastor pants'. He leads his siblings in little church services and comes to Sunday services with the housemothers. Note, the service is during nap time and he is the only child who comes on Sunday's. He behaves very maturely. He wears 'the pants' and a nice V neck sweater and tie, or a suit coat. (not sure where he got that!) This little boy seems to look up to Ron. I see this as God at work! You never know how God will use you and the influence you have on a child.

The staff depend on God so much and give Him praise for everything they have. For example, when they get a car, they want to make a point to thank God for it and ask for His blessing on it. So they ask Ron to give a blessing over their car or whatever they have received from the Lord. Even if someone gets a new pair of glasses they ask Ron to say a prayer of thanks and blessing over them. This is humbling for us Americans who live in abundance. But what a beautiful example for the rest of us, to stop and thank God and ask for His blessing and protection over the material blessing we were just given.

It is evident in so many ways that God had this position for Ron. It seems to fit his personality and giftings so well.

The Basotho people have a high regard for the position of pastor. This has been a blessing for Ron from the start. The people respect him because he is a pastor. And now they trust him enough to share deep hurts and joys. They trust him because he has invested in them. He continues to show care and Christ's love through these connections, through time. 

Thanks for reading,
Karen 

Picture Update

Hello friends and family!
We just wanted to share with you a few pictures that communicate some of our experiences here. We would have posted staff members pictures because they are such a beautiful part of our daily work, but there are 45 of them and couldn't fairly just choose a few of them.
God is continuing to guide and reveal Himself for which we are so grateful! Thank you again for your love and support.

Dress up day with the kids

Working on a car with the maintenance guys 

Jam pile on Grace!

The new girl on campus

Another new child to BG

Can't get enough of the cuteness!

Forever friends

Newborn arrival

Wheelbarrow rides

Whirlwind

Grace graciously agreed to share her personal blog post on our family blog post. So, click on the link below and enjoy some of Grace's perspective on our time here. Thanks for reading, praying and supporting. With love, Ron, Karen and Grace

http://lettersfromlesotho.blogspot.com/

Loving Care

The definition of care:  "The provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something."

We have had 6 new children admitted to Beautiful Gate in the last 2 weeks. As the weather gets colder here the more babies are abandoned. This is a difficult reality as we hear of the conditions that the babies are found in. One baby was found alone outside and suffering from hyperthermia, spent several weeks in the hospital before she came to us at only 4 pounds. Another newborn was found by some shepherds with no clothes on and only approximately 6 hours old.
It is a hard reality to wrap my brain around, that these beautiful children that I see before me were actually left deserted and forsaken. How can a parent actually take those steps toward abandonment and eventually abandon their own flesh and blood? From what we hear, often the mother is very young, maybe was raped and is ashamed. Or the mother has no means to care for the child. Whatever the reason, is must be a heartbreaking decision for them.

We are thankful for a place like Beautiful Gate to love and care for these innocent little ones.
You might wonder if some of the care staff might feel overwhelmed when so many children come to BG, (currently our numbers are at 69!) but they are happy. When a child is brought to one of our 5 houses, the housemother is excited for a new child to care for, they take them in as their own immediately. They are anxious to start to care for the needs of this child and show them the love they so desperately need.
The child instantly becomes part of the new household with 12-14 other siblings! The other children are excited too when a new one joins them. They are so proud to show the rest of us their new brother or sister.

This is such a good place. But it's not a place for long term. We ask for prayers for the adoption process here in Lesotho and with partnering countries. That the paperwork would go quickly and that these children will be matched soon with forever families. Pray for our social worker as she has the enormous task of making sure children are released for adoption or are reunified with family members. This takes a lot of time to investigate in the villages and ask around to see who might know something about the child and if the child has relatives.
Most of the children are happy but please pray for those who are withdrawn and sad. Many have not had the best start and their emotional well being is affected.

I am so impressed by the staff here. They do not complain when the load gets heavy. They smile and welcome every little one that God places in their care.

I stop my writing for a moment and I look out my office window...there is a housemother sitting on the brick circle hugging the children one by one. They are all lining up for their hug. Makes me smile!

The children are loved, the children are cared for, but we know that no one loves them more than their heavenly Father. We know He has these children in the palm of His hand. We trust in His sovereignty. Praise Him for His loving care!

Joy and Smiles

(this is a blog I posted for the Beautiful Gate blog page that I'd like to share here as well)

Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

My family and I have been serving at Beautiful Gate now for 4 months. As I reflect on my time here my mind keeps coming back to the word "joy".

Our day starts with people walking along the road smiling and waving at us. When we drive into Beautiful Gate's campus we are greeted with enthusiasm and a big smile from our maintenance guys. We then walk into the office after a few words with the guys and exchange greetings with the office staff. This is always a time of connecting and smiles. We enjoy a meaningful time of prayer and devotions with the staff and then will stop in to greet the Bo Mme in the baby houses. The Bo Mme are always happy to see you and greet you warmly. A perk to visiting the houses is seeing the smallest babies in their cots looking up at you and smiling!

Throughout the day there is often the sound of laughter coming from the staff offices and baby houses. They also make tea time a priority where we all can come together for a quick break and time again for relationships.

Every time you pass someone or enter a room, a warm greeting happens. The staff will stop what they are doing to look you in the eye and greet you. These times of connecting always brings a smile to my face because they make you feel so loved and valued.

And then there are the children; they bring joy in abundance! Their laughter, their trust, their exploration and play creates joy in our hearts as we interact with them. And of course the hugs bring instant joy and smiles!

The love the staff has for the children brings a smile to my face too! Even the maintenance guys care for them.

The children, staff members and Bo Mme sing and dance with their whole hearts and joy radiates from them! This is always something that makes me smile! If I had it my way, I would request they sing and dance for me everyday!

There are times when the staff and children dance together. Just this week our driver was washing our transport van and was playing music as he worked. The children began to come to the fence to watch him work and before you know it some of them were dancing to the music. One child even came to the driver to dance with him. This is traditional dancing and these children know just how to move....what a joy it is to watch them.

Today we spoke with a local woman who works with at-risk teenage girls. She shared that they all had gone on a special outing and where elated when they saw their own names in print on their place cards. In the United States, place cards with our names on them are not a very exciting thing, but to these young girls, this made them feel so special and loved. True joy.

The joy that these beautiful people have comes from their trust in God and comes from a heart of thanksgiving. (they live the verse above) They are the most thankful people I know. The smallest of gifts are a treasure to them. Many of their lives are very painful and difficult but they continue to have thankful hearts that are full of joy. They express themselves differently than many of us, they show what they feel without reservation. There is so much expression on their faces and in their voices that you begin to feel what they feel.

Maybe we can learn from them? Maybe we can stop being reserved (slow to reveal emotion) and show our thankfulness and joy more often? Maybe we could dance and sing more?

The joy they have is contagious. I pray that we might all experience the goodness of God in the simplest of things and experience true joy! And I pray that the joy that we have will be contagious to those around us.

I am blessed to be serving at a place like Beautiful Gate... where the predominant expression on my face is a smile! :)

Blessings,

Karen Boersema

Quarterly Report

The children love rides on food distribution day! The beautiful staff we have come to love!

Greetings from Lesotho South Africa!  We now have 3 months at Beautiful Gate under our belt and this is our first official quarterly newsletter!  In ways it seems like we've been here longer and in ways it seems like we are still so new. It has been 3 wonderful months of learning and blessing. We continue to experience God’s presence in Lesotho and rejoice at seeing His hand at work everyday! We are blessed with wonderful jobs and wonderful opportunities to connect with the people here. We have enjoyed special chapel services, connecting with staff, observing adoptions, receiving new children, reaching out to neighbors, rocket stoves with the maintenance men, staff devotions, praying, singing, and hugging! And without a doubt, enjoying times with adorable children on the playground! We have experienced God’s peace and joy here and we give praise to Him for that. There is a contentedness among the Basotho people and it is so inspiring. Yes, there have been some frustrating times and things that just don’t go as planned (like randomly being without water or electricity, or the car registration office running out of paper so you can't get yours completed for days or more) but these types of things are not unusual here and it seems to work best just to relax and accept it! We hope and pray we can become more content each day like the Basotho!  God has confirmed our call in many ways. One way is that the Bo Mme (housemothers) continue to say how much they love and appreciate having a pastor on campus. Another way that God has confirmed our call is the peace we have in being here.  We continue to praise Him for giving us all that we need. We want to thank all those who have joined in this work and made this calling possible by your generous support. We are deeply grateful!  __________________________

This was the first little boy that was brought to BG soon after we arrived. It's a blessing to watch him with his adjustments and development since he's arrived.  Grace enjoying her time with the kids!

Chaplain's Update Ron has been enjoying getting to know the staff and has been encouraged by how well they seem to be receiving him as their new Chaplain. Many have come to him for prayer and council in God’s word and we have heard them say how much they love having a pastor and how they need instruction in God’s word so desperately. Some of the staff have requested his written sermon and scripture from weeks past so they can study it further. What a blessing to see their hunger for truth! The staff has been praying and asking for a pastor for a long time and it is a joy to see God answering that prayer in Ron. Each morning Ron visits the baby houses to say hello to the Bo Mme and the infants. They all seem to enjoy his visits very much and it gives them opportunity to share concerns and prayer requests. These connections are very helpful in regards to the area of shepherding and getting to know those he serves. Some challenges and areas of growth would be how to best serve the staff in their own language and with their own music and worship style. Ron uses a translator for Wednesday chapel and Sunday services and relies on the Basotho to help lead the singing. This has been going well but still hoping to fine tune these worship services to best serve their needs. Ron has a desire to teach the children the truth of God’s word as well.  With a large percentage of them averaging 2 years of age and understanding very little English, this provides a great challenge. So we are praying for wisdom on how best to serve the spiritual needs of the children.  All in all, having a Chaplain on campus seems to be a blessing to the staff and we pray for leading and further connections to each other and to God’s word. Ron also enjoys connecting with the maintenance guys and sharing some of his rocket stove and heating ideas as well as simple car repairs and maintenance. God has blessed these relationships as well! Karen's Corner Karen’s title is Operation's Manager and she continues to seek to define this role at Beautiful Gate. She has many opportunities to connect with staff and children and to be engaged in a variety of areas on campus. From taking photos when children are united or reunited with their families to helping to plan adoption ceremonies, play group curriculum, corresponding with volunteers, getting them set up for arrival at BG and assisting in management meetings. One addition to the playgroup curriculum that is exciting to Karen is introducing simple Bible verses. The children repeat after their teacher verses like, "A friend loves at all times" and "Be kind to one another" . We pray that hiding God's word in their little hearts will bear fruit some day. Neighborhood outreach is what God seems to be putting on Karen's heart and she is seeking wisdom as to how to proceed with that. She will need a translator to commit to this, one who has a passion for it as well. There are audio Bible's in the Sesotho language available and produced in Holland, Michigan that she is hoping to use in this ministry. We look forward to seeing what God will do with this! Grace's World Grace works tirelessly each day with the children from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm. She prepares meals, does the dishes, hangs laundry, gets the children ready for school, dresses them, disciplines them, works with the babies in a structured time to help them with milestones and give them one on one time and gives them as much love as she can. She has a full day and is understandably tired in the evening. She enjoys participating on the worship team at the church we attend and spending time with that group as well as the volunteers from Beautiful Gate. It's a blessing that Lesotho feels like home for Grace. Our prayer is that the staff and children at BG will grow in their faith and experience God's love, light and grace more and more each day! Thank you again for your support, we appreciate all that you do that allows us to further God's kingdom here in Lesotho!