Recent Mission Update
Dear Milton SDB Church Family,
We bring you Greetings from Lesotho, southern Africa. We enjoy keeping up with all the new things happening in the Milton Church. Sounds like the Lord is moving in a mighty way and that’s so exciting! As I sit writing this in the early morning, I wish you could hear the sounds that I hear; cows mooing, donkey’s braying, babies crying, people chanting, strange birds, roosters crowing, greetings being shouted. It’s a wild place, but strangely calm.
Life in Africa is good. A retired long-term missionary once said, “If I had to do it all over again, instead of trying to reach many, I would pour my life into a few”. The Lord is showing us who those few are. We will be highlighting some of their lives on our blog site in the coming months, MLBENTZ.AIMSITES.ORG. Many people believe in Jesus, but ancestor worship is the norm. Discipleship is a big need. In some ways, it would be easier to tell thousands of people about Jesus & move on. To allow them into your life to watch what it means to follow Him on a daily basis is another story.
The new school year started here in January. This year they have asked Mark to help the upper elementary grades with their English Composition. This is an area that most Basotho adults, including teachers, struggle with and puts them greatly behind their South African peers. He enjoys being able to work with the variety of smaller groups and this frees up time to lend support to the new principle, a huge answer to prayer!
We are all looking forward to Mark’s 80 yr. old mother visiting us from Arizona in March! She will be here just in time to help celebrate Mark’s 50th birthday. A Basotho friend said, “Oh, I can’t wait to find out what she knows about so many things!!”. It made me ashamed at how we typically view the elderly.
You may remember that Linda’s work at the shelter for expectant woman was put on hold after stories of abuse came into the light. In this culture, it’s not wrong until someone knows about it. We do not regret being a part in revealing this abuse, but it certainly caused some tension. Currently, she is allowed to pray with the patients & staff & looks for opportunity to demonstrate compassion with the patients. She would like to see this grow into a Doula or labor support role in maternity and eventually train local woman. God is at work here, but it will be a slow process.
Patrick & Ellen enjoy life at RVA, the missionary kid’s school in Kenya, immensely. They come home for a 4-6 week break every 3 months. Charlie & Wesley are having a good year of homeschooling. They have a love/hate relationship with Lesotho, depending on the moment. Life is difficult and isolating and we all have to constantly search for the blessings.
We will be home in mid-July!! We are planning a graduation party for Patrick in Milton, to which you are all invited. Such joy fills our hearts at the thought of spending time with all of you!! After that, we will attend Conference & visit our other supporting churches. Mark & I will be spending a few months on the bible training required by AIM for long-term missionaries. We have committed to returning to Lesotho for another 18 month term in December 2012.
Thank you so much for your faithful support of this work!
We love & miss you all.
In Him,
The Bentz Family
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Contact us:
Field address: P.O. Box 73,Mokhotlong, Lesotho Africa
email: bentz1991@gmail.com
Home address: P.O. Box 194, Milton, WI 53536
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