God has been Faithful to Us

We are feeling optimistic about the situation in Lesotho. Yes, we cannot predict anything and things can change in the blink of an eye, but the prime minister is back and the police reported back on duty yesterday. There were no known issues of violence last night and so we have decided to call back our volunteers. We will continue to monitor the situation and if things grow tense and dangerous again, we will send them back across. We will all be staying on campus at night and will only go to town with others so as to remain safe, but currently everything is back to normal in the city.


As far as the government is concerned, I have NO IDEA what is going to happen. There is a chance that parliament could be dissolved and if not, they will reopen on September 19th. We have been warned that things could get bad again on September 19th, but we are trusting God for continued peace. We also pray that these uncertain times will not negatively affect the children in our care who are waiting for their family.


This past week has been a chance to see how faithful Gad has been to our family. We were safe and we felt His peace. Our family, church family and many friends from around the world were on their knees for Lesotho, Beautiful Gate and our family. We had many emails of encouragement and scripture verses and it strengthened us. We know that things are not finalized within the government, but we also know that God called us here for a purpose and He is not finished with us yet. We trust that He will hide us in the shelter of His wings through the storms that will continue to rise up in Lesotho.

Political Unrest in Maseru

I want to start this off by saying that all of the information that I am about to share is to the best of my knowledge through newspaper, radio and word of mouth.

In June, there was going to be a vote of no confidence in our current Prime Minister. So, he actually closed the Parliament (which is allowed by the Lesotho constitution), therefore not allowing them to vote him out. His Deputy Prime Minister is from another political party and is also not on great terms with the PM right now. On Friday, August 29, new reports are that the PM dismissed the General of the Lesotho Defense Force (most likely on grounds of corruption). So during the night (early Saturday morning) the Military, under direction of the dismissed General, went into action. They stormed 3 Maseru police stations and disarmed all the police in Maseru, one police man was killed and 4 were wounded. They were also reportedly looking for case files (apparently very specific ones). The military also stormed the PM’s house but he was long gone to South Africa. They also shot at the Deputy General of the Lesotho Defense Force’s house too (while he was in it) and he has since fled the country. That all happened in the early morning hours Saturday morning. Side Note: The Police support the PM, while the Lesotho Defense Force supports the Deputy Prime Minister.

The rest of Saturday was quiet and we even went to the mall to get supplies on Saturday afternoon and nothing appeared out of normal. Sunday was also calm around the city, but you could feel the tension in the air. During those times, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were in talks with South African officials of how to resolve the issues here peacefully. In the meantime, the #3 in line to the Minister was in charge and he fell ill, so the country is technically being run by the #4 in line, until the PM or Deputy PM return.

Also since Saturday, the General that was dismissed has declared that he is still the General in charge of the Lesotho Defense Force and the Deputy General of the Defense Force is still in South Africa. One major issue right now is that there are one or two political parties that still support the dismissed General as the current General and the rest of the parties are supporting the Deputy General as the current General. Confused yet?

In the meantime, there are no police anywhere in Lesotho as they are terrified of being harassed or shot by the military. Yesterday (Monday) all was quiet in town and we went to dinner down town with a large group of volunteers. Ooops. Bad idea. We were all safe, but during dinner, the electricity went off all over Maseru (and at Beautiful Gate) and there were reports of gun shots heard in Maseru. We were able to finish dinner and drive back to BG with no incident. The roads were actually very quiet and no one was monitoring them. We also received an e-mail from the US Embassy that said all non essential US Citizens should leave the country due to deteriorating security and politics. So, this morning we woke up (no other incidences) and Anita and I decided that all our volunteers should go to South Africa for the rest of the week, while we monitor the situation.

Today has been quiet all day and BG has even been able to get all the supplies it needs to be self sufficient for a couple weeks, if needed. The Prime Minister has announced that he will be returning to Lesotho today, but no one knows when. This could be a very tense situation when he does arrive as the Defense Force does not like him and there are no police to help maintain peace. The US Embassy is worried about the lack of political leadership in Lesotho, the lack of police for normal civilian services, and the unstable military situation.

The Basotho people have impressed me, in the fact that, during this time of no police, there has been relative calm, no major crimes, etc. The morals of the people are keeping them in check. But, with that, ex pats are increasingly at danger of being looted or harmed, as we are seen to have money and stuff and there are no police to “catch” them. Lawlessness could rule, but it hasn’t so far. All of this “stuff” has happened in the city and we are outside of the city. So, we are safe, “hunkering down” and monitoring the situation. The Southern African Development Community (SADC,a group of countries in Southern Africa) are helping the PM and Deputy PM, and a timeline for the parliament to be restored has been made.

If anything should happen tonight, Anita and my kids will be taking a vehicle and joining the other volunteers in South Africa as soon as it is safe. I will be staying with Beautiful Gate through it all. It is easy for me to hide on campus and have the staff assist me with any food or other supplies needed. Please pray for peace and that there will be a steady and peaceful return to politics here in Lesotho. Please pray that the parliamentary timeline set by SADC will be installed and work well. There are SADC defense forces ready to intervene at a moments notice, but that is not wanted by anyone in Lesotho. The last time that SADC came in (1998) half of the city of Maseru was looted and burned. Please pray that cooler heads prevail in the government, police and military levels. Please pray for a peaceful night in Lesotho tonight.

We wanted to share this with all of you not because we are involved in the politics, but because we could be affected if these issues are not resolved peacefully. We ask for your support and prayers during this uncertain time. Currently, we have been able to keep things running normally here at Beautiful Gate, but it is possible that if a peaceful resolution is not agreed upon soon, our day to day operations could be affected.

Bryan and Anita

Political confusion

Tensions have risen again here in Maseru this evening. There is much debate about what is happening, what will happen and what we as ex-pats should do. Please continue to pray as the line between truth, rumor and fear is very confusing.


As I tucked my kids in bed tonight and prayed over Lesotho, I realized that I really feel God's peace. I trust that we are in His mighty and loving hands, and He has all of this under control. We are confused, but He is not. He knows the outcome and His will is perfect and will prevail! It is a huge relief knowing that we do not have to depend on our own knowledge or strength, but God is holding our hands and walking with us each step.

Peaceful Day at BG

Today was a calm day in the city of Maseru. We have heard rumors that the march scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled, but we will wait and see what the morning brings. There are so many rumors and so much finger pointing that we really have no idea what to believe. So when our staff get here in the morning, we will just check in what what they saw on the way in as well as what they have heard on the radio. We thank you for your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for our government as there is so much strife and conflict that I fear, in time, it could have a bad impact on what we are trying to do here at BG, provide our kids with a loving family whether local or overseas.

The kids here at BG had a relaxing and peaceful day. I love the bliss that kids can have when they do not know or understand the bad things happening all around them. All they knew was that there was a new family to hang out with as the Curtis family arrived yesterday and spent some time playing with all the kids at playgroup today. Nothing like a bunch of cute kids to give us hugs and smiles and take all our worries away. God uses many avenues to bring us peace and the Beautiful Gate kids are just one of those.

Political troubles in Lesotho

There has been some political unrest in our city. The parliament has ben shut down since June and was scheduled to reopen on Monday. We were warned to stay on campus that day, so we were planning to head into town this weekend for supplies. At 5:30am last night there were gunshots heard in town and the military surrounded the police stations and the state building. Beautiful Gate is on the outskirts of town and has not been affected by this, but we were surprised to find this news as we awoke today. Please pray for Lesotho and that there will be a peaceful outcome to these conflicts. We do not know what to expect on Monday but we can all rest easily because we know that our God is far bigger than these troubles!

Here are a few links from NY times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/08/30/world/africa/30reuters-lesotho-coup.html?_r=1

Here is a link to the BBC article

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28994193

Like I said, we are all fine and going to just play it safe and stay on campus. Thank you very much for remembering Lesotho in your prayers.

Safely Home

Our family took 10 days to have a time to be together and reconnect, but also to see a bit more of this huge continent we live in. We traveled to Mozambique and spent 5 days by the ocean and wow, it was so beautiful. We were in a bay so there were not many waves and our kids swam in the pool and in the ocean non-stop. As I watched them splashing and playing, I just smiled seeing their pure joy. This vacation gave us a few days of no interruption and we had so much fun together. Amazingly, we managed the whole trip with no sunburns, so good job African sunscreen!

We did go snorkeling for one day but the ocean was not cooperative and we swallowed a lot of salt water as we tried to swim with big waves going over us and into our snorkels. Elijah and Faith braved it for a little while but Mercy was not going to get her face wet. Then they dropped us off on an island for a few hours and it was beautiful and it had a huge sand dune we could climb and more snorkeling with no waves. The kids were in heaven and ran all over the island.

Our last few days were spent in Swaziland and there was more to do there than we could squeeze in, but we did get to watch a man making candles and he spoiled my kids by asking them their favorite animal and then making it while they watched him and then he gave it to them for no charge. We also went to a glass blowing factory and saw some really beautiful things made from recycled glass. The kids read posters all about blowing glass and the process of making different glass items but did not get to see anyone blow glass because it was a Sunday.

We LOVED our time away and it was good for each one of us to have that time together, but we were all very happy to be back in Lesotho on Sunday night. It was nice to greet everyone at the border in the language we are now familiar with and it was just good to be back at Beautiful Gate and see our friends here. Beautiful Gate is such a great place to be and while the ocean and palm trees were beautiful, the weather was warm and inviting, and we had no worries for a few days, we are happy to be back home!

Our first house in Mozambique - 1 night only.

A pic in front of the glass blowing factory in Swaziland.

The view from our house in Mozambique where we stayed 5 days.

Apparently our house came with a cook so we had him cook one meal, crab curry and prawns. It was very nice.

This man made each of my kids their own candle animal. He is an amazing artist.

I tried to post this 2 days ago but we were having internet issues.

Vacation Time

Tomorrow is our 15th anniversary and we will be celebrating by taking the kids on a trip to Mozambique and Swaziland. We will spend 10 days away seeing some sights and also relaxing on a beach for 5 days. Faith has been counting down the days for the last 44 days and just now came and said that she can't sleep :) We are all looking forward to some down time and I am thankful that God has provided us with the amazing opportunity (our friend helped us get a really good deal).


We have to leave a day early so we can try to get our visas in order so please pray with us that all will work out and there will be no complications or delays. Prayers for our safety as well would be greatly appreciated and I hope to have some nice pictures to post upon our return. We will be missing an adoption and possible child reunification while we are away as well as a chance to get to know some short term volunteers who just arrived, so please pray also for Beautiful Gate while we are away as it is a very busy place!